Let me introduce you to both myself and this blog. Medical School Blues is an ongoing chronicle of my journey to, hopefully through, medical school in the UK.
I come to medicine from a slightly unorthodox background - not as a school leaver, but as a PhD chemist seeking a change of career. I've wanted to be a medical practitioner ever since I was at school. Back then A-levels were the 'gold-standard' qualification of the compulsory education system. They were much harder, un-modularised and people could start a reasonable career with them. Fewer people were going into higher education and the medical schools had lower admission standards than they do today. The sensible thing, in hindsight, would have been to apply for medical school back then. A combination of things, mainly my wavering confidence, meant I went to chemistry instead. I've done alright at chemistry too - I've studied at a good university and got good qualifications but the endless grind of research, chasing dead ends and low job satisfaction has rekindled my passion for a medical career. In my branch of chemistry, analytical chemistry, you churn out repetitive results in a lonely lab and don't see the significance for several months. Medicine is not like that - in medicine actions today can have a pronounced, worthwhile and noticeable effect tomorrow and in days to come.
I long for the day I can leave the relentlessly churning sausage factory of chemistry and head for my true vocation in life. It will be a long road and many challenges will lie ahead, but I'm sure I'll get there in the end.
I come to medicine from a slightly unorthodox background - not as a school leaver, but as a PhD chemist seeking a change of career. I've wanted to be a medical practitioner ever since I was at school. Back then A-levels were the 'gold-standard' qualification of the compulsory education system. They were much harder, un-modularised and people could start a reasonable career with them. Fewer people were going into higher education and the medical schools had lower admission standards than they do today. The sensible thing, in hindsight, would have been to apply for medical school back then. A combination of things, mainly my wavering confidence, meant I went to chemistry instead. I've done alright at chemistry too - I've studied at a good university and got good qualifications but the endless grind of research, chasing dead ends and low job satisfaction has rekindled my passion for a medical career. In my branch of chemistry, analytical chemistry, you churn out repetitive results in a lonely lab and don't see the significance for several months. Medicine is not like that - in medicine actions today can have a pronounced, worthwhile and noticeable effect tomorrow and in days to come.
I long for the day I can leave the relentlessly churning sausage factory of chemistry and head for my true vocation in life. It will be a long road and many challenges will lie ahead, but I'm sure I'll get there in the end.
