Interviews: random bits of information

Helloooooo -

This post is just a mishmash of random things that might be useful:

1) Arrive early

Interviews are stressful, don't make it worse by running late!

2) Know where it is and how to get there

Particularly important if you're travelling from far away / have never been to the town/city that the interview is in

3) Bring all the required documentation

Most interviews require some sort of ID and many will need either accompanying documentation (e.g.: Imperial completed checklist) or your invitation letter

4) Sleep well

The night before, it will be hard, but try and get a good night's sleep

5) Eat well

Eat a good breakfast if you're in the morning or a good lunch if you're in the afternoon as it will give you the energy to get through the interview

6) Body language

I can't remember the exact statistic but the majority of our communication does not actually happen through words but other non-verbal cues.

If you're sitting then don't cross you're arms as that appears closed off and defensive. Ladies, crossing your legs when in a skirt would probably be advisable! but if not, go for your legs close together (men also) with hands on your lap - they are then free to gesticulate (but don't wave them about like some sort of interpretative performer!!)

7) Your voice

Obviously, sound enthusiastic and involved in the conversation - don't be monotone and bored!

When something interests you, let the tone of your voice reflect it. When you're being more pensive/considering all options, change the tone to reflect that you can be serious.

8) SMILE

9) Be professional

If you can, walk in and shake their hands. If not, say hello (and even introduce yourself if that's not been done already) and look everyone in the eye

10) When you leave, thank them for their time

Those are just some quick tips - if you have any, add them in the comments section.

bye for now -

Dr Wannabe
xx

Interviews: What to wear

Hello again,

So you've now got an interview invite (congrats - that's more than halfway there) and you've been preparing (see my previous post for tips). Its now the week before and you're trying to decide what to wear...!

Keep it simple and understated - essentially, what would you expect a consultant to wear if you had an appointment?

BOYS: a suit is always the best way to go because you cannot go wrong. I'd go for a dark colour (navy, black or dark grey) with a simple tie. Shoes should be clean and polished and make sure your hair is nicely cut and looks in order. 

The biggest dilemma guys seem to have is: to beard or not to beard?!

Obviously if you've got a beard for cultural or religious reasons then you should 100% keep it.

If you have a beard for fashion reasons, then it depends. I like the trimmed beard/neat stubble look but it has to be neat. It can't just look like you forgot to shave for the past week. As with your clothes,  the idea is to look professional and be clean and tidy.

A lot of people say doctors don't have beards but that's not true so just make sure you're comfortable with how you look and that everything looks neat, tidy and professional!!

GIRLS: a suit would work (either trousers or a longish skirt) but so would a smart pair of "dress" trousers with a plain coloured shirt and either a jacket, cardigan or jumper. For girls colour (e.g.: a coloured cardigan on top of a white shirt with black trousers) can be a nice, feminine touch but don't be too outrageous. Shoes should also be clean (and polished if they are leather). Hair should be neat, either tied back or away from your face. 

Girls also face two beard-like dilemmas:

1) Heels or flats - well obviously no silettoes but a small heeled boot would be fine, but so are flats
2) Nail varnish - the NHS does have a dress code that states "nothing below the elbow" but this is an interview so if you have a nice, neutral colour (e.g.: nude or pink) then I think that should be fine.

For both girls and boys, you have to be comfortable in what you're wearing as interviews aren't the most comfortable of situations so you don't want to make it any worse - if you've bought new clothes or shoes, wear them once or twice so you feel comfortable (same can be said for boys who aren't used to wearing ties).

Post to come about other interview-related things (like body language, arriving early etc)

Dr Wannabe
xx

Interviews: How to Prepare

Hello :)

So this is a post for all the lucky interview invite receivers - I'm currently sitting on one interview invite and complete silence from all others so I'm throwing everything into the one I've got!

Before I launch into what kind of things are good preparation, I thought I'd let you all know that TSR (the student room) has so many threads about medicine (graduate and school-leaver entry). Its absolutely amazing (I am indeed a member, which explains some of my silence on this - sorry!!) and a great source of information and a nice place to share your panic about not hearing anything!!

Panel Style Interviews (e.g.: Imperial GEM)

So for some this is the most daunting kind of interview - you in a room with 3+ people opposite you, grilling you on why they should let you be a doctor and why that should happen at their medical school. And yes - all of that is terrifying, but the benefit of this kind of interview is that if you're confident (or at least fake it for the 20-30 mins that it'll last) you can turn it into more of a formal conversation and then you'll relax and be able to shine!

This is the kind of interview I am about to face (in less than a week... ahhhh) so I'll be able to give some more information on what to expect when I've been through it but for now - how do you prepare?

1) Have an answer for "why do you want to be a doctor" type questions

So for this one, its very important to have clear reasons however it is just as important to not sound rehearsed (this can be said for all kinds of questions). When you're thinking about it, maybe lay out some bullet points so that you know in the interview that you've hit every point you wanted to say but you'll not sound rehearsed as you haven't written a speech.

Remember - don't just say you want to help people because there are many professions in a caring role. A good way to think about this is - why do you want to be a doctor and not a nurse? Both of these careers are in clinical, caring environments but what is it that attracts you to medicine specifically.... look at the GMC's document (tomorrow's doctors)

2) Know the uni/course

The "why do you want to come to X medical school" question should actually be one of the easier ones for you to answer as you chose it from the many possibilities for a reason.

I would definitely suggest looking at the website or prospectus again so that you can pick out the bits that attract you most. Essentially, they want to be flattered with this question!! The admission team want to know that if they offer you a place at their medical school that you know what you are in for and you will contribute (positively) to the medical school and university as a whole

3) Current affairs

In this kind of interview, it is very likely that they will either ask you how you keep up to date with medical issues in the news or ask you to tell them a medically-related story in the news that has interested you.

This seems like the most daunting kind of question to prepare for because news happens every day and how do you choose what's important? The key here is to choose something that actually does interest you!!

The BBC health page on their website is great for just a quick look at the headlines and then you can open up the articles and look into more detail.

If a story works well with your degree then even better as you can draw on your knowledge from uni (same can be said if you are working).

The best way to keep this task manageable is to spend half an hour on the internet/looking through journals and picking up what interests you... Also don't just be a sponge, think about what you're reading.

4) The NHS

Obviously know what it actually stands for: National Health Service (you'd be surprised by how many people stumble here from what I've heard!!)

So I'm guessing you've all heard about the Health and Social Care Act 2012 --- if you don't, make sure you do by the time your interview comes around because it may come up.

