For CTC student Chyu Lai Yan Naing, a childhood dream is getting closer after receiving an offer to read Medicine at university.

Chyu grew up in Myanmar and aspired to become a doctor because this career would enable her to combine her love of science with her desire to work with people and help them to achieve a better quality of life. To learn more about the profession, she organised work placements in a variety of hospital settings, and, through this, she could appreciate the demands her chosen career would make of her.

Knowing that she would need to demonstrate that she possessed the necessary skills herself, she worked with elderly people, communicating and empathizing with them, which gave her a tremendous sense of satisfaction. During her period of volunteering at a diabetes family camp, Chyu gained experience of working with children too so she knew she was comfortable relating to all ages.

Chyu was in no doubt that she had chosen the right profession so, after matriculating from High School in Myanmar, she entered the University of Medicine in Yangon. However, it had always been her dream to study in the UK so, when she was interviewed by CTC’s Senior Adviser, Mr David Wilson, and offered a scholarship to study at CTC, her dreams started to come true! Chu says, “I just couldn’t say no to an opportunity to study at a college with a strong history of academic excellence and to have an experience of living in London.”

Soon after arriving here, Chyu began to realise the hard truth of just how competitive it was to gain a place at medical school in the UK. Not only would she have to achieve the required grades but also she would have to demonstrate to her chosen universities that she had the skills and knowledge they were looking for. Added to this, she would have to sit the UKCAT but she was determined to succeed so she practised over and over until she was ready to sit this test; her hard work certainly paid off!

The final step was the interview but Chyu prepared herself well and kept up to date with medical issues in the media so she thoroughly deserved to receive her offer to read Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire. Chu says, “Thanks to the tutors from CTC, I did not have to worry much about the grades. Also, multiple mock interviews and detailed feedbacks of how I performed helped me a lot in preparing for interview”.

We wish Chyu the best of luck in her A-level exams this summer and hope to see her going off to medical school in the autumn!