Applying for Medicine; have I totally lost my marbles or is a doctor just born without them?
“You were made for this”, “I can’t think of anyone else more suited for that job”, “You’re such an all-rounder, of course you’ll get in silly”. If only they knew. These are just a few remarks from the fans and friends (slash, my mum) who know me inside out and yet still, no one seems to listen or grasp the concept of just how challenging getting into medicine is. My personal favourite so far has definitely come from my ultimate sass-pot of a grandma: “If you don’t get in then something is seriously wrong with the system”…although the small uplifting buzz swiftly departed when she told me to give Jeremy Hunt a piece of my mind when he interviewed me for my medical school place…
I am writing with strong positivity and my ambitious keeno-medicine flame is still very much burning (for now). I am currently in the process of writing my personal statement and piecing together the endless sub sections of my UCAS track. For any of you who have entered this never ending abyss of ID numbers and letters, I’m sure you’d agree that UCAS definitely stands for Unnecessarily Complicated Arbitrary ‘Stuff’. It’s safe to say, filling in pages of personal details is about as enjoyable as chewing a ball of wool.
Personal statement writing is equally as enjoyable. I’ve read the same three lines, fifty times and now I’ve begun to question if the words I’ve written are even real. The first opening paragraph I drafted sounded more like I was writing a prologue to my new fiction novel, “The chronicles of self-entitlement”. This initial tragedy has been royally scrapped (thankfully) and I can confirm I’ve taken on a new, more humble angle to making people think I’m God’s gift to earth. If this weren’t enough, I’m mid UKCAT preparations and that’s an ordeal in itself. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a logic and aptitude test with the word “reasoning” sprinkled throughout but let me assure you, there is no reasoning with it. As for getting up to the speed required to answer the questions, I’d usually take about the same time permitted for the entire test to type my password in to my phone…onwards and upwards.
Anyway, in the time I’ve taken out to write this I should have been practising my plate spinning, opera singing, stunt piloting and Olympic javelin skills to improve my well-rounded being-ness. Back to the desk it is for another two week holiday and I can only hope my words of desperation are comforting to others riding the same tour de frightened (with the bike on fire). Ciao for now!
