Wannabe Medic

So as soon as my UKCAT was done, that morning I sent off my UCAS and that afternoon I got a train to London to stay with my cousins. I always enjoy staying there, it gives me some headspace, it lets me chill out and I can just shop till I drop. Always, always love it. I then came back home, had a shower, slept and then took a train to stay with a friend living in Leicester halls. She's studying Economics and is having a ball of a time. We went out with all of her roomates, it was a GREAT night I had so much fun and it was awesome to check out the university properly. Is Leicester for me though? Not. At. All. The morning I wake in Leicester, I take a train straight to Sheffield to stay with a friend living in their halls. I love  Sheffield. I had 2 really great crazy nights, the university looks amazing, the people were exactly the type of people I can't wait to meet and I'm so glad it's one of my university choices this year. Somewhere amongst this, I gathered a d...

So the UKCAT debacle goes on. There I was, so pleased with my 700+ score...last year I would have been in the top decile - I could go anywhere! My final choices: University of Leeds University of East Anglia University of Manchester University of Sheffield And then.... UKCAT released this years decile boundaries  I was now barely in the top 25%. Don't get me wrong, this is still waaay better than last year, but still. That's a pretty steep drop and now I'm far less convinced with my choices than I was :S Originally UoS said that this year, they would give anyone with a score of 2600 equal consideration. Last year I am pretty sure they were inundated with applicants after setting there score at 2400, so in an attempt to slice the number of applicants but still not appear as "UKCAT heavy" they set it at 2600. And now the statistics are saying - 2600 is actually below average. Who knows what UoS will resort to apart from ruthless PS checking?? At UEA, A-l...

The whole medical cycle makes it a natural occurence for you to question your own self-worth, ability, patience, character.... Should I have taken a gap year? Should I do my UKCAT this late? Wouldn't it have been better and more worthwhile if I went to university along with my friends, did a worthwhile course and then if I still wanted to, go grad-entry for medicine? Would I even be a good doctor? Even now, when I get in touch with friends and hear all about their brand-new-life, I am panged with jealousy. That should have, would have, could have been me. I did my UKCAT. And then I remembered why I made the correct decision all this time.  This year, I have AAAa achieved at A-level.   702.5 i n the UKCAT, and SJT band 1 . I have had some of the best experience you can get (despite how much I bitch about it) working as a HCA. I am spoilt for choice. Last year this time, I was looking at: ABCC at AS.  627.5 on the UKCAT = really limited number of pl...

My UKCAT is booked for next Thursday. I am feeling very anxious about it despite my KAPLAN course. The KAPLAN course is  a rip off, there is no denying it. But if your like me, you just don't care as long as you can get whatever information you can... I just hope I get above the 650 mark, and if I get above the 700 mark well, blow me I'd be over the moon. This was the week I had the horrendous set of shifts and today I was feeling so rough I abandoned work all together mid-shift.I am booked to work till Friday. I am weighing up whether or not to call in sick tomorrow. On one hand I am only on an "Early" 0700-1400, which doesn't happen very often. On the other hand, I am  exhausted.  I really need some time to get myself together, and I'd rather not have to do that later on this week when I'm trying to prepare for the UKCAT. I also handed in my notice and to my surprise, my line manager was so nice about it. He said he thought this might happen, that th...

Yesterday, I rocked up to work to find I was the only HCA on. The other 2 had called in sick. We were a nurse down too. In short, I was fucked. But thankfully, a neighboring ward lent us a HCA to give me a hand. She was incredible, inspirational, outstanding at her job - generally and genuinely fantastic. It's well known that most people want you to be successful, just not too  successful. Or as successful as themselves. This lady, Carmel was the complete opposite. I began explaining about how I was hoping to apply to medicine this year and immediately she was behind me. "It's fantastic that you've decided to work as a HCA for some experience. Good for you. More wannabe doctors should do it. You sound intelligent - you've also got a really nice way with the patients, you will go far. I can see it already. I've worked in hospitals with other HCA's that then went on to become doctors and you can tell the difference by far. You remind me so much of another...

Today I completed my 40th hour of driving lessons. I am literally so close to passing it unnerves me...so there I was excited to be booking my test. And guess what? The next available date is in NOVEMBER. What the hell?! (I've also suddenly just realised that my test date I've booked is actually the same day I start at my local hospital...I'm going to have to change it ! :S) I have been ploughing on ahead with the UKCAT revision which is all good. I do feel like I'm getting better which is always a positive sign... So far I feel and have always felt that VR was my best section. There have been countless examples of students doing exceptionally high on every section but  the VR - so I don't know whether I will actually do as well as I practise. QR is my worst. I just don't think that fast and I have a natural tendency to check my answers which eats up time. What I must  remember on test day is: any question with too much information / looks difficult, guess...

Whenever feeling anxious, upset or generally crappy - plan. I love planning, it gives me a focus. You'll have noticed from my last post that I am getting a bit fed up at work... so I have been planning the rest of my gap year. This is the plan: 1. I move to the big ass hospital which is much closer to home in November. This means I need to hand in my resignation at the medium size - 2 and a half hour journey away hospital by the end of this month. This will hopefully mean that I enjoy work a bit more, because I won't be dreading the travelling to and from work and the days will be significantly shorter. 2. I have booked lots of annual leave off in October (bit cheeky to do so when I'm leaving so soon I know!) so will hopefully have passed my practical driving test and will be driving around visiting friends as they settle into Uni. 3. I begin saving for my travelling plans with planmygapyear.co.uk. I am thinking I will go to Sri Lanka and volunteer for 4 weeks, do the ...