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Mr. Pedantic
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2009
- Messages
- 1,707
This isn't a topic remotely to do with distributed computing at all, but I would like to, if I may be permitted, share my experiences with you in this thread.
I've wanted to be a physician, or more generally, a medical doctor, for longer than I can remember; definitely by the time that my family had emigrated to New Zealand when I was four. I'm 19 now, and that dream has never wavered, never faded. I've looked at various other careers in detail, especially, as I became more and more attracted to enthusiast-level hardware, hardware and software engineering. However, always, my passion for these has been secondary to my desire to get into medicine.
There are multiple entry ways into the MBChB programme at the University of Auckland, close to which I live. Exactly half of these are open to Maori, Pacific Island, and rural residents. Since I fit into neither criteria, the only options were through undergraduate entry, or postgraduate entry.
The undergraduate entry pathway involves enrolling into the first year of a 'prerequisite' degree, and applying from there. Getting into medicine through this pathway involves actively competing against over 1200 of the most motivated, intelligent, and determined students from the Australasia region. This is not a matter of 'doing the best you can', or 'personal bests' being good enough. It is how you do relative to everyone else that counts. And that standard is extraordinarily high.
Entry is determined based on a simple ranking system. There are three aspects to this: Grades, interview, and a test known as the UMAT. The Undergraduate Medicine Admission Test is designed to test intelligence, and made purely for universities to help discriminate between students. It is a skills-based, rather than knowledge-based test, and it covers reading comprehension, logical thought and progression, and empathy. The point of this test is to discriminate between people (and I must go into a slightly racist tone here), most stereotypically Asians, whose lives involve little more than study and who have no life, skills, or experiences.
To be eligible to apply for medicine at the end of the first year, applicants need a GPA of at least B+. In reality, to stand any chance of getting an interview, you'd really need a GPA of at least A-. To realistically stand a good chance of getting into medicine, you need a GPA of at least A. After this, your GPA is converted into a numerical score, and combined with the UMAT and the interview score, and students graded. The top 150 students are chosen and offers of places sent out.
I'm writing this because I've recently been offered a place in the medicine programme. This is the culmination of a lifetime's worth of dreams (even though I may be young by the standards many of you hold), and over 5 years of active planning, dedication, and digilence. Knowing now how I worked to achieve this, I deem the time and effort spent, or rather, invested, to be well worth it.
I say again, I know that this forum is dedicated to DC, and I know that this thread is not about DC. However, I am putting this thread here because I like, and trust, this community (even though I have never seen you, never spoken to you, and will most likely never do either for the entirety of my lifetime) enough to give out this information. Through my time here, you have gained my everlasting respect through your dedication to a cause that few of you understand at more than a cursory level, to a person and faculty you know only through the news, and to the progression and increase in knowledge of the biological sciences that will hopefully provide a cure for many of the genetically-influenced diseases that plague mankind. I only hope, with this very first step on my journey, that I may contribute to the same cause, in my own special way.
Thank you for reading. And thank you for your contribution.
I've wanted to be a physician, or more generally, a medical doctor, for longer than I can remember; definitely by the time that my family had emigrated to New Zealand when I was four. I'm 19 now, and that dream has never wavered, never faded. I've looked at various other careers in detail, especially, as I became more and more attracted to enthusiast-level hardware, hardware and software engineering. However, always, my passion for these has been secondary to my desire to get into medicine.
There are multiple entry ways into the MBChB programme at the University of Auckland, close to which I live. Exactly half of these are open to Maori, Pacific Island, and rural residents. Since I fit into neither criteria, the only options were through undergraduate entry, or postgraduate entry.
The undergraduate entry pathway involves enrolling into the first year of a 'prerequisite' degree, and applying from there. Getting into medicine through this pathway involves actively competing against over 1200 of the most motivated, intelligent, and determined students from the Australasia region. This is not a matter of 'doing the best you can', or 'personal bests' being good enough. It is how you do relative to everyone else that counts. And that standard is extraordinarily high.
Entry is determined based on a simple ranking system. There are three aspects to this: Grades, interview, and a test known as the UMAT. The Undergraduate Medicine Admission Test is designed to test intelligence, and made purely for universities to help discriminate between students. It is a skills-based, rather than knowledge-based test, and it covers reading comprehension, logical thought and progression, and empathy. The point of this test is to discriminate between people (and I must go into a slightly racist tone here), most stereotypically Asians, whose lives involve little more than study and who have no life, skills, or experiences.
To be eligible to apply for medicine at the end of the first year, applicants need a GPA of at least B+. In reality, to stand any chance of getting an interview, you'd really need a GPA of at least A-. To realistically stand a good chance of getting into medicine, you need a GPA of at least A. After this, your GPA is converted into a numerical score, and combined with the UMAT and the interview score, and students graded. The top 150 students are chosen and offers of places sent out.
I'm writing this because I've recently been offered a place in the medicine programme. This is the culmination of a lifetime's worth of dreams (even though I may be young by the standards many of you hold), and over 5 years of active planning, dedication, and digilence. Knowing now how I worked to achieve this, I deem the time and effort spent, or rather, invested, to be well worth it.
I say again, I know that this forum is dedicated to DC, and I know that this thread is not about DC. However, I am putting this thread here because I like, and trust, this community (even though I have never seen you, never spoken to you, and will most likely never do either for the entirety of my lifetime) enough to give out this information. Through my time here, you have gained my everlasting respect through your dedication to a cause that few of you understand at more than a cursory level, to a person and faculty you know only through the news, and to the progression and increase in knowledge of the biological sciences that will hopefully provide a cure for many of the genetically-influenced diseases that plague mankind. I only hope, with this very first step on my journey, that I may contribute to the same cause, in my own special way.
Thank you for reading. And thank you for your contribution.
