The Dragon Medic

Naturally it takes some time for results to come out, in this case, I think it was about a month later. I didn't have a waking moment when I wasn't worrying about when or if I would get a good score. What is worse, I didn't have some sort of benchmark to hope for, as I didn't know what the university wanted.

In the meantime, I got an offer to study Biomedical sciences at a London university, I was so happy to receive that offer, it was almost enough to make me cry. O.K. it wasn't medicine, but it was a last resort at least. I could always do graduate entry medicine...

Anyway, I eventually received my results, my heart stopped a beat as I opened the envelope, and low and behold I got 19.2 out of 32. Now, for those of you who know the BMAT, this is a pretty good score, its just past average, so I thought that at least I have a fighting chance.

Anyway, Christmas comes and goes, and I have still not heard anything from any of my choices. Then one bright day, about the middle of Jan, I hear my mum rush down the stairs and comes and hugs me, I have an interview with a University to study medicine! I was so ecstatic, I called all my friends and told them. Of course, with the interview, I had to prepare, but what were they going to ask me....?

Note: I am a bit bored of writing these memoirs post event, so I think I will stop, as it doesn't make for interesting reading. If anybody is interested, just leave a comment and I may continue it. For now, I will just stick with current events.

Well, sending off the application doesn't mean you've finished all the work. For some UK medical schools, you have to also do an examination. The one I had to do was called the BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test) I think I did it on the 15th of November. On the website, it says that revision is not neccesary, and that the only thing you need is your GCSE/IGCSE knowledge...but come on, who remember that stuff five minutes after the exams!

So of course, I tried to study a bit, but with my hectic school schedule, and socialising, I didn't really have time for it. Anyway, you have to sign up for the exam at your local British Council (if you are living overseas). In the spirit of things, they had no idea what this BMAT was, after much explanation they finally figured it out, and then weren't sure how much they were supposed to charge! So of course another lengthy coversation ensued, with us telling them the price on the website for registration, £26.00, but no, that wasn't enough for them so in the end they ended up chargin us close to £100! What could I do, I needed to register to do the exam and so I paid up.

Exam day comes and I am really nervous, they call us into the room, and I sit down to the exam, IGCSE/GCSE level, some of the questions required really advanced levels of physics knowledge, a subject which I did not like. A university graduate would have had trouble, let alone a highschool student.

Well, I muddled through did as much as I could, and walked out thinking that here goes my chance of getting into that Medical school, at least I had other backups which didn't require the BMAT.

More later

I figured, while I'm at it, I might as well outline the medicine application procedure in the UK, or at least my version of it.

Well, it all starts off the summer before school starts again, we are told to write a personal statement. For those of you unaware what this is, its a short summary of why you want to medicine and why they should choose you. You have to cram in as much information as possible into a space not quite large enough for what you want to write. It was be catch and different, include what you've been doing/done on your path to medical school, what sort of volunteer work you have done, and just to show you are not a complete nerd, other interests...oh, also fitting in the kitchen sink would be a nice addition.

Anyway, the deadline for sending your online appliction off by UCAS (the UK admissions coordinator) for medical school is October the 15th. An important point to note, is that it must be first sent through the system to your schools coordiator, who checks it, adds a reference and your predicted grades. Two days before the weekend, which is the 12th, I send it off to my coordinator, fully expecting her to do it and send it off tht day, just in case I tell her I've sent it to her the next day (13th) as the 14th and 15th are a weekend, I wanted to make sure she sent it before, just in case she doesn't send it off during the weekend. I happily return home for a pleasant weekend, safe in the comfort that my application has been sent off. Of course, being me, I have to check to make sure, and, no it hasn't been sent! Again on the 15th I try and check, still not sent, today is the deadline! Am I going to loose my place at medical school just because my application wasn't sent! I call the school, of course weekend, nobody there. I am well and truely ruined. On the 16th, I frantically get to school, looking for the coordinator, maybe I can salvage the whole situation, if she puts a note saying she forgot to send it, since the application still goes to the Universities after the 15th, they just aren't obliged to take any notice of it.

