Apparently I find out on July 1st what’s happening intercalated wise.
Or not - today in fact:
Due to the high number of applications this year your ranking is such
that we are unable to offer you your first or second choices on the BSc
(Med Sci) Clinical Medicine.
Here comes 4th year!
A bit shocked but I also kind of expected it. My grades were not exactly brilliant and that is what they generally go on.
I’m finished at last!
Today was probably the best day of the week since I knew what was coming up. The only thing that really threw me was the breast examination. I was expecting a manikin but instead had an actor with some strap on breasts.
Heading to the Apple store now to try and see if my iPod is fixable then it’s drinking time! Won’t last long though before I head home to start an intensive care module.
I have only an hour left of examination time which takes place tomorrow morning. Thankfully I’ll be finished before lunch giving me the rest of the day to relax…providing it goes ok.
Considering all that I’ve heard about 3rd year (”oh it’s so much easier than 2nd year”) I’m pretty surprised at how difficult I’ve found this week. I certainly felt better coming out on Tuesday than Monday - but not by much. Wednesday wasn’t great either and I’ve been continuously going over my worst station in my head which doesn’t help.
Tomorrow then I really have to deliver a decent performance. The advantage being that I have a fair idea of what will be coming up. Apparently this makes no difference, but I’m sure I’d have done better on Wednesday afternoon than at 9.
Either way, I have Saturday off work so no excuse not to enjoy myself tomorrow night.
I’m now 1 paper down with 1 to go. Only 2 hours tomorrow, compared to the 3 today. How did it go? Well…
I think I’ll agree with the majority of people that it was quite a fair paper - nothing (much) was thrown in that was tricky. Personally though I don’t think it was brilliant, there were quite a few topics that I ended up writing utter waffle about. Have I done myself justice? Probably not, I certainly didn’t feel it was the best exam I’ve sat as I looked back at the end.
After strolling around rather unimpressed with myself for a bit I found out I’ve been invited to join the admissons committee. This should be quite interesting. I offered to do it back in year 1 when it was a first come basis but I wasn’t fast enough. I’ll be keen to see what input I can have (if any).
Interestingly, speaking of things coming back around, the SRC IT co-ordinator job has been advertised again. This was something that caught my eye back in April 07(!). I went and applied for it and the process stretched until November before I was finally unsuccessful after interview. The fact it’s being advertised again suggests the person they found has also now left. Could I see this advertised again before I graduate? I haven’t applied this time, my name should be on file if they are really struggling!
Back to tomorrow I’m hoping to come out feeling happy with my attempt. Then I need to focus on the OSCE…whatever that is again.
In roughly 12 hours I’ll be sitting at a desk in the exam hall. By then I’ll have started and should have gained about 30 marks.
As I type this I’ve been looking back at how I’ve been in the years previously. I certainly feel a bit similar to last year, today I contemplated going to the gym before my exam. Think I’m going to pass on that. Unlike last year I’m not totally convinced I’ve done as much as I possibly could’ve done. And yet, for some reason, this doesn’t worry me. I can’t explain it - I should be panicking right now.
Indeed this year I feel strongly that I must do better than last. This is the one I’ve always been told is “easy” and “nothing to worry about”. Have I taken that too literally?
I feel the need to prove to those around me that I’m not just “getting by”. I do this freqently on the wards when I act very much like the geek I am. I distinctly remember the look of hatred I received earlier this year as I managed to answer about 3 questions on my own. I do care how I’m perceived by my peers and I’m glad when they know more than I do. It makes me learn. At the same time I don’t want to been seen by those teaching us as just another blank face. Especially when I know the answer.
This week is not just proving to others that I know something important, I also need to prove it to myself. There is nothing wrong with “just’ passing but to me I feel I can do more. Maybe not, I don’t know, but this week I have a chance to see. And can I, should I do poorly, act as confident as I do? What right do I have? Such questions I’ll need to answer after the results.
More is riding on this than just my pride - my career too is in the balance. To have any chance of studying for an intercalated I reckon I need at least a B. Such a thing I have never achieved so far. Can I do it this week? We’ll see.
This is a cross-post from an applicants forum about university halls. Putting it here for easy finding in future. May also be helpful…
A bit of background first - I lived in Unite halls in year 1 due to the glasgow priorities. Try and read about this to see where you’ll be placed. They seem open to a bit of persuasion so do write letters etc if it’ll be an issue. After year 1 I moved out to private landlords. My view of the halls is therefore limited, but you’re getting it all anyway.
Murano
This is the student halls of glasgow. It’s the size of a small village and takes the majority of 1st year students. It is the place to go if you’re looking for a true student experience. One of the few places in the west end where someone will always be awake and walking around. People both love and hate murano. It’s easy to meet people with everyone being in the same situation.
Practically, murano is about 20 minutes walk from the Uni. It consists of either 5 or 12 students per flat. Trust me when I say that murano is the ultimate stereotype of a student flat. Showers/toilets are shared and usually deteriorate quickly. Some cleaning service is provided but it’s not great. The bedrooms are generally a bit better (all single beds) and it’s really up to you how the room looks.
