Rejection #1

Well it has been coming. In my gut, felt as if I did not perform as well as I would have liked at my Plymouth interview. Combination of nerves and inability to express myself through past experiences did not help. I did feel as if I coped better with the ethical scenario that Plymouth allow you to devote time to prepare beforehand but for the impromptu ethical situations, I could not think as laterally or quickly as I would have liked. It is certainly harder in a panel interview to give more a practical representation of how you are rather than describing how you would act theoretically.

It was a great learning experience nonetheless. I still have the drive and enthusiasm to get to Medical School. I will certainly be looking for more additional interview practice through my university, careers department and other companies. As I prepare more, I think I will show myself as being more naturally confident which undoubtedly will help. I think I am coming close. A Plymouth reunion is off though.

Interview #1 Lined Up

Just over a year ago, 13th November 2015, I had four rejections, this time I have yet to hear back from three but today received an invitation to an interview at Plymouth University.

Just relief and happy to have an opportunity to prove myself. 

For now, time to focus on completing my lecture notes from today.

Motivation

So this is the beginning hopefully of more prosperous times than last year. A First Class degree and Acceptance onto a Master's degree at Cambridge was great but still I have yet to achieve my primary goal on leaving school. Get into Medical School.

Ever since that fateful day when I realised I would finish my school years with BCC as my A-Levels, the clock was ticking. It was time to prove just how badly I wanted to do Medicine and how badly I wanted to work to achieve it. But never did I want to experience failure like that again.

My undergraduate degree really helped prove to myself that I can compete. After the first year of my undergraduate degree, I finished with just under a 69% average. After not particularly working hard that year, it was very reinforcing to me that with a little more application, I can go on and be one of the best students in my degree cohort.

That all changed in the final year of my undergraduate degree when I was unfortunately predicted a 2:1 despite a 73% average during second year. It meant instant rejection from Plymouth University and quite likely hindered my other applications elsewhere. That was hard for me but it wasn't the first time my tutor did not believe in me.

On the final day (Leaver's Day) at school, our housemaster typically delivers a short speech on each of the leavers to the entire house. I was second in the alphabet and his opening words were: '[my name], he lacks common sense.' Never will I forget those words. But forever will I try and prove him wrong by moving onto a career where, perhaps, above all, is common sense expected the most.

After rocky roads of my UKCAT and GAMSAT in 2015, I'll be submitting my UCAS application tonight armed with a slightly better UKCAT score in 2016. I just hope I have an opportunity to prove myself at an interview. Its coming one day. Just be ready.

Masters Acceptance!

Before my hopeful 2017 entrance to Medical School, I have applied to do a one-year Masters in Genomic Medicine ('Modern' Medical Genetics essentially) at the following universities:

St George's

Imperial

Cambridge

I have been fortunate enough to have offers from all three universities and I have accepted Cambridge (Girton College). Very pleased about how this has turned out. Doing a summer research studentship after the first year of my undergraduate degree really cemented my interest in genomics and undoubtedly helped place a research-heavy focus on my application despite having medical school ambitions.

Degree Classification

Four months on and I have successfully completed my BSc Biomedical Science degree with my final year module marks are as follows:

Personal Research Project: 72.34%
Molecular and Cellular Pathology: 74.17%
Specialist Biochemistry and Screening: 79.13%
Current Developments in Biomedical Science: 68.25%
Medical Genetics: 75.21%

And those marks wrap up a First Class Degree Classification which I am certainly very pleased about. For the first time, I finally have the academic criteria box firmly ticked. A third attempt at the UKCAT awaits and I am also close to finding out about my Masters application. Exciting times ahead.

A Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I'm currently a Third Year Biomedical Science student at Plymouth University who still is clinging onto the hope of one day studying Medicine in the near future. I say, the near future, as unfortunately my application for 2016 Entry is no longer under consideration by all four universities.

GAMSAT score: 56
UKCAT score: 635

Exeter University - low GAMSAT
Plymouth University - low GAMSAT
St George's University - low GAMSAT
Nottingham University - low GAMSAT

So, 2017 Entry it is. I have three modules left this semester in the final year of my degree and decisions about what I plan to do next year will be made soon. It is disappointing to be rejected because of low aptitude test scores but I know I can do better next year and I'm still hopeful of a high enough degree prediction to perhaps warrant an interview.

This is my third attempt at writing up a blog. I felt as if my previous two were rather verbose and overly scientific. Let's see how this journey goes.