Previous to Christmas I was happy with my decision to quit my comfortable job in IT, no one seemed to think it was a bad idea and I wasn’t being hassled by recruitment agents as the economy and market was at an all time low.

Since then, little things have been creeping-up on me, starting with family and friends making comments about how I must be mad to leave behind ten years of experience in an industry, let alone the very good salary. From here on I started to self-doubt myself a little (not something I usually do), almost convincing myself that maybe I hadn’t made the right decision, after all, I wasn’t even in med school yet, let alone access to medicine and it’s not as if either of them are easy to get in to. Then, let’s say I am successful and gain entry, will I manage the six years schooling? You see where I am going … just so many things are making me go mad. Yesterday I had to arrange for the finance company to come and collect my car (next wed), which was another factor. I know it’s stupid, I mean it’s just a car, what are material possessions anyway? But I worked so hard to get it and blah!

The final straw today was I got phoned-up about an amazing position in London with a six figure salary and they want to take me for lunch tomorrow to discuss it further. I said no at first, but then my Mum and a friend convinced me to go and just see what it’s about, so I phoned back and agreed to meet — and now, I feel sick to the stomach, in that I’m going back on all my plans and how far I have got, because I know if I go up there tomorrow and see all the glamour and the package they’re offering I’ll sign =(

I feel like I have let myself down and I just wanted to put this out there and hope some of my friends on twitter can offer some words of assurance from the other side, because at the moment I have no one telling me to go med school, but instead just to continue going for the money and with IT.

I hate IT, I love medicine, but hopefully some of you out there will understand that other variables get in the way and don’t always make things/decisions so clear cut.

Thanks and sorry for the rant.

Update 17/01/01
I cancelled the interview and I’m sticking with my plan. Thank you all for your kind comments.

So far I have applied for three positions:

• Health Care Assistant (Department of Medicine for the Elderly)
• Voluntary Community Responder (Ambulance Services)
• Clerical Officer/MLA (Pathology Department)

The MLA position I applied for was on the 12/12/08 and I’ve yet to hear anything. The website states if you haven’t heard anything within four weeks then to take that as you haven’t been successful. Hmmmmm…. I desperately need to get a job at the Hospital soon, otherwise I’ll be pushed to achieve my six month health-care related setting for access to medicine. If all else fails I will start applying to health-care homes etc, though in truth I was hoping for a Hospital environment as I would have a greater chance of becoming friends with doctors and other specialists and possibly asking for some shadowing etc. We’ll see.

On a separate note, I have made some changes to the homepage today to reduce the page real-estate of journal entries. The idea being to allow me write more frequently smaller updates without over-shadowing the pre-med and other articles.

• If I get in to Medical School at twenty-seven, followed by five years training before foundation years, how many years am I actually going to get practising medicine?
• How old will the other students be at Medical School and will I be singled out as the ‘oldy’ or simply just not fit-in?
• Can I financially and socially adapt to the change of becoming a full-time student?
• Academically, after so many years in the ‘real-world’, will I be able to cope with amount of work required and what about the assessments and exams?

The list goes on and on and we’ll all be able to add and remove different questions that concern us individually. I think the first thing to remember is that you’re not alone and the internet is a great place for finding like minded mature pre-med and medical students. The other thing to remember is that many medical schools are now keen to recruit maturer students.

“Mature students bring a breadth of life experience,” says Peter McCrorie, who runs the graduate entry course at St George’s, “Some school leaving students have that too, but people who are older have more life experiences and that’s a very useful thing to have in medicine.”

We also have many other things going for us, admitadely we might not be able to drink as much as our fellow younger students, but we make-up for that in that we tend to work harder and often achieve better grades, we have life experiences that we can apply to medicine and our studies also.

I recommend reading the following article on Student BMJ, Does age matter?

