I'm writing this while being slightly annoyed. I'm slightly annoyed at the realisation that one test can change my life for the better. One test can
give me the chance to reach my goal. One test? One test is enough? Does one test make sense? I'm not sure one test can take me into from the "Ohh let's have a look" pile to the bin.
Recapping on the last couple of months, I can say that I’m
so pleased with my progression. In fact, I could probably go further, and say that the last couple of
years have been pretty good for me. At University, I had the amazing
opportunity to be a part of a group called Marrow. For those of you who have
never heard of Marrow, Marrow is the student branch of Anthony Nolan, an
organisation that actively recruits people onto the bone marrow register, in
order to give hope to those in desperate need of a transplant. I didn’t just
get to be a part of the group, I took great pleasure in leading it, and when I
left it behind at the end of my three years at UEA, I did find it hard to
adjust to all the extra time I now had. I didn’t just leave behind Marrow, I
left behind Student Minds, an charity set up to help students suffering from
eating disorders as well as a number of other mental illnesses. You’d think
with 3 years of experience working with people and health related
organisations, obtaining a 2:1 degree in Biomedicine as well as volunteering
over 400 hours to both campus and the local community would mean I’d atleast get an
offer to medicine wouldn’t you? Well, you’d be wrong. When I applied at the end
of my degree, I got nothing. Nada. Zilch. And to add insult to injury, I actually did well on the test! But anyway, that’s
okay. Probably good even, because it has led to me doing much more with this year.
The first couple of months following my graduation were
awful. I went from job to job, part time, full time, walking the streets for
hours trying to sell insulation and numerous other poorly paid, awful jobs. Cold calling for Greenpeace’s Arctic campaign
was my low point and I actually remember feeling myself break a little bit. I later worked as a Food and Beverages assistant which I enjoyed. I like people. That’s the bottom line. Sometimes
people are mean and ignorant, chefs can be stressy, and managers and
supervisors can be egotistic but I must admit, it worked for me. Working at the
Maids Head was great, but something was still lacking. A zero hour contact is
never good when you’re struggling to pay rent already. It meant sometimes I was
doing less than 15 hours a week and with no parents to support me, my saving
were swallowed up pretty quickly. This included the money I had saved for my
first year of Medical School. I got another zero hour contact, this time termed
“bank” from Spire hospital in their Sterile Services Department. Cleaning
surgical equipment wasn’t quite what I had in mind as a hospital career, but
nonetheless, I won’t complain. It’s good to see the interaction in hospitals,
learn equipment names and the people aren’t bad either!
Finally, I got an interview for a job
as a health care assistant in a nearby hospital. I got the job and the rest is
history. Working in a relevant field to my application to medicine is good. I
went on to organise work experience shadowing various jobs within the medical
community, ranging from practice nurse to consultant Ophthalmologist. I’ve
aquired a voluntary position as a community first responder and have got
absolutely no time for anything else. Now, you would think I have enough to get
atleast an interview wouldn’t you? Well, we'll see about that.
One test may have sealed my fate. Now, I’m fairly upset. Scoring above average may not have
been good enough, and despite all my hard work for the last year, and the years before that, I might be
ruled out before they’ve even read my personal statement, or reviewed my work
experience.
I'm not going to lie. This is a much more ranty blog post than my previous but I'm feeling pretty defeated. Luckily, I have another chance. I sit the GAMSAT (another admissions test) later in the year. It cost £295 (ouch! I know! -don't even get me started on this inequality!) but hopefully I'll feel some sort of redemption.
Wish me luck guys and gals, I've got a feeling I'm going to need it!
No comments:
Post a Comment