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- Ukcat registration is open
- Physiology Intercalated BSc
- The Conversion of a Doss-pot to Doctor
- Rejected after interviews, would really appreciate some advice
| Posted: 01 May 2013 03:10 AM PDT I'm just about to book my UKCAT, alittle nervous but excited!! :D |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:05 PM PDT Hello everyone!:) Currently torn between accepting an offer to study physiology at King's and enrolling in something else...as such was hoping someone could enlighten me as to what the physiology BSc is like: did you learn loads? Did you meet many new people? Were you well-integrated at the university (external students)? Did you publish anything/get involved in much research? Very interested to know anything and everything about peoples' experience of this course. Thanks! |
| The Conversion of a Doss-pot to Doctor Posted: 30 Apr 2013 06:57 AM PDT Hi, I'm Chris! :) I thought I would start one of these trailing blogs and update it every so often just to lay out my application for other in the future. Hopefully it'll be of some help if I get to Medicine eventually. Below is a summary of what has happened to date. GCSE Through school I was mid to top of my class, I generally worked hard and always had a keen interest in science. However I had always wanted to be a pilot as my mum had worked in airlines and my grand-dad had been an aero-engineer. Towards the end of my GCSEs I was told that I would never be allowed to be a pilot; this was due to complications with my visual fields and my inability to have full peripheral vision. Distraught from the news I went seeking another career, my interest turned to medicine. I started researching and found that universities needed A Level Biology and Chemistry for the degree. However I was ignorant of the fact that my school wouldn't let me take A Level Biology or Chemistry because I didn't take them at GCSE as I was picking subjects suitable for becoming a pilot! Demotivated from this and unsure of what I wanted to be in the future I sailed through my GCSEs and my subsequent A Levels not really caring how I performed, I felt like I didn't have anything to work for. A Level When it came to upper sixth I applied for Computer Science at university just because I was good with computers and I had performed well at GCSE. I had done experience and it seemed like an easy profession. Good employment prospects, a decent salary, average holidays. What wasn't to like? After my A Level results but before university I did some more work experience with my uncle at his Web Design company. I felt nothing for the job, I even found myself bored more often than not. Dropped Uni for Tech I decided to take a year out and see what I could do instead, I went to a local Tech to resit my maths and physics as I didn't want to waste a year 'on paper' as such. Whilst I was at tech I met a lot of prospective medical students who all had missed out by one grade or had achieved 3As and were reapplying. They all seemed so motivated to help people and to excel, their passion was infectious. Curious about it all I went along with one of them to St John Ambulance and I can honestly say I've never enjoyed anything as much in my life. Caring for patients and learning how to treat them is such fulfilling work. I particularly enjoy bringing patients through A&E, I just love that environment. I kept volunteering needless to say. :) I decided to take up a variety of work experiences to see what else interested me more about healthcare. I started volunteering in the hospital wards at my local trust as well as volunteering with Praxis Care too (I enjoyed this less than the hospital environment. ) I shadowed multiple professions (GP, Radiographer, Chemist, Nurse) and decided to apply for radiography with the intention of going on to do Graduate Medicine (GEM or 5 Year). It's been a fantastic journey up until now and I feel like I've matured so much since this time last year. I actually want to study and excel! I haven't felt this motivated in years, it's like I'm obsessed with admissions statistics and medical terminology! :D So that's me up until now. Below are some of my stats as it stands and what my hopes for the futures are. GCSE
A Level (A2 & AS)
Volunteering Experience
Work Experience
Actual Work Experience
IGCSE ? - Biology - Predicted B Applied to Diagnostic Radiography (3 Year) - Ulster: Conditional : Firm (BB) Therapeutic Radiography (3 Year) - Ulster: Conditional : Declined Bio-medical Science (4 Year) - Ulster: Conditional : Insurance (B) Foundation to Medicine (1-6 Years) - Bradford: Withdrawn Paramedic Practice (3 Years) - Surrey: Unsuccessful : Came back with an offer for nursing :S : Declined In short here is the plan:
If anyone has any general queries I could potentially help considering the vast amount of research that it's taken for me to get to this point! Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to update after exams! :) |
| Rejected after interviews, would really appreciate some advice Posted: 30 Apr 2013 05:59 AM PDT Hi everyone Apologies in advance for the long post! I would really appreciate some advice from applicants who have been unsuccessful at interview and have subsequently gone on to be offered a place, and anyone else who wants to share their experiences. A bit of background about me... I'm a 29 year old Maths graduate (2.1) and have been training as an actuary / pensions consultant for 5 and a half years. I gave up my job in May 2012 to concentrate on my application for 2013 entry. I got 715 average in the UKCAT and 59 average in the GAMSAT (61, 62, 57). I was subsequently interviewed at SGUL, Barts 5 year & Barts GEP and was rejected from all three. I was also rejected from Kings GEP pre interview. I knew my performance at SGUL was terrible as I felt nervous, underprepared (I had done preparation but clearly not enough) and the no-interaction style at George's really threw me. I decided I needed to rectify my interview issues pronto and shortly afterwards went on a one-day interview techniques course. I found this really helpful and felt much more confident for my upcoming interviews at Barts. On the day of my 5 year interview, I still felt very nervous and my mind went blank at the start of the interview when discussing the ethical scenario. However I recovered reasonably quickly and thought that the rest of the interview went reasonably well. My interview for the 4 year GEP course at Barts was by far the best of the three, and I actually thought this went really well. Even though it's been a month since my final rejection, I'm still feeling quite depleted. I am so annoyed that I wasn't able to turn three interviews into a single offer! I don't know whether my content sucked, that I wasn't convincing enough, or that my performance was just average. Neither SGUL nor Barts give feedback. In terms of my work experience, I have a week shadowing a GP, 16 months volunteering one evening a week in a hospital on the geriatrics ward, plus transferable experience that I have gained during my ~6 years in finance. I have decided to reapply for 2014 entry but I will only have time to resit the UKCAT as I am currently travelling with my husband until August (our planned career break). I am hoping I can get a similar number of interviews next year but really need to sell the best version of myself in each one (although getting an interview at SGUL may be a struggle with a GAMSAT of 59). If anyone has been in a similar situation and has gone on to be successful I would love to hear from you; what you did the second time that you didn't do the first or vice-versa, how you went about improving your performance etc. Thanks in advance (and for reading this far!) |
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