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

“My 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,” says Catherine Jesson. “After I got over my astronaut phase I knew that I wanted to do something that had a real, immediate, positive effect on people’s lives.”

“I 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 Sheffield, from full-body dissection to early patient contact, made the studying here the perfect choice.”

Catherine has found early clinical experience particularly rewarding. “We’re able to focus our medical learning on patient’s experience and develop our consultation skills right from the beginning of our studies,” she says. “Becoming 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.”

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

Catherine Jesson

Undergraduate student

“My four years at Sheffield so far have been really positive. I like it so much that I intercalated here too. I don’t know anybody who regrets having come to Sheffield so I can wholeheartedly recommend the university and medical school to anyone who’s thinking of applying here. I plan to start practising as a doctor after graduation, eventually specialising in paediatric emergency medicine.”

“My top piece of advice for anyone thinking about medicine would be to try and get a feel for the cities that the universities you’re thinking of applying to are in. Wherever you go you’ll graduate able to practice medicine so it’s 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’s important that you think you can be happy wherever you choose to study!”