Murano is great for 1st year where you want to meet people and have the time to spend outside of Uni work. Best suited for the sociable who isn’t too fussed about a bit of mess.
Queen Margaret
Not been here much and only in 1st year so my experience is limited. It’s also about 20 minutes to Uni although in a slightly nicer area of the west end.
Queen Margaret’s rooms are all en suite so great for those who’re a bit worried about the mess. The bumps the cost up though unfortunately.
Sociable it’s not a bad place to be. You’re very close to Winton Drive and there will always be people to meet here.
Cairncross
Completely opposite side of the Uni from the above. About 15 minutes walk from Uni. We’re back to shared showers/toilets here and in some cases there are shared bedrooms. Always seemed a bit cleaner than murano though.
A lot of people will compare murano to a prison. Personally I see cairncross as a better prison model. There is one corridor that never seems to end with all rooms coming off it. I also remember being told to quieten down reasonably early in the evening.
Heard mixed view about cairncross. The rooms are a reasonable quality and it’s closer to town but you generally mix with those who you share a kitchen with.
Wolfson Halls
The only catered halls of the Uni. It’s much to far away to be any use at all (2 buses apparently). My advice would be to buy a cookbook instead. Near the larger sports complex though which might interest someone. Full of vets.
Unite
Unite is a private company specialising in student halls. They have a few properties throughout glasgow. Until about last week they had a property called Cooperage Place over near Yorkhill (close to cairncross) but this has been sold to the Uni. Nothing about it on the Uni pages at the moment so god only knows what’s happening. Cooperage can probably be compared to Queen Margaret. There are some double rooms though.
Gibson street, for those who’re asking, is still being built at the moment. It’s certainly come on quite well recently and looks almost finished. Unite as landlords are as a business would be - charging for lots. In return though Gibson St would put you about 5 minutes from the Uni (at a price!). They also let any students in (not just 1st years, like above) so you’re ability to mix is limited slightly.
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Generally I’d suggest you visit somewhere before going forward for it.
I’m a self confessed observer of all things related to admission to medical school, particularly Glasgow. I don’t really know why, it just interests me. I’ve tried twice to get involved on the admissions committee but so far no luck. This year I’m giving around a 15 minute talk to those who are considering Glasgow at the Applicant’s day at the end of the month.
The application process is quite a roller coaster for those on it. A very drawn out process that spans across 6 months of the year. Just last week it seems the bulk of this years Glasgow applicants has been given offers. Congrats to them!
However this year was rather different from last. A good deal of offers had already been given out - to those who hadn’t been interviewed.
This might not seem like a big change but personally I see it as quite significant.
As a bit of background, interview has long been the pass or fail criteria for Glasgow applicants. The introduction of the UKCAT seems to have changed this a bit. There is a progressive reliance on the UKCAT to rank candidates. I, thank goodness, didn’t have to take the UKCAT but those who have generally don’t appreciate the experience.
Whether or not the UKCAT is a good tool for applicants is beyond me. However I do believe that simply the best way to get the feel for an applicant is to speak to them. Isn’t this what they try and teach us all about in communication skills? It seems confusing that they are now dropping this as a prerequisite for an offer.
Beyond that I remember quite a bit of mockery from the Glasgow faculty regarding Edinburgh’s refusal to interview any school leavers (grads were a bit different). A bit of hypocrisy now, no?
I’ve yet to ask about the reasoning behind this. Maybe a good reason exists. The rumour that the current chair of admissions is retiring seems a little more solid. Is the chair-to-be not so keen on interviews?
I don’t know what kind of impact this will have on the ability of students. I mean this in no offence to those coming to us in September but I do look forward to seeing whether there are a bit different in a subtle sort of way. Will anyone be interviewed next yet? I hope so but it’s any one’s guess what will change next.
Thankfully this week is the week we changed hospitals for both PBL and clinical practice. My new hospital is considerably closer to my flat and doesn’t cost me a penny to travel to. So far so good, until day 1.
We turn in at 9am to the corridor between two wards. Slowly but surely our numbers swell as we approach 24 students with all our bags and jackets cluttering the reasonably busy corridor. Despite the frequency of people passing us, relatively few give us more than a slight look. After around 10-15 minutes we’re asked who were here to see. The problem? It’s day one and we have no idea.
It’s soon worked out that our consultant is downstairs. Our enquirer mentions he’ll go find out what’s going on. The consultant appears.
“Hello, my name is such-and-such*. I’m who you’re here to see. Just finishing a ward round I should be about 10-15 minutes.”
Off he goes, we’re relatively reassured that someone does care about us to some degree.
15 minutes pass, we wait.
30 minutes pass, we wait…restlessly.
45 minutes pass, by which point a good few more people are wondering why we’re still here.
Finally, our consultant returns. Only an hour of standing in a corridor. Great start.
