WARNING: LONG AND WINDY POST AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I’m supposed to be in bed right now but I’m not even a wee bit sleepy. Thanks to caffeine and sugar rush I suppose. Note to self: No more NESLO during dinner. I think I’m caffeine intolerant. Or maybe just Nescafe intolerant. My urine smells like coffee and I can’t stop farting wth. Okay too much info.

So I’ve been meaning to write a post about how my life almost came to a halt when I was applying for medical school. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration there but it was a rather difficult process, really. Everytime I visit a new blog I’ll view the “About Author” page should it be present and I’ve come across a few saying something along the line of:

“When I finished Form 5, my dad gave me the choice to either do Medicine or (insert non-medical course). In the end I chose (insert non-medical course).”

Eh how come I cannot say the same thing one? Make me feel so left out and uncool hmmph.

The thing is, I think a lot of us who are in medical school may not have always wanted to be here. Sure, there are lots who have dreamt of becoming a doctor ever since the day they discovered the word/gave up their youths slaving away on books to get into medical school/never knew other professions existed wth but a handful of us may have stepped foot into medical school by pure chance.

Am I one of those accidental medical students? Hmmm.. I don’t really know. But I’ll tell you this: You know how in school they always made us write our ‘ambitions’ in our report cards/random documents no one cares about? Must rank according to liking some more damn funny. I think every year, I’d write ‘Doktor’ as my first choice. I am so boring, uh huh I know. I guess that means I’ve always wanted to be a doctor? It doesn’t feel that way though. In Form 4 & 5 I was rather brilliant in school if I must say so myself (and yes I must because no one will say it boohoo) (and I can’t say the same now double boohoo my life is so miserable triple boohoo wth) so I got a lot of ‘encouragement’ to actually pursue Medicine (haha typical Asian mindset). I think it was somewhere in that period of time that I didn’t want to be a doctor at all because I wanted to be a rebel la konon.

Before SPM results were announced I guess quite a number of people were expecting me to score straight A1′s. But guess what? I didn’t. Yeah, I was disappointed for a while but I eventually picked myself up and I survived woohoo! (I think I should start a Facebook Group entitled: I’m Not a Straight A1′s student, SO WHAT?! Think I’ll get skinned alive by all those straight A1′s students haha). So here’s the drill: No straight A1′s (only took 10 subjects some more, how to compete with those who took 98923482938), not Bumiputera, not some world-class debater; Bye Bye JPA scholarship! (I think it’s a little better now fml why was I born so early? But okayla, takkan wanna ask my mom to be in labour for like another 3 years wth)

If you haven’t already realised, this is gonna be a damn long post so you’re not obliged to read the entire thing okay?

Moving on, I entered college (actually I entered college before SPM results were released because I’m super not confident like that). Had to fight with my parents to get myself into A-Levels because they’d initially wanted me to do STPM. I think I’ll probably be doing some ungodly random course like Kursus Kaji Botol wtf if I’d done STPM because,

a) damn lazy, not even that smart how to score 4A’s in one of the most difficult exams in the world?

b) get 4A’s also not guaranteed a place in Kursus Perubatan

But that’s just me I guess. I salute those who get 3/4/5/6 A’s for STPM. Minum susu apa eh? wth

So towards the end of my one year A Levels course (I highly recommend one year of A levels instead of 1.5 OR 2!) I was thrown into the uncanny process of applying for universities and crap I faced damn a lot of challenges, i.e:

a) ZOMG I MISSED THE DEADLINE??

From my experience, most Australian medical schools close their applications in June/July the year prior to their February intake. And by the time I started applying for uni it was already late September or something. How was I supposed to know that they close the applications so freaking early???

So the alternatives were: apply for the subsequent year (which I should’ve done. Then can take a gap year to gather my thoughts and not rush into anything) or apply for other medical schools from other countries (UCAS closes around Oct). And along with the alternatives came other problems.

By the way, I learnt that deadlines are not always dead. So here’s something for all the medical student wannabes, APPLY ANYWAY EVEN IF THEY TELL YOU IT’S CLOSED!!

b) ZOMG HOW MUCH IS THE FREAKING FEE?

Medicine is probably the most expensive undergraduate course in the entire world. I remember when I was hunting down medical schools I always had a calculator in front of me and the first thing I checked for wasn’t the entry requirements, it was the fees. I remember being super disheartened by the numbers that flashed before my eyes. On average it could cost up to ~90K POUNDS for tuition fees ONLY in the UK and at that time (wah feel so ancient all of a sudden) the exchange rate was 7:1 so that’s… RM 630 000 wth. And that doesnt even include the cost of living! Damn kao expensive man!

In the end I applied for only 2 medical schools – Monash Sunway Campus (~RM80K a year and increasing every year wth) and NUS (forgot how much, but cheaper than Monash).

c) ZOMG WHAT IF I DON’T EVEN GET GOOD GRADES!

I have an entire post dedicated to how paranoid I was before A Levels results were announced and I shall not reiterate it.

d) ZOMG WHAT MEDICAL SCHOOLS DON’T EVEN WANT ME?

I found it quite annoying that medical student wannabes need to go through so much additional shit. As if major exams weren’t shitty enough. Some more have to take ISAT/MCAT/blah blah blah blah and go through rounds and rounds of interviews and write self-advertising essays but now I guess that’s rather apt. Only people who are serious about medical school should be in medical school in the end. I spent quite a lot on all these prelims actually: Flew to KL for Monash interview, paid AUD 270 for ISAT (only sat for it after Monash told me I’d passed my interview), flew to Singapore for NUS interview, flew to Kuching for ASEAN scholarship interview (and forgot my entire portfolio wth. some more only realised 10 minutes before the interview wtf. freaked out and texted Rachel haha) In the end, I got accepted by Monash but rejected by NUS. No complaints there

e) ZOMG a b c d combined.

Major FML.

The end wth.

Okay, nolah. I think if everything had worked against me, I would’ve taken it as a sign from God that I should be doing something else. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. I mean, I was super cheapskate so I went to education agencies and asked for forms to apply to whichever uni that they could waive the application fee. I think I might have applied to close to 20 unis hahaha I am so