Barbie and Ken two are med students with similar abilities.

Ken comes from a working class family. He has to work part time along with studying, sometimes difficult to balance.

Barbie comes from a well off family. She does not have to work and has a good uni/life balance

OSCEs are coming up soon, Barbie paid for some mock OSCE sessions, which she found very helpful.

Ken couldn't sign up for those and had less time to study due to work.

Both have the same ability, but due to these barriers, Ken wasn't able to do as well as Barbie

Widening participation aims to level the playing field and help students like Ken overcome barriers which stop them achieving their full potential.

Barbie and Ken are both interested in surgery, a competitive speciality.

Barbie's dad is a doctor in another hospital. He gets some collegues to mentor Barbie. She also pays for conferences.

Ken tries to apply for a free conference but unfortunately there are limited spaces.

When they are building their portfolios, Barbie has many experiences she can write about. She gets her mentor to check them.

Ken does not have much that he could write about.

Both would have been skilled surgeons, but only Barbie has a good chance of getting in