Tuesday 29 January 2008

Sad eventful january~ application update

Just last year i was moaning for some news, and january has not been dissapointing..or.. in some sense it has been extremely dissapointing.. !

2/1 - Manchester rejection
14/1 - Bart invite to interview
21/1 - UCL rejection
23/1 - Bart's interview
29/1 - BSMS rejection

thats some news from all my unis almost every week of january..
well at least on the bright side of things i have what i asked for, some replies.

Just waiting for the outcome of the Bart's interview now, and my confidence has hit rock bottum.. though on the other hand i am sort of excited in planning a hopefully well spent gap year/work/msc application for next year and making myself a stronger applicant for next year.

Monday 28 January 2008

<100

Less than 100 (in fact its 98 as of today) days left until final year exam season looms over... !!! But before i can even start connecting nose to book, i have 2 pieces of annoying coursework and my dissertation to deal with first... !!

Annoyingly my lab supervisor wants me to do a presentation to the other people in the lab in regards to my project.. this certainly will result in:

1) embaressing myself with my little knowledge infront of the phD and post-docs who have been doing the same thing for at least the last 3 years..and don't really need me to show them what they taught me how to do a few months ago..

2) wasting time i can spend put into my essays or disseration.. or even writing notes!

so basically..no i dont really want to do the presentation and neither does the intercalating medic nor the neuroscience bsc undergrad (..its not assessed.. and we all believe my supervisor just wants to see what we've been up to, as he has just left us with the post-docs)

Progressing slowly but surely with the research almost have 2 proteins finished now (Vglut1 and Synaptohpysin)...though i am more jealous than anything...
whilst i am stuck doing western blots everyday..the intercalted medical student in my lab gets to kill rats and mess around with their brains spewed all over the lab bench ..whilst i look on with my flimsy gel stuck to an electric pack.. oh and some milk spinning on a labstir.

Have still not heard from Barts yet..which means i did not perform that well, so its fingers and toes crossed for now, and hope to hear something from BSMS soon too, from the NMM forum, seems like quite a few people have heard from BSMS now... so i hope i'll be one of them (even if its a rejection..at least i know!) !!

Received an email from uni in regards to application for a FREE trip to study in CHINA this easter for all English/Scottish university or higher education students (search DUI chinese easter 2008 --> click on manchester link) .. sounds amazing!! if only i was in the first/second year i would leap at the opportunity to spend 3 weeks abroad to explore china, learn some mandarin, dip into another culture and try some proper chinese food (i am a fake chinese.. i spend my time eating tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches than anything chinese)!
anyone intersted i am happy to share the link/email!

Wednesday 23 January 2008

Post Interview Thoughts

i started the day waking up with a bit of a shock as i thought it was already 1pm.... so with that i jumped out of bed into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, rushed back into my room to find it only being 10am.. so i proceeded to slomp myself in front of my laptop and sat there browsing the internet in my pyjamas for the next few hours...

Had a look through on different news websites and had a good read up on possible nhs topics..which without a doubt came up! Did a fair bit of research on why barts (yep that came up too), on what sort of diseases are prevelant in the east end (yep that too!) and forgot to plan the question of all questions: .... Why medicine?

A bit silly to go to a medical school interview without a clear thoughtout crisp answer for such a question..but thats exactly what i did, and i ended up rambling a bit, and now just hoping i didn't ruin my chances with that... and for the remaining part of the interview the interwievers just sat looking bored... (the interview was meant to start at 3.30pm, and i didn't get called in until 3.50pm)

Now the constant ucas track checking starts .. and well only bsms to hear back from now after a rejection on the 21st from ucl, which put a bit of pressure on today!

Now to just do some work, and look forward to a talk tomorrow from professor Barry Halliwell at an open seminar at kcl tomorrow. Maybe i'll convince some my friends from other unis to come, as he truly is a fantastic scientist, and im finding myself burried into his text book for my biology of ageing and my free radical in health and diseases modules.

oh.. and something quite fun...
72 words

Touch Typing

Thursday 17 January 2008

Pounds (my laptop doesn't have a pound sign) vs lbs

Finally got round to trying the trouser suit i had back from 2005, the trousers which were once a bit tight are now quite lax, and the blouse and suit jacket looks like a duvet, which is good i've been able to shed a few unwanted pounds.. but with that goes pounds from the purse too as i have to invest in something new.. and quick!!

