Today I feel like posting in my blog despite having a bit of work to do for tomorrow. I will make this one brief and hopefully informative.
I have noticed people are starting to get interview offers and I reckon giving out some tips should be useful.
IMPORTANT: REFLECT REFLECT REFLECT! AND EXPAND ON YOUR ANSWERS!
1) Look around the city before going to the interview! A common ice breaker question would be: "Why *City*?" Make sure you find something to talk about the city/university. Nothing better than completely messing up the first question. It is a great time to help yourself calm the nerves as you SHOULD know the answer.
2) Look at the medical course that the university offers. A common question would be something like: "Why this university?" This would be the perfect to time to show off your knowledge about the university and the course. Shows that you are keen and you know where you applied.
3) Please have something to say when they give you the good ol' vague question: "Why medicine?". I personally hated this question because it is SO vague and you could basically talk for ages. A great thing to remember when answering is to try and pull in stuff that you wrote in your personal statement. For example you can talk about your work experience/volunteering helped you discover more about medicine/educated you about the career. Also draw in positives such as your skills that you have picked up helping you to succeed as a doctor. Make sure you try to keep the answer short despite it being a difficult task. Just give a summary and make sure you cover the important points and cover some of the stuff in your personal statement.
4) Read the news especially about the NHS/health. In some interviews - the like to ask you about something recent that happened in the NHS or a recent medical advancement. The day before just go on BBC or something and read up on some stuff. Don't pick the hardest thing you saw in the news...pick something that actually drew your attention and that you find interesting so you can actually talk about it in the interview.
5) Reflect on what skills a good doctor should embody. This is a pretty common question. They could ask you to name a skill or they could name a skill and ask you to talk about that skill. Remember to always try and relate the question to yourself. If they ask you about empathy - find something that you have done which helped you develop empathy/care for people. Something like working at the hospital or care home would be good things to talk about. Remember in an interview the interviewer wants to know about YOU and how capable you are to becoming a doctor. Show that you are three dimensional and do other things other than go to school.
6) Be prepared for an ethical question. There is no right or wrong answer....actually none of the questions have a right or wrong. Do not fake an answer...answer honestly because interviewers are smart. Don't think you can actually outsmart them. The best thing about ethical questions is to prepare a structure on how you will answer it. Remember to look at both sides of the argument! Don't just completely ignore the other side of the argument as it is important to acknowledge it.
7) Some interviewers like to play the "Good Cop/Back Cop" game. Ignore it and be patient! They may ask very similar questions where you will have the same answer. Don't get frustrated and just answer the question with different wording. Sometimes it'll get annoying but some could be testing how you cope in stressful/annoying situations.
Random Tips:
1) Dress professional/well.
2) Be awake! (I must admit I did fall asleep in the waiting room though) - but be awake during the interview!
3) Don't fidget during the interview - it is distracting.
4) Know your personal statement - they will draw stuff out from it and ask you about it.
5) Smile!
6) Don't ask "dumb" questions at the end. I know some will argue that you will sound keen if you ask a question but seriously most of the answers can be found on the university's website/prospectus. If you really have any questions before the interview - call up the admissions office to ask or if an upper year is taking you around for a tour - perfect time to ask questions.
To be honest I didn't find interviews that hard as they are asking questions about YOU and only you know yourself the best. If you do your research and know the course and genuinely want to go the university you'll cover the factual questions. Just relax. The minute you tense up you get what I call "brain farts". Avoid it because you'll find yourself saying "um" and "uh" for the next what feels like hour. Plus it gets awkward too when the interviewers just stare at you waiting for an answer. Oh and don't rush your answers...make your answers concise and to the point, but at the same time show that you have reflected about it and try and draw positives to yourself.
Anyways I should get back to working. Hope this post helps. I know it is brief but I really don't know what else is there to cover about interviews. When you get an interview it is technically like you got your foot in the door, you just need to get the rest of your body through. They won't ask for an interview if they aren't interested in taking you. Quite simple.