The next bit is generally more promissing. He takes us around the majority of the hospital showing us wards of interest. For some rather unknown reason he decides to lift my name badge and take a peak at my name. Do I feel threatened or mearly smile it off?
As we cover the important areas and return to pick up our belongings I feel rather mixed about the morning. The orientation was useful but was there really a need to make us stand and wait? Oh well, PBL in the afternoon…
I struggle to find the PBL room but eventually get pointed in the correct direction. Guess the orientation wasn’t too useful after all? Again we gradually increase in size until all seats in the room are filled. Still we’re waiting for our facilitator. 15 minutes tick by. After around 20 minutes we agree that half past is sufficiently long to be waiting. What felt like 29 minutes past arrived and a secretary peaks her head in,
“No-one here to take you yet? Who is it meant to be?’
We mutter some names. It is our first day after all.
“Ok, I’ll go see what I can find out”. Great, now we have to wait.
The allocated facilitator is never found. Our morning consultant arrives, less than pleased, and takes the rather brisk session.
Closer to home I might be but it seems the time spent travelling will now be time waiting.
* - Not their real name…
Since returning to Uni after the holidays we’ve been concentrating so far on haematology - the study of blood related issues. Particularly interesting were the clinical sessions on the ward. Haematology is a tricky speciality where the majority of the really common pathologies - things like anaemia - are handled in an outpatient setting. This makes it pretty difficult for us to see them and get to grips with their care.
Inpatients for haematology usually involve some sort of malignancy and it’s these patients that we’ve been concentrating on recently. Due to the set up of our sessions we have different tutors on each session with very minimal communication between tutors. This meant that we ended up bugging a poor patient twice and yet it continues to amaze me how reasonable patients are when 6 students turn up at their bedside to awkwardly look at them and ask questions. I’d certainly be fed up with it all, even without a cancer raging through my body.
The patient then presented to his GP with increasingly severe headaches. This went on for a while without much relief. A sweeling was eventually present around and behind the ear. Originally believed to be an abcess in the brain it was only when a biopsy was taken that it became clear a lymphoma was the cause. Appropriate treatment has therefore been started and when we visited him for the second time it was clear at least a small reduction in swelling had taken place.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look good. The tumor has spread through the skull bones and a mass is present in the brain. It is possible that treatment may be curative but it’ll be a long haul with multiple rounds of chemo. Fortunately he has relatively few symptoms at the moment. However for a middle aged man to be spending considerable time in hospital is understandably frustrating. I plan to keep track with his progress and see if there is any change.
A much wider reaching topic is the benefit of having good consultant teaching. This only happened on one of our sessions and the contrast is striking. Hopefully it’ll continue for the rest of the year but I don’t really think that’s likely.
I end the week as I started - with yet more blood. This time I’m actually taking it. Whilst it seems like such a simple and generally enjoyable job it suffers under the problems common in the NHS. I work no more and usually less than 8 hours a week. Today I spend a further 3 trying to be told how to do something we never even do. Worse than that, doing so in front of my immediate boss would lead to very disapproving words. It’s a growing circle of red tape. Tomorrow I look forward to a personal interview about some development plan to decide how I will enhance my skills. After how ever long that takes we’ll then still have to get the bloods done by 10:30. It’s no wonder people are fed up - we can’t even do the job we’re there to do. Sigh.
It’s the beginning of November, Christmas decorations are now appearing throughout the city centre and I finally start my 3rd year of medicine. With everything we’ve heard about this year I can’t help feeling a little enthusiastic - almost as if we’ve hatched to be come “proper” medical students with proper clinical teaching. As I sit in a rather official looking meeting room at 9am and watch my colleagues - all 12 of us - stumble in, I hear our tutor utter the words “how many of there are you?”. This is when I realise that third year isn’t going to be anything different after all.
To their credit it was actually the secretaries fault we were slightly unexpected. She was expecting us a week later. However, typically, she doesn’t work on Monday so none of this got sorted until the Thursday when we returned.
Twelve people is a simply ridiculous number for clinical practice, especially for 1 tutor and the 1 patient she’d set aside for us. We therefore spent a bit of time talking about history taking and cardiovascular exam. Half the group (those who also had clinical practice on the Thursday) then went to examine the patient.
I have discovered that I feel particularly awkward walking around a hospital, and particular a ward, in a group any larger than 3 or 4. We just look out of place, probably because we are.
With the appearance of a secretary on the thursday a little more order appeared. Since then hospital clinical sessions have been largely useful although there remain a few reservations. My main problem at the moment is related to numbers - even with half the group there are still 6 per patient. By the time we reach the last student as part of an examination the poor patients are exhausted and getting bored.
In comparison, the time we spend in our GP practices with only 3 students gives much more focused teaching. I’ve quite enjoyed it, despite not really being tempted by GP as a career. The practice I’m based at (which thankfully remains constant) is small with only 2 GPs, both of which are excellent and happy to teach.
This post lay dormant for a month so it’s not quite as detailed as I’d intended. Will hopefully get some more posts done in the holidays.
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