The Act was drawn up in 2012 and faced a lot of controversy but was finally passed and implemented in 2013, with an aim to complete all tasks by some point in 2014. I'm not going to summarise it here (unless there's a request for it) as its very complicated (and make this post farrrr too long!)

One thing I would say - this is a very big topic, it might not be the best idea to bring it up yourself unless you're 100% confident your facts are correct and your opinion is well founded.

5) Ethical Dilemmas

This one is a tough one but what you have to remember is that there is rarely a right and a wrong answer in these cases. The interviewers are looking more at your ability to form a coherent argument, that is balanced (so can see both sides of the issue) and if an opinion is given - that it is logically drawn out from the information and it can be substantiated.

If you took the UKCAT, these kinds of questions are essentially extended situational judgement questions.

Example - should alcoholics get liver transplants? 

Answer - 

YES - everyone has the right to treatment 

NO - they have knowingly caused damage to their liver (aka it's their fault/self-inflicted) so why should they 

BUT......

It isn't that simple is it?! 

Better Answer -

1) everyone has the right to treatment so it is the doctor's duty to do everything they can to help their patient

2) organs donated for transplantation are a very precious gift and they shouldn't be wasted - i.e. will the alcoholic patient just destroy this liver? 

3) alcoholism is an addiction aka a disease aka that also needs to be treated 

Conclusion - if the patient can become sober therefore look after the liver and getting over their addiction then yes, they should get it. However, it would be a very tough call to make if there was another non-alcoholic patient that also required a liver transplant 

This example shows that you may have a gut opinion but that's not the best way to answer ethical dilemma issues... As you can see, the conclusion does have an opinion but it presents both sides of the argument and illustrates the complex nature of the issue.

Assessment Centres (e.g.: Warwick)

I have applied to Warwick however they are rather tight-lipped about what exactly to expect but generally speaking - an assessment centre is a half day where various tasks are undertaken and you are assessed at each task.

Throughout the day, different tasks will test different skills, including - team work, empathy, good communication skills, motivation, drive to become a doctor (often tested in an essay).

The way to tackle these kind of interviews is to go about each task as yourself but remember you are being assessed - so if you prefer to be a leader, make sure that in some of the team work activities you take a step back and be part of the team showing that you know the importance of both leadership and teamwork. Having said that, don't suppress who you are and not say anything just so you don't come across as dominating!!

MMI (e.g.: KCL GEM)

MMIs are another different form of interviewing and importantly, they vary between universities. For example, MMIs at King's are actually a variety of 5 minute interviews so that you are being assessed at each 5 min interview on a different skill/task by different interviewers to eliminate the possibility of bias. In other universities it may be more of an assessment centre.

The key point of an MMI is to know that you will not be stationary (like in a panel style interview) - you will move between stations and you must try to keep concentration throughout the whole thing so that each interviewer can see what you've got to offer.

As with the panel-style interview, you should keep up to date with current affairs/ethical dilemmas and know why you want to study medicine as it could possibly be that each interviewer will ask you one question from those categories.

---

So that was just a brief summary of the various kinds of interviews universities offer for GEM applications - some are new to the interview system (e.g.: Southampton) and are doing a combination of a group task and individual interviews.

The key point I was trying to make is that you can be prepared although you cannot know exactly what to expect. Interviews are not the most comfortable situations but try and keep your cool so your awesomeness can shine through!

Just about to write a post about what to wear etc etc so be on the look out for that :)

Dr Wannabe
xxx

I'm the worst blogger ever...!!!!

Hi all -

As the post suggests, I'm the worst blogger ever and haven't said anything in WEEEEEKS.... sorry dear cyber friends - this is my apology post and I am now off to write an interview post - say tuned.

Dr Wannabe
xx

I haven't forgotten about you!

Hello cyber-friends,

To be honest, I don't actually have much to say about medical school applications (be it graduate entry or school leaver) at the moment because we are all in the same boat, submitted our application and just waiting to hear.

Slightly snowed under with all this fourth year work at the minute - I know some of you out there will be able to appreciate this so when that calms down I'll maybe post some links to some articles that may be useful for interviews.

In the meantime, just keep hoping for that update email from UCAS and as always, let me know if you have anything interesting to share that either you found helpful... even if its just to have a moan!!!

Dr Wannabe xx

ps: I know this post may have seemed unnecessary but I wanted you all to know I haven't forgotten about you – radio silence is more to do with me having nothing to say (for once!!!)

There it goes...

Hello all -

This is just a quick post to congratulate everyone on having submitted their UCAS form... AHHHH

Very scary but pretty exciting - GOOD LUCK with everything my dear cyber followers.

Dr Wannabe xx

Personal Statements

Hello again (now that I left it so long the last time, I'm over-killing it with two posts in one day!!)

I felt I didn't do you justice with my UCAS form post so here's a post all dedicated to PERSONAL STATEMENTS (that's meant to be said with some sort of dramatic music behind it...!)

For a whole website page dedicated to advice about what to write in each section -

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Advice_for_People_Writing_their_Medicine_Personal_Statements

Don't worry, I've not gone the easy way out and left it at that!!! I've just jotted down some tips I think you might find helpful

So - your PS needs to hit the following big points:

1. Why do you want to do medicine?
2. Who are you?!
3. Why are you applying to graduate entry medicine?
4. What have you done to show that you have an accurate expectations about being a doctor? (ie work experience)
5. Anything extracurricular 
6. Anything else you think is worthwhile!!

So points 1-3 should be in the first paragraph and they should be written in a concise and 'punchy' way.  As I was told by someone that read my personal statement, you need to make it clear why you want to do medicine NOW (as in why after uni/work and not straight from school). The answer to this questions should have a well thought out and clear answer. Obviously - it should also be the truth because chances are that you'll be questioned about it at interview.

That paragraph has raised to key points to your PS - 

• Being Concise - UCAS forms have a character (including spaces) limit of 4,000 so being concise is the only way to be!
• Telling the truth - your personal statement is most likely going to be the basis of your interview (if its a panel style or something along the lines of a 'chat'!!) so what's the point in lying?! In my opinion, you'll get caught out because no-one's entirely themselves at an interview because its a pretty terrifying experience (even if you're the most confident person on the planet!) so keeping up a lie will just make it even more stressful 

Then there's the work experience paragraph. This is probably going to be the biggest chunk of your PS because its your chance to explain everything you've done in the run up to your application. It also shows a key point which is that you understand (realistically) what life as a doctor really is. Also - don't be that person that thinks doctors are the only people in the NHS...! We all know that's not true and the reason that healthcare is successful is because of teamwork. 

