2020

I’ve been busy!

I applied to IMT and GP. Got accepted to both, did 2 weeks of GP training and quit.

I applied to Obs&Gynae after asking my old boss if I could do an F3 O&G job and got one of the 7 coveted Wessex posts. I won a Junior Doctor of the Year 2020 prize at University Hospital Southampton and cried when I left.

I have started working as an O&G ST1 in Dorchester.

I still have my husband, my cat, my interest in Widening Access and MedEd.

 

I guess I am a little out of the loop now, having applied way back in 2009 for BM6, but I am happy to try my best to help where I can within the limits of my new role as an interviewer.

This blog will shift a little to focus on speciality applications and training but I am always happy to help people who want to get into medicine. It’s why I started writing this in the first place.

What to do on placements?

This is something I never understood until I started more full time placements. It’s hard as a med student to balance learning, down time, and ward time but also it’s very difficult when you feel like you’re in the way on the wards and don’t know what to do with yourself. So here is my advice on what to do:

-Befriend the team. If they’re looking out for you they will get you involved.

-Go to a few ward rounds. Write in the notes as if you are an F1. Take a history from a patient and present them on the ward round. Scary, but if you mess up you will never make that mistake again.

-Follow a junior. The consultants do lots of busy consultant things. But the juniors do all the work you’re going to do. Help them out. Do their jobs for them. Take their bloods etc. They might teach you in return, but even if they don’t it is good practice.

-Just talk to the patients. Pick one from each bay. They’re bored. Most of them love a good chat. Take a history, examine them, and then find someone to present to if you’re really brave.

-Ask someone where you’ll find the most classic patients. Clinics or wards? And spend time there.

-When you hear of a new patient coming in through AMU etc, find them, take a history and follow them through the day. Even better, follow them up throughout the week. You’ll learn their case and remember it if you remember them personally.

-Get in on a surgery list and ask to scrub in. The worst they can say is no. But nothing cements in your mind the layers of the abdomen by watching someone slice through them while you help.

-Spend time in the library, but not too much time. Learn through doing.

Beth’s top tips for a good medicine personal statement

Having spent the last 4 years reviewing personal statements in my spare time, I have come to have a fairly decent understanding of what is and isn’t required. So here are my top tips for getting it right!

  1. Do not make lists of things you’ve done. It’s important you show your interest and experience, but you have to remember your competition. Everyone will have shadowed a surgeon, a doctor, a vet. Everyone has done Duke of Edinburgh, worked at a charity shop and helped at a care home. It is all about the reflection which brings me to my next point:
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  2. Write about what you have learnt. Each placement, each experience should be related back to how it makes you a better medical student. Taught someone maths? Leadership and communication skills. Observed a multidisciplinary team meeting? Learnt the value of teamwork in a care environment.
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  3. Avoid the cliches. “Always” being interested in never true. “Fascinations with the intricacies of the human body” fade when you’re in the lab for the 3rd time that week trying to learn it. “Realising that sometimes a little chat with that elderly lady in the care home is really all she needs” changes when you don’t have the time for that any more. Oh, and orienteering your lost group in DoE back to the campsite is not a key skill. Find a different leadership role.
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  4. Don’t tell fibs. They’ll catch you out. If you say you read the sBMJ, read it or they’ll ask at interview and you’ll be stumped. Don’t be the guy who claims he runs marathons and when asked “What do you do when you hit the wall?” answer – “If I bump into things I usually just dust myself off and keep running”.
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  5. Don’t write about your A levels. Colleges love going on about this but it is so irrelevant. Unless you’ve done something obscure, there is no need. Do admissions tutors really not know that biology taught you lab skills? Do they need to be reminded that English Lit encourages essay writing skills? Not really, no. Instead they want to know about you as a person. Not you and every single other applicant who is doing the same subjects. If however, you want to discuss your EPQ or a specific part of your studies – by all means.
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  6. Do not get lost in language. Admissions will have thousands of these to read. One of the requirements of a doctor is also to be clear and understood by patients and other professionals. Write in short clear sentences and try not to sound like Shakespeare. If you feel your statement is better when it is read out loud with large arm movements, you probably need to change it. Remember that while medicine is an art and a science, until you are practicing it as a doctor, it is simply science. Your statement should reflect this.

