On Saturday 4th March, Oakham students in Forms 5 and 6 were joined by students from Harington School, Bourne Grammar School and Uppingham School for the now-annual Clinical Careers Conference, organised by Dr Nicoll.

The conference covered a range of issues pertaining to clinical study and careers. The day began with a talk from Dr Nicoll on clinical applications, which was supplemented by input from current final year students at Oakham and Harington who discussed the application process they had undergone and the university offers they held for Medicine and Veterinary Science. Following this, Professor Thompson Robinson, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Leicester University, Head of its College of Life Sciences and Dean of Medicine, spoke to students at length about medical undergraduate courses.

Following these, students then had the benefit of several in-depth talks covering specialist areas of clinical study and practice. Dr Rachel Williams OO, a paediatric endocrinologist, spoke about her role as a specialist and hospital doctor and gave students an insight into the breadths of medical paths available. Tuesday Healey OO and Ben Dimbleby OO, current medical students at the universities of Leicester and Birmingham respectively, spoke about studying Medicine as a graduate applicant and both the pre-clinical and clinical years of study. Ben and Dr Nicoll also gave a demonstration interview of the sort which can be used to assess applicants.

The day then moved to focus on veterinary careers. Chris Booth OO, Clinical Director of Oakham Veterinary Hospital spoke about a typical day in his role as well as some of the most memorable cases he had worked on, complete with videos and X-rays. The final activity was a multitasking team based exercise which required students to model chemical modules from a kit whilst retaining a focus on a conversation, demonstrating the skills they had been focusing on during the morning.

The event was wide-ranging in the breadth of career routes and opportunities explored and gave the students much valuable information as they begin to finalise their choices and plans for life post-Oakham. We are very grateful to all the speakers for their time and expertise as well as to Dr Nicoll for organising the event, and the assistance from Mr Silcock and Dr Stanley Isaac.