Annika
Hi!
My name is Annika Piek and I’m a 21 year old who is currently studying Medicine at the Radboud University. I was born and raised in Rotterdam, and still enjoy visiting my hometown whenever I get the time to. Under normal circumstances I’m just like any student, who likes to party, go out to dinner, spend time with family and friends and whose second name is procrastination.
During 2018-2019 I studied BMG at the Erasmus University just like you are doing/ will be doing. The decision to start BMG was initiated because I didn’t get through the selection process of Leiden University. I had overlooked this study program and found it at the last moment, and felt that it was a great second choice. The “BMG Journey” started with the Eurekaweek which contributed highly to my experience at ESHPM. During the year I attended a lot of SHARE activities (recommendation!) and attended many classes with a great deal of fun. I learned a lot about SPSS, the dutch health care system and the meaning of illnesses.
I learned a lot, but felt that I missed working with patients. I realized that I eventually wanted to be on the frontline of healthcare and not work behind the scenes. Regardless, I had the best time during the first year of BMG. I learned a lot about “the studentlife”. Met a lot of amazing people, who I still see and talk to on a regular basis. Therefore, I do not regret studying BMG for a year at all.
The decision to apply for Medicine at the Radboud Universiteit was based on the selection procedure and curriculum. The RU promotes with the fact that they want to educate “social” doctors, who take pride in their communication-skills. Something which really helped me prepare for the admissions test were the experiences of other people. You can find a lot of them online, with websites providing practice tests. The test day was approximately a month after the christmas holiday. This is the period in which a lot of students have re-sits or exams. It wasn’t always easy to combine studying for both BMG and Medicine, but if you put in two weeks of hard work, you’ll be fine. Now that I am currently studying medicine I am still really happy with the way that I got here. A lot of the SPSS en AVV subjects are being tought during this first year. The fact that BMG already provided me with that knowledge helps a great deal. Furthermore, having the knowledge on our healthcare system, helps me understand the Medical world.
Something which I would recommend, if you’re contemplating switching to something else’s is looking at your own qualities. Forget about everyone elses opinion on what you can and can’t do. Look at what you want looking forward 10/20 years from now. What makes you happy? And if you still don’t know, just apply and you’ll have more time to think about it. Just take a leap of faith.
Good luck!
Annika Piek