How to get started on your Medicine personal statement

I get asked this question a lot and I always give the same advice.

Make bullet points under the following headings and then expand each part into paragraphs:

Intro – This wants to be a few sentences, short and specifically detailing why you want to study medicine. Keep it current – nothing about when you were 3 or 4 or 5 and wanting to study medicine. You may have wanted to do it for a long time but they want to know why you want to do it NOW. Try to avoid the cliches, and quotes rarely work well.

Key tip: No one has ever ALWAYS wanted to do it.

Work experience – This part should form a large chunk of your statement. Don’t just list what you did, because remember that you’re up against people who have all done the same. They’ve all worked as a HCA, shadowed a doctor, shadowed a surgeon, worked in a charity show and a care home. It’s all been done. Nothing (well, unless you’ve done something exceptional) is new. Instead you need to show that you have had these experiences and learnt from it. For example

I went to my local GP surgery and I saw lots of patient consultations. To further my experience I went to a local hospital and shadowed an oncologist and a paediatrician and a nurse. I saw that they had long hours but this experience still intensified my passionate desire to work in a hospital.

 

That (stolen with permission) tells you that they spent some time following people. And they liked being in a hospital. It’s almost completely useless and doesn’t tell me anything about you or about what you LEARNT which is the whole POINT of work experience and a PS. Instead, you want to reflect. Did you see good communication skills? Why were they good? Did you see teamwork? Why was it important and why made it good?

Pro Tip: If you’re still doing work experience, try to keep a diary as you go. It makes reflection so much easier.

Volunteering – This comes next and again should form a large paragraph. Start with anything where you’ve been in a caring role, working with children or vulnerable people, working in a care home etc. This can follow the same sort of reflection as work experience.

Then move onto less relevant experience. Charity shops, etc come into this category but it is where you can express your ability to deal with a diverse range of people. Remember that while giving up your time and working with the public are important, being in a charity shop is not enough on it’s own. You need to remember to relate it back to medicine.

Extra curriculars – Unless you’ve done something amazing, you will want to keep this short too. Captain of a team, member of a team, any teaching etc that you want to get in is great but remember most people play a sport and most people have done DofE. In fact a lot of statements I read all say that during DofE they got lost and that you managed to save your group by orienteering back to where you were supposed to be. Orienteering is not a key skill here. Keep. It. Relevant. Remember your competition and keep it short. Anything about gap years or future experiences can go here too.

Conclusion – This should be a couple of sentences. Summarising why you should be chosen.Try not to repeat yourself, but just quickly tell them why your experiences mean you’re better for a place that the next PS in the pile.

 

This is obviously not a required format but it seems to work and is easy to make it flow. Once you’ve expanded it, then it is a case of going over it again and again. Giving it to parents/neighbours (not posting it online) to read and critique. Anyone can tell you if it is good because everyone should have an opinion on who they want as a doctor.

Then put it in a drawer/folder and leave it for a week. Ever read something you wrote years ago and thought “why did I write that?!??”. Well that is what this does. Gives you some distance and lets you review through more critical eyes.

A PS is not something you can do in a day or a week. Don’t leave it until October. Get started now. In fact, if you have time to be reading my blog, you have time to start doing this! So go on! GO! Get started. And good luck!

Medical School Interview: It’s like fight club….

First rule about a med-school interview… don’t talk about your interview. Second rule of a med-school intervew – don’t talk about your interview.

It’s a new rule that is being enforced by TSR but it should apply regardless. Once you’ve had your interview, don’ t share the details with other applicants. It’s nice to help and once you’re in, that’s all very nice. But putting other people at an advantage at this stage in  the game is not what you want to be doing. How much would it suck if they send out 45 offers and someone you helped was 45 thanks to you, but you were 46?

This is a post on how I prepared for my interview, and here is an overview of what happened in mine.

Anyway, good luck if you’ve got an interview, I hope it went well if you’ve had an interview and to those still waiting, I have my fingers crossed for you.

Beth

The Application: Great News!

So I got the terrifying email saying my UCAS track status has been updated… and I did it! I have been updated to Conditional Offer! So excited now! The offer was 3 C’s in Law, Bio and Chem which I already have! Phoned college and cancelled June resits for Law and am preparing my certificates to send proof I meet the offer.