The specifics you include in the work experience and extracurricular paragraphs is obviously entirely dependent on what you've done but whatever it is, explain what you've learned/gained from all these experiences. 

Also - don't just list the things you did when you were at school. You're still that same awesome person you were at school so tell them everything you've done since then because, chances are, you've only just gotten better since leaving school (unless, of course, you discovered something that is going to help cure cancer by the age of 16..!!) 

As a summary, I've included what Warwick suggests your personal statement should include (a list that is found basically identically on every medical school website) - 

• Your motivation for studying medicine at this stage of your career
• Your experience of and capability for team work
• Your activities, interests and life outside of work or university
• An understanding of medicine and what it means to be a doctor
• Hands-on personal care (not of a relative)

Also, don't worry about it. You'll never write a good PS if you're sat there for hours on end staring at a blank screen stressing over what to write. If you're stuck, STOP and go back to it later. And when it comes to proof-reading it and submitting it - be critical but don't go over board. There is such a thing as 'over thinking' your personal statement and that could make it worse, not better. Oh and finally - check your spelling and grammar because it'll just make it look more professional and easier to read - as well as showing you care about your application. 

So, that's it really. As always, if you have something to add please comment away.

Dr Wannabe xx 

The dreaded UCAS form...

Hey guys!

So I've been the worst blogger ever of late... fourth year freshers came and went and I almost forgot all about this little blog, then I remembered and drafted this little post but, between incessant deadlines I forgot to publish - SORRY!!!

Anyway, as the title suggests, this post is about UCAS with its October 15th deadline looming I thought now is as good a time as any to have a little chat about that dreaded PS and how to fill in UCAS forms.

So - the whole UCAS process for most of us graduate entry applicants will be at least 3/4 years ago if not more! And if your school was anything like mine, you got quite a lot of help on how to fill it in. Well people in cyberspace - this is no longer the case.... something I spent the summer trying to wrap my head around! The good news is that the lovely people at UCAS who answer the phone very quickly (if you phone at a good time) are absolutely great and extremely helpful! When I was done with mine, I gave them a quick call and they went through the various sections of my application with me and I checked that I'd filled in all the right boxes, and had done so correctly. To be honest, its all pretty self-explanatory but there's always that fear that you've screwed it up a little when no-one's there to hold your hand!

Then there's the personal statement (PS from now on because I'm lazy). So although I'm sitting here writing a blog, I actually find it very difficult to write things that aren't Biology essays (sad, I know!!). Even harder is the prospect of writing a whole document all about you! The only advice I have for you here is SELL YOURSELF! You're trying to get into medical school and although you might not think you've done enough to get a place, you probably have so TELL THEM ABOUT IT!!! Another piece of advice is not to make your PS just a long list of stuff - tell a story about yourself/your life/whatever it is you want to say. No-one likes to read lists so make it interesting.

I've got another post just after this one for more helpful hints about personal statement writing! 

Finally there's your reference - you're no longer in school and you're either in the big wide world of work or at uni. If you're like me and at uni you might be thinking 'but I never talk in lectures so no-one knows who I am'.... I also had that fear but finally realised that lecturers (well most of them!) are more than willing to help so will have a meeting with you and read your PS so they can get to know you and write a reference. My uni has 'advisers' (I think some unis call these 'tutors') and they will definitely know something about them. You have to chose who you think will do you justice but importantly - have you given them enough time to actually write you a good reference?!

Obviously there's that little thing of choosing which four unis your going to be applying to but I've already written about open days and this is a personal choice so I can't help you there.

That's it for now my dears - don't forget the deadline is looming so get to typing.

GOOD LUCK!

Dr Wannabe x

Open Days

Hello All!

So today I thought I would write a little about open days, those potentially wonderful but sometimes boring and repetitive but always useful days where we get to visit universities and medical schools.

Over the summer, I’ve been to a few open days having spent a large majority of the Easter holidays trolling through prospectuses and trying to decide where I was going to visit – potentially the most difficult decision in the medical application process because all medical schools have their pros and cons so, how do you know which one is right for you? This is why open days were invented because, sometimes, you just get this feeling as you go around a university that it either is or isn’t the right place for you!

I’ve been thinking a lot how to write this post because choosing a university is a very personal choice so here’s a little disclaimer – anything I write here is just my personal opinion, feel free to comment saying you disagree (or agree!) and everything I write has only been my personal experiences. Other people may have attended the same place/open day and had a completely different experience or take on the events.

Anyway – as I’ve already said, open days are very important but you can’t go visit every single university that offers a medical course so you’ve all had to at some point pick the 4-10 that you fancy visiting and got yourself to as many open days as your timetable/work schedule has allowed. The only way to do that is to go through websites and prospectuses and maybe even send a few emails to see which courses look like they might be for you. The key thing here, is to have an idea about the course and the universities before you book a place on the open day because there’s nothing worse than trekking all the way from Edinburgh to London to visit a university and realise that it’s absolutely not the kind of place you want to go to.

One piece of advice I have for everyone out there is, medical school is hard to get in to so we all think that we’ll be happy to go anywhere. This is true to an extent because the goal here is to become doctors HOWEVER… you can only apply to 4 (silly UCAS!) so don’t be afraid to be decisive and rule some universities out. Some people have a list of what is important to them – eg: location (distance from home, whether or not its in a city), course structure (traditional, PBL, case-based), facilities (both medical and university wide), extracurricular facilities etc. etc. etc. I think this is quite a good idea as it will help you ‘rate’ (so to speak) each university you are considering and help you to whittle down a very long list to just the key 4.

As you all know – medical school open days get booked up fast because of the high competition for places… something I got caught in when I unfortunately was unable to get onto the King’s College London open day over the summer. Obviously, I was a bit disappointed as I am very interested in applying there so I thought the next best thing would be to get as much detail as I could from the prospectus and website and then I gave the medical school a ring. They were lovely, very helpful and answered all my questions so it was as if I had been on the open day in terms of the information I received. So I have to make a decision, which I am sure many of you will also have to make, which is ‘should I apply to a university I haven’t visited?’ In terms of KCL, my answer is YES because I’ve managed to get a lot of information and I like what I’ve read/heard. Also – they interview, so there will be a chance to see the uni and medical school then (should I be so lucky!!) as well as always being able to organise either a self-guided tour or an individual visit.