Shock, horror! I am informed by my head of year, that the coordinator has gone overseas, and won't be back ill tommorrow! I resign myself to fate of doing biomedical sciences or some such course, or taking a gap year, as well as plotting plans of revenge and homicide against the coordinator.

Its the 17th, and the coordinator walks into school in the morning, oblivious of my tortured state, and manic look in my eyes. I walk up to her, and ask her why she hadn't sent my application off. She looked at my dead pan and started to shout at me, saying that you should have sent it to me last week, and I told everyone that I was going to be away (when you crazy person!). This was really getting me mad, and I replied that I had in fact sent it to her the week before, and even told her about it. A look of doubt flashed into her, and she rushed off to her office. Later that lunch break she sent the application off appologising profusely, but the damage as done, two days late I thought would be my doom.

Later that day, she called me into her office and showed me an email from a UCAS friend, assuring her not to worry, and that the deadline had been extended to the 17th, due to the weekend, and that the application would go through fine. The feeling of relief washed over me, but thougts of murder for my coordinator were not washed away, she put me through one of the worst ordeals of my life. This was just the beggining of the application process, there were still many more months of trials after this. More to come.

I was always aprehensive about whether or not I would be able to handle patients dying. Would I be emotionally strong enough, especially after my father died of mesothelioma 3 years ago.

Well, today, a close friend also died of cancer, and I was not even sure I could handle the whole experience again. She has been ill for the last two years, and four week ago, she was given six weeks to live, up until Friday, she was happily sitting up at home, and just last week we had a hearty dinner with her. It all happens so suddenly, one is hardly prepared.

We always find a death easy to handle, until it is someone we know, today, it was more the way the whole situation reminded me of my fathers death and his memory that I found hard to bare. It seemed almost parallel, I never would have thought that before I turned 19 I would see two deaths. For the first time I cried in front of my Mother, they were tears for my Father, just as much as they were for my friend, I suppose it was about time I let it out.

Death. It makes you appreciate life more, though I would never wish the experience on anyone, just one message, appreciate your friends and your parents while they are there, or you will forever regret it. Nothing you can do will bring them back, or make up for mistakes you may have made with them in the past, now is the time to forgive and forget, as well as say sorry, or just say,"I love you". I know this experience was hard on me, but it has definitely strengthened my conviction that I have chosen the right profession, to save even one person from the pain that my Mother and I have gone through, will have been well worth the effort. I know people will die under my care, but it is the ones who live whom I should concentrate on while I am working towards my degree, and perhaps am having some second thoughts.

RIP Asha, I will always remember you the way you were.

Dear Reader,

After many years of owning a dragons site, and dabbling with websites, I have finally decided to create a blog...hey, everyone else is doing it!

Well, a bit of info about me, I am a bit of a dragon freak, but I would first like to state, that although there are many articles on my site about draconity, being a dragon etc. I do not believe I am one, and neither do I believe I have a gaurdian or any other such thing. I just love dragons in general.

This blog isn't really going to be about dragons, rather it is going to be where I put my random rants, and thoughts about my life and things in general. Of course, as everyone does, I also hope it will bring some visitors here, and perhaps earn me a bit of money, but maybe that is being a bit over ambitious.

Right, to start with, I have just graduated from highschool, and am about to embark on a new adventure, namely Med school. I think for now, I will keep everything pretty much anonymous as to where I will be going, but it is in the UK and in London.

Of course, I am really excited about going, there are only 4 weeks until I fly into London. Could be sooner, but we are moving house, and the new one is still not ready, despite them promising us that it would be.

I am really excited about going, but it will also be weird, since I have not lived in the UK since I was 8, and im 18 now, so thats a long 10 year gap. Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things easily.

Anyway, enough of my welcome post, I don't think much more will be added until I actually start Med school, so, see ya in 4 weeks time, to here about my escapades!

-Dragon Medic