I wanted to do something that had a real, immediate, positive effect on peopleās lives

āMy childhood dream was to be the first female astronaut, but I found out there were some already and that took the shine off it! Mainly I just wanted to do something no one else had done before,ā says Catherine Jesson. āAfter I got over my astronaut phase I knew that I wanted to do something that had a real, immediate, positive effect on peopleās lives.ā
āI enjoyed science at school and thought (TV show) Embarrassing Bodies was amazing, so started to think about medicine. The more I thought about it and the more work experience I got, the more I knew it was what I wanted to do."
Catherine has found early clinical experience particularly rewarding. āWeāre able to focus our medical learning on patientās experience and develop our consultation skills right from the beginning of our studies,ā she says. āBecoming more comfortable in a consultation setting and feeling my professional skills grow has been really rewarding and makes me feel more ready to practise medicine at the end of my degree.ā
My favourite place on campus is the Western Bank Library. Itās got an amazing reading room with views out over the park so thereās a nice place to look while youāre thinking. And people take the quiet study policy really seriously which is an added bonus.
Catherine Jesson
Undergraduate student
āMy four years at Sheffield so far have been really positive. I like it so much that I intercalated here too. I donāt know anybody who regrets having come to Sheffield so I can wholeheartedly recommend the university and medical school to anyone whoās thinking of applying here. I plan to start practising as a doctor after graduation, eventually specialising in paediatric emergency medicine.ā
āMy top piece of advice for anyone thinking about medicine would be to try and get a feel for the cities that the universities youāre thinking of applying to are in. Wherever you go youāll graduate able to practice medicine so itās about making sure that the course structure fits with the way that you learn and that the university and the city feel like somewhere that you can spend 5-6 years of your life. Itās important that you think you can be happy wherever you choose to study!ā