Interview at Hull York Medical School

You guessed it!
I heard back from HYMS about a week ago inviting me to interview.

I had just finished my dissertation labs that day and it was getting dark early. I'm based at the sixth floor and for some reason I decided to walk down the twelve flights of stairs as opposed to taking the lift that day. On my way down, I checked my e-mails and I remember stopping in my tracks. The subject of the message read "HYMS: Invitation to Interview" and I can't remember exactly how I was feeling. It was a mix of emotions, from being nervous to excited and not really believing my luck. I went into the toilets and just stood by the counter re-reading the e-mail, double checking I wasn't imagining it. But it was there, in black and white that I had been offered an interview.

It was scheduled to be on the 9th of December, but having looked at my calendar it turns out I have a university exam that day. I emailed them back and they've confirmed they're willing to reschedule my interview for another date and I'm just waiting on them again to get back to me.

The format of the interview is both an MMI and PBL scenario. The MMIs are split into two stations lasting ten minutes each, with three questions at each station I believe. The PBL scenario is a group discussion with 7 or 8 other candidates again for around 20mins. It's been about a week now and I still can't really believe it. But I need to start preparing and only then will it start to hit me that I might be getting an offer to study medicine.

Choices Submitted!

Hi everyone, just a quick post to let everyone know of my choices for UCAS:
University of Warwick - A101
Barts and the London - A100
Kings College London - A100
Hull York Medical School - A100

I would not be surprised if I did get rejected because of my UKCAT score of 672.5, but anything can happen right now. I'm just staying positive and praying for interviews.

Keep me in your thoughts!
Thank you so much.

UKCAT Results

Hello all,
So on the 18th of September, I sat my UKCAT at 2pm. I've been revising on and off for about a month, and in the last ten days I went into intense revision mode. I used both the 600Questions book which costs £10 and a 2-week subscription of Medify costing me £35. All in all, I'd highly recommend Medify to definitely boost your timing and it helped me considerably. My only regret was I'd left my preparation for Descision Analysis a little late, leaving around two days before my exam. In 2012 I scored 680 in DA, assuming they probably didn't change the marking around too much, oh how I was wrong!

My scores below:
Verbal Reasoning - 620
Quantitative Reasoning - 780
Abstract Reasoning - 750
Decision Analysis - 540
Situational Judgement - Band 2

Giving an average of 673. My heart sinked a little when I looked at DA, surprised considering I thought I did quite well in that section, more so than QR! It means I'll probably be taking a small step away from applying to four A101 GEM courses on UCAS, and consider 2 or 3 five-year A100 courses. I personally don't think my UKCAT is high enough to get interviews onto the four-year courses, and I really want to maximize my chances of interview. Funding might be an issue, but I've been saving up for a few years so it shouldn't be too bad..

Thoughts?

Say what? Theatre?

Whenever I saw a medical student on campus, I'd always recognise them as they were the one that got in. They beat x amount of applications for that space at university, they're probably very confident and excellent communicators, had a string of A*s, and it sort of intimidated me to approach them because I wondered what they had that I didn't, which sounds incredibly naive and stupid now that I'm writing this. And so, I don't think I really gave myself a chance to learn a lot of valuable experiences from them when I could've. I should've acquainted myself with them, and I think this internship has changed my perspective on approaching medical students and just getting to know them!

During my internship, the medical students have been really lovely hard working people and I've appreciated how helpful and approaching they are, too. I didn't really have anyone to teach me how to do the work whilst on my internship except them. Unlike all the other interns who had training by managers and supervisors, I had to be a med student's problem, and whilst they had their own research to do I was asking umpteen questions and bugging them if I'd done it right or not. So they had a lot of patience and that was something I really appreciated. Over the next few days they really got to know me and I got to know them despite the piles of paperwork and I enjoy the friendship that I've struck up with them. I got to ask questions about their life in medical school, and life outside of it and how they like to relax. I showed them a few of my sketches and they were really impressed, which was really sweet. 

Oh and the other day, one of them wanted to ask the upper GI surgeons if she could witness one of their surgical procedures and pop into theatre, since she's doing a research paper on it.  And she casually suggested I come along and witness it for myself, too. SAY WHAT? I replied "Are you serious?" "Yeah, why not!"

I'll keep you updated if it goes ahead!
All in all a good week.

Lots of love.

My Internship

Hi all!