1. I’m currently dressed as a vicar whilst writing this and I’m confused as to whether it’s a sin to embellish the truth whilst dressed as a member of the cloth.
2. My favourite cartoon whilst growing-up was Fraggle Rock and I still have a Gobo cuddly toy from when I was four years old that I keep on my desk. To-date, I think it’s the oldest thing I own and probably the only thing I cherish other than my Porsche.
3. Next week, my Porsche is being taken back by the finance agency, as two weeks ago I quit my IT job in London so I could get a full-time job in the Hospital, to meet my required health-care experience to get into Medical School. I’m also having to move out of my little rented cottage and back in with my Mum. Roll on 2009 eh, isn’t there a book about the monk who sold his Ferrari, perhaps ‘the wannabe medical student who sold his Porsche’, has a ring to it?
4. I actually have a phobia of taking/giving blood and I’m currently reading different books on CBT and NLP as well as watching multiple blood test videos on you tube, on repeat — desensitisation and all that… I think it’s working… I’m not going to be the medical student who passes out during gross anatomy due to feeling a little squeamish, besides which I have a passion for emergency medicine – work that one out! *sigh*
5. Today I was in a shop buying some beers for tonight and an old lady came-up to me and asked what Parish I was based in (she assumed I was a priest/vicar), and I told her London and smiled kindly, somewhat as I imagined a vicar would. Oh did I not say? I have actually been wearing my vicar outfit all day, including when I went in to town .. but the party doesn’t start until 20:00 tonight.. (I’m so going to regret writing this list)
6. I bought myself an engraved stethoscope for Christmas and sometimes I wear it around my neck whilst reading, but I make sure no one is around first
7. The last time I was doing volunteer work for the Blind Society as a befriender, I had gone around this house to help some old-guy fill-in his will, within ten minutes the police were knocking on the door and I had been arrested and put in their squad car. Evidently one of the resident old-ladies had seen me arrive and thought I was a burglar, what made it worse was I couldn’t find my volunteer ID to show the police so had to go down the station while they verified I was who I said I was. I didn’t do anymore volunteering for them again.

Well that’s that done, not too embarrassing I hope, now to the part where I tag seven people to take part:

• bramzo
• Berci
• bartcollet
• rosyblue
• sandnsurf
• kevinmd
• scanman

Rules as copied from goldenskye’s blog:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

With the majority of medical schools requiring a minimum of GCSE Maths and English at pass level or above (some even stipulating that they will not consider anything less than four As at GCSE), with many more also asking for at least Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English (Remember that GCSE double science will usually substitute for Physics, Chemistry and Biology but not Maths).

Then, there is AS and A2 levels! Most medical schools will require your A2 level grades to have a minimum of AAB, with the essential subject usually being Chemistry to A2 level (due to physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and molecular pathology being highly dependant on a good knowledge of chemistry). However, there are some schools which put more weight on Biology than Chemistry, so it’s important to look into each individual schools prospectus and requirements.

I’m assuming at this point you’ve already given-up? Well, don’t give-up just yet because as mature students we have a trick up our sleeves and it’s called ‘access to medicine’. Access to medicine courses are developed specifically for those wishing to train as healthcare professionals and undertake a medical degree. You will be expected to have some work experience outside of the course, preferably in a healthcare setting. The course is designed for those who have achieved in other areas (not necessarily academically) and wish to re-train as doctors. The main subjects studied include biology, chemistry, psychology and maths for medicine, which provide a sound science education to underpin any future medical training. Assessment is through exams, coursework, presentations and research projects.

With that said, there might some of you out there who still wish to re-take a GSCE or A level or two (I am re-taking GCSE Maths before entering access to medicine). You have a couple of choices, one is to ring around your local schools and colleges and see if they’re offering evening courses, or, you can use one of the many distance learning providers (I have included a couple at the bottom of this article). The benefit of distance learning for me, was I was able to study in my own time, use the resources I had available at home, and I didn’t have to feel uncomfortable sitting in a class room full of students half my age! For some of you however, this might not work as well, you might prefer the tutor being present in the class room if you have any questions or perhaps you work better surrounded by people all working to achieve the same goal … it’s whatever works best for you!

Here are a couple of distance learning providers that I recommend.

http://www.icslearn.co.uk/ (I used them to re-take my Maths GCSE)

http://www.oxfordcollege.ac/ (Currently offers A Level in Biology (AS) where as ICS does not)