My final year approaches....

Usually after such a long absence I would apologise for being awol.  However, I have to admit that this time it has been a deliberate choice not to blog.  I've been incredibly busy.  As many of you know I had to take my second year exams in the summer as I was poorly during exam period.  I am pleased to report that I passed the year with a high 2:1 so I'm very very excited to be going into my 3rd and final year of my BSc.  I have already started working on my dissertation and I have chosen my supervisor which is great and I'm really looking forward to it.  The modules this year seem really interesting which is always an added bonus, cannot believe however that in just over 8 months time my degree will be over.  

As for my medical school application, I am taking the GAMSAT on the 21st of this month, however due to my exams I have not prepared well for it at all, so depending on how I feel it went on the day will decide whether or not I will be applying to one GAMSAT uni or not.  My UKCAT is booked for the start of October and I'm truly not sure how it will go.  I'm hopeful I'll meet the cutoffs for my preferred unis, if not then I will have to try again next year.  I have found some MSc courses that I really really like the look of, so I shall also be applying for them at the start of next year.  So hopefully next year I will either be starting a postgrad qualification, or graduate entry medicine....time will tell! 

I think I was a little frustrated that things didn't go to plan last year, but to be honest, although it does seem frustrating that I may have to wait yet another year (at least) to go to medical school, my resolve has been strengthened even more!  I KNOW this is what I want to do and my BSc has proved that to me.  Whatever will be will be, and I'm not going to dwell on the outcome of this round of applications too much.  I'm sure if I don't get in this year there will be a few tears, but one thing I've learned about myself is that I'm more than capable of picking myself up and dusting myself off, and making sure my application is even stronger and my UKCAT and GAMSAT marks are even higher.  We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. 

Other than that there is nothing exciting to report, we didn't manage to go on holiday this year, as we're saving in case I have to do a MSc, maybe next year we'll have enough to pop to Europe for a long weekend. We have had some nice day trips though, which is always a bonus!  So yet again, I'm sorry for my absence, I will try to update more regularly, honest! 

Have a nice day everyone. 

Catch up

Hi everyone, 

Sorry I've been AWOL.  I've been going to lots of open days and I've had lots going on!  The project I've been involved with in the last 12 months had a really exciting development last month - won't go into it but I've been really happy about it.  The open days have been brilliant, I've really enjoyed myself.  I really loved the unis I've been to, but it has also been really interesting as some of the schools I was almost 100% sure I was going to apply to, I've decided I'm probably not going to, and schools that I was on the fence about I've really loved and feel that my qualifications suit the admissions process much more than I thought they would and the style of teaching at certain schools suits me so much more.  So it has been a really useful few months, well worth the planning. 

I've decided to start swimming more often, I have to watch to not increase the pressure doing exercise, and I can't run or cycle etc because of my rubbish ankle (thanks last summer!) so swimming is the ideal sport for me.  I used to swim a lot, I was on the school swimming team competing in galas etc, but aside from on holidays etc I stopped swimming properly a few years ago, so it is going to take a while to get back into the swing of it, especially seen as I was fighting fit back then and now I have one ankle which doesn't do hardly anything these days!  But it'll be worth it 100%. 

Anyway, I'm off to do some revision, then a quick coffee in town with my other half after work finishes, and finally a swim.  Have a good afternoon/evening everyone, I'll try to blog more often :).

More to life

So I've been revising (almost) constantly lately.  We've had a few lovely "date nights" as we call them, we have another tonight, a mid-week one to break up the stress of work/essays/revision etc which will be lovely.  However, I was procrastinating earlier and came across a blog that I once read from start to finish (and sobbed, literally sobbed) the whole way through.  In a nutshell, the blog was written by someone who married a young lady who battled with cancer for 5 years, but sadly lost her fight in 2011.  It is about their life together during their fight and there is another blog attached describing life as a widow.  It breaks my heard as the age gap is the same as the gap between my other half and I.  We always feel so lucky to have met each other when we're still young, but this blog serves as a cruel reminder that youth does not mean longevity.  

It got me thinking about how I would cope if I was to become a medic and I was faced with a young couple in a similar situation to the couple in the blog.  I concluded that I would probably go home and cry, lots and lots.  I can't imagine that I'm the kind of person where death would not affect me over time, I think no matter how long I was lucky enough to practice medicine I would still hurt every time, I would probably just become more experienced in processing the emotions.

This young couple went through so much together, I would be beyond devastated if that happened to me and my other half.  It is not just what they have already shared that is lost, but also the loss of the promise of forever.  (Did I forget to mention that I'm a hopeless romantic).  I think that when we get caught up in the whole revision and work malarky, we forget what is most important in life, the little things that may not change the world, but will always stay with you.  So when I'm sitting here in meltdown mode over my exams, I think I'll try my hardest (and it will be hard) to remember that there really is so much more to life than a perfect grade.  