The first open day I went to this summer was Imperial College London. It was held at the main hub for those on the GEM courses which is very close to Shepherd’s Bush tube station (for you Londoners out there that like to shop, its just behind Westfields). What was very good about the open day was that, given that it was for a GEM course and was held on a weekday, it started in the early evening which meant that a wide range of people could attend as work/uni would have already finished by then. Imperial is a very impressive university – I am sure you all know its fantastic reputation and there are of course great benefits to being in the biggest city in the UK (eg: a large NHS trust and a larger patient population in addition to the extracurricular and cultural benefits of a big city). Having said that, this can go the other way if you’re not a big city kind of person. The thing that stood out about Imperial was that the medical school concentrated very much on the science of medicine as, according to them, this ensures that all their graduates have a strong foundation in the science. There wasn’t much to see on the open day – you got a tour of the building at the beginning and then there was the usual array of talks which were very useful and interesting.

Speaking of the usual set of talks – the most important one is the curriculum/course structure one because that’s the talk that will differentiate the unis (in addition to location and facilities etc.)

Here comes the opinion bit… I really liked Imperial – to be honest, at first, I was almost a little bit intimidated by it because everyone there is absolutely amazing. They all did very well in either their undergraduate courses or at their jobs. What also stood out was that Imperial took a wide variety of people – everyone had the academics but they also had something else. By that I mean, everyone had an interesting story – one person I met did a very interesting Neuroscience dissertation whereas another had been working for quite a few years in a job that meant they had a high level of people interaction. I think this is a positive as, although it may be harder to get into (due to competition and the fact that they only offer 30 places or so), the wide variety of students means that you get to study with lots of people who will all bring something different. This will be very helpful it you’re struggling with a topic and someone in your course happened to write their dissertation on it! Given my academic background, I really liked the scientific aspect of the course however I completely understand that this might not be for everyone.

Then came Warwick (opinion… which I loved!). I think the biggest benefit of Warwick over all other GEM courses is that it is GRADUATE ONLY. Initially, I didn’t think that this would make that much of a difference but because of this, they offer about three times as many places as other medical schools and there is no ‘merging’ with the undergraduate class. Although, this isn’t really a major issue, it is nice to know that you are not being streamlined but that the course is specifically designed for graduates. Besides, it was very much like the Imperial open day – the talks were very good and informative. In addition to the talks, there were taster sessions in the afternoon so you could sample the learning style and a tour of the campus.

I managed to break some bones a few days before this open day so was on crutches and unable to participate in the tour but instead I drove around the campus and the nearby town of Leamington Spa which is where many medical students live. At a university like Warwick, I would suggest doing something similar, since the university isn’t in a town so it’s quite a good idea to see what the local towns/cities are like because you might end up living or socialising there.

The third open I went to was Swansea – FYI, Swansea take the GAMSAT unlike the other universities I visited which accept the UKCAT. I really liked Swansea – like Warwick it is graduate only and the town is pretty great (not the prettiest place but seems to have everything you need: lots of shops, restaurants, places to go out and most importantly an apple store!!!!). The building where lectures take place is almost next door to one of the teaching hospitals which was great. The talks were informative (as with the other universities) and there was also a taster session. The only reason I’m not applying there is because I have decided not to take the GAMSAT because, due to some other circumstances, I felt that I didn’t have enough time to study properly for it. If it wasn’t for that, I think it would definitely have made my UCAS choices (so essentially, some better organisation on my part would have meant I could have applied!!)

I was going to see Southampton because I really liked the look of it but because the open day was not geared towards studying medicine but was a university-wide open day I decided not to go. The reason I did this was not because I didn’t like Southampton but I have friends there so I know it a little and the course offered there states that it requires Chemistry A Level in some cases. I didn’t take Chemistry A Level so what I have done is contacted the medical school to see if the content of chemistry in my degree is sufficient enough to apply… if the answer is ‘no’ then I didn’t waste any petrol (!!!) and if the answer is ‘yes’ then I’m going to go on a guided tour.

Finally there was Barts (in London). Unfortunately, I found that for a university with such an impressive reputation, this was by far the worst open day I attended. The reason for this was due to the bad organisation – one of the two (only two!) talks organised was cancelled therefore the only talk was about the history of the medical school. Although this is interesting, in my opinion, I wasn’t told anything I couldn’t find out on their very informative website. After that you were placed into groups to do a set of four activities. The first activity for my group was an Information Fair. This was essentially what all the other open days included in their organised talks – admissions information, course information, accommodation, life after uni etc. etc. The problem was that everyone (including me) wanted to talk to the people at the admissions stand (I, for example, wanted to know their UKCAT cut off score which FYI was 2800 last year) so I spent the whole half hour session queuing and only just being able to ask that one question. I did not participate in the rest of the open day because I didn’t need a self-guided tour of the area as I am from London, and should I apply, I’ll probably live at home to save some money so didn’t need to look at the accommodation. As you can probably tell, I was very disappointed by Barts’ open day (not the university itself as its reputation speaks for itself) so sorry if this section was too opinionated for some (see disclaimer above!!!!!) but as I’ve said, this is just my personal experiences.

Anyway, all of that was my experiences of some of the many open days that are available. I really wish I had unlimited time this summer to have seen some other unis but unfortunately that was not the case. Would love any of you readers to comment with your experiences either at the same open days or at others so that everyone can have a bigger picture.

As always, the university websites contain all the useful and factual information so go look at those for facts & figures… didn’t think I should bog-down this already long post with more of those!

I’ll post again soon.

Dr Wannabe xx

Ps – sorry again for the length of the post… I think I need to learn how to be more concise… or maybe be less opinionated!!!

UKCAT

Hello again! Apologies for the MASSIVE delay in posting... It seems that between open days, UKCAT and summer job I forgot about this lovely little blog (awful I know, but I've finally found some free time so here we go!)

Today's post is slightly serious/boring but will (hopefully) give you some valuable information and hints/tips about the UKCAT. I hope you guys find this helpful - it is just my personal experience with it but I think I might have benefitted from some of this stuff at the start of my UKCAT practice time. Right, enough blabber....

The UKCAT - if you're a graduate it is probably the most important entrance exam for English and Scottish Unis (there is, of course, the GAMSAT which is the entrance exam for Welsh, Irish and some English unis - but its a completely different ball game so we'll talk about that another time!) and I know that some undergrad courses also use it. If you're anything like me when you hear about it your initial thoughts were 'ummmm... how on earth does this test show unis that I can be a good doctor and they should take me?!' and to be honest, having taken it and got an average of 780 (pretty pleased with myself there!!!) I still believe that to an extent however there's nothing we can do about it so just get on with it!!! (The UKCAT website does a very good job though at explaining how each section is relevant to a career in medicine as it explains the transferable skills)

Also, you're all probably thinking - 'it's August, this is a bit late in the game to be posting about the UKCAT' which is true but testing continues until October so hopefully this can be of some help to those of you that are still slogging through the abstract reasoning section, tearing your hair out because you just can't see the damn pattern!