Good luck!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Summary of my 5 weeks at Medical School
Sorry for the long wait!
First I want to say good luck to all the 2010 medical applicants! Hopefully you'll be hearing from your universities soon!
So far medical school has been A LOT better than I thought it would be. I always hear that medical school is EXTREMELY busy and tough. I cannot confirm the tough bit...yet, but so far the work load has been pretty moderate. I have seem to already enjoy Surface Anatomy lectures and practical activities in the dissection room. I always get excited when I see either of these on my timetable. At the moment I have seem to found a new enemy: Biochemistry and Histology. Biochemistry because I felt like we went through it way too fast but I think we are going back to it later in the year to study it in more detail. I was told that the first eight weeks are still like module introduction, where we cover almost everything that we will be doing this year. Not too fond of histology, not because it is hard or anything, but this is where we have to do online practicals at home. I have been finding them quite annoying as it is quite a challenge to find the answers to the questions. Plus it takes a really long time to complete like what...ten questions? We are allotted two hours to do the histology practical so that kind of gives you an idea why I find histology slightly annoying.
Social wise I am loving it! I am glad I have made lots of friends who are very nice. We hang pretty often and we usually go have lunch in the union or something after our morning lectures. So far I have went to all the medic socials:
Freshers Foam Party
Medics Fancy Dress Pub Crawl
Yes there has only been two events for us medics BUT the two events were AMAZING. The MedSoc really put a lot of effort into these events to make sure we all have loads of fun. Plus who does not like a nice discount at the bars during these events. From time to time I do go out with some of my friends at night to go sit at a bar and play some games. Pretty fun. Great bonding time too.
So far I have learned to keep up with your lecture notes and do your recommended reading (especially before practicals such as dissection)!!! Every week I would type up all my handwritten notes and merge them with the lecture powerpoint that is always posted up on our med school website. I guess I just want to do these notes for the future as when it comes exam time I don't want to be trying to remember stuff I did in September. But yes do your recommended reading so you don't get lost! Feel really dumb at dissection when you don't even know what topic you're learning about for the day...so avoid it by reading!
I shall end this post as it is getting long...and boring...but I will try to update more often. Maybe sneak in a interview tips post...which I should have done quite awhile ago.
First I want to say good luck to all the 2010 medical applicants! Hopefully you'll be hearing from your universities soon!
So far medical school has been A LOT better than I thought it would be. I always hear that medical school is EXTREMELY busy and tough. I cannot confirm the tough bit...yet, but so far the work load has been pretty moderate. I have seem to already enjoy Surface Anatomy lectures and practical activities in the dissection room. I always get excited when I see either of these on my timetable. At the moment I have seem to found a new enemy: Biochemistry and Histology. Biochemistry because I felt like we went through it way too fast but I think we are going back to it later in the year to study it in more detail. I was told that the first eight weeks are still like module introduction, where we cover almost everything that we will be doing this year. Not too fond of histology, not because it is hard or anything, but this is where we have to do online practicals at home. I have been finding them quite annoying as it is quite a challenge to find the answers to the questions. Plus it takes a really long time to complete like what...ten questions? We are allotted two hours to do the histology practical so that kind of gives you an idea why I find histology slightly annoying.
Social wise I am loving it! I am glad I have made lots of friends who are very nice. We hang pretty often and we usually go have lunch in the union or something after our morning lectures. So far I have went to all the medic socials:
Freshers Foam Party
Medics Fancy Dress Pub Crawl
Yes there has only been two events for us medics BUT the two events were AMAZING. The MedSoc really put a lot of effort into these events to make sure we all have loads of fun. Plus who does not like a nice discount at the bars during these events. From time to time I do go out with some of my friends at night to go sit at a bar and play some games. Pretty fun. Great bonding time too.
So far I have learned to keep up with your lecture notes and do your recommended reading (especially before practicals such as dissection)!!! Every week I would type up all my handwritten notes and merge them with the lecture powerpoint that is always posted up on our med school website. I guess I just want to do these notes for the future as when it comes exam time I don't want to be trying to remember stuff I did in September. But yes do your recommended reading so you don't get lost! Feel really dumb at dissection when you don't even know what topic you're learning about for the day...so avoid it by reading!
