Record university offers for aspiring medics

Winstanley College is officially the best college in the area for aspiring medics. A record 59 university offers have been made this year to students for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science degrees.

The dedicated students found out that months of preparation, including work experience, interview practice and entrance exams has finally paid off. The 59 offers are split across 29 students meaning that some achieved two or even three offers from different universities. In total 22 have offers for medicine, two for Dentistry and five for Veterinary.

All of the successful applicants have taken part in the college’s preparatory MDV (Medics, Dentists and Vets) programme. The programme incorporates many local professional organisations including Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh infirmaries, Wigan and West Lancashire Care Commission Groups, along with Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol Universities. Students are given the chance to take part in work placements, personal statement writing workshops, UKCAT and BMAT tests and talks from external speakers on topics such as NHS structure, funding and organisation.

Ellie Russo, 18, from Southport, achieved an impressive four offers – from Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester and Hull York Medical School and has accepted an offer to study Medicine from the University of Liverpool. She chose a career in medicine after doing work experience in local hospitals and community centres. Ellie says: “Medicine is fascinating. It is the perfect mix of science and humanity and because it is ever-advancing, the medical environment I will enter when I graduate will have entirely changed and progressed by the time I retire.” On the application process Ellie continues: “The process in notoriously difficult and applying to medical school has been compared to taking another A-level! I dedicated my summer to completing work experience, volunteering in the community and sitting the UKCAT aptitude test. I was also dragging my family up and down the country to visit numerous open days, medical conferences and university interviews.”

Another of the successful students is Amy Bond, 18, from Culcheth. She has been offered a place at the University of Bristol to study Dentistry. Amy said: I’ve always wanted a career that was people orientated and helped the community, and dentistry combines that with my love of cosmetics and orthodontics. The application process was very challenging but it’s worth it in the end when you get an offer!”

Budding vet Olivia Stone, 17, from Leigh, achieved offers from Bristol and Surrey. She comments: “It’s a cliché but I can’t deny that it was my lifelong love and interest in all animals that initially guided me down the veterinary route.” From the age of 12 she attended consultations and operations at her local animal practice and this confirmed her desire to study veterinary medicine. Olivia describes the application process as a 400m hurdle race with each hurdle getting progressively higher! But her hard work certainly paid off. When she found out she had received the offers Olivia says: “Excitement and relief were probably my first emotions. I now feel a sense of achievement that I am slowly getting ever closer to my aspirations and ultimate goal of becoming a vet.”

Dave Woods, who coordinates Winstanley’s MDV programme commented: “To be offered a place on one of these degree courses is a real achievement, so to receive more than one offer is phenomenal. This year we have really ramped up the support and opportunities available to MDV applicants. For example, in half term, 22 students took part in prestigious NHS placements across a range of departments. We’re delighted that this has resulted in record offers.”

Louise Tipping, Winstanley College Principal, added: “Each year we celebrate high numbers of MDV offers but this year has topped what we expected. We are very proud of the students for their hard work and we know that their families will feel the same. Our future health is in safe hands!”

The students now have a couple more months of hard work to ensure they get the grades they need in their A-levels to be accepted into their first choice universities.