UKCAT stands for UK Clinical Aptitude Test and is taken my prospective medicine and dentistry students. It's split into 5 parts, 4 of which are marked numerically (you're given a standardised score between 300-900 in these sections) and the final section is marked in bands (bands 1-4, each of which come with a description of what the band means). Here's the UKCAT website for full details but I'll give a little breakdown/summary below just to give you all a taster!!

http://www.ukcat.ac.uk

Test Format

The UKCAT is taken at Pearson Vue centres (those places where you take your driving theory test) so it is all computerised. This has both advantages and disadvantages - the biggest positive is you walk out of the room and your results have already printed so there's none of that horrible waiting for weeks on end to find out how you did. The negatives are - it's on a computer so if you don't like reading on a screen, you're going to struggle and the biggest issue for most people is the calculator. The calculator is one of those simple on-screen things that takes forever to work (you can use a keyboard to type the numbers which is a million times faster but even so, it's pretty slow).

The test is also multiple choice - this means that even with a guess you have a 20-25% of getting the right answer (some have 5 options, some have 4) so with an educated guess you can have a 50:50 shot of getting it right by eliminating the answers you know are wrong. Educated guessing is an extremely important factor for the UKCAT particularly if you are running out of time or if you genuinely have no idea what-so-ever!

Hint - 

Learn to recognise the kind of question you cannot answer or those that will take too long. 

You can 'flag' these for later and come back to them if you have time at the end - each question is worth the same amount, so don't spend four times the allocated amount of time on a difficult question when you could be getting easy marks in the bag. 

Flagging is an option you have on the top righthand side of the screen that highlights the question so at the review screen at the end of the section they stand out from the other questions. Flagging is very useful because, if you've got any spare time, it lets you go straight to the questions you weren't sure of or you guessed enabling you to spend a bit more time on them. You can flag quickly using the keyboard shortcut ALT-F (this saves time)

If you go to the link I've embedded above, you'll find the various rules at the test centres (eg: you can't wear a watch... I have no idea why!!) and all the ID and time requirements (bring a VALID UK driver's licence or passport and arrive AT LEAST 15 mins early)

Instructions

Each subsection is preceded by an instruction page which you have 1 minute to read. They say the same thing as the exemplar instruction pages on the website but it's a good idea to read it just to refresh your memory.

Hint - 

Use this extra minute to forget about the previous section and move on. You've got the instructions in front of you, so you might as well read them as it will refresh your memory on the task ahead and it will help you move on and forget about the section that you've just finished. 

UKCAT Subsections

The subsections of the UKCAT are taken in the same order with the same timings and amount of questions by everybody. You can't flick between subsections during the test and unfortunately can't 'bank' your time (by this I mean, if you finish section one with 5 minutes to spare, you can't carry those over to the next section).

Speaking of timing - it's a bitch (excuse my language). Generally speaking, the academic level of the UKCAT is not too difficult (unless you particularly struggle with maths for example) so the real issue is finishing it on time. When there's an average of less than a minute (in some cases mere seconds) per question, everyone except those few super-fast geniuses is going to struggle with it. For me, the timing issue was worst for the Quantitive Reasoning (maths) section and in the real thing I finished the section with literally 1 second to spare!!! But don't be disheartened and think you'll never get there because on my first try at home in timed conditions, I only got half way through that same section - practice really does make perfect(ish) with this kind of test.

Verbal Reasoning - in this section you will be given passages and have to answer questions about it. In 2013, new style questions were introduced and these take at least double the time of the traditional 'true/false/can't tell' questions and they involve reading long statements about the passage (if you want examples/more detail look on the UKCAT website for full information)

So, you have 22 minutes in total for this section but 1 minute is for reading the instructions and 44 questions to answer (that's broken down into 11 passages each with 4 associated questions). This works out to around 2 minutes per passage (or just under 30 seconds per question).

Hint - 

My advice would be to go with the 2 mins per passage timing because you need to read the passage to be able to answer the questions (obviously enough!) and if you take the time (around 1 minute is what you're aiming for), answering the questions will take relatively little time. 

On the subject of reading the passage the jury's out on this one - half of the advice says don't read it, just skim it and the other half says actually read it. I'm in the second camp for many reasons:

1. You can train yourself to read faster with practice which is exactly what ended up happening with me 
2. If you've read the passage you'll know where in the passage to look for your answer very quickly 
3. The new style questions are often about the 'opinion of the author' or 'which statement would the author most likely agree with' and if you've not actually read the passage you have a very slim chance of answering these questions correctly 

There are merits to just skimming the passage such as time saving however, in my opinion, it's not worth it

Hint -

This is the first section of the test and you'll be very nervous so chances are the first few questions won't go so well. Try to be as calm as possible - use the 1 minute instruction time to take a few deep breaths and try to calm down. 

Quantitative Reasoning or just maths to the rest of us - in this section you will be given data (so this could be in the form of a table, a chart or a little description of something) and have to answer questions about it. Obviously enough the questions involve some maths calculations which are at GCSE level. 

For the majority of people taking the UKCAT, this is the most daunting section either because they aren't so good at maths/it's been a very long time since they've done any or because of the timing. To all these people - I feel your pain! This was by far the trickiest section for me, particularly because of the timing and to some degree the maths itself because even though I use maths in my degree, its statistics not pythagorus' theorem or any of this other stuff I haven't thought about since I was 16! 

So, you have 23 minutes in total for this section but 1 minute is for reading the instructions and 36 questions to answer - unlike the verbal reasoning, there is no set format for how many questions are associated with a particular data set therefore it is best to think about how much time you have per questions which works out just over 30 seconds per question

As you can see, its pretty tight timing even for a maths wiz because in those 30 seconds you have to have understood the data (which can take quite a long time in some cases), understand the question, work out the maths and select the correct answer. 

The only thing to do here is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and when you think you've done enough - PRACTICE MORE!! 

I'd also say that this is one of the sections where my first 'hint' about recognising the questions that take too long or that you know you won't ever be able to answer whether you had 30 seconds or three hours and take an educated guess, flag the question and move on is most useful. 