I shall end this post as it is getting long...and boring...but I will try to update more often. Maybe sneak in a interview tips post...which I should have done quite awhile ago.
Friday, October 16, 2009
FRESHERS WEEK - CONCLUSION
Overall it was quite a hectic week. Also it was a time for me to adjust to university life. The transition wasn't too bad as I was able to meet loads of people who are all very nice. The activities fair, the lectures, and parties were awesome. I still don't get why it is so heavily hyped but I guess it is really up to the person. I bet if you go out every single day and party yeah you'll have loads of fun. But for me it was okay really not like mind-blowing amazing.
If I could re-do freshers week again I think I would make more of an effort to join more activities as right now I feel that I am not involving enough with the university and try new things. My friends took up many new hobbies/sports/activities and I haven't really done that yet. So far university is going well and really there is not a thing to worry about. Yeah you might get homesick/miss your friends but you just have to open up. Remember everyone is in the same boat and everyone is looking for a friend. It is a waste of time to worry but I know it's hard not to worry. Just have fun, enjoy your last weeks of summer and be ready to start a new chapter!
So I guess the most important tip I can give you is to try new things, don't be scared to open up, and have FUN!
Look out for a post later one (when I have time) of a summary of the first month of uni has been like.
If I could re-do freshers week again I think I would make more of an effort to join more activities as right now I feel that I am not involving enough with the university and try new things. My friends took up many new hobbies/sports/activities and I haven't really done that yet. So far university is going well and really there is not a thing to worry about. Yeah you might get homesick/miss your friends but you just have to open up. Remember everyone is in the same boat and everyone is looking for a friend. It is a waste of time to worry but I know it's hard not to worry. Just have fun, enjoy your last weeks of summer and be ready to start a new chapter!
So I guess the most important tip I can give you is to try new things, don't be scared to open up, and have FUN!
Look out for a post later one (when I have time) of a summary of the first month of uni has been like.
Monday, October 12, 2009
FRESHERS WEEK - MEDICS FIELD HOCKEY
Well today was also the first day of training for the medics field hockey team! I met at the hockey pitch at 5:00pm which my massive goalkeeping bag. It was quite the hike up to the pitch as it was on the top of a hill and there were several flights of stairs I had to carry my bag up. There was lots of people at the practice, but sadly I only met a few freshers there. I have already met the club captain a month before I started uni to discuss about playing 1stXI team. Met a few people who are on the team when I got to practice so that was really cool. So all the people on the team are medics and most of em are upper years so I asked em a few questions about their thoughts on med school.
The general response that I got from them is that they thoroughly enjoy medical school and that I should try and have as much fun as I can in first year. All of them really loved first year of medical school as it wasn't too hard. The medical school tries really hard to make transition from school to university as easy as possible so a lot of the students really liked the transition and thought it was at a good pace.
Practice was a lot of fun...I haven't really trained with men as well so it was definitely a new experience. I was definitely expecting really hard shots...but wow can men shoot the ball! I thought I was going to get killed tonight. My goalkeeping shorts are not up to standard to start off as they are only suitable for low grade hockey...what a great confidence booster. I didn't really get hit anywhere with little protection which was good. Personally thought I played OKAY...but I was pretty tired.
After practice we went for a big team dinner at the local pub. Had great pub food and played some games such as "Boat Race". It was a lot of fun. We also went around the circle and introduced ourselves to each other. Can't even remember 1/8 of the names (terrible with names). Once dinner was finished I had a good chat with the older medics and asked them about intercalated degrees and what they thought about it. They actually thought that taking an extra degree will help you final application for foundation year placements and it shows interest in whatever specialty you are looking at. However, they did tell me that it is a bit too early to start thinking about it as usually people take an intercalated year. I am keeping the intercalated degree idea at the back of my head for now as I am considering it.
