So today I got another track update, and it was another rejection sadly! I was kind of expecting it, as I hadn't heard anything from this university since December, and I had a feeling I was below the GCSE cut off (all because of my stupid B in English Language).
Anyway, I'm not too upset about it, but I'm getting really scared now because I've realised that the next two track updates will be from universities where I've actually had an interview - way more scary. I think I might faint when I get my next track email.
I'm not loving this new thing on track where it says the update before you've had time to scroll down to it - I'd rather be oblivious for a bit longer:(
Anyway! I've got to keep on working - I will get 3As in the summer!
Bye!xxx
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Wednesday 19 February 2014
Demotivated
Waaaaa I have my mocks coming up in the first week of March, but I just can't help but feel so demotivated whenever I try to revise. I think it's because I haven't heard anything from my universities, so I feel as though I'm working for nothing, even though obviously I'll still need the grades whether I reapply or somehow get in the first time! It's so frustrating because I want to revise but everything distracts me:(
If I get 4 rejections then I'll be motivated because I'll want to prove that I can do it and get into Medicine, and if I get an offer then it's obvious I'll be motivated - I'll want to meet the offer!
I've even started googling tips on how to get motivated... Oh dear.
Anyway, I should probably stop procrastinating by writing this blog post and get back to work.
Bye!xxx
If I get 4 rejections then I'll be motivated because I'll want to prove that I can do it and get into Medicine, and if I get an offer then it's obvious I'll be motivated - I'll want to meet the offer!
I've even started googling tips on how to get motivated... Oh dear.
Anyway, I should probably stop procrastinating by writing this blog post and get back to work.
Bye!xxx
Wednesday 5 February 2014
Work Experience
So I said in my previous post that I'd take you through my process of applying for work experience at hospitals, and what I did for work experience.
If you're in year 10, 11 or 12 and considering studying Medicine, I literally urge you right now to get some work experience in a caring setting - whether it's a hospital, care home, school for disabled children - just get something so that you can find out if being a doctor is for you!
I didn't decide that I wanted to study Medicine until January of my year 12 year, and so I only had 9 months to try and get as much as possible. I applied to my local hospital for work experience, and then emailed loads of London hospitals about trying to get some work experience with them. All of these attempts were unsuccessful though, and I didn't manage to get any hospital work experience:(
So I turned to some different options. I went on a trip with my school to Lourdes with the HCPT, where I volunteered with looking after disabled children for a week. Then I got some work experience volunteering in a childrens hospice throughout the summer - I only worked in the kitchen but it just got me used to the caring environment and introduced me to a new medical environment. I also managed to get a week of work experience working in a school with disabled children. This was my favourite piece of work experience and I absolutely loved it. I got see the physiotherapists working with them in the hydrotherapy pool, and see how their teachers communicated with them. I also got to speak to the doctor who worked at the school and he gave me some really helpful advice. If I end up taking a gap year next year, I definitely want to go back and get some work experience there again.
And then in October, after I submitted my UCAS form, I got a stroke of luck! My auntie's friend offered to give me some work experience at a hospital in London. It was only for a day but it was SO useful. The amount of experience I got from just one day of working there was amazing, so if you get a week in a hospital you're soooo lucky. This meant that I had something to talk about in my interviews that wasn't on my personal statement, and it meant that I actually could speak about my hospital experience. It also really reinforced the fact that I wanted to work in a hospital, and got me really excited about wanting to be a doctor. I also got to speak to a medical student, a consultant and a registrar whilst I was there and so I was able to speak to people who were at loads of different stages in their medical career. So even if you get work experience after submitting your UCAS form, don't worry! It will help you so much in your interviews and then if you have to take a gap year you can talk about it then as well!
I also spoke to somebody who worked in the NHS, an anaesthetist, my GP and other medical students to see what life was like as a doctor and to get some more information about different roles. I would definitely advise this, because it's so useful to hear things from different people's perspectives, and it'll give you some ideas for points to make in your interview.
I hope this has given you some good pointers for where to start looking for work experience. You definitely should try and get some volunteering work as soon as possible, and then try to get something in a hospital or other caring setting! And use any contacts you have, don't be shy!
Hope this helped!
If you're in year 10, 11 or 12 and considering studying Medicine, I literally urge you right now to get some work experience in a caring setting - whether it's a hospital, care home, school for disabled children - just get something so that you can find out if being a doctor is for you!