It's been such a busy week! On Monday, it was the first day of my paid six week long internship at the university hospital and since then there's been no rest whatsoever. I'm at the hospital for my placement for five days a week, Mondays to Fridays for 8 hours, so that's either a 9am-5pm or an 8am-4pm shift. On top of Monday's, I'm also volunteering within the same grounds on the gastrointestinal ward from 5pm-7pm. On the weekends, I've also got two 4 hour shifts on my part-time job and two hours volunteering at the children's hospital. So I'm midway through a 50-hour week and so far - I think I'm doing alright. My only concern is preparing for my UKCAT and personal statement alongside all of this.

Today was my third day into my internship and I'm beginning to really enjoy it! I'm working alongside two really lovely medical students who'll be entering their fourth year this September and they've both been incredibly helpful settling me in. My internship over the six weeks is primarily administrative, focusing on data entry of patient records which are collated into one large database which is being used for auditing as well as for their research projects over the summer. Over the past few days it's been fascinating to get to know what sort of research they're carrying out with this data and I've understood that the role that I'm currently doing was something one of the medical students was doing over the last summer, except this year she's manipulating and making use of both my data and her data, so she happily showed me the ropes and helped me understand the medical background behind my data and getting familiar with all the terms. 

The consultant overseeing my work is an Upper GI surgeon and so that's essentially the clinical nature of the data I'm working on. Its patients who've primary suffered from adenocarcinomas in their gastrointestinal and oesophogeal tracts and so the subsequent treatments they've had to treat it are gastroenectomies and oesophegectomies. Its these surgical procedures and the histopathology data related to it that I've had to handle and it's been a steep learning curve to handle. Prior to this, I hadn't really appreciated or grasped what a surgical resection entailed, and if I had, I probably didn't give it much thought. 

I didn't really know the anatomy of the stomach, but now I'm confident I could label the cardia, fundus, phylorus, duodenum, body, the lesser and greater curves, and the distal and proximal margins  - all of which are features of this incredible organ. I definitely hadn't heard of the TNM classification for tumours, let alone how to convert one staging from the old UICC 6 framework to the newly introduced UICC 7 method, but now I do! I still have quite a lot to learn when it comes to this pathology data, such as getting familiar with Lauren types (such as intestinal, diffuse or mixed..) and the Macroscopic appearance of tumours (such as ulcerated, polyploid, ill-defined..), on top of R0, R1a, R1b, and R2 resections. It's one thing to simply copy across these terms, because let's be fair - that's the minimum that's expected of me, but with an amazing opportunity like this where I can grasp and flavour clinical knowledge, it would be a shame not to identify and understand what I could potentially be looking out for in the future. 

What struck me the most was when the medical student who'd done this last year - told me she had to do all of this completely on her own - self taught. Her medical school knowledge briefly glanced over TNM staging, and in the majority of cases she had to go away and research how to apply and assign these terms, which was impressive! Can you tell I've been picking her brain a little with all my questions? She's been so incredibly helpful and I am eternally grateful!

Anyway, I'll try and write again soon - but for now I'll be going to sleep and getting some rest for tomorrow! Thanks for reading. P.S. Good luck with everyone receiving their GCSE results tomorrow!

My Littlest Patient so Far

Today I was back at the old hospital I've been volunteering in since January 2014. For the past two weeks I've been temporarily moved to the neonatal surgical ward due to maintenance going on in my regular ward, but I certainly didn't mind a new environment.

I spend the entirety of my shift with one very very little patient. An adorable, four month old patient suffering from spina bifida. They'd come in with an infection and when I entered the ward, they were all by themselves, so I immediately went over. The nurse suggested I pick them up in my arms, and asked whether I'd like to feed them a bottle of baby milk. Through the coughing and spluttering, the baby eventually managed to finish the whole bottle. I played with them, and eventually tiring them out, the little one fell asleep in my arms sound asleep. Since all my siblings have grown up, it's been a little while since I've held a baby, and I've definitely missed it.

Whilst I was there I got to know the nurse who was in charge of taking care of this patient. She was every so friendly and incredibly open to my questions, so all in all, a good day so far. I have work in a while and so I'll be napping to catch a few hours. After work, it'll be followed by some UKCAT revision later in the evening!

How's your day been?

