The Omlette Diaries

**omlette** · 12-08-2006, 10:34 PM

I return form roughing it in a field in North Devon to find that, lo and behold, I'm only being stalked by the weather. 'pologies for the grey day peoples, hopefully normal service will resume ASAP cos I want my summer back!!!

Well, La Devon was d'accord. Same as usual really. And I discovered surfing and fishing. The latter being the most boring sport in the world, and the former being the least glamourous. Seriously, the tanned, blonde beach babes in their bikinis, 's all lies I tell ye. Truth is, when you finally do stand up you've got to check that your bikini is still in the position you left it in. Then, rather than simply stepping stylishly off the board when it loses steam, you fall off A over T, getting bowled around like you're in a washing machine until finally emerging, hair in your face, water in your eyes and snot and spit dribbling down your chin. Nice. Still, wicked fun though, seriously addictive, despite the high pain level. (Am coated in bruises to prove it!).

Went to Devon via The 'Diff: totally made the right choice there; it is a GORGEOUS city, really accessible, pray i get in!!! Ooh, and I drove most of the way there! My first motorway experience, driving a fully laden car, towbar inches from the ground, no rear view at all. Quite scary being buffeted around, but fun. And I got to pay the lil welsh guy in the tollbooth at the Severn Bridge. Everybody pray for me to get into Cardiff!!!!!

**omlette** · 17-08-2006, 03:43 PM

Results day dawned, and I felt as sick as a parrot; having just had one of those horrid pre-results dreams. This particular one involved me running around London looking for my psychology teachers because I'd just been given a "G" grade by mistake and needed them to fix it so I could get in. Lol.

Queued forever to get in and collect them. This time though they had the decency to give a results summary. Last time, you had to get the slips from the different exam boards; in my case involving queuing one by one to get each seperate grade. Like a sort of chinese water torture. Anyhoo, got my AAB: A's for Psych and Bio and B for Chem. Amazed that the evillest papers; chem unit 5 and bio MP&B; i manged to get a B and A in respectively. But i still find it jokes how I retook the transport AS module which I got D/E in last year, and even tho I probs did great in the exam, my coursework was so crap that it only took me up to a C. Not that it mattered. And for the record, my bio cwk may have been atrocious, but I got 86 out of 90 for my psycho reasearch project so "neh!".

Needed AAA to do psycho at The Diff,so was instructed to use the PC in the teacher's office to check track. Cried buckets when I saw the Unconditional offer. I guess it all was a bit overwhelming.

So, now I know definitively where I am going - to the most cost effective student town in the country, so yah boo sucks to everyone cos my debt'll be smaller than yours!!!! Actually, what with me and my hatred of speding any of my own money, it'll probably get to the point where I start starving cos I refuse to spend money on food. Lol. It helps to be a spendthrift. Anyhoo, I can now start preparing for Big School.

**omlette** · 25-12-2006, 01:57 AM

In writing this latest bloggy I am well aware that a new generation of NMM-ers will be well on there way to medskooly-ness. From looking at where I was on this blogs thread it seems that all the peeps from when I was an active poster here are long gone too, so anyone new reading this blog will probs have no idea who the hell omlette is. It is to you that I say "hi" and "good luck!".

Anyhoo. In case you don't already know my amazingly dramatic and heart-wrenching story, I was a failed applicant from the 2006 cycle (a "tetra-rejectee") and am now at Cardiff Uni doing Psychology. And I can honestly say that doing psychology is the best decision that has ever been made for me in my life. At the time of application of course I was convinced that medicine was what I wanted to do, but I guess the whole process of interview/rejection/manically checking track, along with general life events made me sort of reassess what I want out of life. Ever since I was 12 I was certain medicine was what I wanted to do with my life, for the first time I haven't a clue what I want to do when I graduate, and it feels so liberating. I'm at my first choice Uni (Cardiff baybee!!!) studying a subject I'm passionate about. Had I got into those med skools that interviewed me then I would currently be residing in either Stoke-on-Trent or Tooting. Grim thought.