I didn't decide that I wanted to study Medicine until January of my year 12 year, and so I only had 9 months to try and get as much as possible. I applied to my local hospital for work experience, and then emailed loads of London hospitals about trying to get some work experience with them. All of these attempts were unsuccessful though, and I didn't manage to get any hospital work experience:(
So I turned to some different options. I went on a trip with my school to Lourdes with the HCPT, where I volunteered with looking after disabled children for a week. Then I got some work experience volunteering in a childrens hospice throughout the summer - I only worked in the kitchen but it just got me used to the caring environment and introduced me to a new medical environment. I also managed to get a week of work experience working in a school with disabled children. This was my favourite piece of work experience and I absolutely loved it. I got see the physiotherapists working with them in the hydrotherapy pool, and see how their teachers communicated with them. I also got to speak to the doctor who worked at the school and he gave me some really helpful advice. If I end up taking a gap year next year, I definitely want to go back and get some work experience there again.
And then in October, after I submitted my UCAS form, I got a stroke of luck! My auntie's friend offered to give me some work experience at a hospital in London. It was only for a day but it was SO useful. The amount of experience I got from just one day of working there was amazing, so if you get a week in a hospital you're soooo lucky. This meant that I had something to talk about in my interviews that wasn't on my personal statement, and it meant that I actually could speak about my hospital experience. It also really reinforced the fact that I wanted to work in a hospital, and got me really excited about wanting to be a doctor. I also got to speak to a medical student, a consultant and a registrar whilst I was there and so I was able to speak to people who were at loads of different stages in their medical career. So even if you get work experience after submitting your UCAS form, don't worry! It will help you so much in your interviews and then if you have to take a gap year you can talk about it then as well!
I also spoke to somebody who worked in the NHS, an anaesthetist, my GP and other medical students to see what life was like as a doctor and to get some more information about different roles. I would definitely advise this, because it's so useful to hear things from different people's perspectives, and it'll give you some ideas for points to make in your interview.
I hope this has given you some good pointers for where to start looking for work experience. You definitely should try and get some volunteering work as soon as possible, and then try to get something in a hospital or other caring setting! And use any contacts you have, don't be shy!
Hope this helped!
Sunday 2 February 2014
My Story
I thought I'd just take you through the story of me deciding that I wanted to study Medicine, because trust me I wasn't born wanting to be a doctor, but it just kind of crept up on me over the years!
I first really thought about working in a hospital when I decided I wanted to be a midwife in year 9 or 10. I got all of the information about it from a school careers fair and was really set on it for a while.
But I first began wanting to study Medicine when I was in year 10 (15 years old). I was watching a TV show about paediatric brain surgeons - I can't remember the specific name of it, but it was really good! And I absolutely loved how they worked. I loved the explanation of the diseases, seeing the effect that the surgeons had on their patients and their families, seeing how they worked with the skull and the brain during the procedures, and learning about the innovative treatments that these doctors and scientists had come up with to treat the neurological diseases that these children suffered from. It made me think - maybe I could do that! So from then and for the next few months I decided that I wanted to be a brain surgeon just like the doctors on that show. I went on a trip to King's and did a medical day there, and it was really fun!
However, this whole dream came to an end when I went on a trip to Cambridge with my school. One step in there and I was like "I only want to go here! I don't want to go anywhere else!", and since I wanted to go to Cambridge so much I decided that maybe I should just apply for a course where I'd have a good chance of getting in. And I didn't really think that I would be able to be successful if I applied to Cambridge for Medicine, so I decided I wanted to study Natural Sciences. Or maybe Biochemistry at Oxford? Or what about just Chemistry? Or Biology? Or Archaeology? Literally I was set on Oxbridge.
So I did my GCSEs, and worked really hard because I wanted to get those grades so that I could apply for Oxford or Cambridge. And I got good grades! I was really pleased with them overall and so I continued with my Cambridge dream. I knew I wanted to study something sciencey but I decided to keep my options open for if I did decide to study Medicine, so I chose to study Biology and Chemistry at A level.
