2019 End of Year Review

Before we start our review of 2019 we would like to start by thanking the students at our partner universities. We would also like to thank the schools across the world who have chosen to work directly with Medical Doorway. Finally we send our thanks to all the hardworking staff at our universities who work tirelessly in various roles. Now, let’s take a look at 2019 which was by far our most active year to date.

A busy start to the year

January kicked off with our first international Student and Parent Seminar at Renaissance College in Hong Kong. This was paired up with our special involvement at the HKTDC Education and Careers Expo held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was then back to Europe to support our students enrolling at Medical University Pleven in Bulgaria. We have been working with Pleven since 2011, so this is a well trodden path for the Medical Doorway team. Following the enrolment we were straight back out to Asia to attend the ESF School Fair in Hong Kong. We also visited schools in the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in Borneo. We were then back in the UK presenting at the Royal Society of Medicine and schools in Stafford and Eton. The international outreach continued with a visit to the International School of the Rhine in Germany.

Entrance exams and graduation

April 2019 brought a start to our UK entrance exams. This started with the popular Masaryk University before students in London and Manchester sat the Palacky University exams. Exams for Charles University in Hradec Kralove and Charles University First Faculty of Medicine in Prague followed. In the midst of these entrance exams we were back to Medical University Pleven to celebrate with our latest successful graduates. This year we watched forty-three Medical Doorway students become the latest doctors to join the NHS. We were then back on the road attending the huge International School of Brussels University fair.

Medical Doorway does more than simply help students gain admission to medical schools. This was evidenced by our career development talk at Riga Stradins University in Latvia. We discussed preparing for a career in the USA and preparation for the USMLE. Meanwhile back in the UK, we were supporting career counsellors in Manchester in a professional development session at Manchester Grammar School.

Entrance exams continued

The next series of our entrance exams took place at King George V School in Hong Kong. Students from across Asia and North America sat the exams with 100% of the applicants securing offers to study medicine or dentistry in Europe. Exams in the UK were then held at the end of June for Charles University in Hradec Kralove, Charles University Third Faculty and Charles University First Faculty of Medicine. Graduate Entry Medicine applicants came to London to sit the Poznan University of Medical Science exams. July 2019 came to a close with further exams for Ostrava University, Masaryk University and Palacky University.

A-level results and onto enrolments

With the release of A-level results on 15th August the team were inundated with applications for a host of universities. Applications were received for the University of Nicosia and Queen Mary University of London’s MBBS Malta. We also ran two exams for Charles University in Hradec Kralove and Palacky University. Following these final exams we were out to Poland to support our students enrolling at Poznan University of Medical Sciences.

It was then time for our annual Czech Republic Pre-Departure Briefing at Birkbeck University of London. This was immediately followed by our enrolments at Ostrava University, Palacky University and Masaryk University in the south of Czech Republic. Enrolments continued in Bohemia at Charles University in Hradec Kralove, Charles First Faculty, Second Faculty and Third Faculty.

Rinse and repeat

Following these successful enrolments there was no time to rest as the work for 2020 commenced immediately. Our international outreach continued with a visit to two schools in Izmir in Turkey. The entrance exams for the February 2020 enrolment at Pleven Medical University were held in Manchester and London. This weekend also included our annual Open Day at the Royal Society of Medicine. Our profile was also raised by our interview for The PIE Review magazine.

Our outreach continued in the UK and abroad. First we attended the CIS Global Forum in Bilbao. This was our second invitation to the CIS forum and we were delighted to be presenting to a packed room of delegates from across the world. A short visit to Embley School in Hampshire was followed by our final trip of the year to three international schools in Cairo.

This brought 2019 to an end and reflecting on all the work this year we are really excited to continue our growth in 2020. Our offer of university entrance exams continues to expand with exams being held in the UK, Hong Kong and for the first time Latin America. It is our ambition to reach out to as many students as possible regarded of where they are and in introduce them the opportunities to study medicine at universities across Europe.

See you in 2020!