Viva La Bibliothèque ✌

Squishy squirrel

The Japanese dwarf flying squirrel may be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen with my own two eyeballs.

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Watch: She has seen a lot but this is what hurts her the most.

Medical School Interviews

Across the UK hopeful medics will have sent off their applications and are eagerly awaiting for an interview. Considering I was in the same position a literal year ago I thought I would share some advice for the interviews. Unfortunately, I can’t disclose what interview questions I got but I can give some general tips that really helped me. 

First, I thought I would give some background to my application. I applied to 4 medical schools that were all MMI so the advice I am about to give is more geared towards MMI style interviews. I was very fortunate to get 3 interviews and 3 offers for medicine.

Look at the Medical Schools website. Each medical school tends to outline the qualities they are looking for at interview on their website. Think of specific examples for each quality and practice how you have used/developed said quality and why this would make you a good doctor.

Stay away from Student Room. The number of people that told me to stay away from student room was enormous and yet I still ignored them and checked. All it does is scare you and makes you panic. It’s not worth the stress at all. Just focus on your application and nobody else’s. 

Be professional. Medical schools really value professionalism and teach it throughout medical school. However, there is the expectation for you to have a certain level of professionalism before you enter medical school. Little things such as what you wear can make a big impact. For example, guys tended to wear suits at the interview however it isn’t necessary to as long as you are dressed smart then it is okay. Arrive on time. It looks really bad if you arrive late to your interview and you will also probably be really stressed as well which won’t help at all. If you are going to be late ring the medical school well in advance.

Some interviewers may be mean. I wish someone had told me this. Interviewers are there to test certain skills and therefore may be appear to be really brutal to you. Remember, that is what they are there for, stay calm and prove to them that you can handle it. This is essential as not every patient is going to be compliant and they need to test that you are able to cope with it.

Stay up to date with the news. When I had my interviews, the junior doctor contract was very hot in the news so I read around the topic. However, medical schools expect that of you and will probably not test you about that as it doesn’t really show anything that makes you stand out. But keeping up to date with scientific advancements in the medical field will put you in good stead.

Be honest. I think this is probably the most important tip I have. If you do not know something, then tell them that you don’t know it. The person asking will probably have a lot of expertise on the subject and will be able to tell when you are waffling. A lot of the time they are trying to see if you are brave enough to say you do not know rather than seeing if you actually do know something on that topic. Remember that a responsible doctor is one that stays within their limits and admits that they do not know something. If you are quite competent on the subject, then do talk about it however do not feel pressured to have a conversation with them about it. 

So there are all my general tips! I just want to finish with saying that please don’t worry if you mess up a station. MMIs typically have 7/8 stations, you are judged on all the stations not just one, so take a deep breath and smash the other ones. If anyone has any questions regarding interviews just send me a message.

Good luck to everyone applying! 

Underrated books?

the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes

the fixer by jenniger lynn barnes

penryn and the end of days by susan ee

the archived by victoria schwab

we are the ants by shaun david hutchinson

at the edge of the universe by shaun david hutchinson

all our yesterdays by cristin terrill

the lost girl by sangu mandanna

an ember in the ashes by sabaa tahir

the illuminae files by amie kaufman and jay kristoff

the star-touched queen by roshani chokshi

the diviners by libba bray

graceling realm by kristin cashore

cyclone series by courtney milan

poison study by maria v. snyder

wolf by wolf by ryan graudin

letters to the lost by brigid kemmerer

starbound trilogy by amie kaufman

into the blue by pene henson

mermaids of eriana kawi by tiana warner 

timekeeper by tara sim

gallagher girls by ally carter 

dangerous girls/dangerous boys by abigail haas

everything by patrick ness/adam silvera/natalia jaster

How to read a scientific paper

Step 1: begin at the beginning

read the title

get excited for cool science

note the authors 

get mad at them for having more papers than you

spend ten minutes wondering if you’d have been better off going to whatever institution they’re at

die a little inside

Step 2: the abstract and introduction

read the abstract

skip right to the introduction because you’re not completely sure what they’re talking about and maybe that will clear it up

alright now we’re talking

understand the entire first paragraph of the introduction

mostly get the second and third paragraphs

skip over the technical bit at the end because boring

Step 3: the results (aka the good stuff)

read the first paragraph

really not get what’s being said

skip right to figure 1

read the figure caption

call it good, you got the jist

repeat for the remaining figures

Step 4: give up

this paper really isn’t answering the question you had in the first place

you’ll just cite it later it’s fine

Step 5: keep doing science!

