I’M IN MED !! + i’m not T.T

By now all the First Year Health Science students, post-graduate students will know whether they fit the criteria to get into Medicine. There’s no smart remark at the students who didn’t get a position, trying to get  into Med with plan B is a big enough test holding closed the fresh scar of missing out without my inputs.

I remember the two periods of when the exam results came out and everyone (well those with strong resolve to see their chosen path to the end) coming back together in Dunedin. My academic resutls flashed on the screen and I couldn’t keep from smiling and fisting the air. It looked guaranteed that I would be doing Med in 2008. Those Saturday nights when I trodded out of the partying hall with my textbooks on my back and straight into a near-empty library were now fond memories I would share to awe-strike my child when they enter Uni. My phone soon was bombarded with texts of caring ‘what’d you get?’ and the cold-calculating ‘what’d you get?’ the latter to sus out the average marks to determine the sender’s chances.

Then after a short while the e-mail arrives to confirm your placements. With it comes a mixture of polar opposites, while your busy congratulating your buddy for getting into the course of their preference, the next minute the mood turns sombre as you comfort the ones who missed out. While your high-fiving being classmates with a friend, your saying goodbye to others who don’t think it worth a second try in Dunedin. Those that do come back to do it post-grad style come with an understandable chip on their pride, those that come back to part-take in their professional course (esp. Med / dent) come with an un-understandable bloom of their pride.

I only caught a couple more breaks than others, worked a little harder? than others, was blessed with support from friends and family – yet there I was, feeling like I just speared Moby-Dick. After feeling smugness whenever University courses came up in conversations, a certain encounter with an old highschool friend of mine, in which I forced into the conversation that I was a Med student, not to tell them anything beyond that I was one. I decided “OK, WTF” and attempted to deflate my inflated head.

Some of it’s well deserved, I had taken a major step into something I’ve been aspiring to since I was 16 and worked hard to get there. Yet, I’m also thrilled  that I broke the 170 (height) goal but you won’t see me trying to fit that into a conversation. I felt that I had sold out my personal goal to get into Med, being happy to discard it just to expose that I had reached a societal goal for the positive judgement that goes with it. That’s just it, once aware that that is the reason I want to be telling someone I’m in Med, it really loses its lustre.

For those that didn’t get Med, I don’t know how you feel – at the time, I personally would’ve opted out of the Med path altogether and chased my other dream. But, I can tell you the distinction of my friends who carried on. There is no doubt that they are no longer here because there’s no other option they’re sure of but because to them, there is no other option that remotely compares to Med.

Med’s a course where your forever learning. It’s not an extra 2 years to study, it’s just an extra 2 years until your in the hospital. Enjoy them, and become more… human – patients sure could use it if our class is any representative of the next-gen Drs.

P.S. For those on the waiting list for any of the courses – pester the admins. I mean ring them everyday, like four times. They’re human, and can make mistakes too (like missing you), I know 2 friends who got in after they went to the admins to see why they missed out. (Both happened to be pharmacy).
P.P.S I know people who have got into Med the day before it started, got into Dent / Physio during the first week, and lastly, got into Pharmacy during the second week of the course. Take it for it’s worth, give it however much hope you think it deserves.