Today, I am up to my neck in neuroscience, as next week I sit my final examination — after 12 months, two research projects, several essays and dozens of lectures. It has been a good year.

Last year I chose not to apply for a programme or scholarship in Germany, my home country. As a result, I ended up here in Oxford. But I think I prefer the approach taken by Anglo-American programmes when they assess candidates for a course. They tend to award positions on the basis of past research experience, a personal interview and the passion a candidate conveys in an interview. Germany, in contrast, tends to be highly bureaucratic. A stack of paperwork and written entry examinations come first. The personal interview is only the last step in the application procedure.

I was afraid of losing out before I reached the interview. Although I had achieved good results throughout my course, the marks were not exceptional. This was partly because medicine covers more than 40 subjects. How could one possibly be interested in all of them? I spent a lot of time in the lab concentrating on what really intrigued me. This fervour helped me to secure my current position. And, more importantly, it showed me that my style of studying is not wrong.