fail because of some unexpected and puzzling problem

spend 2-6 weeks troubleshooting and getting nowhere

decide to do another literature search to see if anyone else has had this issue

find the same paper you read before cited a bunch

Step 6: reread

actually like read it this time

get to the end 

find the answer to your question

die a little inside

wonder why you didn’t just read it fully to begin with and save yourself weeks of work

Step 7: follow citations to another paper that looks relevant

repeat entire cycle

wonder why science is so hard

To help move away from summary and toward ANALYSIS, it’s important to incorporate strong verbs into your writing when discussing the writer’s rhetorical choices. Below is a list of verbs that are considered weak (imply summary) and a list of verbs that are considered strong (imply analysis). Strive to use the stronger verbs in your essays to help push yourself away from summary and toward analysis: ex “The writer flatters…” NOT “The writer says…”

Weak Verbs (Summary):

says 

explains

relates 

states 

goes on to say 

shows 

tells 

this quote shows

Strong Verbs (Analysis):

Argues, admonishes, analyzes, compares, contrasts, defines, demonizes, denigrates, describes, dismisses, enumerate, expounds, emphasizes, establishes, flatters, implies, lionizes, lists, minimizes, narrates, praises, processes, qualifies, questions, ridicules, suggests, supports, trivializes, vilifies, warns       

Powerful and Meaningful Verbs to Use in an Analysis (Alternatives to Show): 

Acknowledge, Address, Analyze, Apply, Argue, Assert, Augment

Broaden

Calculate, Capitalize, Characterize, Claim, Clarify,Compare, Complicate, Confine, Connect, Consider, Construct, Contradict, Correct, Create, Convince, Critique

Declare, Deduce, Defend, Demonstrate, Deny, Describe, Determine, Differentiate, Disagree, Discard, Discover, Discuss, Dismiss, Distinguish, Duplicate

Elaborate, Emphasize, Employ, Enable, Engage, Enhance, Establish, Evaluate, Exacerbate, Examine, Exclude, Exhibit, Expand, Explain, Exploit, Express, Extend

Facilitate, Feature, Forecast, Formulate, Fracture

Generalize, Group, Guide

Hamper, Hypothesize

Identify, Illuminate, Illustrate, Impair, Implement, Implicate, Imply, Improve, Include, Incorporate, Indicate, Induce, Initiate, Inquire, Instigate, Integrate, Interpret, Intervene, Invert, Isolate

Justify

Locate, Loosen

Maintain, Manifest, Manipulate, Measure, Merge, Minimize, Modify, Monitor

Necessitate, Negate, Nullify

Obscure, Observe, Obtain, Offer, Omit, Optimize, Organize, Outline, Overstate

Persist, Point out, Possess, Predict, Present, Probe, Produce, Promote, Propose, Prove, Provide

Qualify, Quantify, Question

Realize, Recommend, Reconstruct, Redefine, Reduce, Refer, Reference, Refine, Reflect, Refute, Regard, Reject, Relate, Rely, Remove, Repair, Report, Represent, Resolve, Retrieve, Reveal, Revise

Separate, Shape, Signify, Simulate, Solve, Specify, Structure, Suggest, Summarize, Support, Suspend, Sustain

Tailor, Terminate, Testify, Theorize, Translate

Undermine, Understand, Unify, Utilize

Validate, Vary, View, Vindicate

Yield  

RIP, if it's any comfort there was once a spider on my light fixture and it fell on my head as I was watching it.

therr’s a fucking spider in my room and i don’t know where it went it was nice knowing you guys

Julie Curtiss (French, 1982) - Hollow Man (2016)