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

Catherine Jesson, an undergraduate medical student.
Catherine Jesson
Undergraduate student
MBChB Medicine
Catherine shares why it's important to get a feel for the city you choose to study in and what makes the Medicine undergraduate school at 91直播 special.
Catherine Jesson, an undergraduate medical student.

鈥淢y 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,鈥 says Catherine Jesson. 鈥淎fter I got over my astronaut phase I knew that I wanted to do something that had a real, immediate, positive effect on people鈥檚 lives.鈥

鈥淚 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. And the amazing opportunities at 91直播, from full-body dissection to early patient contact, made the studying here the perfect choice.鈥

Catherine has found early clinical experience particularly rewarding. 鈥淲e鈥檙e able to focus our medical learning on patient鈥檚 experience and develop our consultation skills right from the beginning of our studies,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ecoming 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.鈥


My favourite place on campus is the Western Bank Library. It鈥檚 got an amazing reading room with views out over the park so there鈥檚 a nice place to look while you鈥檙e thinking. And people take the quiet study policy really seriously which is an added bonus.

Catherine Jesson

Undergraduate student


鈥淢y four years at 91直播 so far have been really positive. I like it so much that I intercalated here too. I don鈥檛 know anybody who regrets having come to 91直播 so I can wholeheartedly recommend the university and medical school to anyone who鈥檚 thinking of applying here. I plan to start practising as a doctor after graduation, eventually specialising in paediatric emergency medicine.鈥

鈥淢y top piece of advice for anyone thinking about medicine would be to try and get a feel for the cities that the universities you鈥檙e thinking of applying to are in. Wherever you go you鈥檒l graduate able to practice medicine so it鈥檚 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. It鈥檚 important that you think you can be happy wherever you choose to study!鈥