Saeeda, Medicine with foundation year.

I couldn’t be more grateful for the foundation year. It has given me such a stable base to work on and has massively uplifted my confidence.

Hiya guys! My name is Saeeda Ayub, and I am a 1st year medical student that has successfully completed the Foundation year (BMBS)! I just wanted to take a little time out to tell you guys a bit about my personal experience of doing the foundation year (as a mature student) and I will also be touching on student life and the city of Plymouth as a whole. I just want to start off by saying that since starting 1st year, I couldn’t be more grateful for the foundation year. It has given me such a stable base to work on and has massively uplifted my confidence.

The foundation year is designed in such a way that you will always benefits, you will learn interpersonal skills, professionalism traits and presenting abilities along side the science of medicine. However, the advice I would give is that, regardless of you educational background, take this course seriously. I have seen a lot of students come into the foundation year thinking its going to be a repeat of A levels or BTEC. Let me just tell you now, it is definitely NOT a repeat of A levels or any other Level 3 qualification.

The last thing I’m going to touch on is the student life and the city. Right so, could we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful Plymouth is? I’m a northern girl from Manchester, wholeheartedly a proud Mancunian and I genuinely thought I won’t like the city but boy was I wrong! I’ve fallen in love with the city and the locals are so friendly and yes, at a glance it does seem like there isn’t much diversity and that can draw people away. However, Plymouth does have a wide range of people from different races and ethnicities. As an Asian Muslim girl, I had no problems fitting in at all! Though, when I first moved into my student accommodation, I did feel home sick and I’m not going to lie, I more or less didn’t leave my room for 2 weeks, but I guess everyone feels home sick to some degree.

I stayed in private student halls and had a studio, which I loved! It was a little difficult at first as I barely knew how to cook but you learn on the job and within weeks things get easier. All I’d say, is just stay motivated, it is very easy to get distracted by other social outings but remember to keep it all in balance!