Administration > AN Community Lounge

[Ask Me Anything] #5: pi

<< < (6/24) > >>

n.a:

--- Quote from: pi on September 21, 2016, 09:05:57 pm ---I'll triple post now, soz Aaron.

Good question. I've gotten to know the UoM course quite well this year as I take some MD students for weekly tutes (I'm based at one of their clinical schools this year).

I think each has their merits. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of each course, here are some points to note:

Monash:
- If you want to do med after yr12, why wait? This is the course for you. 5 short snappy years, good uni, good teaching, very strong cohort. It's often said that the crème de la crème of VCE come to Monash medicine, and that's hard to argue with.
- Requires the UMAT. This test is dodgy. Lots of people who are genuinely intelligent people and would make great medical students, don't do well. Does this mean they're not suited for medicine? Of course not, it just means that perhaps on that particular day, their mind and the UMAT didn't tick in time. And that's ok. There's a fair big of luck involved in getting into Monash med.
- The 2 year pre-clin + 3 year clin strikes a nice balance. But I think a lot of students lose a lot of pre-clin knowledge as it isn't integrated well into the clinical years, especially anatomy and physiology. I believe the new MD model changes that in some regard, but I don't know much about it.
- Pre-clin years are in Clayton. Clayton is a hole. It's isolated, takes 30 mins to get to from the CBD, and has the Menzies. Not ideal.
- The cohort can be competitive, especially towards the end of fourth year. Expect this in any medical degree.

UoM:
- If you're not sure on med, taking the graduate pathway is the way for you. You get to dabble in the theory you go into in med, learn many concepts in more depth. That's a good thing, essentially gives you a couple extra pre-clin years. The UoM MD is essentially the crème de la crème of Biomed students, one could argue perhaps their cohort is inherently weaker than Monash because many didn't get into Monash, but I'd argue: who cares? We don't know why they didn't get in, and it doesn't matter. Both cohorts are strong in their own right.
- Requires the GAMSAT. I'm led to believe there is less luck involved in this test, it rewards effort. That's good for many people who weren't great at the UMAT.
- Course structure of 1 + 3 (or 2.5)... not a fan. You'd assume that MD1s retain a lot of knowledge from their Biomed/Sci degrees, I don't think this is the case in real life. I find that although they learnt a lot about x, y and z, they didn't learn to connect those different topics, and thus, knowledge was forgotten easily. Hence, most people don't find MD1 the walk in the park it should be. It's a tough year. Their clinical years have a similar structure to Monash, it's a good one.
- You're based next to the CBD, brilliant location!
- From most accounts, the Biomed cohort can get a bit savage, especially when it comes to the GAMSAT. Heard too many stories supporting that claim for me to believe it would be possible to avoid that atmosphere throughout the degree. You'll probably encounter it at some point. I don't like that. This is less-so at Monash.

So that's my run-down. Each course has pros and cons, but wouldn't be up to me to say which is /better/. Monash was better for me because I knew what I wanted.

--- End quote ---

Brilliant, thanks! 😊

pi:

--- Quote from: moaning myrtle on September 21, 2016, 07:57:41 pm ---Omg don't know if the Arthur quote was intentional but I got way too excited reading those words out loud.

--- End quote ---

Deliberate, Arthur turns 20 years old today, a brilliant show :)


--- Quote from: moaning myrtle on September 21, 2016, 07:57:41 pm ---So my question is,
What's your favourite type of pie?

--- End quote ---

Apple pie without a doubt! :D


--- Quote from: Glasses on September 21, 2016, 08:27:25 pm ---Why did you want to study medicine?

--- End quote ---

Answered this in some depth in another thread, so I'll save some time and paste that haha. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions here or there!

--- Quote from: pi on January 11, 2016, 11:52:54 pm ---I think many aspects, but it comes down to what I like. Medicine, for me, ticks these three boxes:
1. I love people: understanding what makes them 'them', their stories, their families; meeting new people all the time is a variety that keeps life forever interesting and unique
2. I love learning: call me a nerd (like anyone on AN can talk!) but I like to learn about things, I like having the freedom to learn things in the depth that I want at the pace that I want, especially things that are dynamic and and can impact on my first passion (ie. people); I also love to teach and pass on my own knowledge (for free (which is why I am here and did things like VCESS), none of this tutoring crap!), and the word "doctor" actually stems from "docere" in Latin which means "to teach" - perfect!
3. I love puzzles: I like being challenged and the diagnostic challenge is the ultimate puzzle in my opinion, as it combines my passions for people and learning

Sure, other factors are important:
- Pay: being paid fairly well to do something I love? awesome, added bonus!
- Breadth of opportunities: there are so many options of where my degree can take me, anything from looking down microscopes, to cutting into people's brains, to delivering babies, to giving life changing advice to someone, to guiding public policy, etc.
- Rewarding: there's nothing more rewarding than having the opportunity to help someone understand what is going on with them

The reason those factors aren't as important.. is because I think they are common to many professions? To me, they're not unique.

