How to Help Your Child Prepare for Medical School | Part Three

Are you a parent of a student considering studying medicine? Welcome back to our blog series. If you missed the first two parts of the series, you can read them here & here - we recommend you read in order! This part is all about how you as a parent can support your child once they are accepted into medical school.

We understand that while a university student is at an age where a level of independence is expected, in this high pressure situation parents support is always needed. However, as parents are absent, the university is responsible for the students health and well being. Ultimately, you as a parent must be able to rely on the university to take care of the student.

Long-term Calendars

Medical schools will provide students and their families with access to extremely detailed calendars that include exam weeks, semester break, mid semester break and much more, not just for their first year but for their entire degree, meaning even from afar you can plan when support is much needed, like the delivery of a care package. As well as when to book family holidays to make sure your child is getting a well deserved break. Even though this seems rather small given the high pressure of a medical degree, knowing this information means you can tailor the support for your child when necessary.

Health and Safety

Medical schools do not take health and safety lightly. The teaching team and medical facility staff are constantly monitoring attendance of students to make sure their students are present both physically and mentally. Counselling services are offered free of charge to make sure help is accessible. Building on this, most universities offer comprehensive insurance policies, depending on the needs of the student. To make it clear that the physical and mental wellbeing of all students is a primary focus.

Police Departments and Security also offer walking escorts for students returning to their dorms late at night, while a walk around campus further reveals streets and pathways lined with emergency telephones located under permanently lit blue lights. There are also constant campus alerts sent to students – and often their parents – regarding any possible compromise on health.

Mentoring

If a student's grades do fall behind due to any number of personal reasons the university has mentoring programs to help students make a viable plan to increase their grades once again and get the help they need to achieve this goal. These students are monitored carefully over the course of the semester or year to make sure they are getting the additional support they need.

We hope the above points put your mind to rest, that there is very little to worry about. If you need more advice, speak to the MedView team to learn more about how we support students through the journey to get accepted and the Alumni community program for once successful acceptance is acquired.

Want to learn more?

If you have found this blog helpful, and would prefer to speak with a medical student or doctor one on one, you’ve come to the right place. MedView is the leading medical school preparation organisation in Australasia, with a proven record of success. Unlike our competitors, our team of academic advisors, doctors, medical students and expert tutors understand that there is more to med school preparation than basic UCAT and GAMSAT courses. As such, we offer private 1-1 mentoring, application assistance, personalised support, exam preparation workshops, and interview training for prospective medical students. The process from here on out is simple. Click here for a free academic assessment with one of our aforementioned experts.

An academic assessment is a chance for our team to get to know you and your child, where we can discuss their motivation for studying medicine, their current strengths and weaknesses relative to the entry criteria, and then finally how we can give them everything they need to make sure they are as best prepared for the road ahead as possible.

Other Useful Resources

+ Part One
+ Part Two
+ Parents Guide to Medical School Admissions
+ A-Levels Explained
+ IB Explained
+ NCEA Explained