Graduate entry 2007? Here's hoping!!

[amy2705598]

This is the story of my application to medical school. I don't know how it ends yet, but I'm hoping on a happy ending!

I'm trying to distract myself from revising for my final uni exams (BSc Genetics) at Aberystwyth University. I should have already graduated along with everyone else in my year, but an unexpected stay in hospital in the run up to exams put an end to that, and I've now got my three final exams in the last week of August.

I suppose I should have applied this time last year for entry this autumn, but back then I didn't know whether or not I could face another 4 years of studying. Now I know I'm definitely ready for the commitment, I just hope someone will give me a place! I realised that the only thing holding me back from studying medicine was the length of the course.

So far the possibilities are Bristol, Birmingham, Warwick, Cambridge, Birmingham and Liverpool. I have ruled out Nottingham, Swansea and St Georges due to the GAMSAT, and Oxford due to it's (alleged) bias towards Oxbridge students.

For the next year, once the exams are over, I will be working as a support worker with adults with learning disabilities. I really love this job, but I can't see myself doing it forever. My dad is a team leader and learning disability nurse with the same company, and I see his frustration at the management and the system. I really need to save up some serious money to help me get through the course. I will be means tested for the first two years which means I wont get any of the means tested support, meaning my parents are supposed to help me financially. But my parents supported me through my first degree, and I feel awful having to ask them to cough up again.

Well first thing's first, let's try and get a place first

[amy2705598]

Thought I'd let you know a bit more bout me.

I'm 21 (well, 22 in a couple of weeks), and have moved back in with my parents in mid-wales after finishing my degree. Well, I say finishing, but there is still the little matter of my final exams, which are not going away no matter how hard I try to ignore them. Mum's a midwife, Dad's a learning disability nurse / team leader; got two younger brother's - one doing plumbing, one's a support worker as well and has got a 8 month old baby girl.

I really want to get a good grade, I know how impossible these graduate entry courses seem to be to get on, and it would really help if I got a first. Wishful thinking I know, but I've still got three weeks to make it happen

I don't know how exactly you're supposed to go about choosing which course to apply to. They all seem to be pretty excellent. Tried narrowing it down by looking at pbl, but as I've no experience of pbl I don't know whether or not it would suit me. Other reasons for choosing the course (e.g. distance from home, the type of entry test they use) seem really shallow and weak. However, I need to narrow it down somehow. Tried looking at the Times / Independent university rating tables; however, the university's are ranked completely differently in both tables, but are all generally pretty good.

14 universities offering GEM:

Possibles
Cambridge (in my dreams)
King's College
Queen Mary / Barts
Bristol
Birmingham (dependent on getting a first)
Liverpool
Newcastle
Warwick (strange selection centre thing going on)
Southampton

Definate No's
Oxford (very strict admissions, only seem to admit oxbridge / postgrad's)
St. George's (really don't want to study for the GAMSAT)
Nottingham (gamsat again)
Swansea (gamsat)
Leicester (health studies graduates only)

I want to balance my application by applying for one top class uni (Cambridge), two 'standard' uni's, and one 'easy' uni. However, they all seem to be impossible to get into. Maybe Warwick is a good bet as they have so many places up for grabs. Selection centre seems to be a bit dodgy though, but maybe that's just because I haven't experienced one before.

Much to ponder!

[amy2705598]

Should be going to bed so I can start my revision bright and early tomorrow morning, but my head is full of thoughts of MSATs and medical colleges and tuition fees.

If I am to apply to Cambridge, and I think I will, just so I know I tried; then which college?

Lucy Cavendish, Hughes or Wolfson. Hmm . Wolfson seems to be for international students, so it's really between Lucy and Hughes, or I suppose there is the open application. Actually, Lucy really appeals to me. However, I have read posts from a number of females that attended female only schools saying that they would never go back to a one sex college. But then there is always the bonus of Lucy probably having lower applications than Hughes and Wolfson.

What standard are the Cambridge GEM interviews? I am assuming that for entry straight from A levels the standard is A level, but for GEM is it degree level? Seriously, if anyone knows the answer to this please PM me! I've heard that the selection / interview consists of a clinical / ethical scenario and a scientific problem / talk. I feel okay with the ethics, but the science problem scares the hell out of me. I know I've got a degree in genetics, I should know this stuff, but what if they give you the piece of paper with your options for the talk on and you draw a blank on all of them. I would cry

At least it seems like a fair selection thing they've got going at Cambridge. Seems like pretty much everyone gets an interview and it's really down to you on the day. Can't really complain about that. Wish you could prepare a bit more for it though.

[amy2705598]

Have been thinking a lot about the London uni's this week.

Seeing that I'm going to be taking the MSAT for Warwick, I figured I might as well apply to either Barts or Kings as well. But is that putting all my eggs in one basket? What if I do badly in the MSAT, then I have wasted two choices. Arghhhhh. Wish we could take the test first, then chose which uni's to apply to.

I was really attracted to Kings College as it is attached to Guy's Hospital, and is really prestigious. However, they only interview the top 93 percentile. I think I would do well in the test, I like IQ tests and things, but to stake your hopes on being in the top percentile is such a risk.

Same applies to Barts really, but I think their cut off point for interviews is slightly lower, giving people more of a chance.

It is so, so unfair that grads on the five year course have to pay tuition fees up front. I do not have £12 000, and I cannot face the prospect of such a huge bank and student loan combined. The four year course will be bad enough. I know the finances should be irrelevent, as we will hopefully be earning bucket loads the other side, but it is just so much money.

