Getting to grips with rat dissection

Over one hundred excited, but rather nervous, Year 11 pupils, fresh from their GCSE examinations and representing over twenty different high schools, descended on Loreto College recently for the annual Medics’ Conference. Many discovered they were the only student from their school attending, so one of the first scary tasks was to speak to someone else and offer an opinion on a visual stimulus, which soon broke the ice and had everyone mixing.

The day then offered various practical, hands-on and very interactive sessions including the rat dissection – by far the most popular – some students really getting into this with great enthusiasm. Other opportunities involved epidemiology, urine analysis and testing the efficacy of hand-washing. Current students from university Medical Schools gave information about what it is like to be a medical student and how to make a good application. The Admissions team from another University Medical School gave a talk on the mysteries of the admissions process and how to be successful. During the day there were lots of opportunities to ask questions and find out more and the Year 11 pupils certainly made the most of the collective wisdom available. Our own Loreto students who are hoping to be medics helped out at the event and were able to pass on some good advice to the visitors. One pupil commented that ‘The day has really shown me what I need to do now in order to achieve my goal of becoming a doctor’ and another reported ‘Everyone was so friendly and helpful, especially in the lab work where I needed some confidence to make that first cut on the rat’. Well done everyone involved in the conference.