Lots of love

First Day as a New Volunteer

At around 3:00pm today, I made my way onto the hospital grounds I’d be volunteering in for the first time. My shift would start at 4:00pm and finish at 6:00pm, but I was in a little earlier because I had a little paperwork to do beforehand. It turns out, that by the grace of God, I've managed to secure an Internship post for six weeks, and in the final stages of recruitment I had to fill out some forms and bring in the relevant documents before my start date the 17^th of August. (I’ll discuss my internship in a later post)

As I enter my ward, I'm looking for my Line Manager. She’s offering to show me around once more but I’m willing to get stuck in and figure things out myself. I previously visited the ward the week prior during my induction and had to take in just how big the ward actually is compared to the one at the previous hospital I volunteer in. There’s 36 beds, the majority being single roomed to ensure maximum comfort and privacy for the patients.

I spent the first half an hour getting to know all the nurses and allied staff, who were very welcoming! As it was in the middle of a mealtime, I helped out taking orders and giving out meals to all the patients, whilst getting to know the catering staff and finding out what their day to day schedules were like. I was also entrusted with collecting a prescription from the ward below, and when I’d got back with the medicine in my hand, the line manager was impressed I’d got an entire bottle. It probably didn’t mean anything to anyone else, but to me I felt trust and rapport was being built between myself and my manager at that point.

Following the lunch round and tidying up the used trays, I then decided to help the nurses on a tea and coffee round. I think I spoilt the patients a little, by offering biscuits and cake whenever I had the chance!

After that I sat down next to one of patients and really got to know his story. He’d been on the waiting list for a double transplant, and was a regular face on the ward. I loved how he introduced me to the patients opposite his bedside, and I appreciated the little friendship that had just grown between these three patients and myself. The second patient was also on the waiting list for a transplant; they'd been born with a genetic mutation that had translated into a debilitating condition which had sped up the aging process of this liver, so this middle aged patient unfortunately possessed a liver which could have belonged to a 100 year old. As for the third patient, they asked me how old I thought they were, and I replied middle twenties? They were actually ten years older, but because their incredibly thin, 6 stone frame, I underestimated their true age.

The first patient had told me he’d deactivated his Facebook in case he wouldn’t make it. By the end of us getting to know each other and listening to each and every one of their stories, including me sharing my own story, all three had exchanged names and the first patient had said he’d reactivate his Facebook account as soon as he’d get home. That day I’d felt I really did achieve something as a volunteer, it probably wasn’t something tangible, but within myself I felt a sense of understanding and ease in the presence of these patients. They were just people, often with hard struggles and suffering who could potentially feel a little bit better if someone listened.

Thanks for reading.

New Volunteering Post!

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I was and still currently am a volunteer at my local children's hospital. It's something I've proudly managed to continue since January 2014 and it's still going strong despite studies and maintaining a part-time job on the side. I mean, one of the most important qualities a medical student can have is the ability to manage their time? So I sure hope this is a good sign!

On top of this however, I've now secured a new position as a volunteer at a second hospital. It's right on the doorstep of my university which'll make things convenient during term time. For a couple of years I've had my eye on it, feeling keen on organising some experience there - but since they only accept 18+ volunteers it's meant I hadn't been able to secure anything during my A-Level studies. My reasons for a new volunteering experience was to essentially experience and compare a different patient dynamic to what I've witnessed in my previous experiences, which primarily involved working with much younger patients - at the same time, whilst giving back to such an amazing hospital that has also served both my mother and father recently. At least with adult patients, I'll feel able to carry mature conversations and relevant discussions in regards to their care and comprehend the inspiring stories behind their visits to hospital. 

It's a gastrointestinal ward, and my shift will last for two hours each Monday evening.
Wish me luck!

Second Year Results..

At 11 am I went into my tutors office today, not knowing that I was the last person in our group to collect their results. The conversations between my tutor and I are always succinct and to the point. Today really wasn't any different. I asked him how he was, and how his day had been. I then sat down in a chair opposite him, a desk in between us, and I took a deep breath.

He opened up the window on his computer. Asked me to confirm my student number, he duly typed it into the keyboard. There was a brief pause, and in his thick indian accent he said "Okay.. "

"For your second year, you received the result of seventy-.." HOLD UP. WAIT A SECOND!

In my head I'd already zoned out: I heard "seventy" something. My mind and heart was consumed with relief at this point! I didn't care if it was 70% or 79.9%, but I had a First Class result for my second year!

"-one point nine percent.."

71.9%! I thanked him and after some formalities and jotting down my individual module scores, I left the office and headed downstairs. My friends were there waiting, and they asked how I did, and I told them all my results. For that entire day, I was a happy girl! A great return for a hard investment.

Best of luck with everyone else and their results - my prayers are with you!