So, I started year 12 studying Biology, Chemistry, Maths, French and Drama, but dropped Drama because 5 AS levels really was just too much. I went to the talks they held about Oxbridge and got really excited about the thought of studying at Cambridge! But as year 12 went on I kept putting myself off of the idea of Cambridge and I became less sure that it was for me. As I studied AS Biology, I noticed how much I loved learning about protein synthesis and the structure of proteins, and I decided that Biochemistry was for me.
And then in January 2013, I randomly came across Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands on BBC3. And once again I fell in love with the idea of being a doctor. The whole evening after I watched it I just couldn't stop thinking about wanting to be like those Junior Doctors on TV! I know it sounds stupid, I mean you can't exactly decide your career from watching a TV show? But it just made me start thinking - maybe I could be a doctor after all! I'd got over the idea of going to Cambridge now, and so that wasn't putting me off the idea of wanting to be a doctor at all! I looked into it more and started really wanting to study Medicine. I spoke to my friend who was planning to do Medicine and she encouraged me to do it. I realised that I wasn't actually that passionate about Biochemistry, and now when I think about if I had to do that instead of Medicine it makes me really sad.
And so that's when it started. I started panicking about AS results, and whether I had enough work experience and extra-curricular activities! And since I only had about 9 months to get all of my work experience sorted it really was a panic. I'll tell you more about applying for work experience in my next post.
Thank you for reading! I hope you found my Medicine story at least a bit interesting:)
I first really thought about working in a hospital when I decided I wanted to be a midwife in year 9 or 10. I got all of the information about it from a school careers fair and was really set on it for a while.
But I first began wanting to study Medicine when I was in year 10 (15 years old). I was watching a TV show about paediatric brain surgeons - I can't remember the specific name of it, but it was really good! And I absolutely loved how they worked. I loved the explanation of the diseases, seeing the effect that the surgeons had on their patients and their families, seeing how they worked with the skull and the brain during the procedures, and learning about the innovative treatments that these doctors and scientists had come up with to treat the neurological diseases that these children suffered from. It made me think - maybe I could do that! So from then and for the next few months I decided that I wanted to be a brain surgeon just like the doctors on that show. I went on a trip to King's and did a medical day there, and it was really fun!
However, this whole dream came to an end when I went on a trip to Cambridge with my school. One step in there and I was like "I only want to go here! I don't want to go anywhere else!", and since I wanted to go to Cambridge so much I decided that maybe I should just apply for a course where I'd have a good chance of getting in. And I didn't really think that I would be able to be successful if I applied to Cambridge for Medicine, so I decided I wanted to study Natural Sciences. Or maybe Biochemistry at Oxford? Or what about just Chemistry? Or Biology? Or Archaeology? Literally I was set on Oxbridge.
So I did my GCSEs, and worked really hard because I wanted to get those grades so that I could apply for Oxford or Cambridge. And I got good grades! I was really pleased with them overall and so I continued with my Cambridge dream. I knew I wanted to study something sciencey but I decided to keep my options open for if I did decide to study Medicine, so I chose to study Biology and Chemistry at A level.
So, I started year 12 studying Biology, Chemistry, Maths, French and Drama, but dropped Drama because 5 AS levels really was just too much. I went to the talks they held about Oxbridge and got really excited about the thought of studying at Cambridge! But as year 12 went on I kept putting myself off of the idea of Cambridge and I became less sure that it was for me. As I studied AS Biology, I noticed how much I loved learning about protein synthesis and the structure of proteins, and I decided that Biochemistry was for me.
And then in January 2013, I randomly came across Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands on BBC3. And once again I fell in love with the idea of being a doctor. The whole evening after I watched it I just couldn't stop thinking about wanting to be like those Junior Doctors on TV! I know it sounds stupid, I mean you can't exactly decide your career from watching a TV show? But it just made me start thinking - maybe I could be a doctor after all! I'd got over the idea of going to Cambridge now, and so that wasn't putting me off the idea of wanting to be a doctor at all! I looked into it more and started really wanting to study Medicine. I spoke to my friend who was planning to do Medicine and she encouraged me to do it. I realised that I wasn't actually that passionate about Biochemistry, and now when I think about if I had to do that instead of Medicine it makes me really sad.
And so that's when it started. I started panicking about AS results, and whether I had enough work experience and extra-curricular activities! And since I only had about 9 months to get all of my work experience sorted it really was a panic. I'll tell you more about applying for work experience in my next post.
Thank you for reading! I hope you found my Medicine story at least a bit interesting:)
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