It seems that there have only been around 10 or so offers so far which is odd but I guess the rest will come out soon!

Have checked track a million times in case I was wrong, but it seems, pending proof and health tests, I am accepted onto BM6!

The Application: The first news…

I have a letter! From Southampton! Telling me that my application is being kept for further consideration. After a little bit of digging around TSR I have found that 2 letters are being sent out. One like mine, and one rejection after interview letter. Not very many rejection letters are going out from what I can gather so not getting too excited just yet. Should be hearing at the end of March (seems like an eternity away).

Exams went ok. Results are out at the beginning of March so will see how this goes!

BM6: Medicine Interview – How I prepared.

Step 1: Read your personal statement.

Step 2: Read up about the university – what are they proud of? What do they strive to do? What features of the course make you perfect for it and it perfect for you?

Step 3: Write a list of everything you want them to know about you by the end of the interview.

Step 4: Find a list of typical medical school questions (try here, here, here and here.)

Step 5: Answer each question working in one of the points on your list from step 3. Then answer it again using a different point. This may seem stupid at first, but it will get you used to answering random questions and also fitting questions to the answers you want to give, working in the details that you want to get across.

This is all I did! It seemed to work for me haha. Remember they’re not there to trick you, or to confuse you. If you don’t understand a question, ask what they meant (I did!). They’d prefer you to ask for clarification and answer the right question then make no sense at all.

Relax. It will be over so quickly you won’t believe and I don’t even remember most of mine!

Good luck.

The Application: The Interview

Drove up to Southampton this morning. It seems really nice! Got there far too early but at least I wasn’t late. There were loads of us there, and someone said the numbers were at around 1000 applications, and 200 interviews. There are 30 places! The odds are against me but oh well. I just keep on thinking “someone has to get in, why not me?”.

I wore a white shirt (Japanese style collar) with a v-neck jumper (sleeves folded up of course) and black pinstriped trousers. There were a few people in suits so hopefully I wasn’t too underdressed!! Hair was in a grippy thing all tied up and hands were in my lap (except when I was waving then about and gesticulating which I did try to keep to a minimum, somewhat unsuccessfully).

I was called in by a very nice gentleman, and was led to a room with himself and another lady in there. They introduced themselves but I can’t remember who they were, I shook their hands, and from then on is pretty much a blur. I remember at one point, talking so fast that I wasn’t finishing the last word of a sentence before moving onto another. I remember telling myself not to say “fabulous” which is a word I use a lot at the moment, and instead found that I said “sort of” making me seem very indecisive.

I was asked ‘why Southampton?’, ‘why BM6?’, and examples of how I had learnt independently. There was a question that I had to ask to be clarified about what sources I used for research, and I waffled on about the internet for a while before going on about how it can be unreliable but backed up by other sources. At one point the chap writing down notes on his little yellow form stopped and looked up at me, nodded a lot, smiled, and carried on writing which really worries me. It was either “omgshuttup” or “omg you’re amazing”… hoping it was the latter!

Other than that I don’t remember much. It definitely didn’t seem 20 minutes long, but we shall see! On the way out the lovely lady at the front wished me well and said she hoped to see me in September which was nice!

Long drive home – definitely not going to commute that. Am going to have to think of something else.

Oh well. Back to the waiting game.

The Application: The Interview Preparation

So I’ve spent the last few days before my interview, sitting down and thinking… at the end of this, what do I want them to know about me? I’ve made a list of the things I really wanted to get across and looked up possible interview questions on the internet, trying to answer each question once for every item on the list, each time incorporating the idea I was trying to project. It seems to be going well and I seem to be getting better at reflecting on experiences! After getting bored of this however, I’ve also been picking a random list item, and a random question and just trying to make it work. It’s amazing how much better I’ve become at making connections between an experience and the things it has taught me!

I’ve done some serious research on Southampton and the BM6 course, and figured out what they are proud of, what they pride themselves on, and I am hoping that I can bring this up in the interview!

I’ve also been trawling through forums (The Student Room is AMAZING!) and it seems that there have been a lot of interview letters sent out so am not getting hopes tooooooo high. Ok, maybe a little high.

Exams are going alright  I suppose. One biology paper was insanely hard and stupid and rubbish. Oh well. I won’t need it for Southampton!

2 days to go!