Sorry if the above seems a bit speily but I felt I had to get it out to the world. Firstly to anyone that wondered were omlette went (not that anyone would, but for the record, thestudentroom.co.uk is where it's at), and also as a sort of morality tale to the newbies. Ultimately, just to say that multiple rejection is not the end of the world. Maybe I will come back to med some day, I'm toying with psychiatry, but right now I can't see it. The UCAS process is traumatic, but sometimes it's best just to chill a little. What will be will be. You owe it to yourself to sell yourself as best you can, who knows, you might get lucky. But if you get turned away then try and try again. Treat it as a learning curve and whatever the outcome you'll be a wiser person at the end. I wish luck to every single one of you twenty-billion applicants for the 0.5 places, and remember: if they ask you "what do you do to deal with stress?" in the interview then all they really want to know about are your hobbies. They aren't interested in the whole "scented candles and meditation" thing. I learnt this to my cost. Don't make the same mistake. Be happy folks.

**omlette** · 15-09-2009, 12:28 AM

Sure-fire way to make yourself feel old: read through a load of blog entries written by your younger self. Only 3/4 years ago but still, feels like a whole lifetime away. A time when omlette was considerably less cynical and world-weary than she is now, although admittedly as someone who took the direct school->uni route I still feel a bit too young to qualify for the "mature student" moniker (you do the math). Languishing in a post-studenty limbo, old enough to know better but too young to care innit. Anyhoo, guess what I'm getting is that, hey, back again for another round of med school roulette (round and round it goes, where will it stop? nobody knows!), let the fun times ensue.

Speaking of which, have now got 2 entrance exams to prepare for. Two. What's the deal with that eh? Clearly the times have been a-changing since the pre-UKCAT days of yore. Admittedly the fact that I've chosen to do GAMSAT as well is entirely my own fault, but still. I did reasonably well in my first cycle (just ballsed-up interviews, see prev. blog), wonder how I'll fare these days where the decisions I make about funny shapes on a computer screen could dictate my future. Scary thought that. I'll let it simmer...

The GAMSAT countdown is on (anyone sitting it in London: I'll be the one in the corner stinking from all the alcohol I'll have been drinking to calm my nerves). As usual with exams I'm getting the impression that I am nowhere near prepared enough, yet have that strange "can't be arsed to study" feeling. Today for instance: should've been swotting for section 3, which I can get by on through lucky guesses and vague general knowledge, but not through anything involving mathematical or logical reasoning. Instead, I spent hours trying to download and then watch the Twilight movie. It's shit, I don't know why I bothered. In fact, I don't know why I even like that series, the plot is thin, the characters are whimsical and it's not even well-written. I digress... So far in the humanities section I (not wanting to jinx myself) have been doing reasonably well. In the essay section, whilst I have yet to do a timed piece (too easily distracted) I know from experience in my degree how much I am capable of writing in an hour and am confident that I can structure arguments reasonably well. Fingers ****in' crossed eh, because these sections are going to be carrying me through if I don't get my ass in gear.

omlette's GAMSAT beef of the day: re-arranging equations. What the ****? Or, more importantly: How the ****?????

**omlette** · 16-09-2009, 05:45 PM

Oh. My. Gawd. It's too soon. I'm not ready yet. I'll never be ready. Never. No matter what I try I don't seem to be any closer to improving. Not helped by the fact that I'm easily distracted and kind of can't be bothered anymore. Think I accepted my fate that knowledge-wise there's really not that much more I can do to prepare for section 3 other than to practice reading q's properly etc. Spent time practicing my rearranging-equations yesterday, so should be ok with that much at least.

Today omlette has been mostly listening to Regina Spektor on spotify, practicing essay plans and cursing her crappy mixer-tap shower which is broken, again.

**omlette** · 27-09-2009, 11:00 PM

Slightly delayed post-GAMSAT post... I'm sure anyone that took it will agree, it was pretty epic. Was the sheer endurance and tight time-frame that made it difficult, and the fact that they seemed to decide that biology and physics now count as one and the same (c'mon, I know I've been away from mainstream science for a while, but I wouldn't have missed that change, would I?!). Ugh. Fun times.