Hint - 

Try to use the calculator as little as possible because it is a very simple and slow to use on-screen thing. The more you practice, the faster your 'mental maths' will become and you'll no longer need it for the simpler questions

The calculator sits in the top lefthand corner of the screen and you can bring it up by either clicking on it or using the keyboard shortcut ALT-C. You can also use the keyboard to type in the numbers. 

Hint -

Using the keyboard for shortcuts and to type in numbers will save you more time than you think and time is the most valuable thing in this section

Before you go into the test, you are given a multi-page whiteboard and a permanent marker - USE THEM! You can use it to note down numbers for calculations or useful formulas (eg: speed = distance/time) and also simple calculations that will save you calculator time.

Hint -

In this section there are often answers that would be correct if you misread the data or if you missed a key step in the calculations. Watch out for these by ensuring that you are using the correct numbers in your formula and you have read the relevant data information (eg: sometimes the description of the data includes some key information) 

Abstract Reasoning - in this section you will be given to sets of patterns (Set A and Set B) and then a 'test shape' and asked whether it belongs to Set A, B or neither set. There are 5 questions associated to each set group. There are also some new style questions from 2013 onwards which require you to either select a the next shape in the pattern or which 'statement' completes the shape (go to the UKCAT website for a full description of the new style of questions). 

In my opinion, this section is the 'weirdest' because regardless of what kind or degree/job you're doing right now, it is pretty unlikely that in your everyday life you will be looking at sets of shapes and trying to find patterns. I also found it the most infuriating section because when you can't see the pattern, there's nothing you can do about it. However, like improving your timing in the Quantitive Reasoning section PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and the pattern recognition will come to you and you'll get faster and faster

Hint - 

Create a 'cheat-sheet' of things to look out for when you're struggling to find the pattern. 

For example, lines of symmetry, number of corners, shape association, colours etc. etc. etc. 

This is very useful as it breaks down the process of finding the pattern because in some cases, it just jumps out at you and in others, you're staring at a seemingly random collection of shapes

So, you have 14 minutes in total for this section but 1 minute is for reading the instructions and 55 questions to answer. This works out to around 15 seconds per question or for the traditional style questions, just over a minute per set

Like with the maths section, I would say that flagging is very important in this section because when you can't see the pattern (even when you've gone through your mental checklist) you can just guess and flag that group of questions and come back to it. This also saves loads of time rather than just staring blankly at a screen wasting valuable time. 

I personally did not find timing an issue in this section because after lots of practice, I was quickly able to recognise the sets where I could not see a pattern and just guess and flag for later leaving me more time for the ones I was 100% sure of. This allowed me to go back at the end and spend my extra time on the ones I initially thought I couldn't see the pattern for and was able in a few cases to deduce the pattern using my mental checklist. 

Hint -

In most cases there is more than one rule (eg: Set A has shapes with an even number of sides and the majority of the shapes are black. Set B has shapes with an odd number of sides and the majority of the shapes are white). This is very important for the answer 'neither' as the test shape may work for one rule but not the other. 

Decision Analysis - in this section you are given a table of codes (i.e. - a shape that corresponds to a word) which you have to use to translate a statement from either code to english (majority of question) or english to code (less common and more difficult). The answers and the statements may not correspond totally because this section is about using your judgement to select the best answer. There are also a few questions towards the end which ask which additions to the code may be most useful for translating a questions. 

This is the only section where multiple options may be correct - if this is the case, it will say so in the question (eg: select the two best options). 

Hint - 

Use the whiteboard to directly translate the code. 

You may think this will take too long but the time pressure is slightly less in this section therefore it is seriously in your best interest to directly translate the code because than you can compare each answer option to exactly what the code says 

So, you have 34 minutes in total for this section but 1 minute is for reading the instructions and 28 questions to answer. This works out to over 1 minute per question including answering the confidence rating (see below for explanation on this)

As I've said above, the time pressure is not so bad in this section particularly because you'll start to remember some of the commonly used codes (eg: I or personal) by heart and won't need to look them up every time. 

Hint - 

Develop your own shortcuts for words that you know will come up a lot.

As you practice you will see that words like 'opposite' and 'increase' and 'personal' are almost always in the code so if you develop a shorthand for them you'll save time as you're writing the code out (eg: I used an arrow for increase and opp. instead of opposite)

This was my best section, both in practice and for the real thing and I almost enjoyed it (I use enjoyed very loosely and comparing to the fact that I was near suicidal at the beginning of my revision for the test!!!). 

Hint -

Like with the Quantitative Reasoning section, the Decision Analysis section often has very similar answers. The key to deciphering which is correct is looking for code translations that are either missing or used to much (eg: when 'personal' or 'I' is included in your translation multiple times, make sure that the answer you select reflects that exactly)

In 2013, they introduced a confidence rating which is a scale of 1 to 5 asking how confident you are that your answer is correct. For this test season, these are not being passed on to universities so I am not sure how they are being used. Don't stress out or think too hard about them. I used the philosophy that if I was pretty sure that the answer I picked matched the translation I had I picked 4, if I had to chose between two answers I picked 3 and if I guessed (which can happen when you're translating from english to code) I picked 2. For now, the confidence rating you chose doesn't matter so don't waste that valuable time thinking too hard about it. 

Situational Judgement - this is the section of the test that is not numerically marked but in bands. In this section you will be given a scenario and asked two types of questions. The first will tell you who's point of view you must assess the statement from and then rate how appropriate the response is. The second will tell you who's point of view you must assess the statement from and then rate how important it is to take into consideration

This is the final section and many people find that they are very tired so do not concentrate quite as hard on it because they know its not numerically marked therefore it is less important. THIS IS NOT TRUE.  Each university uses this section differently (for example - I went to an open day where they said that they don't look at it, went to another where they said they look at extreme outliers as this could either be very positive or very negative and then another uni said they use it at interview). Even though you're tired, concentrate as hard as you can because the test is almost finished and you might as well try your hardest.

On top of all of that, this is the section that 100% is all about what it's like to be a doctor because it's all about the ethics. 

Hint -

Think like a doctor in this section and the ethical/moral responsibilities someone in such a position has. 

Some questions are often about medical students missing classes/copying and you might think that in real like you would just let it slide but the whole point of this section is that opinions like this in different situations could be dangerous to patients (eg: if a friend has cheated on a test, and they are faced with the subject matter of the test whilst on the ward, they may not know how to respond and this could have very serious consequences for the patient) 

Preparation

So now you know what to expect and what it's all about - how do you prepare for it?

There are many different strategies - some people do a little bit every week from about January until they take the test in the summer. Other people take the test late in October and work a little bit a day throughout the summer and some work with a more condensed time frame where they do lots and lots in a smaller space of time and take the test at the end of that period. 

