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Visa Guidelines is back

Alhamdulillah, I got married to a lovely lady by the name of Sarah and we're enjoying our new phase in life since that momentous day.

And yeah, I graduated from the University of Nottingham and thus, escaping from the evil clutches of my medical school. woot2! probably needs a post on this as well but yeah, maybe later.

at the bottom of this blog, there is an article on visa guidelines for medical students graduated from UK medical schools under MARA scholarship who are planning to work as an FY1 doctor in the UK.

After all, it was my visa guidelines which i made 5 years ago that helped me to get to know a lot of people and for some, have now become my close friends. And it helped a lot of other people as well. So I hope that this guideline would ease your efforts a bit. Visa application is always confusing.

Scroll down to the bottom for the guideline

Sunday, March 29, 2009

disturbia

And so I went jogging yesterday early in the morning and the whole time, I just could not take my mind off the interview that I had several days ago.

When I got back to my room, I got several messages on my phone:

"Adlan, Nottingham dah keluar."

Firstly, if there was such an award, the University of Nottingham would easily win the university with the Most Anticipated Interview as the period between the time when the interview invitations were released and the interview session was so long; it extended to almost two months. After several weeks of waiting, I've finally managed to successfully go to all my interviews (with the same attire successively =P).

However, there were several hindrances that I've encountered before that day arrives. It's more like a dilemma. Some of my friends were advising me of not going to this interview as some applicants are currently not holding any conditional offers. At that point, I was actually facing with one of the most difficult decisions that I have to make in life. Should I abandon my dream? Should I give opportunity to those who are still waiting? In the end, I just keep telling myself that there is a possibility for all of us to get the offers. I mean, it's not impossible.

And so I asked my friends to send this message to these people:

"See you in Nottingham"

But after attending the interview, I doubt that getting the offer would be easy...for me that is...

The third. The last.

photo by Bellerus

24th March 09
The University of Nottingham, Chulan Tower
Nottingham

Truthfully, Nottingham interview really made me nervous. I guess the last interview that I had was in the month of January, so somehow, I might have lost my touch.

And for the last time, here are my questions:

1. Why doctor? (This question never loses its popularity)
2. Why doctor instead of other healthcare professions? (And it started to become hard)
3. Why not a pharmacist? (And it got harder)
4. Doctors have to work in a team. How do you find that different than other healthcare professions? (And even harder)

Okay, so you might say to yourself that these questions are not hard. I guess my definition of hard here is that I have difficulty in making my answers unique and interesting.

5. So, why Nottingham?

This is the question which I really looked forward to answering. And I talked a lot about it. And the interviewers didn't ask more about Nottingham which made me feel slightly demotivated. I was hoping that this question would be the one which can really make me stand out. It played a minor role...probably =(

And then, I realized that there was a question which I answered passionately. I told the interviewers about the two degrees which can be obtained in Nottingham the other one being the Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree.

6. Students will undergo an independent research project in the 3rd year which would lead to the attainment of the BMedSci degree. What do you think is the benefit of doing a research project independently?

And I told them about my EE. I chose English for my EE as it is my favourite subject (and also the only subject that I managed to score a hat trick) and it was definitely interesting to learn about linguistics despite the fact that it may not have anything to do with medicine. And I felt much better when I remembered I've said this to them...;)

Then, we move on to the part which made me feel a bit better (please note that I used "a bit" in the sentence).

7. You've taken part in several community service. Would you like to tell us more about that?

I got some hope and I told them about all of these:
A. Sehati Serumpun, Cambodia. They were interested to hear about my journey there.
B. Permai Hospital. I got to tell them about meeting mentally-challenged individuals.
C. Rumah Aman. I talked about the kids at the orphanage and the trip to Aquaria KLCC.

8. IB can be very stressful. So, how do you cope with that? (I strongly believe this question is gaining its popularity)

I talked about jogging with my mp3 player and also Frisbee. Somehow, they were intrigued to hear about Frisbee. Basically, it's almost everything that I wrote in clocks.

And finally, the time came for me to ask them if I have any questions. And I asked the question which I think is really neutral and doesn't sound desperate at all despite the opinions of many...

