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First post here so let me say a quick thanks to all the regular contributors. Although I am from a long way away and the admission requirements are a little different here I still find this forum a very useful resource.
Anyway, I won't bore you with a typical first post background story. But the very brief one liner is I am 36 years old and hoping sometime in the next couple of years to find my way into a Graduate Entry Medical Programme. I have a previous BSc degree and medicine was always my first choice career. It didn't work out when I finished high school but hey - never say never so here I am.
Right now I am currently taking Bio, Physiology, Chemistry and Physics part time while working a full time (and more) job, running a small weekend business (this is supposed to pay for my studies long term), and keeping up with family and home commitments (I have two young kids). Life is a little busy... today it caught up with me!
Mid year exams started two weeks ago. Wrote Biology in week 1. Aced it I believe... Wrote Physiology in week 2. Aced it I believe.....(feel free to ignore those thinly disguised brags!). Everything going hunky dory. Had a whole week of evenings and an uninterrupted weekend to dig into the chemistry books. I arrived at the exam venue this morning full of confidence. In actual fact I was probably more confident than I had been about either of the previous exams.
One problem. I couldn't find the exam on the board. At the venue there is a big list of all the exams (unordered for some reason) being written with the seat numbers next to them. After not finding Chem1501 after three or four passes I finally dug out the exam time table. Boooooom! 21 May / 8:30 / Phys1505!!! OMG Im supposed to be writing Physics.
Just for a moment it felt like it would be nice if the floor would just kind of open up and swallow me! How did I let this happen (actually I still haven't figured that out). The immediate reaction was about all the time I had wasted and how this was going to screw up all my carefully made plans and hard work. Argggghhhhhh!
Anyway, I needed to talk to someone about this. I was confident I would pass the Physics paper even on the minimum of final prep but this isn't about passing. I needed a distinction and I had this week set aside to make sure I got there. I told the invigilators what had happened expecting them to be very unbelieving (I am sure they hear every excuse in the book). But I think my story was so unbelievable they believed it and were really sympathetic and tried to help. There were some dissenting voices but on the whole most of them suggested I don't write and thats eventually what I chose to do.
It will mean I can only write the exam in November but it wont go down in my academic record at all. It will be a hole in any applications I submit this year (our deadlines are around June) but this year was always a really long shot for me anyway. I have completed Physics as part of my first degree so this was only about doing it properly. In terms of having done it as a prerequisit I am covered so the long shot still exists. And I'll fix up the Physics marks in November in time for next years applications I guess.
So right now I am more frustrated at my own unbelievable stupidity than I am upset. I am also quite sure I am going to be the butt of plenty of jokes from family and friends over the next few days... what can you do? I don't really have a leg to stand on. Still can't believe it!!
(Silver lining: I have another week to study Chem!)
Anyway, I won't bore you with a typical first post background story. But the very brief one liner is I am 36 years old and hoping sometime in the next couple of years to find my way into a Graduate Entry Medical Programme. I have a previous BSc degree and medicine was always my first choice career. It didn't work out when I finished high school but hey - never say never so here I am.
Right now I am currently taking Bio, Physiology, Chemistry and Physics part time while working a full time (and more) job, running a small weekend business (this is supposed to pay for my studies long term), and keeping up with family and home commitments (I have two young kids). Life is a little busy... today it caught up with me!
Mid year exams started two weeks ago. Wrote Biology in week 1. Aced it I believe... Wrote Physiology in week 2. Aced it I believe.....(feel free to ignore those thinly disguised brags!). Everything going hunky dory. Had a whole week of evenings and an uninterrupted weekend to dig into the chemistry books. I arrived at the exam venue this morning full of confidence. In actual fact I was probably more confident than I had been about either of the previous exams.
One problem. I couldn't find the exam on the board. At the venue there is a big list of all the exams (unordered for some reason) being written with the seat numbers next to them. After not finding Chem1501 after three or four passes I finally dug out the exam time table. Boooooom! 21 May / 8:30 / Phys1505!!! OMG Im supposed to be writing Physics.
Just for a moment it felt like it would be nice if the floor would just kind of open up and swallow me! How did I let this happen (actually I still haven't figured that out). The immediate reaction was about all the time I had wasted and how this was going to screw up all my carefully made plans and hard work. Argggghhhhhh!
Anyway, I needed to talk to someone about this. I was confident I would pass the Physics paper even on the minimum of final prep but this isn't about passing. I needed a distinction and I had this week set aside to make sure I got there. I told the invigilators what had happened expecting them to be very unbelieving (I am sure they hear every excuse in the book). But I think my story was so unbelievable they believed it and were really sympathetic and tried to help. There were some dissenting voices but on the whole most of them suggested I don't write and thats eventually what I chose to do.
It will mean I can only write the exam in November but it wont go down in my academic record at all. It will be a hole in any applications I submit this year (our deadlines are around June) but this year was always a really long shot for me anyway. I have completed Physics as part of my first degree so this was only about doing it properly. In terms of having done it as a prerequisit I am covered so the long shot still exists. And I'll fix up the Physics marks in November in time for next years applications I guess.
So right now I am more frustrated at my own unbelievable stupidity than I am upset. I am also quite sure I am going to be the butt of plenty of jokes from family and friends over the next few days... what can you do? I don't really have a leg to stand on. Still can't believe it!!
(Silver lining: I have another week to study Chem!)
