A ready-made hand-out for your medicine, dentistry and veterinary applicants: the free, virtual work experience and online courses they can do from school, plus a printable reflection log. No placements, connections or budget required, and everything links to our existing free directories.
Written by Dr Akash Gandhi, NHS GP and founder of TheUKCATPeople. Updated 16 September 2026.
What is inside
Placements are harder to secure than ever, but a strong, realistic profile no longer depends on them. Here is what to tell your cohort before they start.
Structured online programmes made for aspiring medics, such as Observe GP from the Royal College of GPs and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School Virtual Work Experience, are widely accepted when in-person placements are hard to find. They are free and can be done from a classroom or at home.
A longer, regular commitment in a care home, hospice or community setting often teaches more about patient-facing work than a short shadowing day. It is also easier for students to arrange themselves.
Free online courses (MOOCs), wider reading and following current healthcare topics all show sustained interest. They give students something concrete to reflect on, whatever placements they manage to secure.
Selectors look for what a student understood and how it shaped their thinking, not the name of the setting. A modest activity, reflected on well, beats an impressive-sounding one described as a list of tasks.
Source for the access points above: our own free Work Experience Finder, which sets out the same guidance for students in detail.
The well-regarded virtual programmes, and a free tool to find real placements, all in one place. Point the whole cohort at these to make sure no student is left with nothing to reflect on.
Students search any UK postcode for GP surgeries, hospitals, dental practices, care homes and hospices to approach, with contact details and a ready-made request email. The page also points them to the free virtual programmes for when in-person shadowing is not possible.
Filterable directories of free-to-access online courses, ready to set as super-curricular reading. Every course is free: students never need to pay for a certificate.
A filterable directory of free online courses for medicine applicants, from Harvard, Yale, the NHS and top UK universities. Filter by topic and length, and learn how to reflect on a course rather than just list it.
The same idea for dentistry applicants: free, wider-reading online courses to build super-curricular depth around oral health, science and the profession.
Free online courses for aspiring vets, covering animal health, biology and the realities of veterinary practice, ready to use as super-curricular reading.
Point your cohort at our free guide hubs so every student always has something current to read, think and write about between activities.
Free, regularly updated guides your students can read and reflect on.
Free, regularly updated guides your students can read and reflect on.
Free, regularly updated guides your students can read and reflect on.
Free, regularly updated guides your students can read and reflect on.
A simple shape you can adapt for your own enrichment or super-curricular programme. Spread across two years, it keeps students moving without a single big placement to organise.
Year 12, autumn
Start early and build the habit
Year 12, spring and summer
Add real caring experience
Year 13, autumn
Turn experience into an application
One page a student completes after each activity. Print it, or copy it into a shared document, so every placement, virtual programme and course turns into material for a personal statement and interview.
Work experience reflection log
Name:
| Date | Activity (and where) | What I did / saw | What I learned | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date for entry 1 | Activity (and where) for entry 1 | What I did / saw for entry 1 | What I learned for entry 1 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 1 |
| Date for entry 2 | Activity (and where) for entry 2 | What I did / saw for entry 2 | What I learned for entry 2 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 2 |
| Date for entry 3 | Activity (and where) for entry 3 | What I did / saw for entry 3 | What I learned for entry 3 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 3 |
| Date for entry 4 | Activity (and where) for entry 4 | What I did / saw for entry 4 | What I learned for entry 4 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 4 |
| Date for entry 5 | Activity (and where) for entry 5 | What I did / saw for entry 5 | What I learned for entry 5 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 5 |
| Date for entry 6 | Activity (and where) for entry 6 | What I did / saw for entry 6 | What I learned for entry 6 | How it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary for entry 6 |
Tip for students: write your entry within a day or two of the activity, while it is fresh. Focus on what you learned and how it changed your thinking, not just what you did.
Yes. Structured virtual programmes made for aspiring medics, such as Observe GP from the Royal College of GPs and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School Virtual Work Experience, are well regarded and completely free. Medical schools understand that in-person placements are hard to secure, so they focus on what a student learned and how they reflected on it, not the format.
Use virtual experience alongside real caring experience where a student can arrange it, rather than instead of it, and encourage a reflection-log entry for each activity.
Our free Work Experience Finder lets a student search any UK postcode for GP surgeries, hospitals, dental practices, care homes and hospices near them, with contact details and a ready-made request email. No connections or paid placement are needed.
Encourage students to contact several settings, follow up politely after a couple of weeks, and line up care-home volunteering or a virtual programme in the meantime so no one is left with nothing to reflect on.
Set one free virtual programme and one free MOOC as a shared starting point, then ask every student to complete a reflection-log entry. It gives the group a common experience to discuss and gives you something concrete to review before personal statements.
The MOOC directories are filterable by topic and length, so you can pick a course that fits a single lesson or a half-term project.
Use the printable reflection log on this page. For each activity a student notes the date, what they did or saw, what they learned, and how it links to medicine, dentistry or veterinary study. That habit turns a scattered set of activities into material they can draw on for a personal statement and at interview.
Reflection is what selectors value most, so a short, honest entry written soon after each activity is worth far more than a long description written months later.
No. Everything linked from this page is free for your students to use, with no account, card or school licence required. It is designed so a careers lead can hand it to a whole cohort at once.
Share this page with your medicine, dentistry and veterinary applicants, or bookmark it for your enrichment programme. Our team of NHS doctors, dentists and vets has supported 2,700+ students through their applications.
Reviewed by Dr Akash Gandhi · Last updated 16 September 2026
Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.
“Harry got my UCAT up to 2,590, working through the sections I kept dropping marks on week by week. Gemma then ran my interview practice so the MMI stations didn't catch me out, and Dr Akash mentored me the whole way through. I'm off to King's for Medicine.”
“The interview prep was the part that actually moved the needle. Proper mock MMIs, not just lists of questions, and feedback that was honest about what I was getting wrong. I ended up with four offers and firmed UCL.”
“The Ultimate Package kept me organised from UCAT through to interviews. They knew what dental schools actually ask and tightened up my personal statement. Four offers in the end, and I'm going to Birmingham.”
“Vet applications come down to the written SAQs as much as the interview. Dr Rebecca went through my SAQs line by line, sharpened my answers and prepped me for the panels. I came away with four offers and chose the RVC.”
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