Adlan: May I know when the result will be out? (See, it's not THAT desperate. After all, I asked this same question for all my interviews. It's really safe.)

And I asked a question which made me feel bad for the rest of the day and hence, the reason why the title of this post is as stated and the reason why I'm not really in the mood.

Adlan: Did you have fun? (Awkward) in Malaysia? (Much more awkward)

Wafi : Shut up Adlan! Shut up! (My inner monologue)

Honestly, I was absolutely upset for asking that question. I should have just kept quiet. In a nutshell, I have to say the interview was awkward and depressing. I didn't have the capacity to use my creativity in answering the questions this time around.

One of the problems in this interview is that I kept using the same words repetitively. I just noticed that this is the problem that I faced in all three interviews. I guess that's why I didn't score high for my Speaking in IELTS.

In both of my previous interviews, I do have the feeling that I'm going to get the offer. But now, I just don't seem to have that much confidence in me. Quite frustrating though, I really hope I get it.

I think I need to remind myself of something much more important than interviews.

"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest."

"...Ingatlah, hanya dengan mengingati Allah hati menjadi tenteram."
(Ar-Ra'd (13): 28)

And I would like to thank all my moral boosters. You made me feel better in so many ways...

Saturday, March 07, 2009

clocks

CAS - Creativity, Action, Service. When I first heard that I've to get 180 hours during my 2 year period of IB programme, I was definitely appalled by the number. 1 week's not even enough to reach that amount.

"Time is free, but it's priceless
You can't own it, but you can use it
You can't keep it, but you can spend it
Once you've lost it, you can never get it back"
Harvey MacKay

I think Harvey MacKay should add another line, "If you do CAS, you can collect it"...


CAS was simply interesting. Most of the activities that I joined were quite new to me.

Paintball! (We became a group for one time only :P)

Playing paintball in KMB was actually my first and so far, the only time. I guess life was hectic (I actually ditched one paintball tournament so that I could go to Manchester University briefing - now, I believe I made the right choice, hehe). Well, other than paintball, I am an Ultimate Frisbee player (though I don't play it nowadays). It was one of the best sports that I ever played (though I don't have any pictures for it). I really felt like a team player. As I see much better players in the game that I play, that's when I say, ok, let's look for a new one. I can really get intimidated sometimes. Yet, you'd probably be surprised to find out about the games that I used to play for the last 10 years. Let's just say, I change sports frequently.

KMBians at MRSM TGB

What better way to do CAS than to go back to your old school? I I even did CAS twice here - one with TGBians and one with M07J. It was quite invigorating, to reminisce the unforgettable moments when I was a member of the 05/06 batch. Very nostalgic.

Let's go to the Zoo!

Feeding the giant turtle with fries

I had fun and gone here twice too! Painting the rusty bars, cleaning the reptile house and came into close contact with a beautiful snake. Sort of a wild experience.

Permai...

Some structures that we built

The group photo on the final day

Hospital Permai was more of an eye opener for me. It was simply a new experience for me to be around mentally-challenged individuals. I salute the staffs for their best efforts to care for these patients. I'd recommend this CAS trip to anyone who wishes to venture into the medical world.

The kids of Rumah Aman with the KMBians during our trip to Aquaria KLCC

Rumah Aman is full of cute, ecstatic and wonderful kids. What's more is that, Rumah Aman was actually my old kindergaten (previously named as Tadika Kristal).It was the earliest CAS that I participated. Though it's been a long time since I met them, I have to say I can vividly remember their innocent faces.

HTAR

Future doctors, insya-Allah

The finished mural

HTAR. Probably one of the most popular CAS activities, it serves its purpose as an image of my future life. The times that were spent to talk to patients and help the staffs with their workloads had somehow given me an insight of what being a doctor is all about. Nevertheless, I also managed to get to know more about my ex-next door neighbour, M07K.

Looking back at all my CAS reports, I felt grateful to be able to reach the end of my CAS journey. Each of the CAS activities or projects that I joined somehow had made me better. This includes the Sehati Serumpun project in Cambodia. Do read anyway.

Strive always...

Now that my CAS file had been submitted, all I need to do now is to focus on the IB May 09 Exam. Even so, it's not as calm as it seems. It's IB KMB after all, what do you expect? The clock's ticking...