From cars to teeth- Access to HE student Sophie is making her career dreams a reality

Sophie Gilmour is studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma in Science at Middlesbrough College in order to fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming a qualified dentist.

Since being a child and asking for a playdough dentistry set for Christmas, Sophie has always known that dentistry was her ideal career path. After working in the motor trade for a number of years, twenty three year old Sophie decided to set her career dreams in motion and enrolled onto the Access to Higher Education Diploma in Science at Middlesbrough College.

Sophie applied to university and has been given a conditional offer to study for a degree in Dentistry at Manchester University. 

Sophie said “I have always wanted to become a dentist and sending off my university applications was a huge step for me. I cannot thank the careers team and my tutors enough for all their support and advice.

“The Access to Higher Education Diploma in Science is definitely the right course to get me to where I need to be. I wake up every day and I’m so excited to come in to College- the course is really interesting and Middlesbrough College is a fantastic place to study.  Everyone in the College is so friendly and they want you to do your best.

“I know I am gaining the skills I need to succeed at university and I love learning about human anatomy and immunisation, which are topics I will need to cover as an aspiring dentist.

“My advice to anyone considering coming back into education is to just go for it! You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.”

As the largest provider of Access Diplomas in the North East, Middlesbrough College offers a range of pathways which can be studied from as little as 12 hours per week for one year and lead to progression on to a university level course. If you are wanting to progress to Higher Education, then an Access to Higher Education course at Middlesbrough College could be the perfect choice for you.