Next stop, UKCAT, booked for 8th October at a slightly more respectable time that won't mean me getting out of bed at 6am (grrr GAMSAT!). Got my copy of "600 questions" ready and have been squeezing odd excercises in every now n then (cba to "swot"). VR and DA: okayish, AR: wtf??? QR: think I'll dig out a calculator first...

omlette's tip of the week: don't buy value tissues. they only withstand 2 large blows tops. Aren't colds just lush? :P

**omlette** · 04-10-2009, 07:56 PM

If any of you doctors can answer me this, please pm me because I'm too lazy to wikipedia it: why do my joints go stiff when it's cold? Particularly my hands. It's not painful, I just notice a tad more resistence when I move them. The house isn't that cold, but we have yet to stick the heating on and it can get a bit chilly. I also have blood pressure on the lower end of normal and tend to feel the cold in my extremities quite easily.

Been "revising" for my "UKCAT" - translation: perusing the delights of the interwebs with the help of Reddit. Stumbled across a rather cool food blog EpiCute. The Cute Food Blog. - think I'll go into hyperglycaemic shock just from looking at this site hehe. Spotify-wise, this week I have mostly been listening to the (500) days of summer soundtrack and associated artists.

Back into my bad habits of weekend nacho-scoffing, am now sporting a rather ample nacho-food-baby

**omlette** · 07-10-2009, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by keerthanak

click here to know more

haha we have ourselves a smartarse :P asking someone else to find me the answer was supposed to prevent the effort of googling it myself, duh... and anyways, how dare thee post on my blog!!!

Anyhoo, UKCAT tomorrow... when I did the mock exam in the 600 questions book (even though I didn't really do it timed for QR) I averaged 633. Any bets on the actual outcome? I figure my QR is going to be the biggest flop, I can do the maths, but it takes 30 seconds to just to read half the damn question. VR depends on how much I panic and skim-read. AR came out quite highly in the mock (surprising really. I blame luck.). DA is my favourite of the bunch. Hope the real thing is easier than the practice though, I'd hate for my application to scuppered at the final hurdle.

**omlette** · 13-10-2009, 12:19 AM

Have literally just sent off my application and felt the need to tell the world. I would do a facebook status about it, but I already did one today and I don't like doing them too close together. My current one is something along the lines of "[omlette] loves her new fleecie leopard costume. It also doubles up as pyjamas! Ahhh, primark, ever pushing the boundaries of fashion...." and quite frankly I feel that this little snippet of literary genius needs time to be appreciated. Thanks to a little help from my english-teacher-Papa my personal statement only got as far as 2 drafts this time round (my last one took about 7). Personally I feel it couldn't kick ass more if it was read aloud to the admissions tutors by Chuck Norris, only time will tell if they agree though.

UKCAT-wise, I walked there knowing that the "official" averages were about 600 and also knowing that in order to truly stand a decent fighting chance I'd need 650 or above. So, as I went in I decided I wanted to aim for 660. Came out with 657.5 average, which, if rounded to the nearest 10 is 660. So not too shabby eh? Highest marks for DA and AR as expected (710 and 680 respectively). Thought I'd done better on VR as I had time to reread them all twice over, but came out with 610. Have a feeling I should've pressed the "can't tell" button a bit more :P As for QR, thought it was a total disaster as I spent too much time on the first few and ended up literally guessing the remaining 30 questions. Came out with 630. Talk about luck.

Oh well, at least now I can relax a little bit and enjoy graduate life properly. The fun starts here kids...

**omlette** · 06-11-2009, 11:26 PM

GAMSAT results day!!! Wooo.... Must admit I thought that I'd done horrendously, so I'm well chuffed with these: 67-70-62, giving an overall score of 65. That exam was nothing short of an ordeal so to get anything over 55 I would've been pleased with. Once again omlette pulls out of the bag a good solid score that will (hopefully) pay dividends later. Esp. seeing that according to this year's percentile curve a score of 65 puts me in the top 12%. Don't think I've ever been in the top 12% of anything, ever, in my entire life. Clever, but mediocre-ly so, that's me. Maybe I'm not as much of a ditz as I thought?