Like with everything, the choice of strategy is up to you and how you work best. If you think that you would benefit better from a little bit every week for a longer period of time, then make sure you are organised and start early. If you are more like me where you know you'll do better if its the only thing you have to do for a set period of time then work that way. The choice is yours!!!

Hint -

Whichever timescale you choose it doesn't change the fact that the UKCAT is all about practice.

If you go for the longer time period, set aside a specific time each week that is UKCAT practice time so that you make sure you are actually doing something.

If you go for the shorter time period, make sure you have nothing else on and that you are prepared to work over 5/6 hours a day on it until test day because that will be the only way you will fit in enough practice. 

Resources

There are hundreds of UKCAT courses and private tutoring available as well as books and online resources. Essentially, it's what's right for you but there's so much out there that it can seem daunting. 

At the start of my UKCAT preparation I had a few hours of tutoring. This was helpful as it meant the my strengths and weaknesses could be concentrated on however, a course would probably have been just as beneficial because the skills I took from the tutoring would have been taught at the courses. 

To find courses, just type 'UKCAT preparation courses' into google and thousands of hits will come back. I've heard that Kaplan do very good courses - I bought their book and it was one of the better ones so I can imagine that their courses are great. 

Speaking of books - that's the key thing because they will give you some advice which will be helpful but most importantly there will be hundreds of practice questions. I think I bought four books and signed up to an online resource so must have done a thousand or so practice questions and that is 100% the reason I was able to improve my score from my first practice test at home to the score I got for the real thing. Amazon has lots of books - here's a link to some http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=UKCAT and the other normal places to buy books should have what you need. 

My most useful resource was a website called Medify where you sign up and pay for however long you want (I think they have 1 week, 1 month or 2 month payment options) and they have an absolutely fantastic bank of question as well as tutorials that explain everything in great detail and then three mock tests of varying difficulty that you can take. I would very much recommend this resource - particularly if you can't afford multiple options because this is the most comprehensive. They have a 'demo' option where you can try it out and see if its for you which I used before I bought my subscription. Below is the link to the medify website which also has useful information about UCAS and other entrance exams:

http://www.medify.co.uk

They also have a fantastic 'cheatsheet' that has the key points about the UKCAT sections as well as some useful formulae for the Quantitative Reasoning section:

http://www.medify.co.uk/ukcat-cheat-sheet

So - I think that's all I have to say about the UKCAT.... sorry if it was long and boring but I thought I'd tell you all I know. If you guys wanted to know, they say the national average is 600 but that's not necessarily helpful to you, what you need to be aware of is the expectations of the universities you are applying to - it is important to note that it will be a waste of a choice if you apply to a uni that has a cut of 650 per section and you have 600. They have that cut off for a reason and they will not even look at the rest of your application if you haven't made the minimum standard. 

That's it for now - I'll post again soon,

Dr Wannabe x

Work Experience

Hello dear cyber followers (I'm not even sure if 'followers' is an appropriate term, is it just for twitter or can we use it here?)

Currently sitting on a train and had nothing to do and thought I'd think of something to post and came up with the great topic that is work experience, so here goes...

I'm assuming all of you fellow would-be medics know exactly what I mean by work experience but just to clear up any confusion, I am referring to the essential (because, lets be honest, you are not going to get into medical school unless you have some sort of work experience) shadowing of GPs or specialists and even surgeons for either a day or a few days (and if you're very lucky, a few weeks). This can take place in the UK or for some lucky folk, it can even be abroad (I am very pleased to say that I've been able to take part in some work experience abroad which was a great comparison to the UK way of doing doctory things - yes, that is a semi-constructed interview answer you've just read!)

So now we're all on the same page, let's get some structure into this post. First, I think its best to give you all some helpful hints that I've found over the years to help those of you still looking for work experience and include some things to expect. Then, I'll give some juicy (or gory - depending on your opinion) of some of the stuff I've experienced. 

HELPFUL HINTS:

•   Get work experience whenever, wherever and however you can 

In my opinion, it is never too early to start work experience - I think I did my first placement when I was around 14 and I won't be getting to medical school (assuming I get in!) until I'm 22 but all of it has been useful and worth every second. 

Wherever is also important. Obviously, it has to be either near home/school/uni to be convenient but maybe you can stay with a friend for a few days or dig up some cousins (hopefully, not literally!) to say with. My last work experience was not so close to home and stayed in a Premier Inn so some days and commuted (how very grown-up of me!) the rest.

And, however means however (as in any way you can). No-one in my family is a doctor (well, small white lie if you count my dad's cousin who lives abroad and didn't train or ever practise in the UK so I don't count that!) so I've had no 'shoe-ins' for work experience. Instead, at every doctor's appointment I went to from about 14 years old, I would ask said doctor if there was any chance of shadowing him/her and at least a few times this actually paid off! (I say 'I' but to be perfectly honest, a lot of the time it was my mother because she is a hell of a lot more ballsy than I am at this kind of thing). Alternatives also include dinner parties (hosted by parents and hoping their friends are doctors) or just generally badgering everyone you know!

•   Remember: no experience is irrelevant or useless and even one day can be an extremely useful insight in life as a doctor

There is no such thing as a pointless work experience. Even if you've hated it (some experience with that over here), you will have still learnt something - even if its just that you will never want to become that sort of specialty. 

According to the few open days I have already attended (details to come), the whole point of work experience is to confirm that you do actually want to be a doctor and that you know what such a career involves. So every experience counts towards that 

•   Reflect on all your experiences, write those down and look over them during application time

The most useful advice I've ever received from someone I was shadowing was to write down everything I'd learnt or observed or thought or mused or whatever goes on in my head at the end of the day. This 'work experience diary' as we'll call it will become your lifesaver when it comes to personal statement writing and I can guess interviews (am yet to experience that nugget of joy...) because the interview panel want to know about your views and what you think/feel/appreciate about life as a doctor. 

•   Don't forget about extra-cirricular activities

Anyone that's tried to get work experience knows how difficult it is so let's not forget about the importance of other things you can do to try and 'bulk up' your CV (and ultimately your personal statement). 

I have always been partial to a bit of volunteering which I've been doing since GCSE time (for any non-UK people reading that's around 15/16 years old). I've worked in schools (both mainstream and those for children with special needs), in care homes and other bits and bobs. I've met people that have volunteering in hospitals which sounds like a fabulous way to gain some intimate knowledge on the inner workings of medical communities. 

