Medicine 2018 part 3

[SomersetS]

Hope you all find this - didn't realise I took 999! Whoops.

@Mumsneedwine - sorry to hear about your parents - a sad time for all your family. You did well to cope with that news plus all that's been going on with your DC.

Mumsneedwine , I am sorry to hear about your parents xxxxx

Skiiltan, DD didnt enjoy doing the epq because she had very poor support from her tutor and was doing a subject she wasn't especially passionate about. I have absolutely no doubts about her abilities to cope at medical school. Interestingly at her school the kids that did best on epq all failed to get places at medical school. Plus all the med schools she had offers from said they didn't count it so she thought it was better to concentrate on interview prep.

@mumsneedwine I'm sorry about your Dad. It is so hard when the shift transfers to our generation. Much love x

Thanks all. Been a rollercoaster of poop dealing with hospitals and kids stressing about exams (well GCSE one was, A level one was remarkably calm). I did say to the Drs they were lucky my DD has offers as otherwise I'd have been pestering them for work experience.

Skilltan, I agree about the admin. DD is both dyslexic and suffered a physical injury which kept her off wards for a while, with a need to then go through fitness to practice procedures. Her consultant laughed when she asked for a supporting letter, suggesting she was usefully gaining core NHS skills early. (That said no evidence that any of this paperwork was read as she, and a friend with quite serious health issues, were both then blasted for their failure to complete placements at the right time....)

I also agree about the numeracy skills. My understanding is that though the majority have maths A level, this is the area in which many struggle. In retrospect DD may have been lucky that her forward-looking prep school not only taught them touch typing aged 8, but held a mental maths session one lunch time a week for the junior years to get them familiar with manipulating numbers. In contrast, no humanities A level and no EPQ meant she has less experience of structuring long essays. Grades may get you the place, but its the wider skill set you pick up along the way that really matters.

Good luck to everyone. Yr 13 is a busy year and I suspect the distraction of medical school entry means that it is difficult to then focus on A levels. There are plenty of stories of dropped grades being accepted. Reading the tail end of last years Student Room threads will give you some idea of how individual medical schools tend to handle things.

Ah I see Skiiltan - you were talking about the boring aspects of the EPQ! DS1 found it a tedious tick box exercise which had very little to recommend it but the fact he found it a bore didn't stop him getting an A* and coping with the admin required at med school (as in, he's never once mentioned admin as a thing except for some huge exercise for choosing his jobs within his F1 placement and he wasn't kicked out or in trouble, so I infer that he coped). I don't see that one has to relish admin to manage it. I'm quite sure it won't be a concern for the DC in question.

Stranger, I'm with Skilltan on this. First year admin is huge. Placement rotas, things required to actually be on the ward including vacinations and DBS, sorting out volunteering requirements, first aid and HCA training and so on. And that's before you start on any exceptional stuff flowing from SEN or illness.

F1 placements should be a breeze in comparison.

Needmoresleep Skiiltan said s/he'd have real concerns about a student who hadn't enjoyed the EPQ. I expect medical students do have a certain amount of admin but it was sufficiently unremarkable for DS not to have mentioned it ever. The choosing of the jobs having got his deanery allocation was worthy of note though (but he did it on a beach in New Zealand - so bearable :)). You say your DD didn't do an EPQ so I'm not sure you quite get my point - I'm not saying there's no admin for medical students just that not enjoying it doesn't mean you can't do it!

mumsneedwine sorry to hear the news about your father, my friend is a high level cancer specialist nurse, I know how dedicated the staff are. Tough time for you and your family. I was out with my friend recently when a patient with a successful outcome came to thank her again, she hadn't seen him for 4 years but he will never forget her and she soon remembered him too - very humbling meeting to witness.

Skiiltan, I get your point about maths, although DD will not divulge the questions she got asked, they were basic calculations with a medicine bias from what I gather, but other students talking about them afterwards did struggle. Our local primary taught sensible mental maths, with little written maths or tables until basic concepts were understood - I went on a course for parents who helped in class and it was obvious stuff like 99 + 99 is easiest as 100 + 100 - 2. 99+99 done the long way on paper is a very different calculation!

Re. admin and form filling, I think two years ago many of us had worries about medicine, most not so much about the A levels but about all the other tests and then the training and study that follows. But there is a feeling that our DCs have matured very much over the past 18 months, as they book their own holidays, earn their own money, manage bank accounts, apply for driving lessons etc. - they are beginning to see the admin. needed for day to day life and that deadlines are just that - deadlines. The only thing I can't get used to is the lack of paper calendars... I need to see my reminders written down - whereas most of this generation have it on phones.

Stranger, The point perhaps is that Oxford is almost unique in not having placements in the first year. DDs experience is that you absolutely needed to be on top of admin and to expect to devote a fair amount of time to it. No individual tutors so no one to hand hold, intervene or chase. And a hospital administration that was not always had arranged with a friend to swap a shift to allow for a hospital appointment.

I am happy to accept that your son is super efficient. However I dont think it does others any favours to suggest that if they find this aspect of first year medicine difficult, they are in some way failures.

