Ola Grabarczyk, who studies A-Level Chemistry, Biology and Geography, received offers from Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds.
“You are only allowed to apply to four different unis to study Medicine because it is so competitive,” said the former Cardinal Newman Catholic High School pupil.
“I’m made up and surprised to have received all four offers, I wasn’t expecting it.”
High-achieving students, combined with thousands of applicants, makes the admissions process for Medicine one of the toughest in the UK.
There are only 9,500 places available and an average UK Medical School has an acceptance rate of 16.7% meaning competition is fierce.
At Priestley this year 80% of students have received offers to study Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science - all of them have taken the Pre Med and/or The Graduate programme, alongside A-Levels as a way of preparing for the rigour of the application process and academic study.
Last year, 37.5% of Priestley’s applicants received offers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, far exceeding the average of 15.3% and 18.9% respectively.
Ola said: “All my teachers have helped me so much, but I’ve specifically benefitted from being on the Pre Med programme with Shahida. She has helped us with the application process and that has made a real difference.”
After completing her studies Ola is planning to become a doctor, but hasn’t decided what specialism to pursue.
Priestley’s STEM Coordinator Shahida Khanam, who leads the Pre Med, said the STEM class of 2024 had impressed with their attitude and passion for academia following impressively high UCAT scores with many Band 1s last summer.
“They are a hard-working cohort who have bright futures ahead of them in the STEM industries,” she said.