Omotola

Medicine and Surgery MBChB Student

My experience of completing the EPQ

From my perspective, completing an EPQ was a great experience overall. Admittedly it was challenging, however I gained important skills which I find useful to both university and life in general.  

Prior to my EPQ, I was unfamiliar with completing an academic task of this magnitude. There was a part of me that found the idea of embarking on this project intimidating. As a then Year 12 student, I think it was one of the first times where I had complete independence in choosing topics and areas I could explore. Up to this point, most of my decisions – albeit independent – were confined by certain parameters. This time, there were no limits to the topics we could study, we had complete freedom to think outside of the normal confines of study. We could do anything, and the world was our oyster!  

Fortunately, choosing the subject and topic on which to focus my EPQ was relatively easy. I wanted to do something relating to my future career. I knew I had an interest in medicine with a particular interest in surgery as a speciality, so I made the decision to focus on this area. During this time, I had little exposure to clinical areas, much less surgical theatres, therefore I didn’t know what areas I could focus on. So, I went looking, I knew I was interested in the future of surgery and I had an interest in technology, so I carried out some research and read up on the areas that were relevant. The title of my EPQ was 'Is Robotics the future of surgery?'.  

To be completely transparent, it took a lot of work. Planning the essay and writing was a learning process and I learnt a lot about structure, formatting, referencing and citing. I planned and re-planned. Drafted my essay and re-drafted it some more. I changed my structure at numerous times, and it took a long time, especially with studying other AS Level subjects. However, because I genuinely loved the topic, that kept up my motivation. When I needed assistance and help, I asked for it and fortuitously I received the help I needed.  

The EPQ offered me the opportunity to network with a professor who was well known in the field and I had the opportunity to interview him and explore his thoughts. I hadn’t known him previously, I just found his details online, proceeded to email him and I couldn’t believe that he agreed to take the time to speak to me. This particular experience encouraged me to be fearless and take chances.  

Overall, my experience with completing the EPQ provided a great start to thinking critically and embarking on projects in the first year of university.