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🎓  Qualifications & Prizes

🎓  Qualifications & Prizes

This section of your portfolio is a record of your academic qualifications such as degree certificates, professional exam certificates and any awards. You may often be asked for proof of this as you progress through your career, and having them safely stored and accessible is helpful. Prizes, awards, and distinctions can get you extra points in applications so keeping a record of them can help your career.

Section 1: Degrees

Undergraduate degree certificates

Undergraduate degrees including intercalated degrees may count for extra points on future applications. It is important to keep those certificates safe. You can usually request copies of your degree certificate from your University if you lose or damage the original, but this may incur a fee.

Medical school degree certificate

Your Medical School degree certificate is the one that is linked to your GMC registration (check what is visible when you look yourself up on the GMC website). If you've lost it, ask your University if they will issue another one.

If you did post-graduate entry medicine, this is the degree that will be linked to your GMC registration.

Postgraduate degree certificates

Certificates for any postgraduate degrees that you have done should be stored here. Like certain undergraduate degrees, they may count for extra points on future applications so it is important to keep those certificates safe. You can usually request copies of your degree certificate from your University if you lose or damage the original, but this may incur a fee.

Section 2: Professional Qualifications

Additional diplomas

Many doctors go on to do postgraduate diplomas or certificates in medical education and research, and many academic training posts are associated with additional postgraduate qualifications. You should store these documents here. If you lose or damage the original, you can usually request a new copy of your degree certificate from your University but this may incur a fee.

Professional examination results

If you've done further exams such as the MRCP or MRCS, then you should store evidence of these here.

Not only are these essential for your applications and progression through specialties in the future, but if you are a non-trainee then you may be able to get additional locum work or improved rates if you can prove you have done these exams.

If you're an IMG who sat the PLAB exams and IELTS / OET to get your GMC registration, you should include these too.

Section 3: Prizes, Awards, & Distinctions

This section of your portfolio is where you should record your:

🏆 prizes 🏅 awards 📜 distinctions

We would also recommend using this section to record any nominations you have received. It is up to you how far you want to go back, but anything from your medical degree until the present would be reasonable, and exceptional awards outside of this time could be included if you can argue their relevance to your career.

In the future, you may be asked to list your prizes, awards, and distinctions on your specialty applications or job applications.

You should order this section in reverse chronological order (most recent first).