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In Focus - Valter Bornac

Valter Bornac

Year of Study: Year 2

As we approach the start of a new academic year at BSMS, we caught up with Valter about his top tips for settling into university, how he’s spent the summer, and what he’s most looking forward to in Year 2.

How did you find settling into your first year at BSMS?

I found settling into BSMS to be natural, from the course layout to the social aspect, everything and everyone was very welcoming and followed by a smooth transition. A lot of people from my cohort are from London (where I am from), so it still felt as if I was back home. Even if I was missing going back home, I was only an hour away, so for me and a lot of others, we would go back to London for the weekend. It was also very nice to see how well-structured the timetables were. Giving us Wednesdays off enabled me to attend society events, to rest or catch up with work. Furthermore, there were plenty of icebreaker events and welcome events to help us form the connections that will last a lifetime and make our university experience the best!

What was your highlight from Year 1?

For me, the highlight of Year 1 and of BSMS is that it enables students to learn anatomy via dissection. I found it to be a very interesting experience because it enabled me to reflect on a lot of things. Coming from A-Level, the most we dissected was a lamb’s heart, to now learning and spending hours with our cadavers throughout the first year, learning from first-hand experience of anatomy and anatomical landmarks. I have found this to be one of the biggest highlights of the year because, as many other medical schools have transitioned to prosection and virtual anatomy learning, BSMS was able to integrate all three teaching modalities to learn anatomy, which was accommodating for everyone’s diverse learning styles. Alongside that, learning anatomy through dissection helped me to understand how to cut better, and improved my hand-eye coordination as well as my fine-motor skills, all of which will be of immense value as I would love to be a surgeon in the future.

Do you have any advice for managing the transition to university?

I will recommend joining the official year group chat. This is one of the best ways to stay informed and meet your flatmates in advance of moving in. I will also recommend following the BSMS Instagram (@bsmsmedschool) and University of Brighton (@uniofbrighton) and University of Sussex (@sussexuni) Instagrams too. That way, you can meet people from other degrees and join their respective events as well.

My advice is that if you feel uneasy about moving, then it is totally normal to feel like that, as for some, it may be their first time moving away from home and meeting so many new people from different walks of life. It will feel hard or strange at first, but after meeting your flatmates, you will get accommodated to speaking to new people. If you ever need any support, BSMS has a Student Advice section that you can attend via an online appointment or in-person to suit everyone’s liking. Unless specified, I do not recommend prereading, as you deserve the break. You have worked so hard and come such a way through getting top grades in your GCSEs and A-Levels, you can rest up and start fresh when you start medical school.

What have you been up to over the summer?

Before finishing the year, I signed up to run a marathon. For me, my summer has been a busy one in the lead-up to my marathon. I’m doing it abroad, so that meant a lot of researching of the location, the time and weather, flights and accommodation. I decided that the most suitable time for me to run it would be before starting the new academic year, and that meant I started my training after my final exams. Alongside training for the marathon, I have also decided to take driving lessons, as I know how beneficial it was for my friends to have a car in their first year. However, when I’m not doing these things, I also enjoy just relaxing and spending time outdoors, especially since the weather was nice this summer.

What are you most looking forward to about Year 2?

I have always liked anatomy. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to study medicine, and I know that in Year 2 we are going to have a whole term on the Musculoskeletal system, learning about all the muscles, nerves and blood supply of our limbs and axial skeleton. By speaking to students from the years above me, I have been told that it is a lot of memorisation and that it can be a lot of hard work, but I have always had an affinity for this field of medicine, and I am looking forward to it. Another thing I am trying to do is to include myself in societies more. Recently, I became the Treasurer for Sussex RunSoc and the Year 2 rep for BSMS GPSoc, I am aiming to improve the medical school and MedSoc experience one society at a time.

Describe your medical school experience so far in 3 words.

Rewarding, Insightful, Memorable