Hockey was really fun tonight and I managed to meet lots of people. Yay!
Tip: Don't be afraid to talk to upper years in your course. They may come in handy when you need help with course work or just have a question about the course. Don't worry they don't bite...although some of them may do look like they bite. :P
The general response that I got from them is that they thoroughly enjoy medical school and that I should try and have as much fun as I can in first year. All of them really loved first year of medical school as it wasn't too hard. The medical school tries really hard to make transition from school to university as easy as possible so a lot of the students really liked the transition and thought it was at a good pace.
Practice was a lot of fun...I haven't really trained with men as well so it was definitely a new experience. I was definitely expecting really hard shots...but wow can men shoot the ball! I thought I was going to get killed tonight. My goalkeeping shorts are not up to standard to start off as they are only suitable for low grade hockey...what a great confidence booster. I didn't really get hit anywhere with little protection which was good. Personally thought I played OKAY...but I was pretty tired.
After practice we went for a big team dinner at the local pub. Had great pub food and played some games such as "Boat Race". It was a lot of fun. We also went around the circle and introduced ourselves to each other. Can't even remember 1/8 of the names (terrible with names). Once dinner was finished I had a good chat with the older medics and asked them about intercalated degrees and what they thought about it. They actually thought that taking an extra degree will help you final application for foundation year placements and it shows interest in whatever specialty you are looking at. However, they did tell me that it is a bit too early to start thinking about it as usually people take an intercalated year. I am keeping the intercalated degree idea at the back of my head for now as I am considering it.
Hockey was really fun tonight and I managed to meet lots of people. Yay!
Tip: Don't be afraid to talk to upper years in your course. They may come in handy when you need help with course work or just have a question about the course. Don't worry they don't bite...although some of them may do look like they bite. :P
FRESHERS WEEK - SEPT 25, 2009
Luckily our first lecture of the day was at 1pm so most of us could get over/recover slightly from any hangovers. When I got to the lecture theater, half the class was holding a water bottle which I found pretty hilarious. Schedule for the day was just:
1:00pm - 2:00pm : Summing Up Introductory Activity
Pretty easy day to be honest. Anyways by 1:15pm our lecturer still hasn't showed up and people started to get bored. People started throwing paper planes and paper balls around the room. It was quite the scene. Things flying from side to side, from back to front. By 1:40pm a MedSoc rep. noticed that our lecturer was still not here and contacted the med school that there are 250 students are impatiently waiting for their lecture. So at around 1:50pm our lecturer shows up and everyone was really bummed out for obvious reasons. The lecturer was pretty considerate and just rushed through the conclusion of our task and went over the answer. The diagnosis for our case study ended up being H1N1/Swine flu and the differential diagnosis was just the common flu. Lecture ended at like 2:10pm which was REALLY fast. We all ran off pretty fast back to our flats.
After the lecture I quickly went over the student union to check our the Sports Activity Fair. There was SO MANY PEOPLE! By the time I finished my late lunch (after lecture) and got INTO the sports fair, the stands were starting to pack up. I didn't get to see much and was interested in signing up for some stuff but sadly they were all done for the day and took away their sign-up sheets.
Oh forgot to mention: I could hear the beginning of freshers flu flying around the class (oh no!). Nice short post as I didn't do anything interesting and just went home and took a nap.
Tip of the day: Load up on vitamin C during freshers week if you want to avoid freshers flu. No guarantees though. Oh and party really hard during freshers week because you won't be able to party as hard during actual uni time...too much work. Oh and if you really want to go sign up for stuff at a fair and you know you'll be in a rush after your lecture to go to the fair...just go before. It makes life much easier.
Side note: Hopefully most of you have already submitted your UCAS application for medical school by now or putting in the final touches to your personal statement. Good luck!
