Page 24
Tolu Duckworth, Oxford Medical Student
Interview Uyi Ilenbs
I am currently in my third year of studying medicine at Oxford.
Preparing for Oxford, I don’t think I’ve ever been as stressed in my life (laughs). Especially for medicine, your whole life essentially oozes medicine, and finding ways to boost your application and make yourself stand out.
Essentially medical students across the country, even across the world are all doing specific steps like volunteering at local hospitals and hospices - which I did for almost five years (and was awarded regional cadet of the year) and reading books outside of the curriculum. So essentially, we are all doing things outside the curriculum but you have to do more to make you stand out. It’s a never-ending course.
I took advantage of the opportunities that my school gave me, working with people in my local area and linking it to medicine. A lot had to be done to apply, and that’s just medicine, but to apply to Oxford they are very scientific in the way they run their course. All of the voluntary work is great, but Oxford really do appreciate the theory, the logic and the science behind everything. That can come from reading medical books and trying to identify why the author has said certain things or doing your own research based on things you have researched and going from that route. It’s great to show that you can be a good doctor, but they also want to be shown the science side of things.
Essentially, my entire sixth form period was focused on what I can do to boost my application, keep my grades on top and have a social life (laughs). I managed it because I’m here, which was great but it was quite a lot.
Being a student during lockdown was both a blessing and a curse. The lockdown happened during my second year of med school is meant to be the worst year of teaching because the content is very heavy. In my Hilary term which is a period from January to April, which is about 8 weeks long, we had 100 lectures, practicals etc online, which should have been done in person, so you can imagine how intense that year would have been for me.
Having it online put a little less stress on me because I could balance my time in a way that I wanted to. As all of my lectures were online, I just had to watch a video, so I could really focus on content, which in first year, I wasn’t able to do. Once the lecture is done, that’s it. With having videos online, I could watch it back if I didn’t understand anything, so I had a bit more time to understand the content from the get go, instead of having to rush. At least in that regard, I was a lot more prepared.
However, having said this, it did mean that a lot of the time, I was stuck in my room or my library because there was nothing else I could do. So, yes I was understanding content more but essentially I was just learning that content because shops were closed and clubs were closed. It really was just me and my degree. The most exciting part of my day was what library I chose to study in (laughs). I was grateful for the lockdown, if not for it I don’t think I would have done as well in my exams as I did. I could spend more time studying.
I have faced a lot of barriers but I think for me, I was quite lucky because I knew a lot of people who knew how the education system worked and my mother is a teacher. When I even got into secondary school, she said “Tolu, this is the plan, we are going to work towards this.” She has been incredible by letting me have that hard working mentality because it's what has driven me to be here. Being a Nigerian-Ghanaian, there was no way I couldn’t do work. I wasn’t pressured but she pushed me in the right direction to do well, which has paid off. Looking back at it now, I appreciate her pushing me and me pushing me, but at the time I resented it, because I thought “I’m trying my best.”
In terms of accessibility and inclusivity for institutions like Oxford, I think the problem starts with those higher up. Many people who apply to Oxford successfully, tend to come from private schools, simply because they have the resources to be able to teach students how to apply. Whereas in state schools and state grammar schools, many students there have never applied before. When I was in school, 3 years above me was the first time anyone had ever applied to Oxford and only one person got in. However, from there the teachers knew what to do and how to approach showing students how to apply.
If you don’t have that one person or information to show students then you can’t really be of much help. I think schools need the proper resources to show students how to apply to Oxford because it is the bare minimum.
Many state schools don’t know the first step to show students how to appropriately apply to these places due to lack of funding, understanding and sometimes interest. Sometimes students are not motivated to apply to these schools because they don't think they would ever be able to achieve it, or they’re surrounded by negative energy or lack support. So why should they feel like they can? And it’s such a shame because there are so many amazing people who could have gotten in, but they weren’t given the right push.