Medicine 2013 entrant hopefuls :)

Hey any gap med students on here?
or is there a separate thread for us ?

I am considering to reapply for medicine. Although the problem is I will only have AAB/A*AB by the end of this year (I am already a reapplicant)

I have also decided I will be going university, so that limits my choice even more well actually I don't know any universities thst would accept my grades

With A*AB you can try Bristol?

Ah thank you, will throw an email at them

Hopefully I can get some good work experiences and possibly a job during summer so my application will look amazing!

I am considering to reapply for medicine. Although the problem is I will only have AAB/A*AB by the end of this year (I am already a reapplicant)

I have also decided I will be going university, so that limits my choice even more well actually I don't know any universities thst would accept my grades

Applying this year to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee.
Doing the following Highers:Maths,English,Human Biology,Chemistry,Geography,Computing,Urdu.

Hoping for all As, but think I might get AAAAABB.
Do i still have a strong chance?

Apologies for interrupting, but I have volunteered for Vitalise a few times. Which centre are you going to?

Expect to have a good week and learn a lot, but to be absolutely exhausted by the end!

Make sure you ask for help if you need it, and take your breaks - don't just sit with guests chatting, go to your room and use the time to lie down/read/shower etc, you really need the break, especially later in the week.

What sort of week you are doing may influence what you pack, but in general just normal clothes, jeans, shorts etc. Comfortable shoes are important, and clothes that you don't mind getting dirty/wet, although you might want to take a nice top/outfit for the last night.

Ill post it for you tomorrow. I cant remember it - so ill have to ask my mum and shes asleep atm. Ive looked on their website and the one you need isnt on there. Dont worry she asked me to see if i could get any others interested. Ive given it to the people at my school applying for medicine next year and i thought id offer it to student room.

so yeah ill tell you it tomorrow - ill probs send it thru private - dont want her getting spammed

Oh no, interrupt as you please

Jubliee Lodge in Essex, and its Diamond Jubliee Week, so I guess lots of sight seeing! But since I'm under 18, do you think they'll allow me to go with a guest during the trips (I read somewhere that if you go out on trips, the guest decides where they want to go, and the volunteer takes them there?), as in on my own?

I think I'm getting too excited, I've lived in London for ages and I've never even been to the London Eye, so this is probably going to be a mini holiday for me

There's a party? Is it high heels worthy? And who did you share a room with? How big was your suitcase, compact or medium? And I've read that its really rewarding, but why did you personally find it so rewarding? I probably have a million more questions, but my minds kinda dead from the biology exam!

Anyone managed to get a place at a KCL open day. They seemed to fill up really quickly.

Oh well in the unlikely event that I get an offer there are always post offer open days.

i've booked it on the day it was open Same with UCL and Imperial hehe but i realised i've booked KCL twice (too enthusiastic ) so i've cancelled one of mine from KCL! So people like me are around I hope you can get a place for open day too

Because you're under 18 it will be the personal care that you aren't allowed to do, or they may let you help with some things, like being the second person for hoisting, but they will tell you what to do.

You are usually allocated one person to help get ready in the morning, but I don't know how that will work if you are under 18, you may do breakfast duty/feeding people etc. Then you tend to be allocated a different guest for each trip, and whether you go on your own depends on where you are/what the guest wants to do. For example, if it is museum most people will be together, or around the same area, but if you go shopping somewhere you may end up alone with a guest. It is good to see it as a mini-holiday, because the guests are on holiday so it is a holiday atmosphere, but just remember to do your work too! The trips are usually pretty good, even if they aren't places you usually go, one I went on was a military museum which I thought would be boring, but it was quite interesting actually (and there were several men in uniform around )

I have been to Sandpipers, Netley and Churchtown twice (although they don't have that anymore, but it was my favourite), so I can't give any specific advice about Jubilee Lodge.

The last night is party night, but the last time I went it wasn't as good as other weeks, but that was because there were hardly any guests there. It's not really posh or anything, but it's nice to wear a sparkly top or something as a change from your worky stuff.

I took a medium-sized bag, I think I wore the same jeans/shorts pretty much all week and just a different top each day, a change of shoes is good because if you do a lot of walking your feet can get very sore. Remember to take things like suncream, and no low cut tops or hot pants

I have shared a room with between 1-3 others, the room sizes vary a lot. At Netley I was in a tiny room with two sets of bunk beds, there were only two of us, but we hardly had enough space so I don't know how four people would have fitted!

For me part of the achievement was doing it at all, the first time I was 17 and hadn't been away from home alone before, and the other times I had had a lot of setbacks with uni and stuff, and faced a lot of anxiety to get through it.

Each time I went I wanted to leave for the first couple of days, so don't be surprised if you feel like that - I would say wait until Monday and then see how you feel, because then you are finding your feet a bit more, and the week seems a lot less to get through by then!

You learn so much about so many people, although obviously that depends on the guests, and how much time you get to spend with each of them. Some of the volunteers will be on gap years from other countries, and they are usually very friendly, as are the staff/other volunteers.

From a practical point of view, take the opportunity to do anything they will let you, because it is great experience - I have talked about it in more than one job interview because of the variety of things I was able to experience.

HI!
I'm not sure what I'm doing here, so i'll just type in this box and hope I'm doing this right...
I wanted to voice some doubts I have and see if anyone shares them.
Some applicants seem to be applying with work experience such as weeks abroad to boast about, or the ability to play hundreds of instruments. Do the uni's really care about this? I've been told that unless it's relevent to medicine, they don't really care. I hope so, because if not, how on earth are we suppose to compete with that? :/