To not BSc or to not Bsc?

So, I’m currently taking an involuntary break from clinical medicine and doing an intercalated BSc this academic year. This is what I describe to any non-medic, as ‘a mini-degree within my degree’, which makes it sound way more exciting than it actually is. What it does mean is that I get to add three extra letters after my name when I graduate and that I will get to graduate twice. Although, I have stubbornly decided, and I will not be moved, that I am not going to my BSc graduation for fear that it will make my final graduation as a doctor less special and momentous.

The purpose of the BSc year is to make scientists out of us. It is compulsory at my medical school but that is not the case in other medical schools. We are learning about the scientific, investigative process and how to deal with scientific uncertainty. Or in medical student terms: we are learning how to read papers. Papers, as in long articles about research studies in specialist scientific journals full of technical vocabulary and complicated statistics that take you about 3 hours to read but you are expected to read in 15 minutes during the exam next year and how on Earth are you expected to do that?

I’m doing an Endocrinology BSc, so all the material is hormones. I enjoy the content and lectures have been good so far, especially as they are delivered by specialists in the field that know what they are talking about. However, I do not like reading papers and I do not necessarily want to see seven graphs that all show the same thing. And I don’t like reading papers.

So, apart from not liking reading papers, I’m also not used to regular deadlines as normally I just have exams towards the end of the year and that’s that. As a master procrastinator, this may be an issue. The writing of this blog post has taken place later than I intented, and it is only now being written because procrastinating the essay I have due on Friday has taken priority. That’s how practised of a procrastinator I am.

In all honesty though, whilst I rather not go through this academic year and I can’t wait to be out at the other end, I do understand that all the skills that I gain will be useful to my clinical pratice in the future. And that is me being extremely mature about it. Though, I still hate reading papers and I am soo not going to graduation, despite what my friends say.

In terms of the direction in which this blog is headed, I’m going to stop with the academic posts about medical conditions that I had going last year, since it just won’t work with the way this year is set up and the things I’m learning. But, I will continue blogging about my experiences in medical school. Probably each time I have a piece of work I should be doing instead.