My University Application Mayhem

Hi I'm Maddie and this is my road to (hopefully) University in September 2020

[catharsis-in-a-bottle]

Tips for ✨not dying✨ during online school

[brought to you by: a high schooler who hasn’t died yet✨]

To avoid headaches - If you’re staring at a screen for hours at a time, a good way to avoid headaches is turning on night mode / night light. On a computer, you can go to your system settings, go into the ‘display’ section, and turn on night mode, which filters out blue light and can help your head ✨not die✨

Water - Keep a water bottle near you, drink glasses periodically, whatever you gotta do. H2O is also essential for avoiding headaches and for feeling generally okay, whatever your definition of ‘generally okay’ may be. Water helps you ✨not die✨

To save your muscles - any time you have a break, stand up (if you can). Just at least stand up. Stretch, even. As long as you take a small break from being in the same spot all day, your muscles will ✨not die✨

Organize the way you like - whether you prefer a clear space or a cozy little clutter of stuff, make sure you have the materials you need readily accessible and that you know where they are. (Also, knick knacks. Got a fidget you like? Keep it nearby!) Organization isn’t necessarily having everything shoved in a closet - it’s just knowing where things are. Feeling good in your own space is a good way to ✨not die✨

Clothes - do what makes you feel comfortable but also productive. If you feel good in sweatpants, then go for it, but if you need your fancy clothes to feel like a Busy Businessperson, then wear your fancy clothes. As long as you feel like you can work. (Unless you’re like me and you have to wear a uniform. Yay Catholic school. At least you only have to put on the top half?) Be comfy and you will ✨not die✨

Please add to this + share/reblog!!

Save our small child / adult / human / alien brains :( :(

[uniapplicationmayhem]

Exeter Medicine Interview Experience

I had my interview at Exeter on the 22nd of January. While I can't give exact details about the day as the process is meant to be confidential, I wanted to give an overall view of how my day went.

We had decided to go up to Exeter the night before, leaving staight after college college ended on the Tuesday. We stayed at  Jurys Inn, Exeter which was only a 10 minute walk from St Lukes Campus. I think despite living relatively close to Exeter, staying overnight helped take away some of the stress. And as a bonus I got extra time in bed!!!

That morning I was so nervous I couldn't eat a thing. It was my first interview and one of my top choice Unis, so I knew there was a lot riding on that day. 

The time I was told to come to the campus was 9:30 so we decided to walk up a little earlier to have a look around and see what the campus was like.

I had never visited Exeter Uni as it was a last minute decision to add it to my application. The grounds were really nice and it was nearby the main hospitals as well as the accommodation, so ideal for early morning classes and placements. I really liked the position of the campus, it is close enough to the city centre for anything you need but it feels like a small, safe community on the campus. 

In the morning we had a talk by a member of the admissions team and then we were provided with lunch. It was during this time that I really got to know the other applicants. It was lovely to meet people for all over and I found it really calmed my nerves talking to everyone else. Some Uni students caution making friends with the other applicants as they are your competition, but I felt that we were all in the same boat so we might as well support each other. After lunch we all walked to another building to wait for our interview. I had one of the latest interview slots at 4:15pm which worried me slightly. I was scared that sitting in a room waiting for 4 hours would make any anxiety I felt build and build.

Surprisingly the opposite happened. During the hours we were sat waiting we had some really great conversations. We laughed and joked and at times I forgot we were even about to have an interview.  All the other applicants were lovely and we all eased each others anxiety.

One of the people who I had spoken to most was in my MMI group and having her there make the process slightly less nerve wracking. 

People had always told me that the time went so quick during the interview and I didn't believe them until I experience it myself. I used the 3 minutes provided for all of the questions and I found myself running out of time at points. Thankfully I found myself able to answer all questions and came out of the interview feeling happy. 

For me the medicine interview was a far better experience than I could have imagined. All the staff put us at ease and make the process far more comfortable than expected. I walked out of the interview knowing that whatever happened I had had a really great day and it was a valuable experience.

[uniapplicationmayhem]

Well it’s the night before my interview. Exeter Medicine interview is tomorrow and I’m pumped. The anxiety hasn’t started yet but I’m sure in the morning the nerves will kick in. Drove up to Exeter after college today and had a Pizza Hut in our hotel. Now I’m just gonna chill before tomorrow 🤞Wish me luck.

[firedrill]

[tiredbiostudent]

university is also just *rereads email wording for twenty minutes* *pdfs* *waits for bus* *lofi beats* *bounces leg* *forgets student card* *forgets laptop charger* *forgets lab coat* *refreshes email* *tupperware* *prints something* *stares at wall for ten minutes before getting out of bed* *makes tea* *waits for appointment* *daydreams on bus* *climbs stairs* *stares at google calendar* *almost gets hit by bike* *recycles*

[uniapplicationmayhem]

Let’s get real

I probably haven’t been posting as much as I expected i would and the truth is I’ve had a rough few months.

Since June I had been preparing for my UCAT. I did 100 practice questions a day and full mocks at least once a week. I was dedicated to getting a high score and my hard work was paying off with scores about 2800 in my mocks and consistent band 1s.

Then about a week before my test I had a pretty traumatic experience. I won’t go into detail but it rocked me and I found myself really struggling. I wasn’t sleeping I found myself really stressed and anxious. This impacted everything including my UCAT.

The effect of the prior week came tumbiling down on me on my test day. I spent the morning sobbing and had a panic attack during my test. I managed to make it though but with a score in the lower percentiles. After that I really struggled to motivate myself and some of my historic depression has crept back in. While I appeared confident on the outside, on the inside I was devistated and convinced myself that my dream of studying medicine was over. This became even worse when my backup choice of paramedicine rejected my application.

