I'm Famous... well, sort of.

Four years ago I spent months drafting and redrafting my personal statement for my application to medical school. After roughly 26 drafts I ended up with an almost perfect statement about me. It began "From an early age I have been fascinated by the workings of life. The human body is a remarkable machine with many diverse systems producing an organism that could never be artificially reproduced." It worked out quite well and I received 4 interviews although perhaps not for the places I should have applied to.

After starting medical school, as a favour to a friend and in order to help others writing their personal statements, I released it to the world. Reading it back now its rather cringe-worthy but it was all my own work and is all true, I'd spent years beforehand doing work experience and ticking the teamwork, leadership and communication boxes. As a scientist, writing has never been my forte but I don't think it turned out too badly and it was obviously what they wanted to hear.

Last week a story broke here and here about prospective university students using the Internet to cheat in their applications. The focus was on a phrase about burnt pyjamas which a staggering 234 students used as their own personal anecdote [that must have been a particularly flammable batch of pyjamas.] However, it seems an even greater 370 lifted my fascination for the workings of life. I cannot deny that anyone willing to make their career out of the human body would fail to find it interesting, its hardly an original idea in itself. It seems however that my opening has been copied word for word as is written in The Times article.

Perhaps I was naive to think that potential medical students would be able to come up with their own original phrasings. I anticipated that some might lift sections of my statement but never envisaged such a proportion would do so. It doesn't particularly bother me that they've plagiarised my statement, they're not in direct competition with me so why should it? I am quite shocked and disappointed but at the same time quite flattered that my statement is deemed good enough to rip off.

With the introduction of the MTAS application form, the ability to sell oneself is more important than ever. I'm sure this process won't be immune to plagiarism and with successful candidates such as this one allowing their answers to be scrutinised by the world, it probably won't be long before the MTAS shortlisters are reading exactly the same phrases over and over again. I think I can safely say that when it comes to my turn to enter the dragon's den that is the MTAS system my answers will be kept under lock and key.

edit: Links fixed

Mr Bean shows us how it should be done.

Life as a 21st Century YP (Young Person/Professional)

Welcome to our guest blogger for today: missbliss.

Our regular travel routes...

Whatever happened to home towns? It seems we YPs are destined to live a life in transit. Admittedly, The Little Medic and I brought some of this upon ourselves by being in a long distrance relationship (LDR for those in the know). At best we were 180 miles apart, at worst 280. Still, I’d graduate eventually and then we’d show ‘em.

Last summer, I finally did graduate and in order to be with The Little Medic, I decided to take my PGCE (teacher training) in the same city as him. After 18 months in a LDR we would finally be together. Hurrah! Unfortunately, the medical school had an ace up their sleeve and placed him in a hospital 40 miles away from said city. We had been hoping to have a nice little rented place together and be able to use public transport to get to our respective school and hospital. So much for that cunning plan. We have the (very) little flat, but also monster commutes: both travelling approximately 4 hours a day thanks to school and hospital placements. [God knows what this is doing for our ‘carbon footprint’. At least we don’t jet off to foreign climes on a regular basis. If only.] We joke that he used to travel a 360 mile round trip at the weekend to get to see me, whereas now he travels a 78 mile daily round trip to get away from me. Still, he’ll graduate eventually and then we’ll show ‘em.

But will we ever be able to settle down and makes roots? Not if MMC or MTAS have anything to do with it, it seems. For them, ‘upwardly mobile’ has a different meaning altogether: we will stick you wherever we want. Got a house, family, friends, commitments? Not any more you don’t. Shiny Happy Person is a perfect example of someone in a horrendously regrettable situation.

So when we were counting down the years to having a house near to our workplaces and maybe contemplating a f..f..family (gosh, that’s scary to type out loud) we were sorely mistaken. It seems settling is a thing of the past, or at least it is for today’s YPs.

We’re also pushing to the back of our minds the £50,000+ combined debt we’ll be in to the Student Loans Company come 2008. Shunted backwards and forwards, loaded with debt. That’s the way they like to treat educated, ambitious, public-sector keyworkers in this country. The question: “is it worth it?” is never far from our minds.