Bio

Details: 20, from Nottingham, UK

Imperial Course: Phase 1b (third year) – MBBS (Medicine)  

Optional modules: Imperial Award

Clubs and Societies: RAG (ICSM), Basketball, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Students for Global Health

Tags: Home, UG, MED, MBBS

Motivations and Frustrations

Motivations

Darren really likes helping people and his time volunteering at a nursing home helped him to understand this. He wants to be a doctor that can make a difference within communities and make them better places. His mum talks fondly about her time at Imperial where she studied Earth Sciences, and he wants to take every opportunity he can. He’s involved in lots of extra-curricular activities and while he does work hard, he’s tries to make time to enjoy himself. 

Frustrations

Noone in Darren’s family have studied medicine, and he feels pressure to succeed and be a good role model to his siblings. He feels slightly uncomfortable on his clinical placements as he’s never really had any exposure to this environment. He also struggles to make sense of the current NHS position which he hears a lot about while on placements. He enjoys working with patients but is worried that the NHS environment isn’t going to be a nice place to work in. He knows he takes on a lot of extra-curricular activities and he enjoys being busy however as he’s progressing through his MBBS he does sometimes struggle to balance everything.   

Documents

Click on the links below to access the documents relevant to Darren

Darren's Imperial Award

Darren is the first person in his family to study medicine. He is the oldest of 4 siblings, now in his second year he found it hard to adjust when he started as he had so much time to spend by himself. He wants to do the Imperial Award to get recognition for all of his extra curricula activities. He also knows that he’ll need to reflect throughout his career as a doctor. He does not always feel like he belongs at Imperial studying medicine. He finds medicine very competitive the IA is not and he likes that.

He has chosen the following attributes to write about in his portfolio

  • Creating Connections
  • Leadership
  • Effective Communications
  • Social Conscience

and he would like to reflect on the following experiences

  • He volunteered before starting university at the Nightingale nursing home supporting elderly people.
  • He worked during his 6th form and now during the holidays as a porter at his local hospital.
  • He plays 5-a-side or basketball sometimes with his friends or brothers but nothing formal.
  • He is interested in community medicine and supporting families