My name is Sacha and I'm doing the
MRes Cardiovascular Science course
at the Medical School.
So the reason I chose Birmingham for my
postgraduate studies is because I knew
this is a world-leading
institution for research and I was
particularly interested in
cardiovascular research so I wanted to
do a dedicated course so this course was
perfectly suited to me . What's special
about this course is that and this
course is not offered in any other
university but University of Birmingham
so it's very special to this university.
It's the first time running this year so
it's been really new and it's been
revised all the time and it also gives
you the amazing opportunity to get stuck
into the lab work in the research
centres so you get to work with some of
the leading scientists in the field and
and for them to pass on their knowledge
on to you. The postgraduate community is
really developed at Birmingham and you
get the chance to do anything even if
it's not with postgraduate students so
I'm a part of a jiu-jitsu club at the
University here and I've been training
with them since my undergraduate degree
so that's really good and I get to
meet new people as part of that but as
well you get the research conferences
you get to go to talks
as part of being a student at
Birmingham so there is a wide array of
things to do while being at Birmingham.
So, the first
three months starting from September
to December you have lectures and
small-group teachings where you get
lecturers to just teach you the material and
you discuss it with them and you go
through research papers together and
from January onwards until September you
get put into the lab straight away so
you start your project and you work on
that until the end of the course. The
main difference between undergraduate
and postgraduate study is the
independence you get, so it is very
much self-directed and self-motivated
study and you've got your own goals to
fulfill a lot of the course rather than
being directed by course leaders to
constantly keep doing work so it's up to
you to make your own progress and the
results that you get from that are
really worthwhile. So those students who
are considering postgraduate study i
would recommend them and my top tip
would be to research the course that
they want to apply to, and if it is
MRes Cardiovascular Science just contact
the program leaders and just talk to
them to meet up with them and just get
to know them and ask them as many
questions as possible for you to know
what the course is like. My favorite
thing about being a postgraduate at Birmingham
is the chance that I get to work in
one of the most leading labs in the
country and the world for platelet
research and I've been under some of the
most leading people in that research and
to get that opportunity is just so rare
so it gives me the opportunity to
actually apply that to my own work and
get some knowledge from them to then
get better myself as well. So my plan for
after I graduate are to start a graduate
medicine entry course and and i have
been in touch with the careers network
throughout my degree here at
Birmingham for them to help me with
applying for that course and to just
make the most out my application -
they've been really helpful.
