Journey from Senior School student to alumna to doctor

We were delighted to welcome back one of our alumnae who recently returned to St Mary’s to present a Sixth Form learning lunch talk. Abbi Hall is currently reading medicine at University of East Anglia (UEA); she spoke about her course and gave advice to students who are thinking of studying medicine.   

Abbi shared what she has learnt and experienced so far in studying the human body. Currently, she enjoys her modules that take place at different practices where she has appointments with patients and makes diagnoses which are observed and checked by qualified doctors. Looking forward to her fourth year, Abbi is excited to complete one of her upcoming modules where she will learn about human psychology. Also, this year, she will spend the majority of her time on the hospital campus to experience working in the A&E department and on the wards.   

During her talk, Abbi continued to enlighten our girls with an insight into her life as a medical student at university, and what to expect if they follow a similar route. She spoke about societies and highlighted that, as medical students have a very busy timetable, there are often specific medical society groups at university which help them to socialise and still enjoy activities outside of their studies.  

Abbi shared a lot of brilliant advice with our current sixth formers, including what A-level options to consider for a future in medicine.  She suggests that A-level biology provides a good foundation, and learning and retaining basic maths is very important. One of the topics at A-level that she found most useful to review was the nervous system. The students found Abbi’s advice very encouraging and valuable, especially her tips on how to transfer from A-levels to a university degree.  

One piece of key advice she gave to students was:    

"Everyone learns differently."   

As a recent alumna, Abbi shared how St Mary’s has supported her. As she was initially unsure of her future path after her A-levels, Abbi highlighted the importance of the strong relationship between students and St Mary’s career advisors, she added that it wasn't until Year 12 that she made her choice to go into medicine.   

Abbi described her experience of returning to St Mary as “excellent” because it allowed her to reunite with teachers and staff as well as meet and inspire current St Mary’s students. Looking to the future, Abbi plans to finish her final year of studies in 2025, after which she will work as a junior doctor.  She is currently hoping to work in hospitals in the Norwich area so that she can further her studies at UEA.