This week is results week, many people will have been receiving A-level, T-level, and BTEC results, and making some pretty big life choices as a result, often feeling a lot of pressure to get them right as, for some, it can feel like a point of no return.
I’ve previously written about this from my point of view:
All that being said, I graduated university over twenty years ago, and if I was an academic paper reference you’d discount me for being out of date. I was thrilled therefore when Megan volunteered to write a guest blog on her experience of entering the field of Healthcare Science.
Megan has just successfully completed a BSc at the University of Lincoln and navigated the process to apply for, and be accepted onto, the national scientific training programme (STP) in audiology and is due to start in 2026. Megan had initially thought medicine was the only way into a career in the NHS and I hope that by sharing her experiences it can help others navigate, what can be, a complex landscape into a wonderful career pathway.
Guest blog by Megan Baines
Like many people working in healthcare science, my path wasn’t quite as straightforward as I once imagined.
Looking back, I’ve always been academically minded. As a child, I was the one who preferred curling up with a book rather than running around outside. I enjoyed classroom lessons far more than active lessons (forever hopeless at PE), and I found genuine excitement in learning new things. While my interests changed over the years, one subject consistently stood out above the rest: science. From a young age, science fascinated me. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career where science was at the heart of what I did. I didn’t yet know exactly what that career would look like, but I knew it would involve science and hopefully a hospital.
As I approached the end of sixth form, I encountered something that many aspiring healthcare professionals experience. When you tell a careers adviser, teacher, or family member that you’re interested in healthcare, the conversation almost inevitably turns to medicine or nursing. Both are incredibly rewarding professions, and the dedication of those working within them cannot be overstated. However, they are far from the only careers that make a meaningful difference to patients.
At the time, though, I wasn’t aware of the breadth of opportunities available. Like many students, I assumed medicine was the obvious route. So, I applied to four medical schools, with Biomedical Science as my fifth UCAS choice, thinking of it simply as a backup plan if I was rejected. In my mind, I had mapped out my future: I would study medicine, become a doctor, and that would be that.
However, as I attended university open days, rather than becoming more excited, I found myself feeling increasingly uncertain with each visit leaving me with an uncomfortable sense of dread. It wasn’t that medicine wasn’t interesting (it absolutely was) but I realised I couldn’t picture myself enjoying the course or the career in the way I had hoped. The more I reflected on it, the more I recognised that I had been pursuing an idea of what I thought I should do, rather than what genuinely inspired me.
Though, everything changed during my final open day at the University of Lincoln.
Walking around the Biomedical Science department, speaking with staff and students, and learning more about the course, I felt something I hadn’t experienced during any of the medical school visits: genuine excitement. The programme combined everything I loved about science with the opportunity to contribute directly to healthcare through research, diagnostics, and laboratory medicine. It immediately felt like the right fit.
Making the decision to withdraw my medical school offers wasn’t easy. After years of working towards what I believed was my dream, changing direction felt daunting. But it was also one of the best decisions I have ever made. I accepted my offer to study Biomedical Science at the University of Lincoln, and I have never looked back.
The three years I spent there were some of the most rewarding of my life. I was fortunate to be part of an incredibly supportive cohort, many of whom remain close friends today. My lecturers were not only excellent teachers but accomplished scientists whose enthusiasm for their work was infectious. They demonstrated that there are countless ways to make a meaningful impact within healthcare beyond the roles most people immediately think of and often had meandering paths into their dream careers.
One lecturer, in particular, had previously completed the Scientist Training Programme (STP). Through her teaching and conversations about her own career, I was introduced to the STP for the first time. Until then, I had never even heard of it. Like many students, I had been completely unaware that such a pathway existed. Discovering the STP opened my eyes to an entirely different career that perfectly combined my love of science with patient care.
Perhaps that’s a rather long-winded way of saying that careers are rarely as linear as we expect them to be. When I first started university, if you had told me that one day I would be training to become an audiologist, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Like many Biomedical Science students, I assumed my future would lie in pathology, research, or another laboratory-based discipline. Audiology wasn’t even on my radar.
Yet that’s exactly where I found myself. Looking back, from choosing Biomedical Science over medicine, to discovering the Scientist Training Programme, to ultimately finding my place in audiology has led me to a career that genuinely excites me. I feel more motivated than I ever have before.
It’s funny how the opportunities you never knew existed can end up being the ones that suit you best. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to start writing. I remember how little I knew about healthcare science careers when I was applying to university, and if sharing my experiences helps even one person discover a path they hadn’t considered then I’ve done something right. It’s truly a privilege to now be writing for a blog that I have long enjoyed reading, while also beginning a blogging journey of my own.
So, cheers to us!
All opinions in this blog are my own
Girlymicro 