People who know me personally will know im not exactly the smartest dresser, and feel a tad reluctant to buy a nice suit; as a girl, i really don't know when i'll be needing to wear one again ~.~ ... so to buy a nice one which will last (as my friend suggested), or something ok priced for the occasion, and will probably get ruined in the wash after a few spins?

Being the ever optimist i still want to keep up my healthy regime and lose a bit of weight, (all these lectures on biology af ageing, biology of cancer, and free radical in health and diseases, really does make you consider the state of your own health!) so splashing out on an expensive suit which may not fit well after a period of time, seems a waste.. yet i don't want to look to scruffy...

On another note.. i hope the weather is good on the day, my hair has the natural ability to go extremely static when its about to rain.. a bit like how cows know when to lie down when it's about rains.. hair tied up is not a good look for me, and so it's settled.. i shall bring a brush and use some de-fizz on the day (better to be safe than sorry)!

Bioinformatics is hardly touched..which is not good..as thats due in on tuesday, so if i get it done asap and in on monday, i can have tuesday afternoon to revise after i scan my western blots at the research lab and rush home before the rush hour.

Research is coming along ok, finally found out what im doing now, and have 3 new undergrads joining me in the lab:
1 x neuroscience bsc final year student doing her research project (so a bit like me, jsut swap in biochemistry)
1 x Biomedical Research MRes (Something i might apply for and do if i don't get into medicine)
1 xIntercalating Medical Student who has taken neuroscience as her intercalating option.

Had a nice chat with the medical student, and questioned her on her thoughts of PBL, as Bart's are quite famous for their very pro-pbl approach, and i wanted to prepare myself for any possible questions which may pop up. Although she was a GKT medic, it was still quite nice to hear what she thought of PBL, as i think i got a very honest opinion with the pros and cons of pbl, and definately gave me a different perspective on how medical school teaching works.

Now to get on with bioinformatics... i wish i have never taken this module.. it is perhaps the worst module i have ever taken at kcl.. the lecturer is a nice guy..but he can't lecture!

Monday 14 January 2008

Barts Invite to interview ^.^

Interview @ Barts -> 23rd january 2008 ... (A week and 2 days time!!)

This really is my 2nd and could ultimately be my last chance from Barts, having missed my offer from them in 2005.. It almost feels like they are giving me another chance to pursue my dream, though, i have a mix bag of feelings at the moment, which ranges from excited and hopeful to nervous and scared!

Excited - Because its my first interview (perhaps the only!) of this application cycle.. and being very honest, i really want to study medicine and stay in london... this is the perfect chance!

Hopeful - perhaps naieve is a better descriptor, but with every interview there is the chance of getting an offer or a rejection, and there stands my chance of getting an offer.. i just need to not mess up, and hopefully demonstrate to them how much i want to be a doctor!

Nervous - its in 9 days time! Very worrying espcially as its the day after coursework is handed in..so i dont have much time to prepare as i ahve to get this coursework out the way first!

Scared - because i dont want to have the hope of getting an offer to then be faced with a rejection... or to have an offer and then fail to meet it AGAIN... that would really..... suck!




REVISION - WORK HARD - DO COURSEWORK - READ UP ON NHS - READ UP ON BARTS AND THEIR COURSE - LOCATE THE INTERVIEW LOCATION ON A MAP AND PLAN MY TRAVEL - BUY SOMETHING SMART TO WEAR

Thursday 3 January 2008

NEWS!!!!!!! ............... (bad news)

2pm, woke up, switched on the laptop to get on with my coursework after having a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk, signed into gmail notifier, and woot 2 new mail, clicked onto the little taskbar icon to spring open gmail, and faced with a ucas track change update, knew it must have been bad news as i've not had an interviews, hoped it wasn't from UCL or BARTS, then realised it doesn't say anything on the email other than a change of track status, so i logged into ucas track.. scrolled down..eh no changes to ucl .... barts ... bsms .....

manchester = rejection!

ouch, and it has to be the day following new years... , though im not too disheartened by it, as i don't feel like a strong applicant this year.... just hope the next bit of news i hear will be from unis and not from ucas track!!!