Would you like to support the education of a future doctor studying at a world-class university?
Hi everyone! Welcome to my fundraiser! :)
My name is Lili and I am an 19 year old student from Hungary. I am very proud to say that I have accepted an offer for medicine at Imperial College London, which is one of the best medical schools in the world (top 10!).
Unfortunately, I am not in the financial position to fund this excellent course by myself. The tuition fees are very high, over £50,400* a year for a duration of 6 years.
*This amount is expected to rise slightly every year due to inflation.
This is where I would like to ask for your help. Please support my journey to make my dreams come true and graduate from Imperial College London as a doctor. Any donation you make is greatly appreciated, no matter how small. Your support can truly change a life, and in the future, the lives of many patients.
The goal is to reach £50,400 until the 30th of September 2023 so that I can fund my first year of tuition fees. In the remarkable case that we exceed this target, rest assured that all additional donations will be used to directly fund the tuition fees of the remaining five years of the course.
Thank you all very much for your help in advance. It would mean the absolute world to me if we could reach this target. Please share this fundraiser with your friends, family and colleagues, anyone who you might know who can help support this cause.
Lots of love,
Lili
For anyone interested, here’s a little bit about my journey to medicine:
I actually intended to go to Ireland first. After submitting my application for 2022/2023, I studied hard for the entrance exam (HPAT) alongside my A-Levels and performed quite well. I completed 5 A-Level subjects and achieved an A* in all five of them (a first in my school!), which everyone thought of as a guarantee for acceptance. Unfortunately, this was not enough - I did not get accepted for medicine. My dreams of being a doctor shattered and I was absolutely devastated. I was ‘forced’ to take a gap year and start the whole application process again: researching, personal statements, entrance exams, interviews…
I applied to Imperial on a let’s-see-what-happens basis. I knew about the excellent universities home to the UK and really wanted to experience what they were like first-hand. There was only one problem: since the UK left the EU in 2020, students from EU countries, who were classified as ‘Home’ students pre-Brexit, were now classified as ‘Oversees’ students. This meant a dramatic increase in the tuition fees: instead of paying £9,250 a year (an amount set by the government for all ‘Home’ students), I was now dealing with a tuition fee of £50,400* a year. With fees this large, the thought of studying in the UK did not seem very feasible, even though I really wanted it to work out.
Nevertheless, I completed my application to the best of my abilities: I logged onto UCAS, wrote my personal statement and sat the BMAT exam. I waited patiently for the universities to get back to me and received rejection letters from 2 of the 4 I’d applied for. Thankfully, Imperial and another university had faith in me and invited me for interviews, which I completed over January and February. I thought they went well and was told to wait patiently until the universities got back to me, which they did in early spring.
When I got the email that there’s been an update to my application, I was very eager yet nervous to open my UCAS hub. I opened the letter and saw ‘OFFER from Imperial College London’. I could not believe it! I was in utter disbelief but completely overjoyed – I would be going to one of the BEST medical schools in the world! (If you would like to see the official letter of acceptance as evidence, feel free to get in touch.)
But then reality slowly came creeping back in. Yes, it’s great that I got accepted BUT (and this is a big but) how on Earth was I going to pay £50,400* every year in tuition fees for 6 years? Not only is the tuition fee incredibly expensive, but we all know that life in London isn’t the cheapest either… And this was the feedback from my parents, my primary funders, as well: yes, this is fantastic news but it is quite expensive, we’ll think about it.
Through seeing my drive and passion, and some additional research, my parents agreed that this was indeed a great (and rare!) opportunity which we should try and pursue. After looking through our financial options, one thing became abundantly clear: we could not do this on our own. This sum, over £300,000* for the whole duration course, was simply unmanageable. I set off on a mission to find scholarships, stipends, student loans – ANY means of financial support – but sadly came back empty handed. With scholarships aimed at either ‘Home’ students or international students outside the EU, my options were practically non-existent. As for student loans, I could no longer take them out from the UK government due to Brexit, and my options locally could only provide small sums with which would prove insufficient.
This is where fundraising and you, my dearest donors, come in. If we can all contribute a little, we will go very far! I strongly believe in ‘many a little makes a mickle’, or ‘sok kicsi sokra megy’ in Hungarian. Any donation you can make is guaranteed to help and is very highly valued and appreciated. I will most definitely keep you updated on my journey!
To reiterate, the goal is to reach £50,400 by the 30th of September 2023. This is the sum of the tuition fees for the first year. Rest assured, 100% of your donations will directly fund my tuition fees. Thank you in advance for your support!
As for the future and the remaining five years of my studies, I am hoping that other financial opportunities will become available as time goes on. Hopefully more scholarships will become available that cater to my demographic and field of study. In the incredible case that we exceed the original goal, you will be supporting those remaining four years directly. In any case, we will find a way for me to finish this 6-year course. We will not give up.
Thank you all so so much! Wishing you all the very best,
Lili