Hey whys, sorry i am late to congratulating party, but you did PHENOMENAL!!!🥳🎉. All the best for 2021!!
Thank you so much SmartWorker!!!! All the best for 2021 to you too!
AMAZING JOB WHYS!
Those study scores are beautifullllll
So proud of you and all your work this year, it痴 been so incredibly insightful and inspiring to follow your journal this year, I知 so happy your efforts paid off!
I知 excited to see what the future has in store for you!
Best of luck for 2021 x
Thank you Arty! I'm so proud of you too for getting through this hell of a year - it wasn't easy and you made it! I can say the same about your journal - was definitely an inspiring read. Congratulations and all the best for 2021.
CONGRATULATIONS WHYS!!! Those scores and dat ATAR is SOOOO MAGNIFICENTLY BEAUTIFUL!! Your work ethic and mindset this year has been so positive and resilient and I'm so happy for you that your hard work has paid off into such beautiful scores. I hope you truly are proud of yourself because what you have achieved is no simple feat. You ARE super smart and you ARE hardworking! Extra congratulations on Bio (a very spicy 50) and ENGLISH- a subject which has been a rocky road in terms of passion yet you scored so well because you are sooo hardworking. All the best for 2021! You're gonna rock it!
Heya Potato! You did super well yourself - a great end to year 11 and a great start to year 12. Year 12 ain't easy but I know you've got it in you to do well. All the best for 2021 to you as well!
WHYS!
A MASSIVE CONGRATS!! Those results are amazing and very well deserved! You've worked so hard and put in so much effort and have achieved so much!! I'm so happy for you!!
You're a very big inspiration to not only me but other people as well, and I know that you are going to continue to achieve big things in the future! Although it was a rocky road, you made it!!
All the best for this year and beyond! I know you're going to smash it!!
EVOLIO!
Congratulations to you as well! Wasn't an easy year but we did it! Aww I'm so happy to hear that - and I can confidently say your journal has been a great source of inspiration on AN as well.
Good luck for 2021!
Aaaaa whys congrats on such amazing scores ! I知 so proud of you !
I understand how you feel with imposter syndrome, but just remember, we always tend to underestimate ourselves and our abilities. And, as for med, I知 sure all the work you致e put in will pay off ❤️
Hey Nemo! I'm super proud of everything you have achieved this year as well. You did so incredibly well - congrats! Med is a distant dream but - we'll see!
The conclusionMy last ever journal update.
Didn't think I'd get here, but here I am! I was invited to attend multiple medicine interviews from unis around Australia, but I don't think I'm going to go too in-depth into all of them. I'll mainly focus on Monash, since that has been my dream. I will be declining any interviews if I get them in later in the month, hopefully another med hopeful will be able to get one then!
P.S. I'll try to keep this update short and simple.
The interviewSo, the Monash interview. It was obviously online, which was both a good and bad thing (good because you're in your comfort zone, bad because it's so hard to convey emotion and body language on a computer screen!). I won't say much because I am wary of the NDA, but I will say that I felt like I did really well in 2 stations, mediocre in 1 station and absolutely horrible in 3 stations. I honestly had not encountered those scenarios in practice and had no idea what to say - it felt like I completely flunked them. In all honesty, I don't think my interview went too great. I was disappointed in myself after. I had practiced... but for it to end like this?! I would keep thinking about the scenarios and questions in my head everyday after the interview and think of really good answers.
Why couldn't I come up with them in the actual interview?? The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I did really, really bad. And thinking about all the other smart interviewees, I felt like I had no real chance. I was also worried about my ATAR - was it really enough for med? I kept feeling like my scores weren't good enough, especially comparing them to my friends' scores (in hindsight, this was NOT healthy).
Anyways, that's the 3 components done and reflected over. ATAR, UCAT, and interview.
14th Jan - offers dayOh boy. The night before, I couldn't sleep at all! I kept thinking about what I'd do when I opened that email and found out I'd gotten into my second preference. I felt so angry at myself.
I wish I'd tried harder, practiced more, took things more seriously. Bad thoughts, but they were there and real - weighing me down. My final VTAC preference list was something like this:
1. medicine (CSP unbonded) @ monash
2. medicine (ERC) @ monash
3. medicine (BMP) @ monash
4. biomed scholars program @ monash
5. biomed @ monash @ monash
6. the list goes on...
I knew I had the ATAR for preferences 4 and 5, so I wasn't worrying too much about the rest of my preferences. I was worried about if I'd like biomed, if I'd be able to get into non-standard or graduate-entry med, if biomed would be too hard, if I maybe should've put down biomed at Melbourne uni instead. Lots of thinking... and lots of confusion about what I really wanted to do if I didn't get into med. I'd heard that second-round offers for med were pretty much non-existent for Victorian applicants, which made me feel worse. By the way, if you can't tell, I overthink things. A lot. I kept having dreams of everyone I know getting in, and me being rejected (dramatic, I know). Then, there were the regrets.
I wish I did this, did that, and because I didn't, I'm not going to get in. So, I didn't get any sleep that night, just like before ATAR release day. Wonderful.
I knew that 2pm was the official time, but I'd also heard that they can come a bit early, like around 11ish. I did NOT expect an email at around to be in my inbox at around 7:30am. It was around 8am that I decided that it couldn't hurt to check just in case, and I was shocked when I saw the email already there! My closest friends had already checked, and almost all of them got their first preferences. 2 got into Monash med too, and I was super happy for them. I was so scared of checking. I didn't
want to check. Anyways, I reminded myself that med was super competitive and that it's okay if I don't get in, there are so many other avenues to get in, and I was pretty satisfied with that thinking. Then, I shut my eyes and clicked the email. For a few seconds, I was surrounded by the calmness of the dark. I slowly opened my eyes. I remember my hands were shaking. I looked to where it said what offer I'd gotten.
I just collapsed on my bed and buried my head in my hands. Sounds pretty dramatic, but I couldn't stop crying and shaking. My dad rushed into the room (I was very loud, mind you) and he tried to comfort me. I was trying to tell him not to, that it was fine, I wasn't crying because I was upset, but it's hard to talk through tears. Because there, in that one single email, all my dreams came true.
the email
VTAC would like to congratulate you on receiving the following offer:
Course: 2800311231
Monash University - Clayton
Medicine - School Leaver Entry
My first preference, and my goal for the last 3 years. It felt like a fever dream, honestly. It still does. I just couldn't believe it. I logged onto the Monash website and checked just to make sure that it was real. I can't wait to start uni, meet the med cohort, and have fun next year. The next 5 years are going to be an exciting, long ride (in a good way, of course!) and at the moment it feels so surreal.
I don't think I'll be creating a uni journal, but you can still catch me on the forums and on MSO if you just want to chat or ask any questions. If you've already PM'd me, my replies are going to be slow because I've been busy with getting everything ready for uni (ngl, enrollment felt harder than getting into uni in itself 🤣) and enjoying my holidays (my sincere apologies, I will get to you as soon as I can!). It took forever to actually get around to writing this, and I wanted to do it quickly to finish off this journal and tie everything together.
Thank you to all my readers for supporting me throughout the last two years. I loved contributing to the forums and updating my journal - AN has been amazing to me in so many ways. I wish everyone the best of luck. To the class of 2020, all the best for the future and for tertiary education (if you wish to pursue it in 2021). To the class of 2021, I wish you all the best for year 12. You guys are going to smash it out of the park!
whys is over and out!