WOOPS left it too long again!

Hi Everyone! Long time no speak!

I actually got a Facebook message of someone that had read my blog and wanted to ask me a few questions and it prompted me to try and log back on and see how the blog is doing.

I never realised I now have nearly 18,000 views - HOLY MOLEY THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE! I didn't realise people actually read my stuff haha! I also forgot my log in details so it took me forever to sign back on.

I've been reading all your comments and wanted to say thank you so much! It really means a lot to me that people ready ramblings and find them in some way useful. 

I promise to write updated posts, but sadly they won't be about the GAMSAT.

After reading some of your comments I am undecided if I wanted to apply for Medicine again in the upcoming year; my Masters course has been very intense and made think twice about continuing in education for another 4 years. But we shall see!

If you have any questions please please feel free to contact me on Facebook (Hannah Bolland) and send me a message; because I check my Facebook a million times more regularly then this blog haha!

Thank you again everyone!

Good luck with whatever you are doing, I love hearing from you all.

TEAM SCIENCE 

WOAH, like 7 months away time!

Jesus wept.
Massive apologies for the mammoth delay in any posts. Its been an unbelievably busy past couple of months.
Everything in a nutshell:
DIDNT GET INTO MEDSCHOOL :( massive sad face I know, and to top it all off, my GAMSAT score was 59, the cut off score this year, was 60. So I missed out on interview by one point. Yes I spent several days crying into science books and generally moping around. I got my highest score in the essay section, followed by the first section, and really oddly, my worst mark was science *hangs head in shame*.

On reflection, for my first time at the GAMSAT, I'm happy with my mark only being one away from the cut off point. At least I didn't horrendously fail!

Next news: I started applying for Masters courses here in the UK. I applied for ones related to fertility/embryology as thats the kinda field I could have wanted to go into if I had gone to med school.

I've been firmly accepted to study for a MMed Sci Assisted Reproductive Technology at Nottingham University with the hopes of becoming an Embryologist.
I am hugely upset/frustrated that I did not get into medical school, especially it being ONE PIGGING MARK AWAY!!! 
I'm just happy that I am continuing my science studies in an area I find fascinating and where I can still make a difference and help people. (Help everyone have babies to be precise!)

My university tutor told me many fantastic medics get in on their second and third attempt, but I've got some thinking to do if I want to re take the GAMSAT and apply again next year.
Also thinking of changing the blog name to something generally more "science is super awesome everyone should love it kinda thing". But I'm still here to answer all your questions about the med school process!

P.S: I graduate in 3 weeks HOLYSHIT

UCAS Application!

This post might be a little bit late but I'm still gunna write a little about it -  UCAS application!

The deadline is October 15th (got mine in on time :) ) and you are allowed to submit 4 medical school choices along with your GCSE, A-Level and Degree grades as well as your personal statement and a reference.

Reference

My reference was written by my uni personal tutor and its a good idea to build a bit of a relationship with your uni tutor because they will probably end up writing you a reference for other things once you leave uni. I've been to see my tutor a few times outside "normal recommended" times to discuss medical things and he has also helped me with my personal statement which meant he was able to write a more personalised reference rather than just a generic one! Just make sure you approach them with enough time to write the reference!

Personal Statement 

With regards to the dreaded personal statement a book I found really helpful was this book! "Get into Medical School - Write the Perfect Personal Statement". I am selling my copy on Amazon at the moment for £15! :) But it is full of tips on how to write an effective personal statement as well as tonnes and tonnes of A-Level and Graduate examples.
You want your personal statement to stand out, as the person reading them will have read hundreds, but at the same time you want to make sure you include all the necessary information and to at least sound like you know what you are on about!
The general sections I followed when writing mine were:
Intro - Why you want to study medicine

Uni Experience - Small paragraph on the skills uni has given you and how these will help you at medical school. We are graduates so we should be pro's when it comes to time management and organisation!

Work Experience - This formed the main body of my personal statement, you want to say what you did and then WHAT YOU LEARNT from the experience, how this furthered your understanding of how important effective teamwork/communication etc is.

Volunteering - Another big paragraph on your volunteering experience is essential! Again remember to write what you gained from the experience.

Extra Curricular Stuff - Include societies and sports clubs you have been part of during uni and what skills and stuff this has given you!

Conclusion - Never include new info in a conclusion! Just round off how all these experience and volunteering have given you a better understanding into a medical career and the attributes needed to be a successful doctor. Try and think of a nice punchy ending!

My personal statement took a few drafts but in the end I was pretty happy with it! I was also 1 character  under the word limit - hehe!
I've heard back from all my choices saying they have received my application and now all I can do is wait for my GAMSAT results! AAAAHHH.


As always any questions - comment away! :)

Next Steps

What do I do with my life after the GAMSAT?

well....

• Complete UCAS application
• Get a reference for my UCAS app
• Finish that bloody personal statement! (I'll do a post about personal statements as well)
• Finish my degree with a first (hopefully)
• Try and think of a dissertation topic.
• Enjoy my freedom from GAMSAT! YEY

If you have any questions about what you need to do and when you need to do it by for medicine or student finance crap just post a comment! 

The GAMSAT is Finished!!

ITS ALL DONE!!

Soooo I sat the GAMSAT in Bristol on Wednesday and here are a few comments and things I felt about the exam:

• I felt I did ten million times better on the Humanities section than I did in the Science section! The Humanities section seemed quite a bit easier than any of the past papers I'd looked at, but Section 1 went well!
• There was a really good topic on the first essay in Section 2 and I think I went a little bit to broad because I got so excited it was a good topic I just wanted to write everything I could in one go! So make sure you focus on being really strict on what you include in your essay!
• Section 3 was tough, it was a LOT of Chemistry, a lot of organic Chemistry! Not a lot of Physics and there honestly didn't seem to be that much Biology which I wasn't happy about :( 
• The hardest thing to deal with is the length of the exam, you break up for lunch after section 2 and you think "oohh thats fine only one more section to go!" But the science section is 3 hours in total! And it is SUCH a longtime to concentrate! It really is a lengthy exam!
• My brain felt like mush afterwards, all I wanted to do was go home and watch puppies and kittens on youtube, something that didnt involve a lot of thinking!

I'll post up a proper post with some tips for the exam in a day or two but right now I need to rest me brain and I'm back up to uni on Monday for final year and that means dissertation time! AAAAHH.

Soo it's Monday, the exam is Wednesday....

2 DAYS TO GO GANG!

I'm just spending today and half of tomorrow cramming as much as I can, HARDCORE REVISION STYLE. Only leaving my chair to pee and eat!

I'm leaving for Bristol tomorrow night as I live 3 hours away so I'll be hardcore revising in the car on the way up as well!

I'm just re-writing and re-reading all my chemistry, physics and examples I can use for the written section and hopefully they stick in ma brain.

Keep going and hopefully see some of you in Bristol on Wednesday!

10 DAYS

10 DAYS TO GO AAAHHHHH.

I don't have that much to write today other than the fact I'm stressing.

I've been essay writing this past week and trying to find historical examples I could use in essays, aaaand I will be doing another past paper this week and I will also be doing some crying.


KEEP GOING EVERYONE!!


My revision face