Phoebe Clarke

Why did you choose to come to Petroc?
It’s the most local college to where I live, which meant I could walk to it and not have to wake up really early in the morning. My older siblings and cousins all came to Petroc to do their A Levels and BTECs and they all got on well here and recommended it as a college.

What made you pick this particular course?
The subjects I chose were ones I really enjoyed at GCSE and ones that I wanted to learn more about. At the same time, I wanted to keep my options quite open for after college as I didn’t have much of an idea of what I wanted to do.
The subjects I chose work really well together and can lead me into many different university courses. All I really knew before starting college was that I wanted to go into healthcare, so I looked up the requirements for medical courses, and maths and sciences were what most universities looked for.

What have been the highlights so far?
We had the chance to go to a UCAS fair this year, where we could speak with universities and companies from all over the country. It was really interesting to hear from the universities themselves about applying and uni life.
I can highly recommend joining one of the academies. I joined the VETMED academy and in one of the sessions, a previous Petroc student who’s now at medical school spoke to us about her experience, gave us a taster uni lesson, and we were able to ask her questions, which was amazing. We also do some fun things in the academies – for instance, we’ve just finished making prosthetic limbs.

What do you most enjoy about studying at Petroc?
My teachers have been amazing.There’s a new level of independence that comes with going to college, which has been really easy to adapt to at Petroc. Outside of our lessons, we are mostly in control of our studies, so you’re able to work at a time that suits you and still make time to enjoy yourself.

Have you undertaken any work experience throughout your studies?
I did a few virtual work experience courses before coming to Petroc. If you’re thinking of studying medicine, Plymouth University and Medic Mentor have really great courses to look at. In the VETMED academy, our teachers are really great at finding work experience/courses and helping us to apply for them, so definitely join an academy. I’ve not yet been able to get work experience in person, but I volunteered at our local Hospital for a couple of months, which was a great way to see medical professionals in action and get a feel for the hospital environment as well as helping out the staff. They can also arrange work shadowing days for you, which are definitely worth applying for.

What do you plan to do when you leave Petroc?
I’m planning to go to university after I leave Petroc. For a while I thought I needed to choose a vocation and then a uni course that could lead me into it, but as I’m still not sure where I’ll be heading in life, I’m going to pursue something I enjoy and find interesting until I know a bit more specifically what I want to do.

What’s the long-term plan?
For a while, doing a medical degree encompassed everything I enjoyed and wanted to do. But I’ve never really been fully set on it, so have been looking at many different courses throughout the year and found that a psychology degree would be perfect. Oxford University offers an amazing course in Psychology, Philosophy, and Linguistics, and I’m also going to apply to do Psychology on its own at other universities.

Any advice for someone thinking of choosing the same course as you?
Maths, Biology and Chemistry are a great trio of subjects to do together because they overlap each other and teach you skills and knowledge you can use in all three subjects. When it comes to each subject, make revision materials (summary pages, flash cards etc.) and keep up your studies outside of the lessons as you go along because we move quite quickly through topics. Take each day at a time and enjoy it because college will go much quicker than any other studies you have done or will do in your life.