Aeishah Griffiths-Williamson never doubted she would make a good doctor. She enjoyed science, and working with people, and knew a medical career would combine both. What she did doubt was that she'd get a medical school place.

Without work experience and with A-level predictions from her state school in Lewisham, south London of A,C,C, way below the three As often looked for by interview panels, "I knew it would be almost impossible," she says. Nor could she rely on family advice to improve her chances - none of her family went to university, let alone medical school.

Aieshah, 18, is one of 2,000 potential medics from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive support from the Brightside Trust, a charity that provides first- and second-year medical students as e-mentors to offer guidance through the admissions process. Suitable mentees are identified by the government's Aimhigher widening participation scheme.

John Berry, chairman of the trust, which celebrated the first two years of its e-mentoring scheme, Bright Journals, last week, says: "For people from non-traditional backgrounds without family support, a lot of things others take for granted simply don't happen."

Take Charles Iwegbu, 24, who always wanted to be a doctor, but struggled to adapt when he arrived in the UK from Nigeria aged 10. Then his father died of a stroke, which increased his passion for medicine - and neuroscience in particular - but decreased his ability to concentrate. "My head wasn't really focused on work," he says. "I was more concerned with the environment and atmosphere at home."

Or Negin Damali Amiri, 18, who arrived in England from Iran three years ago speaking no English. "In the country I'm from the education system was completely different," she says. "I found it difficult to go through the process of applying and know what was needed for a medical degree."

Charles is now taking a gap year before starting a degree in medicine at Warwick. Negin, now fluent in English, has just applied to read medicine at Cambridge. But for young people from these kinds of backgrounds, medicine is one of the hardest subjects to break into. Latest figures from the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that, in 2004/05, while 87% of young full-time first-degree students went to state schools, this figure dropped to 67% for those studying medicine, dentistry or veterinary studies. Only 16% were from the lowest social groups compared with 28% studying all subjects, and 7% came from low participation areas, half the percentage overall. Even students with high A-level scores appear to have less chance of studying medicine if they went to a state school. While 75% of all students with top A-level grades attended state schools, only 66% of top-scoring students studying medicine were state educated.

Confronting attitudes

Jon Parry, project director for the London region's Aimhigher programme for the health professions, says that behind these statistics lies the feeling of many from poorer backgrounds that a career in medicine is not for their sort. "There is still that attitude that medical subjects are for higher social classes," he says.

Also holding them back is the attitude of others. "Some schools have simply told young people they cannot be a medic or a vet or a physiotherapist," he says.

More of a challenge is the fact that many state-school students do not achieve high enough grades in science subjects for medicine. Around 70% of physics teachers in state schools do not have a physics degree. Many children don't even attempt science subjects - a problem recognised by the government recently with an £18m grant to support pilot projects designed to inspire young people to take up science.

There is also the difficulty of finding work experience. Most medical schools see this as an essential demonstration of commitment to the discipline and proof that applicants realise what is involved in a medical career. But work placements are hard to come by, unless you come from the type of school that organises them for you, or have a friend or relative working in a senior position in a hospital.

Medical schools have woken up to the fact that they need to attract a more diverse group of students. Parry says: "There is a huge pool of talent out there and over the last few years it has been realised that professions need to change their profiles. If you are a medic you need to be able to relate to your patients. "

Outreach work

Gavin Brown, project manager for King's College London's Access to Medicine scheme, says while the students at King's have been overwhelmingly from traditional middle-class backgrounds, teaching takes place in some of the most culturally diverse boroughs in London. "There is an argument that the medical profession should reflect that," he says.

King's now does outreach work in local schools to encourage children to consider studying medicine, as well as running an extended medical degree, which takes students with slightly lower A-level results than normal and gives them an extra year of teaching.

Other medical schools are also working hard to improve diversity. Sheffield University runs an outreach and access to medicine scheme involving activities for groups of children over a number of years and offering ring-fenced places at the university for those who perform well. Southampton also runs a widening access into medicine programme for able students, with an extra teaching year.

So eager are universities to achieve a more representative student body that 38 now pay for involvement in the Brightside mentoring scheme, which is well on the way to becoming self-financing.

The success of the e-mentoring project is such that Brightside is widening it out to support young people interested in studying chemistry, physics and engineering. It is also developing a nationwide medical work experience programme.

Aeishah says this is an area in which her Brightside mentor proved invaluable. She had tried repeatedly to find work experience without success but her mentor, Amber Appleton, gave her the name of a number of volunteering agencies and she eventually managed to find work in a homeless shelter. Amber also told her about the Access to Medicine scheme run by King's, where Aeishah is now studying medicine, as well as giving her tips on how to write her personal statement and techniques for the interview. "She gave me confidence," says Aeishah. "When I got my AS results she didn't say I would find it impossible to get into medicine. She kept urging me on. Knowing she was studying the degree made me think, 'She thinks I can do it. There's a possibility that I can.'"