Maybe Medic

exhale

2008-08-24T06:02:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving home today...wish me luck =D

Definitely

2008-08-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

UEA and Aberdeen.
Definitely!
My 3rd and 4th....

3rd Choice:

I was going to go with St George's but they're crazy strict on GCSE's, they have a points system;
A* = 58
A = 52
B =46
C = 40
(and so on)

You select your top 8 GCSE grades and add up the numbers.
Here's how my top 8 work out (these include Eng, Maths & Sci: Dual Award) :
A*=58
A = 52
A = 52
BB = 92
B = 46
B = 46
B = 46

With a grand total of = 392
St. George's require = 416

OUCH.

But! They do say that if your school was poor at GCSE's (which mine was: 26% achieving 5 or more A*-C for my year of leaving - 2006) then they'll take this into consideration.
So there is a glimmer of hope. Maybe =/
I'll have to talk to someone who knows their stuff.
Liverpool is apparently similar - yet there's nothing on their website to suggest they operate a points system (just a lot of prospective meds who say they do).
Here's what they say:

"At least seven subjects, including Dual Science or Biology, Chemistry and Physics and both English and Maths should have been passed at GCSE (grade A or B)."

So I qualify according to those criteria, so...

*UEA
*Aberdeen
*Liverpool - instead of St.Georges

4th Choice: Leeds...

GCSE's: ''We expect candidates to offer a reasonable range of good grades and would expect at least 6 grade Bs to be offered including the following:English Maths Dual Science, or Chemistry and Biology."

Access: ''A2s and GCSEs as given above or one of the following Access courses with an overall mark of 70% with at least 70% in Chemistry:
City College, Norwich
College of West Anglia, King’s Lynn
Sussex Downs Adult College. ''
Bingo!

Right, done methinks.
Plus;
L'pool = PBL
UEA = PBL
Aberdeen = PBL
Leeds = integrated.

Now I need to work my socks off...
=]

Med school choices

2008-08-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

I ordered a prospectus from HYMS and it arrived today! It was great all the way through, really won me over until it said 'A at GCSE Maths' (damn my 'B').
=/

Headaches

2008-08-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

My character limit for my personal statement is 4,000 (including spaces). Currently, I'm approaching 5,000 (4,800 and something).
My head is killing me. I don't have the heart to delete any of it.
Taking a break....

Oh, I did some verbal reasoning practice for the UK CAT (the one on their website), I made a note of which answers I'd chosen and then compared them with the correct ones.
31/44 - at least it's above half, definitely needs more work though.

Gulp

2008-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

So, it's starting to sink in now *nervous laughter*. I walked around a University shop today looking at all of the medical text books (big wide longing eyes) - just wanting to understand them (bear in mind, I haven't so much as learnt A2 Biology yet so it was quite daunting).
I started my University application this afternoon - entered all of my qualifications etc (I've yet to put my Personal Statement onto UCAS though - it's still in it's primitive form in my opinion and I wouldn't want any mishaps =/).

I bought a lot of books for my pre-med course, they're AS/A-level standard, which, for someone who hasn't looked at a Science/Maths book for over 2 years, it's a little nerve wracking but I'm going to read some of it before I begin the course and I'm going to start my UK CAT preparation tomorrow (I did some a few weeks ago using online tests and a 'Passing the UK Clinical aptitude' book but I need to refresh my memory).

I'm going to get some sleep now, up fresh and early for some PS tweaking/UK CAT practicing.
Night all.

Old friends

2008-08-18T02:14:00.001-07:00

Well these are the last few days before I leave home to re-locate near my new place of study.
So I'm catching up with old friends and getting alot a packing/ironing done.
It hasn't quite sunk in yet - probably will on the drive down though...

Personal Statement and whatnot....

2008-08-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

So now comes the time where I've got to write a shining 500 word essay all about myself.
Tricky. On the one hand, I don't want to come across as arrogant, on the other, I don't want to sell myself short.
I've made a start already and it's going well, it's just a bit disheartening when you read other candidates statements online about how they've built hospices in Africa or some such amazing feat.
But *positive head back on* everything is falling into place at the moment and I'm traveling in the right direction - for now (*pessimist creeps up*).

The UK CAT is just around the corner too, so I'll do some preparation in the coming weeks (although, there's not much you can do to prepare I'm afraid!).
Finally, I need to choose what Universities I'd like to study at - I'll keep you posted. I have two choices that I'm pretty sure about, the other two keep getting replaced.
Right, I'm off to get my personal statement sorted out.
;]

The big day!

2008-08-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got my results....dun dun dun!
ABC - I just missed a B by 2 marks - sheesh! I might get a re-mark, I might just be grateful that I passed that particular subject and let it be, I'm undecided. But I'm over the moon and can't wait to start the access course. *Big grin*.

3 days to go

2008-08-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

There's just 3 little days left until the AS/A level results are out. They're not completely vital at the moment for me as my offer for pre-med is unconditional but I did work my arse off for 2 years for those 3 letters on a piece of paper so I am concerned. Plus once I've got them I can move onto a new chapter - getting into medical school!
I'm applying for 09' entry and I'll be doing my pre-med from 08'-09' which I'm super exited about - it's only about 3 weeks away, yey!
With all the competition about for the places at med school i'm realistic about my chances but if needs be I'll apply 2010/11/12 to infinity =]
So, I'll update as regularly as I can about my progress on the course and what's going on with my applications - hopefully this will help others and I'm sure It'll help me too!