How did I end up in this path? A combination of three things: supportive parenting, supportive schooling, and luck. I like lists, so here's another list elaborating:
1. I was fortunate to have parents that realised my interest in academia at a young age, and nudged me in the right direction here and there during my early years. They'd buy me science books (I was actually particularly interested in paleontology at one point haha), I'd be encouraged to watch docos on TV, participate in science competitions, etc. I should note that no one in my family is a doctor, and my parents were both educators. They never pushed me towards medicine, they'd be happy if I was a dentist, engineer, actuary, etc, just as long as I was doing something that I would enjoy, perhaps they knew me better than I knew myself in those early years hahaha.
2. I couldn't hope for a better education, public schooling through and through. I started off in the westside at my local primary school, I didn't learn much academia there, but I learnt a lot about people and how to deal with them (being the only non-Caucasian in my year and never once getting bashed or bullied is a badge I wear proudly!). During my secondary years, my time at both UHS and MHS was perfect. I developed most of my more specific interests (ie. ditching the idea of digging up dinosaurs LOL) during my early years at UHS, they had a fabulous science program there and I was in a group of like-minded individuals in the Accelerated Program. This continued when I ultimately moved to MHS, where I found a perfect cohort where everyone wanted to do well in all sorts of areas of life. I think I thrived in that environment, I enjoyed it thoroughly and it allowed me to really suss out different subjects and career pathways.
3. My luck was three-fold. Firstly, I was lucky to do work experience in a hospital, the Royal Children's. It was an amazing experience, one that probably drew me away from other career paths. What I saw happen there was honestly inspirational, I can't ever remember smiling when I was sick as a kid, and here there were kids who were much sicker than I ever was and the doctors would always leave the room with them smiling. Who wouldn't want to do that every day? (I'm actually not that keen on paediatrics now, but that's a story for another day haha). My second instance of luck came during the UMAT. I don't think I did enough prep but somehow I scraped through and got a half-decent score. That's not to say I guessed my way through it, but perhaps if I put more priority on it and did more study I could have done better (or perhaps not? who knows, it's a funny test!). The last "luck" I had was that I had the worst physics teaching known to human-kind, it completely ruled out, in my mind, the thought of doing anything mathsy with my life (also I'm severely deficient of any talent!) for fear of turning into my physics teachers at age 50. Terrifying prospect. 

Having gone through most of the course now (no more exams left for me!) and spending hours on the wards talking to doctors, I have absolutely no regrets with my path thus far. In fact, I'm excited for every next day, week, month, year. I think this speaks more towards as to how lame I am, but even last night I was thinking "can't wait to read about the MRI findings of cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (fantastic condition, look it up!) and see how it compares to other ischaemic white matter conditions", and I was not disappointed ;) I can't wait for the rigors and study of physician training (if I indeed do choose to travel that path). I can't wait for the next best thing to happen!

My advice to school-leavers who are confused, is to talk to people. You're only 17/18 years old, you're not supposed to make these decisions alone, and you shouldn't make these decisions alone. Talk to your parents, talk to uni students, talk to your teachers (you'd be surprised how awesome teachers can become when they're not talking about the boring VCE), talk to people working where you see yourself possibly working. Send out emails to people in the field to get opinions, the worst that happens is that they don't respond, the best that happens is that they give you life-changing advice (but don't spam people, that's not cool). Try and get work experience, the more the merrier. Attend Open Days, get a feel for what the course will be like, and what the job prospects are like.

Be keen, be enthusiastic, and keep an open mind about what people say to you.

tldr: talk to people, more the merrier!

edit: Damn that became long, I was intending to write a small para, oops... It also seems I like organising things into "threes", perhaps speaking more of my OCD traits than anything else!

--- End quote ---


--- Quote from: Glasses on September 21, 2016, 08:27:25 pm ---Is there an area of medicine that you hate? And if so, why?

--- End quote ---

Surgery. It's an absolute bore. Once I got over the whole "omg this is so cool" factor, there was nothing that I was passionate about. Standing still for long periods of time has also never been something I've aimed to do either. I have a huge respect for people who go down that pathway, because it's not easy, but it's also not for me. :)


--- Quote from: Glasses on September 21, 2016, 08:27:25 pm ---If you had to choose, would you rather:
a) Attend MHS, and have to complete VCE Physics again. Or
b) Attend any other school but MHS, and not have to complete VCE Physics.

