Alumni student studying Physiotherapy

Hello and welcome to this podcast series where I meet alumni students that studied with Academy Online Learning and have gone on to university. In this episode Peter who is now over half way through his degree at St.Mary’s university. Hello Peter, it's been three years since we last spoke. Can you tell us where life has taken you since completing your Access to HE Diploma?

So, since we last spoke, quite a lot has happened career-wise for me. I successfully enrolled on my physiotherapy degree program at St. Mary's University in Twickenham, and I've just finished my second year, which has been excellent so far, really enjoying it, learning lots. And we've just come off the back of two clinical placements. The first one, I was working on the rehabilitation of academy and professional footballers in London. And the second one, I was working with burns victims at a specialist NHS burns centre. So, a real broad range of experience, really interesting stuff. And then alongside my degree, I've been working in therapy assistant roles in the NHS, which has given me some really good additional hands-on experience alongside my studies. So, yeah, now looking forward to my third and final year on the program.


Looking back, how important was the Access to HE Diploma in helping you get to where you are today?

So the Access Diploma was really beneficial for me, not just in terms of improving my eligibility for the degree programme, but I think it really prepared me academically for the assignments  as it had been quite a while since I-I last studied and had to produce, you know, written assignments consistently  And I remember starting the access course and-and having a little bit of trouble at first getting back into the swing of Academic writing as there's definitely a bit of an art and a mindset to that. And yeah, it's funny because I- I've got a couple of friends on my degree course now who are also mature students who haven't done an access course prior to getting on the program. They definitely had a bit of a shock when they started with all the assignments  when they all started sort of mounting up. So I think it's better to probably have that stock before you- you start the degree program than when you're actually on it. So I'd say without the access course, it definitely would have been a lot harder.


That’s really good to hear. We spoke previously about applying to universities in the Manchester area. Which university did you choose in the end, and what influenced that decision?

Initially I'd planned to go to Manchester University. But I had a change in circumstances and I moved down south. So I applied to St Mary's as I knew it had a good reputation for physio and for sports programmes. 


What was the biggest surprise when you started university?

So, I think the big surprise was not so much the intensity of the course, as I was pre-warned. It's quite an intense study program. But I'd say it was probably the amount of mature students. I'd say one third of the class was made up of mature students, which was brilliant as, you know, a mature student myself. I have plenty in common. with the other guys there. We could also offer a little bit of advice to the- to the younger students, which is cool as well.


Yes, that mix of experiences probably made for a dynamic cohort. Can you tell us about a placement, patient, or experience that really confirmed physiotherapy was the right career for you?

I think on my first placement working with footballers in London. One minute I'll be rehabbing athletes in the gym with strength exercises. Next minute, I was doing soft tissue massage work. The next minute I'll be collaborating on designing rehabilitation programmes with other physios. And I just thought this was a really good range of skills I'm using here and developing and also plenty of variation in the job, which I love.


Sounds like you thrived on that energy and the varying tasks. For anyone listening who is thinking, "I'm too old to go back into education," or "I've been away from studying for years," what would you say to them?

I’d say, if you have a career goal in mind, which involves you needing to go back into education definitely don't let those thoughts and worries stop you, you know, because you're probably better equipped now than you were when you were younger. In a whole number of different ways that you probably don't realise yet. And that gives you a massive advantage. So definitely go for it and I'd definitely say look at you know, an access course before you look at doing a degree. because it'll just get you, like I mentioned before, you know, it'll just get you back into the swing of study and maybe, you know, planning your study around work commitments, family, that kind of thing.


If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice when you first enrolled with Academy Online Learning, what would it be?

I think one piece of advice I'd say to myself is not to get overwhelmed by assignments initially. So when you first start doing them or you first start a piece of work, it seems like this long sort of complicated hike that you've got to face. But it's really not. You're going to look back on it and realise that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was. It's just that your mind is trying to convince you it was-it was super difficult. So I'll tell myself, just ignore what your mind's saying and crack on with the work and you'll do just fine.


What's next for you?

So, my goal is to finish the third year of the program and graduate. Then I'll be looking for employment ideally in a private MSK clinic.

That sounds like a strong plan. Private MSK clinics can vary quite a bit. Some are very sport heavy, others more general MSK. Do you find yourself thinking about leaning towards sports rehab, or do you think more general outpatient work is more your thing?

One study tip you'd give new Access students?

Yeah, for a study tip, I'd say definitely to break your study into like 30 to 40 minute chunks and then break for like 10 or 15 minutes before going again because I found I found that really works Well for me. And you know, I even take set an alarm, like if you have to. It just helps keep my study kind of focused and on track Um, sometimes if you if you're not aware of the time you sort of lose yourself in a piece of work and it Few hours has gone by and it's not been as productive as it could have been Um And the whole day is kind of been taken with study So, I'd definitely say, you know, break your study into chunks with with scheduled rest. And it'll help you schedule your day and um, Yeah, you'll have much better focused study during that period of time as well.


Peter, it's been fantastic catching up with you. When we first spoke, you were preparing to apply for university, and it's been brilliant to hear how your journey has unfolded over the last three years. Thank you for sharing your experiences, and we wish you every success in your physiotherapy career.

To hear Peter's interview as an Access to HE Diploma student click HERE

For more information about UCAS please click HERE