Volunteering is useful in many ways. Obviously (if it is relevant eg: working in a hospital or with special needs children) it can give you insight into some aspects of the medical profession but more importantly it demonstrates commitment and passion. Volunteering is, usually, a long-term commitment so it proves that you have staying power (aka commitment) and hopefully a passion for what you are involved in.

If volunteering isn't your thing or you fancy earning a bit of money, I've heard of some people working in clinical labs or as phlebotomists. Both of these are absolutely amazing opportunities as they demonstrate the same positives as volunteering as well as developing relevant skills and earning you some extra cash. A point to note here is that this avenue of 'extra-cirricular activities' might be more suitable to those applying GEM rather than school leavers. 

I think that's it for helpful hints and useful points from me - if I think of any more, I'll add them to the list (feel free to comment with your own also!)  

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Throughout my years (oh dear, I am sounding very old!!) I have found that what to expect from work experience differs on many points. Firstly it is age-dependent (as in your age) because under-18s have much more stringent guidelines on what they are allowed to do/see/take part in - I don't really know why this is but I'm guessing its to do with health & safety (that old chestnut), education (as in what you actually know about what's going on) and maybe also a little bit to do with maturity (because, trust me, when you're witnessing a blood spurting out of your brain and a flatlined monitor at 20 years old, you'll be very glad you didn't see that at 14 - yes, that is actually something that happened during one of my work experience placements!!). And secondly, I think it is slightly consultant-dependent - by this I mean that the experience you get and how positive it is, is down to a combination of what you put in and the attitude of the consultant/doctor your shadowing. Some of them would rather you just observe silently (but that’s pretty rare – I’ve never experienced that) whereas others want you to get involved (to varying degrees and within the realms of age and competence obviously!!)

But in general, I would say - 

•   Expect to maybe have been forgotten about

A few times, I have turned up at the arranged time and no-one knew/remembered I was coming!! That's absolutely fine because to be honest, doctors/surgeons do have better things to do than have us shadowing them but they're just helping out the next generation of life-savers (I quite like the sound of that to describe us all!!). All you have to do is just politely remind them of your phone/email exchanges and all will be fine. If in doubt and they are a consultant - always go to the secretary - he/she always knows what's going on. 

•   Expect to be a bit of a 'deer stuck in the headlights' 

The medic/surgeon you are shadowing, if they're nice (which in my experience, most are) will try and involve you as much as they can (I must say that I've found, the older I am the more involved I have been) and the best way to do that is for them to explain what they are doing and (however daunting) to ask you questions. It is ok to say 'I don't know' because you are not a doctor yet and you only know what you've been taught. Having said that, if you know you are going to shadow a doctor who specialises in cardiology it may be a bit useful to read up on the structure and function of the heart. 

•   If you're anything like me, expect to be absolutely terrified the first time you go

I love meeting new people on a night out or in a social setting as that's how we all make friends (yes the end to that sentence was disgustingly cheesy... I'm considering changing it, if I can be bothered) but I am not the most comfortable in a new work/academic setting so my first work experience at the tender age of 14 was absolutely terrifying. But, thankfully, the terror faded away when the GP I was shadowing saw his first patient because I then realised - right, this isn't too bad and actually it's quite a lot like what I imagined. 

JUICY DEETS:

(apologies for using 'deets' but I feel I should be honest with you all, I am once of those idiots that shortens EVERYTHING... details = deets, dinner = dins, people = peeps etc. etc. etc. I will not judge you if you turn away and never come back to this blog again)

In the past few years I have seen surgeries all over the body (I mean it, literally from head to toe: neurosurgery for a month all the way through to a few weeks with orthopaedic surgeons, some gynaecology and ENT stuff in the middle too) as well as working in an STD clinic and a lot of the experience I've done has been on paediatric wards (however, most of the surgeries have been on grown ups) and its ALL been AMAZING! 

I've never doubted I wanted to be a doctor (except a brief stint during A levels when I gave up Chemistry and though Clinical Psychology was for me - obviously, that didn't stick) but work experience has just proved to me that I want it enough to stick through all the stuff I don't like and all the boring paperwork (trust me, I have never seen anything like it... one patient = a mountain of paperwork) 

Anyway, you probably don't care about any of this and you just want to know the stuff I've seen, so here you go:

- The previously described brain spurting and flat-lining. This has got to be the most exciting (just so you know the patient survived with no long-lasting brain damage, I'm not that awful!!!) because I have never seen a room change atmosphere so quickly. We were in there for a tumour removal and it was all going fine and dandy (there was some background music, it was great) and then next thing I now we have a nice red fountain coming from someone's brain (got some on my scrubs - oh yeah) and the whole surgical team is in action. It was great, everyone was co-ordinated and between the anaesthetist and the surgeons everything was solved within 30 seconds (if that) and everything was back to normal. 

- Hip replacements. Some of you might be like 'what, why is this exciting' which I though at first but when you see one its really interesting. Not going to lie - I was not a fan of the surgeon dislocating the hip to pull it out of its sockets (I don't think orthopaedics is for me if the bone 'crunching' makes me a bit wobbly) but the rest of it is so cool. Best part (for me) is the bone cement they use - its amazing. At first its just green play-dough and then within a few minutes it gets really hot and then is rock hard. All you chemists out there will know exactly what's going on but for me it was harry potter-like and pretty awesome. 

- Stem cell research. I was extremely fortunate that one of the surgeries I observed was performed by someone who uses stem cells and regenerate cartilage and because I saw this whilst at uni I also had a rough idea what was going on. It was amazing and really showed you the power of all the research that goes on in the labs and the overall purpose of scientific research. This existential thinking has definitely helped me through some horrendous labs! 

That's just three of many amazing experiences. I would write them all down but I doubt you guys can be bothered to read much more of my ramblings. If for some reason you do, let me know and I'd be more than happy to write down some more! 

So this has been a very long post (sorry to those who got bored half way through - I am known to waffle a little!!) but I believe work experience is invaluable to anyone wanting to apply to medical school. Although it is a lot like you imagined (that is, unless your expecting Patrick Dempsey to walk around the corner and propose to you in the next elevator......) but there are lots of unexpected things. Working as part of a team, making hard decisions, lots and lots of paper work and occasionally some yummy biscuits are all part of life as a doctor and you can only see these things when you're actually there experiencing the day-to-day.

In summary (oh yeah, very essay-like and technical... really, its just because I said 'so' in the start of the paragraph above!) GO DO WORK EXPERIENCE and once you've done it WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN!!

That's it for now,

Dr Wannabe x