Duncan - Natural Scientist (Biological)

Name: Duncan Bull
Subject: Natural Sciences (Biochemistry Part II)
Year: 3rd (of 4 years)
A-levels taken: Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Geography, Further Maths,
Statistics, (General Studies)

What does your working week entail?

This varies from year to year and from term to term. First term this year I had 2 or 3 morning lectures every day from Monday to Friday
and a 1 hour large group supervision on a Wednesday lunchtime. Once or twice
a week I would occasionally have an afternoon data-handling or
bioinformatics session. The rest of my working week involved reading
research papers and occasionally attending seminars.

In the second term this year (Lent) all Part II Biochemists undertake an 8
week project in a full time laboratory research group. The topics and
activities can be very diverse and all students get to choose the area of
their research. This term I have been in the laboratory at 9am - 9:30 most
mornings of the week and attend occasional lectures during the day, although
the majority of my time is spent doing wet (active) laboratory activities. I
still have one Wednesday lunchtime supervision and spend some evenings doing
work (e.g. presentations) for that and reading research papers.

How easy was the transition from A-level to the first year of your degree?

The transition from A-level (or equivalent) to Natural Sciences is very
good. Because of the nature of the course, you build up by taking a range of
options in your first two years and only fully specialise in the third year,
by which point you should have the skills necessary to excel at one subject.

How easily can you fit social activities into your working week?

I find fitting in social/sporting activities easy. I row and play rugby for
the college and occasionally dabble in other sports. During the second term
especially when I get more freedom to organise my own time in the laboratory
it is easy to fit in an occasional afternoon training session. Also, most
social activities take place in the evenings, so provided you find the right
balance and don't allow work to build up, there is still plenty of time in
the week for social activities. In the past I've been the Vice President of the college student union, so you can fit other things around the course.

What sort of things did you talk about in your interview?

The Natural Sciences interviews are very diverse and can include anything
the interviewer chooses to bring up. I talked about a whole variety of
topics including, evolution, laboratory methods and experimental design. It
is not possible to "second-guess" the topics and it is worth having some
knowledge of a small range of scientific processes and methods just to be
able to relate the topic in the interview to something you know a little bit
about.