1:00pm - 2:00pm : Summing Up Introductory Activity
Pretty easy day to be honest. Anyways by 1:15pm our lecturer still hasn't showed up and people started to get bored. People started throwing paper planes and paper balls around the room. It was quite the scene. Things flying from side to side, from back to front. By 1:40pm a MedSoc rep. noticed that our lecturer was still not here and contacted the med school that there are 250 students are impatiently waiting for their lecture. So at around 1:50pm our lecturer shows up and everyone was really bummed out for obvious reasons. The lecturer was pretty considerate and just rushed through the conclusion of our task and went over the answer. The diagnosis for our case study ended up being H1N1/Swine flu and the differential diagnosis was just the common flu. Lecture ended at like 2:10pm which was REALLY fast. We all ran off pretty fast back to our flats.
After the lecture I quickly went over the student union to check our the Sports Activity Fair. There was SO MANY PEOPLE! By the time I finished my late lunch (after lecture) and got INTO the sports fair, the stands were starting to pack up. I didn't get to see much and was interested in signing up for some stuff but sadly they were all done for the day and took away their sign-up sheets.
Oh forgot to mention: I could hear the beginning of freshers flu flying around the class (oh no!). Nice short post as I didn't do anything interesting and just went home and took a nap.
Tip of the day: Load up on vitamin C during freshers week if you want to avoid freshers flu. No guarantees though. Oh and party really hard during freshers week because you won't be able to party as hard during actual uni time...too much work. Oh and if you really want to go sign up for stuff at a fair and you know you'll be in a rush after your lecture to go to the fair...just go before. It makes life much easier.
Side note: Hopefully most of you have already submitted your UCAS application for medical school by now or putting in the final touches to your personal statement. Good luck!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
FRESHERS WEEK - MEDICS FRESHERS FEVER
WHOA WHAT A PARTY! This party has always been hyped up as the best freshers party in the entire freshers week. Wow they actually lived up to their word! First, it was a beached themed party. Second, it was a FOAM PARTY. The party technically started at 7:30pm but people didn't start going until 8:00 pm. We were told to make sure we put out phones into plastic bags or else we won't have one by the end of the night. I met up with my friends and stuff so when we got there we went straight to the bar. They were having a special and drinks were 1 quid! After sitting around for an hour or so the party really started to get going as the doors were closed and everyone started dancing. Sometime through the middle of the party they started letting loose the foam cannon and wow the party just got 1000x more fun. Some people did drown in the foam though...here's a good tip: KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED. Gotta admit I didn't exactly abide by that tip and did choke on the foam a couple times. The foam was pretty much all the way to your knees so it was pretty deep. Everyone was having an amazing time and it was so much fun to play with the foam. I know that some people were really shy and didn't want to dance and stuff but eventually they did join in. By the end of the party they were really partying it up and regretted that they didn't join in earlier. I can't really remember much about the exact details of the party but at around 12am we switched venues and went over to a nightclub.
All I know is that when you are wet and you have to walk 2 blocks in the middle of the night...you will freeze into a block of ice. Other than freezing I gotta say that the after party wasn't as fun and exciting. By that time everyone was really tired and soaking wet. Majority of the people started leaving within the first hour of after party and my friends and I also decided to call it a night.
All in all it was an awesome party and probably the best one I'll have this year...but I truly hope there will be a party later on that will top Freshers Fever.
All I know is that when you are wet and you have to walk 2 blocks in the middle of the night...you will freeze into a block of ice. Other than freezing I gotta say that the after party wasn't as fun and exciting. By that time everyone was really tired and soaking wet. Majority of the people started leaving within the first hour of after party and my friends and I also decided to call it a night.
All in all it was an awesome party and probably the best one I'll have this year...but I truly hope there will be a party later on that will top Freshers Fever.
