So I sent off my app in october. And I got my first interview invite on the 16th of november, 1 month after I sent my app, the interview was scheduled for the 7th December, so it gave me 3 weeks to prepare. For prep I brought the ISC med school interview book and started reading the smbj and bbc health site. After this I got a interview invite from peninsula on the 1st December for the 16th. I will not tell how I fully prepared yet because I have not received any offers yet to say it worked, but will do a post on interview prep when/if I get offers. However I can tell you how they went.
The manchester one was early in the morning, and I reached there about 30 mins early but they turned out being 30 mins late so me and the other students sat there nervously for an hour with no one talking to each other, but mostly talking to their parents. After everyone lined up and went into and went into a small room where everyones documents were checked and we were told sit to their for about 20 mins to get to know each other. I think I should tell you about the structure of the interview first. Their are four interviews, one being a group discussion lasting 30 mins, and 3 other short interviews. The 20 mins waiting went well and everybody was nice and seemed clever so I got nervous. The group discussion went quite quick but I think it was tough to show leadership skills in the discussion as everybody was fighting for that role. The first individual interview was about current medical affairs and I think I flopped it, kind off ruined my confidence. The second one (about personal statement) went much better but I was not to sure if I answered his questions. The third one (about group discussion) didn't go well or good so after that I was not too confident on getting a offer, and thats what has happened as people on tsr have received offers, so I'm expecting a rejection from them. After the interview I went shopping to birmingham and ate a nice meal out to just relax and forget it all.
For the peninsula interview I did not prepare much. I read the prospectus and arranged answers for their questionnaire. So I was early for this interview as well however this time there were quite friendly students who I had a good chat with. The interview structure was that you got 30 mins to do a questionnaire and read/pick a ethical scenario for your interview. This time can go quick and I would say to split the time in half and make notes for the scenario. The interview was about 20 mins long and went much better than manchester to me, which was a relief and they haven't given out offers/rejections yet so I'm keeping my hopes high.
On the 23rd December however I got a rejection from leicester which was gutting especially near christmas time, however too be honest I was expecting to get some rejections, plus the peninsula interview went well so I got over it quickly. And thats basically it so far. Will update if I get more news.
Thursday 29 December 2011
Chaos theory.
Looking at what was on last night on the tv guide and saw the film chaos theory on. At first I thought it looked crapped from the trailers but ended up being a good watch.
It was a well worked film, with emotions piled all over the place type of movie. So if your down one night or just up for a emotion packed film chaos theory will suit perfectly.
IMDB link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460745/
p.s. My post UCAS app sent off post will be up soon just been busy with all the revision for jan exams
It was a well worked film, with emotions piled all over the place type of movie. So if your down one night or just up for a emotion packed film chaos theory will suit perfectly.
IMDB link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460745/
p.s. My post UCAS app sent off post will be up soon just been busy with all the revision for jan exams
Sunday 25 December 2011
Friday 23 December 2011
Now to my med journey so far. pre UCAS app sent off
So I decided to do medicine in about year 11, when I understood that becoming a doctor would be amazing, mostly from watching scrubs, house and greys anatomy. But after getting work experience I just couldn't see my self doing any thing else.
The first step was GCSE's and unfortunately I was not very informed on how GCSE's are used in medicine (my school has never had a successful medicine applicant) and therefore didn't really revise much and came out with mediocre GCSE grades for a med applicant. 4A*'s 3 A's 2 B's and a C. Fortunately in maths and sciences I gained A*s, however in English Language I gained a B, which restricted me to apply to a lot of universities and might've been the reason why I got a rejection.
So I decided to take Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths at AS level. In year 12 I became more serious of my medicine application and I believe the trigger for this was a friend in year 13 gaining 3 early rejections for dentistry even when he gained 4A's at AS. This scared me and gave me the first taste of how competitive it is going to be to get into medical school. So I started researching a lot online about how I can get into medical school and where should I apply. I fortunately stumbled onto TSR thestudentroom.co.uk which basically became my mentor on how I can gain a place into medical school. This is where I got to understand how my GCSE's have restricted my med application already and how I need to gain some voluntary and work experience, but also gain 3A's at A level.
So January exams were coming soon and I had 4 exams (chem, bio, physics and s1 maths), and I had to self teach my self chem and physics because our teacher left in september leaving us with a replacement teacher who was absolutely useless. I was stupid because I underestimated how much hard work A levels is and mistaken it to be just a little harder than GCSE, and how I could cram all the information at the end like at GCSE's. This left me screwed and basically I came out with 2 A's in maths s1 and bio (low A) a B in chem and a D in physics. Yes I was quite upset with these results but this motivated me further to study.
The jan exams had finished and I started my pursuit of work experience and volunteering. For this I met up with my connexion advisor and wrote a couple of letters out to a couple of departments, from which I got a reply from the pathology and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontist department for work experience in the summer. Then I gained 3 voluntary placements (by calling up) at the wrvs shop in the hospital, a nursing home and a primary school. All of these experiences helped me to create a pretty good personal statement.
