Graduate Applicants for 2011

**mbybak** · 30-04-2010, 07:55 PM

Ah great. Thanks a lot for the hostel recommendation. I'm not too worried about crime or not feeling safe..I just
think that I might get a bit lonely unless I meet people. Hopefully hostels should help with that..
So, I'm thinking Chengu(plus Jiuzhauglou, etc), Guilin, Shanghai and Xian..hopefully will be able to fit that into
just over two weeks.
I don't know any Chinese, by the way!

**allyboy** · 30-04-2010, 08:37 PM

If you get folk to write down the Chinese for things, then you can just hand bits of paper to taxi drivers, train ticket people etc. It's fine like that. A pocket dictionary always come in handy for pointing at words! I've been here for 8 months but, because the regional dialects vary so much, and people don't expect foreigners to be able to speak Chinese, it can be hard to make myself understood! That and my Chinese isn't the best.

Shanghai's brilliant. It's like being in Blade Runner. I'm hoping to get to Xian too. I've heard, but don't know, that it's best feature is the warriors, that as a city it doesn't have much to offer. I'll be there in July, so I can let ye know. I've heard Guilin is a trade-off between its undoubted beauty and its fair share of touts, conmen and expensive exhibits. I can recommend Leshan and Mount Emei for two more Sichuan places both close to Chengdu.

I've been to Chongqing too, and wasn't that enamoured. I much prefer Chengdu. It's got loads of great parks, teahouses, the pandas...

I don't mean to put you off places you're interested in seeing, but two weeks isn't that long to stop and smell the roses if you're covering such large distances, especially as it will be roasting hot in August. I always have a better time here if I've got a base from which I can go and see something, then come back, gather my thoughts in a familiar place, then move on again.

Chengdu's main advantage is that it's close to so many places of interest, and it's cheap compared to Shanghai and Beijing, without losing anything in terms of how much there is to see and do.

I can't claim to be an expert though, and I know that if you come to China, you're pretty much going to have to be able to say you saw the great wall, shanghai's wonders, the terracotta warriors etc. Tough call with only two weeks at your disposal. It's so big!

**mbybak** · 30-04-2010, 09:50 PM

Thanks for the advice. This thread is becoming more about China and less about Medicine! :-)

I do realise that two weeks is nowhere near enough time to cover all of those places, but I have to be back by October.
I'm trekking the wall in late August and will then have mid-late September to travel around. Hopefully it won't be too hot by then.
I was thinking of including Guilin&Yangshuo because they seem like better options for a lone traveller.
My friend wasn't impressed with Chengdu last year, but I think I'll have to reconsider it..
The WorldExpo in Shanghai might be worth a visit, although I imagine it'll be extremely crowded.

**mbybak** · 30-04-2010, 10:03 PM

Oh and what about Kunming and Dali?!

**allyboy** · 30-04-2010, 10:06 PM

yeah it'll have cooled off a little by then. i really want to check out the expo too, just because it's such a vast operation. when i saw the construction site from a nearby bridge a couple of years back, i thought it was a new city they were building! the whole place is mind-boggling in scale.

tbh, i can see why anyone could be put off by any chinese city. they're all enormous, sprawling, crowded, polluted, and hard for a foreigner to navigate. but there's often so much to see that takes you away from the negatives.

i hear what you're saying about the thread-tangent! why don;'t we say any more chinese matters we can PM each other if it arises?

**allyboy** · 30-04-2010, 10:09 PM

kunming and dali, i'm ashamed to say, i've yet to visit. we actually looked for jobs mainly in yunnan (pronounced 'ween-nan' obscurely), but couldn't find anything. we keep meaning to go, but it's about 10 hours away, even though it's the next province along!

**snoogles** · 01-05-2010, 12:36 AM

Oh wow, I am getting insanely jealous of all this travelling. I thought the travel bug had settled down for a bit... I was wrong! Maybe I'll take a gap year and travel around SE Asia if I don't get in anywhere for 2011. Allyboy, how did you get your job as an English teacher? Do you need any special qualifications?

Mbybak, I'm quite curious as to your A levels and your undergraduate degree class. I've heard that Cambridge interviews the vast majority of applicants, at least for the 5-year program, so I'm surprised that you didn't get an interview. You obviously have great work experience... Perhaps it would help to get new recommendation letters that are more targeted to medicine? I was thinking of making a list of points that I need my references to focus on. You know, to say all the things that you can't say yourself in the PS without looking like the world's most arrogant person!

I hope this thread doesn't get too popular as time goes on. I don't want us to start feeling like we're competing against each other!

**allyboy** · 01-05-2010, 11:58 AM

I know what you mean about the competition thing. I suppose we all will be competing with each other in a sense, but I feel that the entrance process really looks at the individual applying. If each applicant gives it their best shot, then they've done all they can, and the med school will make its decision. I see it as a competition with myself to present the most relevant information about me in the best possible way. It's hard to mine all the relevant experiences from my memory. I feel like I've never done so much soul-searching before!

I like the idea of targeting the reference as a source of extra information. I'm still not sure who would be best placed as my third referee, the first two having to be familiar with most recent academic performance. Any thoughts?

snoogles, to get the job here I trawled the net for email addresses in the area we were interested in, and sent off loads of speculative applications, as well as applying to advertised jobs. In the end, it was an agency that took us on, which you have to be very wary of, but it's worked out really well. You don't need any specific qualification. To get the proper visa you just have to be a native English speaker, and to have a degree. If you have teaching experience or a teaching qualification, or a masters or phd, you can get a more highly paid job, or a job in a university, which has fewer teaching hours with students with better English.

**mbybak** · 03-05-2010, 12:06 AM

allyboy, I'll be sure to PM you if any more China matters arise :-)

snoogles, I didn't know that they interviewed most applicants? I know two other people who applied last year, and were also rejected without interview. They were much more qualified than I am! I was predicted a 2.1 by one referee and 1st by another. My third referee is my supervisor from my gap year job - very relevant to Medicine. They told me that they give a certain number of points for work experience, references, their additional PS and academics. For the academic part, they give extra points for having a 1st (a predicted 1st didnt count), Msc, PhD, etc. You needed something like 17/22 points for an interview. I don't know how many points I had, but it'd be annoying if I was only a point off! I don't think I can really improve my PS or references, so I just hope that having a degree and starting an Msc at Oxford will help a bit. Are you thinking of applying to both Oxford and Cambridge for GEP?

**snoogles** · 03-05-2010, 01:38 PM

Yes, I'm thinking of applying to both Oxford and Cambridge (although Oxford will depend on how I do on the UKCAT.) I might be wrong about how many people Cambrdige interviews for GEP. I just remember reading on another forum that the vast majority of school-leavers got interviews. It might be different for us. The point system you describe is scary. It would be so nice to know exactly what they take into account!

Allyboy, who are you considering as your 3rd referree? If you give us the options, maybe we can help you choose.

I'm thinking of asking my Masters tutor with whom I've done a 2-month lab internship, and who can comment on my academic/research performance. Then either my current or future research supervisor, as the research projects are basically the most important part of the MSc here. And finally my favourite undergraduate philosophy prof, who hopefully can make me sounds well-rounded

I was also thinking of having one of the doctors that I'm going to shadow write a small letter that my tutor can refer to when commenting on my "passion for medicine" and suitability to be a doctor.