E-Mentoring

So I've had two practicals this week, one of which was involved IR Spec and the other, a Proteins and Enzymes Urease practical. Thankfully both have been carried out decently (courtesy of an awesome lab partner!) and I've still got loads of time to hand them in. But I would like to hand the chemistry one in soon before deadline next Wednesday (love submitting assignments early!) just to get it out of the way and concentrate on more pressing matters approaching. I'm referring to my Alpha-galactosidase poster, preparing for my Oral presentation, an SAQ exam approaching in a few weeks time and studying what I've calculated to be roughly 40 lecture handouts of last semester on top of this semester's material and counting. And I think it's just under 90 days before the supplementary exam period begins? I'm just taking it one day at a time I suppose, because when the going gets tough, it's about priorities!  

E-mentoring has also started again this year! I've briefly discussed this in an earlier post because I carried out this duty in my first year at university, too. But on top of my part-time job I'm an E-mentor with my university. Twice a week over the course of about eleven months I'm mentoring seven A-Level students and offering guidance and support alongside their applications to university. It's great because the hours are so flexible and work around my unforgiving timetable and I feel it's a sweet little bit of extra money coming in. It means I don't really have to dip into the wages for my "real" part-time job and save it up later. But all in all, it's off to a good start. I've said my introductions and gotten to know them all (seven very enthusiastic girls who want to study biological/medical courses, woop!) and they're so lovely. I'm excited to also meet them all when they come down to my university next month so it should be good. 

Apart from that, I don't think there's anything else to really cover. I'm on the hunt for a backpack? My current bag really isn't living up to carrying textbooks or anything apart from a couple of notebooks. Superdry have a pretty range at the moment so I might just pick something up from there. 

And what's on the agenda tomorrow? Well, you guessed it. A 9 o'lock lecture, followed by a four hour free and another lecture. I'll probably E-mentor in that gap, and my friends want to get some Mexican food at our university restaurant so I'll tag along. Should be good! :)

How's your week been?
Lots of love,

Card Games at Volunteering

So for just over a year now, I've been volunteering every Saturday on the wards at my local children's hospital. I might have briefly mentioned somewhere in my blog that I'm a volunteer, however I haven't yet reflected in depth about my experiences and I think it's important for myself to look back on it. In doing so, I hope maybe a few others will find this useful, too.

The process of organizing a volunteering placement can be quite laborious and difficult to organize. And maybe when you do start you might not learn something immediately from your first day. At the same time the organizing involved, making the phones calls, researching and finding the time to apply is a transferable skill in itself. Organizing mine took the best part of three months, from the application form, to CRB checks, occupational health forms and inductions - but stick to it, it can be worth it! 

I originally begun my volunteering placement way back in January 2014 and myself admitted I probably wouldn't stick to it for any more than six months. This was also the minimum period of time they also requested for me to volunteer. My plan was to probably change and find a new placement elsewhere at a different hospital/clinical setting and continue this cycle, stacking up almost a "portfolio of experiences". Later on however, I began to realize the importance of sticking to something for more than the minimum and instead of seeing it at "ticking a box", I began to enjoy and learn from my experiences more than anticipated and decided to do something important: commit! 

Yesterday was a Saturday, so that meant in the early morning, I was volunteering. Later on in the day however, I'd also have a shift at work from 3pm - 8pm. I'd taken the previous four weeks off work as paid holiday and used my weekends to get back into studying since Semester two of university started. Quite simply, I wasn't looking forward to returning back to work! I figured I'd be extra tired having just finished volunteering.. My swipe card to access the ward had also stopped working so it wasn't the best start to the day, having to wait five mins until a cleaner would swoop by and open it for me. But something lovely happened..

I usually start off my volunteering with like a mini "ward round", and generally just greeting all the new patients, letting them know of my presence if they need anything. I've had requests from simple cups of tea, milkshakes or a simple chat, to one patient's parent asking if I could sort out a new wheelchair for their daughter. Obviously I have my limitations! I also ask the nurses if they need any help with errands, from things like making the beds, putting laundry away, ordering the afternoon lunches/suppers and etc. Nothing spectacular here!

But yesterday I met a very sweet patient. She was all by herself as her parents weren't with her. She also looked awfully bored (Jeremy Kyle on the TV screen, so *yawn*) so I thought I'd say hello. We spent the best part of an hour playing cards, from Go Fish! to Snap (I don't know many card games, forgive me!) and simply just talked. Talked about school, what she wanted to do when she grew up (a nurse) and she asked questions about me, too. We didn't at once discuss why she was in hospital, and I think that was the most important thing. She looked like any other happy, smiley girl despite the cannula attached to her arm or the doctors at her bedside. And I think that's why it's crucial for volunteers and their contribution in hospitals, they can bring with them a sense of normality to an experience which might not be considered normal. I was sad when my shift was over and my time with her had to come to an end, but we left on good terms (in the form of a hug!). I felt happy that I'd possibly have made a small tiny difference to her stay.