After this, the summer exams were coming up and this time round I started revision much earlier and prepared much more. I eventually came out with good grades in these coming out with 3A's (bio, chem, maths) and a B in physics at AS. This was the biggest boost to me for studying medicine as I finally thought I had the ability to get into medical school.
After the exams I embarked on all my work experience placements and volunteering weekly, but with this there was another exam I had to take to get into medical school and that was the dreaded UKCAT.
I procrastinated my UKCAT revision and ended up having to book the UKCAT in october whilst my A2 studies. I prepared for it in the end with the kaplan course, and the 600q book and in the end got 680. I was quite pleased with this as I was doing much worser on the mocks. However the UKCAT has quite a lot to do with how lucky you were on the day.
Whilst the UKCAT prep was going on so was my UCAS application prep, and I was writing draft after draft of my personal statement trying to get it perfect. But after my UKCAT I had decided which med schools I want to apply to and these were, Manchester, Barts, Peninsula and Leicester. In the end I sent of my application of on the 13 October.
I think I will end this post here and I just want to say if anybody has any questions or needs help for any of the above just ask it on here or pm on TSR. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/member.php?u=597157
The first step was GCSE's and unfortunately I was not very informed on how GCSE's are used in medicine (my school has never had a successful medicine applicant) and therefore didn't really revise much and came out with mediocre GCSE grades for a med applicant. 4A*'s 3 A's 2 B's and a C. Fortunately in maths and sciences I gained A*s, however in English Language I gained a B, which restricted me to apply to a lot of universities and might've been the reason why I got a rejection.
So I decided to take Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths at AS level. In year 12 I became more serious of my medicine application and I believe the trigger for this was a friend in year 13 gaining 3 early rejections for dentistry even when he gained 4A's at AS. This scared me and gave me the first taste of how competitive it is going to be to get into medical school. So I started researching a lot online about how I can get into medical school and where should I apply. I fortunately stumbled onto TSR thestudentroom.co.uk which basically became my mentor on how I can gain a place into medical school. This is where I got to understand how my GCSE's have restricted my med application already and how I need to gain some voluntary and work experience, but also gain 3A's at A level.
So January exams were coming soon and I had 4 exams (chem, bio, physics and s1 maths), and I had to self teach my self chem and physics because our teacher left in september leaving us with a replacement teacher who was absolutely useless. I was stupid because I underestimated how much hard work A levels is and mistaken it to be just a little harder than GCSE, and how I could cram all the information at the end like at GCSE's. This left me screwed and basically I came out with 2 A's in maths s1 and bio (low A) a B in chem and a D in physics. Yes I was quite upset with these results but this motivated me further to study.
The jan exams had finished and I started my pursuit of work experience and volunteering. For this I met up with my connexion advisor and wrote a couple of letters out to a couple of departments, from which I got a reply from the pathology and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontist department for work experience in the summer. Then I gained 3 voluntary placements (by calling up) at the wrvs shop in the hospital, a nursing home and a primary school. All of these experiences helped me to create a pretty good personal statement.
After this, the summer exams were coming up and this time round I started revision much earlier and prepared much more. I eventually came out with good grades in these coming out with 3A's (bio, chem, maths) and a B in physics at AS. This was the biggest boost to me for studying medicine as I finally thought I had the ability to get into medical school.
After the exams I embarked on all my work experience placements and volunteering weekly, but with this there was another exam I had to take to get into medical school and that was the dreaded UKCAT.
I procrastinated my UKCAT revision and ended up having to book the UKCAT in october whilst my A2 studies. I prepared for it in the end with the kaplan course, and the 600q book and in the end got 680. I was quite pleased with this as I was doing much worser on the mocks. However the UKCAT has quite a lot to do with how lucky you were on the day.
Whilst the UKCAT prep was going on so was my UCAS application prep, and I was writing draft after draft of my personal statement trying to get it perfect. But after my UKCAT I had decided which med schools I want to apply to and these were, Manchester, Barts, Peninsula and Leicester. In the end I sent of my application of on the 13 October.
I think I will end this post here and I just want to say if anybody has any questions or needs help for any of the above just ask it on here or pm on TSR. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/member.php?u=597157
My background info.
Well where do I start. I am 17 years old studying chemistry, biology and maths at A Level, in the east midlands. I wish to study medicine, and hopefully become a doctor one day.
I am quite bored off life at the moment and really wish to start studying medicine in a new city with new people. I will miss school and all my friends as it has been amazing at times but I just wish to go into a new environment as I stayed in my school for sixth form and its becoming a bit tedious. Plus I am currently studying for my Jan exams so I might be a little biased at the minute lol.
Yeah so thats me, I now this is quite weird writing a blog, but I just want to look back one day and see how I use to be.
I am quite bored off life at the moment and really wish to start studying medicine in a new city with new people. I will miss school and all my friends as it has been amazing at times but I just wish to go into a new environment as I stayed in my school for sixth form and its becoming a bit tedious. Plus I am currently studying for my Jan exams so I might be a little biased at the minute lol.
Yeah so thats me, I now this is quite weird writing a blog, but I just want to look back one day and see how I use to be.
Hello! :)
Hey I am oggydude and am just going to blog about my journey into med school. But also on other things, like movie reviews and just football gossip :).
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