I reached breaking point where I could either fall apart or pull up my boot straps and muck in. I chose the latter. While I haven’t been perfect I have tried to get myself back in track and focus on my college work.

Turns out my dream of studying medicine might not be over either. While I was secretly figuring out backup plans and getting myself mentally prepared for entering clearing next year universities were looking over my application. And Exeter has given me a interview!!!

I know I’m still far off from an offer so I don’t want to get myself too exited but having been invited for a interview has really given me a boost. For the past few months I have been all doom and gloom and finally I have a spark of hope!! It’s not until January so thankfully I have plenty of time to prepare.

I know there are still challenges but I really feel like there is hope. As a friend of my says “life is just peaks and troughs”, so I hope to ride this peak for as long as I can

[uniapplicationmayhem]

Queen’s University Belfast Open Day!!!

On a trip to Northern Ireland in April we decided to go to the Queen’s open day. QUB had always been on my list as a top university and I had heard that it had a great reputation so I was excited to visit. 

This event was a medicine only event so it was great to really see course in detail and have a dedicated day to explore what QUB could offer. 

We had many talks from current doctors who also severed as members of staff for the university. This included a  vascular surgeon, respiratory physician, psychiatrist and a obstetrician/gynaecologist. 

 One of the first talks was about the history of the uni and their facilities. QUB is in the top 1% in the world and 2nd in the country for its facilities. Also Belfast is one of the cheapest places to live in the UK. 

One of the great things about queens is its family attachment programme. From the first year you are attached to a family with someone who has a chronic illness to see the different aspects of their care as well as how their illness effects their lives. This is one of the only places I have seen the programme and I absolutely love the idea. 

Another great thing about QUB is their use of whole body dissections. Some people might find it a bit gross but if you plan to go into surgery the use of cadavers is a great bonus. 

At the end was one of the best talks which was  about applications. This gave us the opportunity to ask a member of the admissions staff any questions we had and to get some more information on the process. 

Overall the day was really good although we didn't really get to see many of the facilities. But it gave us a great insight into medicine and what it is to be a doctor.

Overall score 4/5

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Does anyone else taking the UCAT this year have any advice on the quantitative reasoning section?

Over all I’m above the average Medify score for SJT, VR and DM. I find abstract reasoning a little tricky but the one I struggle with the most is QR. I do t know why but I find I have consistently rubbish scores is QR. I’ve still got 34 days until I take my test so if anyone has any tips I would be super grateful.

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Newcastle July Open Day - Medicine

So this was my first ever time in Newcastle!!!! Newcastle wasn't a city or a university that I was particularly interested in but they have low GCSE requirements so I though we would go and have a look.

The first thing I noticed was that Newcastle was miles away. Took up about 7 hours to get there from Cornwall. Thankfully it wasn't too hot and the traffic wasn't that bad.

The hotel we were staying in was a 10 minute walk from the university, in the centre of the city. Thankfully Newcastle city centre is very convenient to the motorway so we got there  very quickly. We had a wander up to the uni and I loved how close it was to the city centre. I also loved the vast amount of shops and restaurants in the city as wells as all the attractions.

My first impression of the university was that the buildings remained me of Hogwarts but with red brick. The campus was easy to navigate with everything easily signposted.

After we had a wander at the Uni we explored Newcastle.  Despite the name I never knew that Newcastle had an actual castle so I decided I wanted a visit. After that we hiked up to Grey’s Monument and had a look at the shops on the way down. 

Then we settled in to our hotel for a good nights sleep 😴 

We where planning to attend a welcome talk at 9:15 but I left my hoodie in the car so had to go back for it and missed that talk. 

Instead when we got back to the campus we sat in the Applying talk by the Head of Admissions. He gave us a pretty good overview of the admissions process as well as extra details that I didn't know. I can sometimes find these talks a bit general with information that anyone could find online but this one was actually pretty good. He spoke about how their process works and how they use things like personal statements ( they are very important at Newcastle)

Then we were onto our medicine talk at the Medical and Dentistry Building. this was a short 5 minute walk from the main campus but was still close enough that it felt like the same university. A few of the unis I have been to have has the campus spread out so far it fells completely isolated but thankfully Newcastle was different.  The whole campus including the medical and dentistry areas are right next door to the Royal Victoria Infirmary and only a 5 minute walk from St James Park (Home to Newcastle United)

We then sat through a hour long talk on the Medicine course. This was also really interesting and gave loads of information about that particular course. 

They spoke about the course structure, that the course was integrated and how they did lots of case based learning. I liked Newcastle as it had early patient interaction from semester 1 and there is also a opportunity to do a exchange to Malaysia. 

I loved Newcastle and it definitely went to top of my list after visiting the city. To be totally honest it is my dream Uni but with 10 people applying to every 1 place I know the odds are not in my favour. Whatever happens I loved the city and I'm sure I will be visiting again even if I don't get an offer.

[uniapplicationmayhem]

Woo! New Blog!

Hi everyone.

So this year I will be applying to University in the UK where I live. I personally find the whole process a little mad and thought I would create a blog to track my progress and post things about open days, personal statements and UCAS away from my personal blog. I would also love to chat to anyone else who is going through the process so please just drop me a message.  

I am hoping to apply for Medicine by I know it is insanely hard to get into (only 2/5 applicants are accepted) so for my 5th UCAS option I am going for midwifery.

Really looking forward to the next year (except A Level Exams) and sharing it with all you guys.