Ooh, It's Been a While!

Hello!

I'm not going to apologise for the (predictable) lack of updates; because there is nothing to update you on really...

Here's what's happened recently:

• I've become a hermit.
• Today I finally hit the 200 job applications milestone!!
• I've had four job interviews now (all of which have been unsuccessful...)
• I've still got no money coming in.
• My next door neighbour recently got a slapped wrist from the police for assaulting my Dad (who's disabled...) More on that in a future post... if you're really that interested...
• I swear I'm on my way to developing a vitamin D deficiency (because of said hermit-ness... Or maybe I'm just becoming a hypochondriac because of all the spare time on my hands...)
• I keep on getting bombarded with spam emails from a company called 'Meaningful Help'... And in actual fact; I'm quite close to going to their headquarters in Texas and... well, after that, I'm not exactly sure what I'd do...
• I've discovered that it's not just me who's feeling isolated since leaving University. My friends are feeling exactly the same way. (Even though they've got jobs or are doing Postgrad stuff...)
• This whole unemployment lark has induced a new lax attitude; my 'pendantic-ness' is disappearing. It's really making me a lot less uptight (at times...)
• Friends/Peers/People I went to school with and didn't really warm to are all announcing pregnancies and engagements. In fact, some are now having their second kids. I'm still unsure as to whether this makes me feel: ridiculously old, incredibly young or a massive failure... (even though I'm only 21, I swear my Mum's tapping her watch impatiently; waiting, just waiting to get grandkids. No pressure...)

I'm also so sad well-organised that since I first started applying for jobs, back in May, I've been keeping a log of all applications that I've made. It's official: I'm ridiculously sad...

That's from the first page... From May/June.

And this is the last... From Today.

It's eleven pages long now, which makes me feel ever so slightly useless. I've been rejected or ignored for an insurmountable number of jobs. I've been rejected for: Temp Christmas jobs, Cleaning jobs, Healthcare Assistant Jobs, Receptionist jobs, Admin jobs, Waitressing jobs, Factory jobs, Marketing/Communications Jobs (which are actually related to my degree!), Sales jobs, Retail jobs etc. I could go on, but I wouldn't want to bore you into oblivion. 

Still, at least it's a beautiful evening:

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've become slightly addicted to Instagram...

St. George's Open Day!

I've been a bit under the weather for the past few days, so cue lots and lots of blogging... 
But apologies for the lack of my presence recently!


I went to St. George's University of London for an open day last month, and I must say, I really liked it!


It seemed like a genuinely nice university, where the students were incredibly enthusiastic.

And I mean incredibly!

The presentation that they gave was informative, even if I already knew just about everything they covered with regards to entry requirements...

But hey, I did my research!

We had a tour with two of the current GEP students, and they were so helpful! 
Their advice was genuinely fantastic, and apparently you could see the relief on my face when they were telling us about their experiences with GAMSAT! It was lovely to meet people who have been in a similar boat to me, who actually got into medical school!


The tour lasted for about 40 minutes, and they even took us into the room where the Medical Students practice putting cannulas into fake arms,
and even fake smear tests on fake foofees... 


We got the chance to stand in a PBL room. 
A room which was covered by white boards.
One of which had:
"We love St. George's... [not]" 
Written on it.

Reassuring.

They'd even got mini fridges and kettles in there for the GEPs. 

Awww.

The library, by the way, is absolutely massive! 

The only thing that they couldn't really reassure me about was the NHS bursary situation.

St. George's is situated in the Tooting area of London.
Quite a diverse area, and I'm reliably informed from the SU presentation that there are 35 curry houses in the area!

So I'm guessing that people round there keep a lot of toilet paper in the fridge...

There are lots of famous alumni to the University: John Hunter, Henry Gray, Edward Jenner and Harry Hill.

I think he was the clincher for me...

I must say, as this is the first open day for Graduate Entry Medicine that I've been to, I didn't know what to expect.


In fact, I kind of thought that people would perhaps look down their noses at me because I'm from more of an artistic background.


But this was absolutely not the case! 
Everybody I met and spoke to seemed friendly and really down to earth! 
They were honest about their experiences with GAMSAT, but didn't scare me into changing my mind!

It's quite a trek for me though, I must say!

It's about an hour and three quarters on the train, and then just over half an hour on the Tube! 
But it was definitely worth it to have a look around.

I can honestly say that I wouldn't mind studying there.

The only problem is the distance.

Being a bit of a Northerner, it's a long way away from home.

And I can't guarantee that I wouldn't get homesick if I had to live in London nearly all the time...

I've also recently been to a GEM open day at the University of Nottingham, so that'll follow soon!

Until next time!

xx

A little bit more about GAMSAT, anyone?

So, seeing as I haven't got a lot else to do, I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about GAMSAT.

I'll do it in a list-y type thing, so it's easier to read:

GAMSAT stands for: Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admissions Test.

Yes, I know I'm from England, and not Australia, but it's also used over here too!

It's used by the following Universities for entry to their four year Graduate Entry courses:

1. St. George's, 
2. University of Nottingham, 
3. Keele,
4. Swansea.

It's an entrance exam used by the above Universities to see if their Graduate Medical applicants are up to scratch.

It's also used by Peninsula for entry to their five year course.

Whereas King's College London, Newcastle and Leicester all require you to take the UKCAT test.

There are three different parts to the five hour test, which are:

1. Humanities and Social Sciences,
2. Written Communication,
3. The Science-y bit.

Basically the information that I've received on the level of science required for the exam is quite conflicting. 

I've been told, by someone who has actually taken the test, that it's best if you revise up to first year undergraduate level Biology and Chemistry, and also A-Level Physics.

I've read, however, that AS Level in all of the sciences are adequate enough to get you through the test, even if you aren't from a science background.

Apparently, there's a lot of organic chemistry featured within the exam.

So get revising that kids!

The science part of the exam is double-weighted, so it's quite important!

The date of the test this year is Friday 16th September.

There are lots of Universities that allow graduates to study Medicine, but as I'm not from a science background (having done no science since GCSE) I thought I'd focus on the courses that are more relevant to people like me ('arty' people). 

Sorry if all of the above is of no use to you! 

And also apologies if I've got certain bits and bobs wrong, I'm no expert on GAMSAT!

Next time I'll be telling you all about my recent trip to St. George's! So...

Until then!

xx