Last year on @international.medics, Thinzar and I wrote a post about our goals before starting 2nd year of Medicine. I have been considering my goals for 3rd year recently so I decided to keep up the tradition this year!
Medicine-related Goals:
Stay sane and stay happy! Not exactly related to Medicine, but I wanted to remind myself because clinical years require getting used to and I will struggle initially. There are a lot of things I want to do but my wellbeing comes first.
Apply to intercalate. I am planning to apply for two courses (an MRes and an MB PhD) so I will have to balance preparing the applications along with my studies. I’m very excited about this, but also quite nervous!
Pass all my exams (at least). I will have to pass all my exams in 3rd year to be allowed to intercalate, so that is the baseline goal that I have for myself. Knowing me, I would expect to do better but I don’t want to give myself too much pressure, with my wellbeing + other commitments in mind.
Take my ongoing projects further. I have a number of projects that I plan to submit for publication/essay prizes in the coming year so I will be working on that.
Do well on my APEP. The APEP is a research project that 3rd year medical students have to do at Manchester and hopefully I’ll be able to take it further upon completion e.g. by publishing it!
Do my Student Selected Clinical Placement (SSCP) in one of the specialties that I’m interested in. Some of the specialties I’m interested in are quite clinical so this year is my chance to explore them.
Apply for a summer studentship? I was unsuccessful with my application to one programme last year, and I’m not too sure whether I want to reapply. 3rd year ends in July and doing a summer studentship would mean that I will not get as much time at home with family if quarantines are still mandatory.
Personal Goals:
Exercise 5 times a week. I completely neglected my physical health last year when things got busy but that is going to change. Recently, I started tracking my exercise with a friend so we both stay accountable and I plan to continue with that. If we end up missing a workout, we will have to put money into a fund, at the end of the year we will use it for something like a hike in the Peak District!
Grading in Karate. I plan to grade for 2nd Dan at some point in the year and finally complete that Instructor Qualification that I started last year! This ties in really well with my goal of exercising regularly since I will have to train at least twice a week to be allowed to grade :)
Hike Scafell Pike/Mount Snowdon. It’s one of my goals to complete the National Three Peaks Challenge while in medical school so throughout the year I will be building up my stamina by going for longer hikes, eventually hiking one of the peaks that is part of the challenge.
Travel more within the UK. I haven’t travelled around lots during my time in the UK because of COVID restrictions. I’d love to visit Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle, and Scotland at some point this year!
Picking up some new skills. In my post about my first ever research project, I talked about how I wished I learned to use Excel earlier so I plan to do an online course in Excel. I’m also in the midst of finishing a Coursera specialisation on Python and I hope to be able to move on to R later in the year.
Produce content somewhat regularly. There’s lots of content that I am *itching* to produce (keep an eye out!) - currently I’m aiming to put up posts/videos every fortnight or so but am keeping it flexible especially with intercalation applications and other things going on.
And there you have it! My goals for the 2021/22 academic year. Next summer I will reflect on these goals and celebrate what I’ve accomplished! Until the next post :)
- Jean.