--- End quote ---

Probably B, providing I could go to Melb Grammar ;)


--- Quote from: spectroscopy on September 21, 2016, 08:30:03 pm ---what are your thoughts on the non mhs/macrob select entry schools?
--- End quote ---

I love the concept and I think there should be more of them. For too long in Victoria, those who were passionate about learning and weren't in a selective school or accelerated program, were in the minority. That needs to change. No one should be bullied or feel alone because they want to learn or do well, those people should be supported. The best way I think this could be achieved, failing a major re-haul of teaching staff across the state, would be to provide more selective schools that can cater for their needs.

Furthermore, I think we need selective schools that are also more humanities based. For some reason, when someone thinks of a "smart person", they think of someone who got 99.95 and inevitable did "hard" subjects like Spesh. We need people to be thinking about those who get there doing languages and commerce in the same way. Those students are also brilliant and deserve the same recognition and opportunities to succeed. I thus propose we demolish JMSS and replace it with a humanities school ;)

edit: realised I didn't exactly answer your question. I think many of the non MHS/Mac.Rob schools are quite good! I've particularly heard many good things about Nossal, and the people I know from there are really nice :) As many would know, I'm not a big fan of JMSS, not because of their academic performance, but because their students are annoying af in Monash libraries and the 601 bus. Also I'm a strong believer that a school needs to own their own oval lol. But anyway, I was once confronted by the school captain of JMSS some years ago while I was in the library, and we had a constructive discussion about their students' behaviour, apparently I'm quite infamous there hahahahaha


--- Quote from: spectroscopy on September 21, 2016, 08:30:03 pm ---do you reckon you'll stick around on AN once you start working or will you pull a ninwa on us and officially retire?

--- End quote ---

Time will tell!


--- Quote from: HughMungus on September 21, 2016, 09:09:18 pm ---What in the name of all that is holy, made you study physics, the love of your life at MHS???? Was it the bad influence of HT?

--- End quote ---

I thought it would be about explosions and quantum theory... I found out it was about counting boxes under a linear line and using V=IR a millions times. Big disappointment.

Thankfully for my sanity and cardiac health, I have not known HT for that long,

Gogo14:
Not doing so well this yr,  (in yr 11). I barely, procrastinate and always hand in assignments late. How can I lift my game for next yr?

Swagadaktal:
Hey Pi,

was there any point where you were like "I'm getting in (to med)" or were you as anxious as hell leading up to the interview and throughout the year?

pi:

--- Quote from: Gogo14 on September 21, 2016, 09:22:54 pm ---Not doing so well this yr (11). I barely, procrastinate and always hand in assignments late. How can I lift my game for next yr?

--- End quote ---

Sorry to hear that mate! I think the answers lies within you, not with me! This is my advice: you need to sit down with a piece of paper, physically write down everything that is stopping you from reaching your goals. Take some time to do this, good 30mins or so if you need to. Think about the resources you have, think about your study space, etc. Reflect, that's important. Once you're done, under each item, write how you're going to fix that. eg. if you said "I use FB too much", you could propose the solution "don't use social media between 5 and 8pm". Another example might be "I'm handing my assignments in late", the solution could be "I'm not going to accept that any more and I won't sleep until they're done" (you'll get the message after one near-sleepless night, trust me). Stick that list up on your wall, somewhere where you can't miss it. Remind yourself that you know how to improve and that you can be better. Now, not every problem has a clear-cut solution, but many will. And solving each problem helps, each may have a small benefit individually, but they add up together. And that all helps.

Given you're in year 11 now, I'd also have one eye on the holidays. Holidays are a good chance to do lots of work, or do shit all. I think striking a balance between the two is ideal, work hard, but not too hard. Do 1-2 hours a day (especially looking over knowledge that is assumed for Year 12), read your English books twice, but have time to catch up with mates, watch the cricket, etc. You can really set your year up your year with some work in the holidays.

Sorry that was a vague response, but this is really individual! Gl! :)


--- Quote from: Swagadaktal on September 21, 2016, 09:25:15 pm ---Hey Pi,

was there any point where you were like "I'm getting in (to med)" or were you as anxious as hell leading up to the interview and throughout the year?

--- End quote ---

I don't tend to get anxious about really anything, so that played in my favour. But I was never sure until i saw VTAC. Even people who get 99.95 and 100%ile often say they feel unsure, one might scoff about it, but I believe them, you can never be sure. And that's obviously a little stressful, but it should be reassuring to realise everyone feels the same way.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page