Why this Blog

I am a 30 year old graduate who has been attempting to get into Graduate Medical School for the past three years. Why? you might ask.

I come from a medical family, father is a doctor and mother is a nurse. However, school results were never even close to consider Medical School at that point even though it's an area that has always interested me.

So my life ambled on though university in Sheffield which was then followed my a number of jobs in IT but never managed to settle for very long. I was starting to feel that I was getting pigeon-holed into a job I didn't want to do. I have always had an interest in Sailing so when an opportunity arose to apply to take part in a Round-the-World Yacht race I jumped at the chance.

Preparations for the Global Challenge Yacht Race consumed my life for the next four years right up until October 2004 when we set sail. Unfortunately for my crew our medic, a very well qualified cardiac surgeon, pulled out of the race leaving us short of any medical cover. It was at this point that I jumped at the chance to be sent on the medics training course a few months before we set sail. At this point I don't think i realised the enormity of the task that I had just taken on. I would be responsible to the medical well being of 17 of my crew in some of the most dangerous seas on the planet. I therefore spent the next 10 months looking after my crew and thankfully there were no major injuries, although I did always have the support of on-shore medics as well as the medics from the other boats who were always within radio contact (apart from the time we decided to try to sail to Madagascar - but that's another story).

This was the spring board for my attempts at Medical school as my whole crew were very supportive and felt that the role of medic really suited me. I must also admit that I enjoyed the role, even if the responsibility was occasionally alot to bear.

So here I am now, third time lucky attempting to get onto one of a few Graduate Medical Programs. Unfortunately I have just heard that my GAMSAT results were not good enough for Derby or Peninsula but I have my hopes pinned on Swansea or Southampton which happen to be my favoured choices anyway.

Please come back often as I hope to add a post at least every week. These will include, the ongoing application saga, as well as hints and tips on how to get there. My first word of advice however is , your never too old. I am now 30 but since the government is determined to see us working until we are 70 its never too late to change your career.