Hi everyone
I'm currently a ST1 trainee. Just want to send a message to say a well done to you all for going through the application process. I can really relate to how you're all feeling throughout the last couple of months. It's definitely a tricky journey and whether you've been successful, or yet to be, do give yourself a good cheer on getting through.
For those you of you yet to be matched, hopefully you'll find out your ranking soon, and fingers crossed some of you will get matched. Offers are still being recycled, remember!
For those of you who are unsuccessful, don't give up! You've got the invaluable experience of this year under your belt and this is going to be a massive advantage for next year. There's a good handful of applicants each year, who were unsuccessful, lowly ranked one year, then get one of the top ranks in the next! Some really helpful tips and experiences are shared in last year's thread, hope you'll ind it helpful.
For those of you with a match - congratulations! Be it your first choice or not, you'll meet some incredible people and will have a great journey ahead, and hopefully you'll end up loving where you are. If for practical reasons you've to transfer, we're lucky as a specialty with sympathetic inter-deanery transfer outcomes.
I remember at this point last year, I was quite clueless with what to expect next, when to respond to emails/forms. So just a brief note/outline of the next few steps/things to consider, if it helps anyone:
1) You'll hear from your deanery with forms and next steps - this might come very soon, or much later in the year (if the latter, fear not!). They'll send through a few sets of forms - get organised for them (it's chunky!)
2) Ideally your referees on oriel should've submitted their references. But don't worry if not all have submitted within the designated window (it's usually unpractically short!)
3) Around August time, look into getting your NTN, so that you can start applying for membership with RCPath, other path societies.
4) Enjoy your Summer - plan something nice if you can before starting and make sure you've a good rest from the clinical work. No need to make head starts with learning path before starting - you'll be doing so much learning the next 5 years, that the extra few months beforehand will barely make any differences (and it might be out of context/unhelpful too).
5) If you're considering locuming in clinical work alongside path training - you can! And it could be a huge help to your colleagues too (or some extra cash), so please consider.
6) Got a house yet? If not, consider investing in a house in a practical situation. Histopath training generally allows you to stay at a place for 1 year (or more), why not!
Finally, if you've any questions, please share, I'll try my best to help!