The first post on your shiny new blog is accompanied by a lot of pressure. Shall I begin with something witty? Shall I tell a lame joke? There’s a fair amount of pressure.
But not as much pressure as trying to get into med school.
After countless hours of trying to get hold of work experience opportunities, having to watch a general surgeon suck curry out of the stomach of a patient who did not adhere to the ‘no food before surgery rule’, begging the hospital staff to discharge me so I can sit an admission test (that’s a pretty fun story that I can tell you about later), I have finally made it to Medical school.
I will be the first doctor in my family with no medic-y contacts remotely near me so getting to this stage was difficult. Work experience was tricky and it was somewhat impossible in the beginning to find any advice. So here I am, trying to make the path to medicine a tad bit easier for you. Admissions tests are nightmares; I know, and I’ll do my best to explain you exactly how to ace it. Trouble finding work experience? Not to worry – if I could, believe me just about anybody can! Interviews, personal statements, outside reading, research, news, first aid… it’s a long way up. I’m here to help 🙂
Before we get bogged down into the details of how to go about applying/tips/how to stay sane through A Levels I think it’s important to get one thing straight – do you really want to do medicine?
Now loads of people tried to discourage me from studying it which sounds strange – but hear me out. I am one of those people who wanted to study medicine for donkey years (hehe) but I did have a little bump in the road when I started seriously considering it. I know people have probably said this to you 50 times but have a really good think about this. When you’re 25 years old, your friends are going to be buying houses, jetting off on holiday and potentially earning a lot more than you are whilst you’re in the middle of a 48 hour shift at the hospital.
It isn’t easy and since you’re on this blog, I’m sure you already know that. But, at the same time just like me, you’re probably buzzing for the rewards. How incredible it’s going to feel when your patient says 10 thank you’s in a row for getting them to feel better or how someones’ eyes light up when they see you walking towards them when they’re throwing up in A&E at 4 in the morning. Using different tools to gather data on a condition and then fitting pieces of a puzzle together into a diagnosis.
There’s benefits in this career path and there’s no doubt about that; doctors have one of the most respected roles in society. But there are drawbacks and you will have to make compromises. Not so sure just yet? Not to worry – you’ll know. I wasn’t so sure at one point either but after speaking to as many medics as I could find, I realised you can make it all worthwhile if you try. Difficult – but possible. I’ll be talking about the elements of the application process for those who are certain this is what they want to do and are here for advice; having a read of what I say about all that will definitely help. If you think the application process is too much of a drag, you’re probably not going to enjoy medicine very much. All will be known in due course!
Till then, kick back and enjoy the summer (unless you’re doing UKCAT) in which case, I’ll speak to you next week about how to completely smash it 🙂
teentodoctor 