Little deep for a Wednesday perhaps, but I thought I'd share what I've been thinking.  Now I'm going back to revising about the joys of thrombosis in pregnancy.  Have a lovely day everyone, make the most of it.  

Stress...essay...revision....stress....revision....

Sorry I've been AWOL.  I had an essay to finish last week which was handed in on Monday (not the best essay I've ever done but probably not the worst either).  I have also been frantically going through all my lecture notes and making revision notes as my first exam is in 15 days....15 DAYS!!!!  I found out I had a 2:1 for my lab report which is great as it is worth 50% of the module, so I'm pleased with that.  

So, 2 months of hell starts here really, I have 2 weeks until my first exam, and then 4 weeks of exams, followed by another 2 weeks (I think) off for revision before one more final exam for the year.  I have to do an assessment in the summer as I had to miss it earlier in the year, and after that (resits pending obviously) I'm finished.  Then it will be a long summer of GAMSAT revision (oh my dear god I have no idea how to begin), volunteering and dissertation reading (I'm at the point when I'm thinking of my dissertation already, oh my goodness!!!!) I'll be a 3rd year....already....this degree has flown by! 

I've loved this degree, and I'm sure that if I end up doing postgraduate I'll love it too, but I can't help but hope and wish that I'll get into GEM for 2013.  I know I'm one of the thousands who have the same dream, I'm just hopeful I'll get an interview.  Anyway, enough wishing, time to relax for the evening as I'm absolutely shattered.  Think I'm going to watch some trashy TV with my other half and then off to bed nice and early. 

 

Medical School Panic

So, in one month I'll be finishing my 2nd year.  Excellent and I'm finally healthy enough and my ankle seems stable enough (touch wood!) to begin my volunteering, which is amazing.  I also have the shadowing sorted for the summer, alongside the project I've been working on which has been amazing, but I can't help feeling my application isn't going to be strong enough for this year.  I did a practice UKCAT test yesterday for the first time (I didn't even know what was involved) and it was ok I suppose for a first attempt, aside from the numerical section which was absolutely appalling, which does not bode well for me at all.  I really didn't want to rely on the GAMSAT too much as it is such a beast I wanted 2 UKCAT Unis and 2 GAMSAT Unis and now I'm worried that I'm going to have to go for 4 GAMSAT unis.  

I have absolutely no idea how this is all going to pan out, I had everything planned to the nth degree and then I messed it all up by getting injured.  Completely my fault, but it isn't going to make me feel great when I have to take yet another year to apply again if I don't get in this time.  I'm a mature student (I'm still the right side of 30 but still!) and I just feel frustrated. I'm seeing on forums that people who are quite honestly fantastic candidates getting rejected from all 4 choices, even with high scores, high academic grades etc. 

If people who are:
a) Younger than me
b) Have better academic credentials than me
c) Have higher GAMSAT/UKCAT scores than I can ever hope for
d) Have more voluntary work experience than me
Aren't getting offers, what am I supposed to do?  I just hope that I get one offer, I don't mind where, I really truly don't, I'll be happy with any of the 6 places I want to apply to (I haven't narrowed it down yet, open day season is upon us!) were kind enough to offer me a place I'd be over the moon.  I can't quite get my head around people being offered places and then saying that they're not sure they're going to take them as it wasn't their "first choice"... *DON'T APPLY TO A UNI UNLESS YOU'RE HAPPY TO TAKE THE PLACE*. 

Anyway, I'm going to stop ranting, just having a moment of complete and utter blind panic! I'm going to go and revise, because one thing is for sure, I'm not going anywhere unless I pass my degree!  Thanks for reading.  

Exams are looming

So, we're reaching the end of March, at the end of May the bulk of my exams will be over, with only one left to sit at the end of June and one presentation which had to be delayed from earlier in the year due to my poor health.  I have less than two months to go and I still have written work to complete including a lab report and an essay.  I am starting to get stressed as there are a lot of topics to cover.  Even more worryingly, this will mark the end of my 2nd year. 

When I return in October I will have completed my personal statement, ready to send off my UCAS form, I will have been to all of the open days I want to go to, chosen my prospective medical schools, I will have taken my GAMSAT and UKCAT exams and I will be INCREDIBLY nervous in case I don't get any interviews at all.  In half a year I will be keeping my fingers crossed to achieve all of the things I want, yet right now it seems so close and yet so far away.  

I'm so excited about my 3rd year, looking forward to my dissertation, getting the GAMSAT out of the way, and hopefully getting a relatively good mark (eesh!) and doing my work experience over the summer alongside my voluntary work!  

But first, my lab report and revision timetables!