And a hospital administration that was not always responsive, even when you had arranged with a friend to swap a shift to allow for a hospital appointment.

Sorry.

DD was lucky in that she had access to SEN support. She finally had to go to them for help in chasing replies.

I ended up being really impressed at how she managed to plough through. I detached myself right at the beginning as I could not get my head around the SEN admin. But that was, comparatively, a walk in the park.

Mumsneedwine - so sorry to hear your news. It certainly puts lots of things into persepective. I think you did tremendously well not to share it with your DC x

Needmoresleep you really do race to a conclusion I never drew!

I'll try again: not liking the tedious aspects of the EPQ does not carry with it the implication that a DC will struggle at medical school. I completely agree with 2BIGmum that these young people are overwhelmingly competent and have matured significantly through Y13.

I didn't mention Oxford at all Needmoresleep, nor anything about particular efficiency - he's pretty normal - but in fact at Oxford there is all the DBS/ vaccinations stuff also weekly essay deadlines also forward planning of placements etc also the things required for limited hospital observation etc to do. I think perhaps you overestimate the difference between what's required at Oxford and what's required elsewhere.

Stranger, accepted, but I hope you can equally accept that your DS has done exceptionally well through the whole process. He was offered a place in January whilst DD did not have an interview till March, he sailed in without having to boost EC and shadowing, whilst DD was very reliant of these to make up for a poor UKCAT, and clearly your DS has swept away the blizzard of first year admin in a way DD has not been able to do.

I know DD is not alone. A kind lurker whose DD has faced many of the same challenges, including noisy unsupervised accomodation and illness has kept in touch. Her last text started "are they trying to break them..." Both will get through and make good doctors, in part because both have persisted through a surprising amount of unthinking and uncaring admin. DD described the last year as the hardest year of her life. Some way harder than Yr 13, which was not a breeze either.

I appreciate your DS did not need help or support from you during his time at University, which must be seen as a credit to your parenting. This may also be true for many on this thread. However I am sure this will not be true for all. Getting in is only the start, and some of the learning wil be about how to operate as competent medics within an imperfect bureaucracy.

@mumsnseedwine so sorry to hear your news x

Needmoresleep there wasn't the slightest inference in my post to Skiiltan that I was talking about DS1 in particular let alone giving him a puff. I'm not convinced he needs a puff! Almost all of my six DC to have done it found the EPQ a bore. I was making a comment about the EPQ and why it's not a big deal in what follows. Nothing at all about offers etc. Just not relevant. I frequently make comments which are not about my DC at all. Apart from anything else it would be spectacularly boring. FWIW I think I do as much of the support stuff as my DC need - I don't hang them out to dry at uni! On the other hand my parenting is full of holes and I'm very aware of that too.

I completely get that your DD had a really bad first year, overwhelmingly due to her room allocation. I think she probably found everything worse than another - not sleep deprived - student might have done, so I have every sympathy. I do not think she missed any trick whatsoever by not having done an EPQ! I do hope she has a much better year next year. Onwards and upwards etc.

Everyone has to be nice to each other on here. We have supported each other all the way through this process and I hope we continue too next year when they are struggling/breezing their way through their first years.
Life is too short and full of too much crap to not be kind.

Agreed.

As I say, onwards and upwards.

Oh no, so sorry to hear your news mumsneedwine. What a difficult time. How are you DCs coping with it? Must be so hard to have come out of a stressful time and deal with this, just as it must have been so tough on you to support them when you also needed support.

Life certainly has its ups and downs but as you say, it's when you go through the tough times that you realise what really matters. Big hug to you and your family.

Kids have been upset but I'm trying to keep positive for them. Eldest off on holiday today and she was reluctant to go but my dad told her she had to or he'd get cross. So she has to enjoy herself for him. One day at a time at the moment.

Phew. Flute passed gave DD a bit of a boost. Won't get her into Med School but still a massive achievement after 10 years.
(How much have I spent?? )

Hope everyone is enjoying a quieter vibe. I know I'm enjoying spending time with DD without "revision" hanging over our heads.

HI SomersetS, that's really fantastic re the flute exam. Hopefully she will be able to keep up her playing through med school.

DS is in Thailand. Has had a few adventures on the way (managed to mistake the flight as he and mate were on a different one from their friends and they missed the connection in Dubai AGHHHHH!) But seems to have gone smoothly from there.

Somerset great news on the flute, congrats to DD.

DD at leavers do tonight, then off to Tenerife on Monday for girls holiday.
Hope everyone is enjoying a more relaxed time before the dreaded day in August

DD departed v early this morning for Snowdonia. Gold DofE expedition. Bit hot for hiking with full pack & sleeping in tents if you ask me. Expect they would be heading for lake/stream/waterfall! 😎
Like a mini holiday with no booze, rubbish food but great mates!

SomersetS - no one could have imagined this heat - but maybe sleeping almost in the open air is perfect! Hope all goes well, Gold DofE is a special achievement🍾