Anywhoo, I went about my day with an extra spring in my step :) My work shift later on was better than I anticipated, simply because of my feelings on volunteering in the morning! Moral of the story, volunteering is definitely worth it if you're thinking about it, and more often what you take away from it is much more than you expected from the outset!

Lots of love, x 

New Sketch!

I've been neglecting sketching for awhile.. especially with university taking over I don't really allow myself time to do much else. 

But! This is one I finished last month, and I've decided to share it with you all. I hope you like it! It took absolutely forever to start it off and it was dragging on for days just sitting in my book until I figured I put an end to this madness and finally complete it..

If there's one extra curricular activity I can say I've pursued since forever, it has to be sketching. When I was younger I would always finish off the stack of pristine A4 paper at dad's reading desk until he resorted to ripping up old bills and useless papers into quarters and piling it in the corner for me to use. I don't care if it's not a very social thing or it doesn't involve teamwork, and maybe football or climbing mountains isn't my calling. But so what? It still teaches me the importance of a meticulous eye, attention to detail (I'm still as blind as a bat by the way) and patience. 

Here it is! 

If anyone has any requests/ideas, or even comments - greatly welcome!
Lots of love.

0.8%

Hi all!

When is a 2:1 not a 2:1? When it's 0.8% away from 70%!

Just a short and sweet update for you all. I got my exam result back! 69.2%! So close to first class! But I'm so happy with it! That module only had two forms of assessment, this exam which I achieved 69.2% worth 66.6% and a Data Handling Test worth 33.3% which I achieved 85.0% in. So overall that works out to be a nice 74% average. I think I jinxed my streak of 70's by mentioning it.. But it's out of the way now, so bye bye Molecular Biology & Applications. 

So what's new? Well, first of all I paid a visit to my local Waterstones around last week and figured it was time I really start doing my research into medical schools. It's been in the back of my mind since university began in September 2013 but it's getting to the point where I need to have a complete overhaul in my attitudes and really invest some time into it (but more importantly myself). So after a year long wait of ummming and aahhhhing I picked up a little book, and it's called "So you want to be a doctor?" by Harveer Dev.

Flipping through the contents list it's an incredibly comprehensive little guide for wannabe medics, from making that first decision of wanting to be a doctor, to getting a life and convincing admissions that you don't have a Vitamin D deficiency from sitting in the library all day, to GEM and even more non traditional routes of getting into medical school. Reviewers off Amazon.com also seem to agree so I think that's also reassuring and will help to start me off on the right footing. Let's hope it's the best £16.99 I've spent. 

Lots of love.

Don't Give Up

Hi everyone!

Semester two began last week, and so far I'm feeling pretty settled back into university life. Next week has a very busy schedule with two deadlines coming up but I feel somewhat calm and collected, in knowing everything will be fine. I remember how last year's assignments and practicals used to throw me but a lot of it was very much in the mind, if that makes sense? Last year, I was scared because it was the unknown and I didn't really know what was expected of me. But now I do and it feels good! Ironed out all of those creases in first year. Ironing. Sigh, I'm looking at all the clothes on my floor that need washing, forget ironing. 

I think it's definitely reflecting in my university performance as well. I mean, Alhamdullilah so far, every single assignment I've handed in has been over 70% (yes!), and that makes me feel so happy. It's not just the itsy bitsy practicals worth 10% either. Just before the Christmas holidays began my Molecular Biology & Applications module came to an end, and we were examined in a Data Handling Test which was worth 33%. I remember coming out of that exam feeling confident it went well and my work had paid off. And it did! 85% I achieved and when I found out it absolutely made my day, heck, my week. It meant I only had to achieve 63% in the second exam for that module to get a First.. I sat that exam last week, and hopefully, it'll be good news when the results come out. I'll let you all know as soon as I get my mark!

My message is, for all those second (or third, etc) year university students out there who like me, felt they could have done better the year before, is don't give up. Everyone comes into university with an idea of succeeding and doing incredibly well, and very often it's not always how we imagined it to be. The experience you take away from your first year, and the lessons you learn however are valuable in themselves and should drive you to make amends and improve. It does get better, but only if you keep trying! 

How's your university experience going?
Lots of love.