Friday, October 9, 2009
FRESHERS WEEK - SEPT 24, 2009
Right so today again was pretty hectic and I have been super super excited for the entire day as tonight is the medics FRESHERS FEVER FOAM PARTY!!!! Anyways I had to get through two lectures for the day which isn't too bad. Here's my schedule for today:
11:00 pm: Dissection Lecture
2:00 pm: Small Group Work
So first lecture I had was at the dissection room in another building (not med school). Today's lecture was mainly based around the dissection activities that we will have pretty frequently throughout the year. However, the dissection room is the hardest place to find. I was with a group of people and it took us 30 mins to find the room. Apparently they made the room to be super hard to find so people of the public will not accidentally walk into the room as we do full body dissections (hence many cadavers). When we got there none of us were really prepared to see anything. We thought it was going to just be a quick introduction, set some rules, and ask some questions......NOPE. When we walked in there were two gurneys in the middle of the room with a cloth covering each one. None of us really thought much about it. Let's just say when it was unveiled many people weren't exactly "ready" and didn't exactly feel too well. We'll leave it at that.
However I am very glad that I managed to get into a university which does full body dissections as the amount of things you learn from dissections are priceless. Being able to see where things are in a real human body and how things are connected just makes the learning process so much more interesting and in depth. I am truly excited for dissections and I am really looking forward to it.
After the dissection lecture we had a two hour lunch break. Had some lunch at the student union with some peeps. Lunch was okay....nothing special. Kinda disappointed because people kept hyping up the cafe. Anyways after lunch there was the official university Activities Fair. Went to go check it out and joined a few societies. It wasn't that great...again had to fight the crowd and got bounced around.
At 2pm I went over to my lecture and it was so DULL! All we did was discuss in small groups about the case study that we got on Monday....yup did that for an entire hour. The discussing itself within the group probably took 10 minutes MAX. Was so glad when the lecture was over. Made some plans with my friends to meet up before going to the party tonight. Then I went home to get ready and chill.
The medic's freshers party was SO AMAZING that I have to give it its own post. Please see the next post for details about the party. If you don't give a crap about it...don't read it. :) Again here's another tip for freshers: TRY to look ahead of time which societies you want to join at the university. It makes signing up so much easier and faster as you don't have to wander around looking for stuff to catch your eye...plus less pushing around. Pretty much you go in sign up and leave. Simple.
11:00 pm: Dissection Lecture
2:00 pm: Small Group Work
So first lecture I had was at the dissection room in another building (not med school). Today's lecture was mainly based around the dissection activities that we will have pretty frequently throughout the year. However, the dissection room is the hardest place to find. I was with a group of people and it took us 30 mins to find the room. Apparently they made the room to be super hard to find so people of the public will not accidentally walk into the room as we do full body dissections (hence many cadavers). When we got there none of us were really prepared to see anything. We thought it was going to just be a quick introduction, set some rules, and ask some questions......NOPE. When we walked in there were two gurneys in the middle of the room with a cloth covering each one. None of us really thought much about it. Let's just say when it was unveiled many people weren't exactly "ready" and didn't exactly feel too well. We'll leave it at that.
However I am very glad that I managed to get into a university which does full body dissections as the amount of things you learn from dissections are priceless. Being able to see where things are in a real human body and how things are connected just makes the learning process so much more interesting and in depth. I am truly excited for dissections and I am really looking forward to it.
After the dissection lecture we had a two hour lunch break. Had some lunch at the student union with some peeps. Lunch was okay....nothing special. Kinda disappointed because people kept hyping up the cafe. Anyways after lunch there was the official university Activities Fair. Went to go check it out and joined a few societies. It wasn't that great...again had to fight the crowd and got bounced around.
At 2pm I went over to my lecture and it was so DULL! All we did was discuss in small groups about the case study that we got on Monday....yup did that for an entire hour. The discussing itself within the group probably took 10 minutes MAX. Was so glad when the lecture was over. Made some plans with my friends to meet up before going to the party tonight. Then I went home to get ready and chill.
The medic's freshers party was SO AMAZING that I have to give it its own post. Please see the next post for details about the party. If you don't give a crap about it...don't read it. :) Again here's another tip for freshers: TRY to look ahead of time which societies you want to join at the university. It makes signing up so much easier and faster as you don't have to wander around looking for stuff to catch your eye...plus less pushing around. Pretty much you go in sign up and leave. Simple.
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