Hello! My name is Simran, a final year BSc Biomedical Sciences student. I am grateful to be sharing my experience of thrive mentoring with all Reading students during national mentoring month.

My experience with my thrive mentor allowed me to reach for opportunities that I was not capable of on my own. I was able to participate in the UROP scheme and attain clinical and non-clinical based work experience with the guidance and motivation my mentor gave me. From my UROP experience I was able to developed excellent laboratory techniques such as operating flow cytometers. I developed good teamwork and adaptability skills while planning different stages of the experiments, and holding frequent team meetings to discuss our accomplishments and methods to enhance our practical techniques. My clinical work experience at different departments at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, gave me valuable insight into the daily routine of medical professionals in immediate and long-term care settings. I was able to interact with many critical patients and learned the significance of effective communication to give quality service. This increased my confidence, decision making skills and allowed to build up communication skills on various professional platforms. These experiences I shared with my mentor frequently to keep her updated with my experiences and I took on board her advice on how to develop an excellent academic profile, improving my CV and cover letter to appeal to medical professionals for my application to med school.

My mentor was an extremely kind, considerate and compassionate woman who always encouraged me to always thrive towards my goals and helped me develop connections with professionals within my field of study. My thrive mentoring experience supported me to gain a better understanding in the field of Medicine which I want to peruse a career in. I would encourage other students to also find a thrive professional mentor who could provide them with the support, guidance and motivation to help them advance in their desired professions.

If you would value speaking to one of our mentors, you can reach out to the Thrive team on mentoring@reading.ac.uk or view our Thrive web pages.

Simran Bains, Biomedical Sciences Student