I feel I would be much better off if I hadn't gone to uni at all and had just worked as a health care assistant / nursing auxillary for the past four years. I wasn't ready to apply to medicine when I was 18, I wasn't mature enough or have any relevent life experiences to be able to emphasize with patients. It is all so unfair!

I can't decide whether to apply for 4 graduate courses, or 3 graduates and 1 standard. Help help help

[amy2705598]

Hmm, have just found out that some universities in the Republic of Ireland do the GEP course. Gives me more options in case I don't manage to get a place here. Bad side is their fees are something like 25 000 euros. Arghhh, not sure what that is in real money, but guessing it's probably between £15 & £20 K. Why is nothing ever easy? Do they think we're made of money .

My other sort of back up plan is genetic counselling. However, it's not much of a back up plan as it seems to be harder to get into than medicine, if that's even possible! It doesn't feel right having a 'back up' plan. I mean, if it's medicine I want to do then I should stick at it, right? But I don't want to be studying for the rest of my life. Assuming I get in next year, I'll be 27 when I finish, and 29 after the foundation training. I mean I would like a family and a life sometime!

Actually, genetic counselling wasn't always my back up plan, it's been my main career goal for a few years. But I've been talking to some genetic counsellors recently and they all love their jobs, but there isn't really enough new posts coming up for all the newbies being trained. I can't face the thought of training for two years and then no having no job at the end of it(yes I know it's only two years, but you get no help with the £4000 year fees).

That doesn't mean I don't whole-heartedly want to do medicine though, I do, but until recently I didn't think I could face the length of the course and the fees. Seems like this application business has overtaken my life at the moment, trying to decide where to apply, looking into bank loans, etc. Should really be revising for my finals next week. Toxicology & pharmacology on Saturday 26th, then population & conservation genetics on the tuesday, and gene expression and developmental genetics on the wednesday. I can't wait to have my life back again

[amy2705598]

Wow, I can't believe how many people read these blogs! Over 300 hundred people have visited this so far, amazing

Arghhh, have my first exam tomorrow: Pharmacology and Toxicology. Am busy revising things like cardiopharmacology, autonomic nervous system, opioids and nsaids.

Shouldn't really be on this now, should be doing more work. My brain can't hold any more information. ARGHHHHHHHH
Wish me luck

[amy2705598]

I want to cry

Well it didn't go that bad, just not as good as it should have been.
It could have been my best exam, all the stuff I wanted came up, but I just sort of went blank on stuff that I knew pretty well.

Had to do three essay questions from a choice of 8 in three hours. Choose endotoxins, hypertension drugs and adrenergic agonists and antagonists. But I could have answered a question on NSAIDS and narcotics, I knew it all really well, but by the time I realised I wanted to answer it somehow I had already spent 20 minutes writing about adrenergic drugs, which I knew okay but not fantastic.
Why did I not spend more time reading the question paper
It could have been worse I suppose, but I'm just upset because it could have been better.
I'm right on the borderline between a first and a 2.1 at the moment, and it's little things like this that are going to push me one way or the other.

I'm sort of hoping my dissertation's going to pull my grade up. I wrote a literature-based dissertation about the ethics of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. It was so interesting, and I think it's pretty good, but then I would say that

Just thought I should mention why I am sitting my final exams in august when every other lucky bugger has graduated. I went into hospital a couple of weeks before the hand in date for coursework and the exams with suspected appendicitis. Turns out it wasn't appendicitis but a massive 10lb cyst attached to the outside of my stomach somewhere (mesenchymal cyst). They're quite rare but not unheard of. Had a four hour operation to get rid of it. When I went into theatre they still thought I had appendicitis, poor surgeon must have had a shock! Had some sort of sensitivity / reaction to the morphine I was on, and my b.p. went really low and my hands and arms started swelling up. God I must have looked attractive! Stayed in five days in the end and could barely walk for a long time after, have a very attractive 6 inch scar down my stomach!

Anyway that is how I am now stuck in August doing my final exams and being very miserable. Oh well, better luck on Tuesday... and Wednesday

[amy2705598]

I should be revising some more but I've got butterflies in my stomach and can't concentrate. I've got my population & conservation genetics exam tomorrow afternoon, and my gene expression and developmental biology exam on wednesday morning. How mean is that, giving me a three hour exam in the afternoon followed be one the next morning?! How am I supposed to get all the old stuff out of my head to prepare for the next exam.

I wish I knew my mark for my dissertation, then I would know whether all this worry and aggro is worth it. If my dissertation is really good it will pull my grade up to a first, hopefully. If my dissertation is a 2.1 then I've got basically no hope of getting a first, especially after my dismal exam on Saturday .

I have been preparing for these exams for ages, I mean I've had an extra two months compared to everyone else on the course, but my brain just wont remember it all. I mean I know it all (well mostly), and I understand it, but when it comes to the exam it is all stuck in my head and I can't write anything.

Oh well, here goes nothing

[amy2705598]

Yey, all over!!! Didn't go too badly in the end, though we'll see when the marks come back!

Population genetics - wrote loads, didn't realise I knew so much! Gene expression - not so great but loads better than I was hoping for. Handed in my dissertation as well, it looks so professional bound!

Results out 15th September

[amy2705598]

Get my results tomorrow . Have lost all optimism. Might even get the results this evening if they post them early. Am working an early tomorrow as well, so wont even get home 'til 3 to open the post. Arghhhhhhhh. Feel sick. Have worked so hard, what if it's all for nothing?
Well, this time tomorrow I'll know, so either way I'll be getting very drunk!!!

On another note I still have not received my UCAS reference from my uni tutor. Am very hacked off. Emailed him weeks ago asking. Knowing my luck he'll send it to me on the 14th October or something