Joining Project Access
Zhu Xuan - Content Manager, Global Marketing Team
With some of the Marketing Team members! Left to right: me, Catriona (Director of Marketing), Joe (Head of Marketing Logistics)
I first heard about Project Access through a university fair held in Singapore, where Project Access had a booth. While the booth at the fair piqued my interest in the ways Project Access could help me, I did not think too much about it then as it was still fairly early in the year and applications were still a few months away.
Sometime after, while I was preparing my application, I was reminded about Project Access. Being a typical student anxious to obtain whatever resources I could, I looked it up and learnt more about it. What particularly caught my attention was its mentor matching service, which puts you into contact with someone studying the same course you wish to study at your target university. At that time, Cambridge seemed like a far-fetched dream, but I stated it as my target and got matched with a Singaporean reading Medicine at Cambridge. In fact, she even came from the same school I was attending, which helped establish a greater sense of rapport between us.
“What particularly caught my attention was its mentor matching service, which puts you into contact with someone studying the same course you wish to study at your target university.”
She was very informative and proactive in offering me information about Medicine and Cambridge, from the course structure, to advice on choosing a college. What I found the most helpful were her encouragements and tips when I was doubting my own abilities, giving me the confidence to tackle the various stages of applications – BMAT and interviews.
And we all know how the story ends: I received an offer from Peterhouse, the college I applied to, and am currently studying Medicine there. In all honesty, while I may have performed above average at school, I do not believe that I was the top few students. Hence, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get in. But I did. And I owe a significant part of it to my mentor.
But this isn’t the end of the story, not quite yet. Upon joining university, I got closer to my mentor, who continues to encourage me through the tough times, and we have become good friends. Through local team publicity, I learnt that Project Access was recruiting mentors. Wanting to pay it forward, I decided to sign up, except I filled in the wrong form and made an application to be part of the Singapore team, as opposed to simply a mentor. From there, I was contacted by the Singapore team’s leaders, who interviewed me to assess my suitability for the position. I guess my vision regarding how I wish to contribute to PA led them to recommend me for a position on the global team, thinking that I would create more impact there. And now here I am, the Content Manager of the Marketing Team, where I create content (such as what you see on this blog) for the various platforms that Project Access uses to reach out to aspiring applicants and mentors like you. It is exciting to be part of something bigger than yourself, thinking about the amount of change you can affect. That is what being part of Project Access is about.