The MEDIFY Scholars Programme is the next stage in our development as a social enterprise. When we first started, our purpose was to shake up the for-profit industry that had grown around anxious young often-penniless prospective students. Companies were charging hundreds of pounds for advice on entrance into medical school. The disadvantages of this to the majority of prospective students were obvious. We wanted to change that.
By keeping costs low, we wanted to provide a sustainable solution to the socio-economic inequalities present in the current medical school admissions process. We wanted to challenge the companies who effectively did the work of an engaging, enthusiastic prospective medical student, packaged this information and then sold it to the highest bidder. These ventures via UKCAT/BMAT weekend courses, 'Get into Medical School' afternoon lunchtime/teatime talks and online practice questions are of a variable quality and have undermined the application process.
The task we set ourselves is one that has been attempted before. You can see remnants of very good, but old and out-of-date guides and articles on the application process littered across the internet and in bookstores. This is just one of the problems we wish to overcome. With time we want to mature into a sustainable social enterprise proving to nay-sayers that there is high quality and up-to-date help out there and available at an affordable cost. The key to this is to focus on organic growth. Also, by seeking a variety of revenue streams that do not harm the end user, we can hedge ourselves financially. And ultimately, be of good moral use to the medical profession.
We have tried to minimise costs by scouring for low cost, high uptime servers, by utilising in-house web programming and design, and by not spending on Google search positions or Google Ads. In our early days we strongly believe that providing high quality can still be affordable.
Our ultimate goal is to address the socio-economic inequalities. We need to attack the problems of the application process head-on, and with your help we can. So from the start of UKCAT 2013 we will slowly be opening up our membership to 50 scholarships, awarded to those who were successful in their UKCAT Bursary application. We understand that above 2,500 bursaries were handed out last year, and expect even more for 2013.
We want Medify to outlast us all. We hope with your help we can make this a reality.
