Down the rabbit-hole

Time for my very subjective impressions of Otago university's health-sciences first year course. Any good grammar is not intentional, and is the result of my computer's spell-checker.

First, we'll start with my favourite papers. I'd like to point out that this list is based neither on my performance in the respective papers, nor their relative difficulties, but rather my very subjective, overly opinionated views. As such, this list will differ vastly from other people's. But here goes:

1) PHSI191. 'What?!' I hear you say. However, PHSI191's hilarious, and very effective lectures not only had me in stitches, but also improved my physics capabilities from NNAA in NCEA level 3 physics, to 89% in PHSI191, without a significant increase in my physics-related workload. The content was not overly difficult, and was very well explained, to the point where even I (who failed level 2 maths) understood it. Having gone into this course expecting it to be my downfall, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of teaching, and resulting good grades from me. The only downside of the course for me was the complete irrelevance of the 'labs', although they did provide useful access to tutors, who were only too happy to help explain any concepts you couldn't grasp. To those of you in future years going 'Why the f**k am I wasting my time with this subject?!', fear not, its relevance will become blindingly obvious within one lecture on HUBS192.

2) HEAL192. 'Ok, this guy is nuts. His top two are physics and epi?!'. Bear with me. The course content is actually really, really interesting, if you try and understand it, rather than just rote-learn it. Sure, I may not have been the top of HSFY in this paper, but it's relevance to, well, everything, is just so obvious. If I don't make it into medicine, I'd be seriously tempted to go for an MPH. Heck, even if I do make it into medicine, public health is definitely an avenue I wouldn't rule out (read: Yes, I'm fully aware I'm far too junior to even be beginning to contemplate a specialty, fear not, I'm not actually retarded). Also, although many of you hated Dr. Horseborough (Who, incidentally, I saw at burger king today...), I found him brilliant (if somewhat cringe-worthy, at times), and the rest of the HEAL staff likewise. Also, unlike the numerous rumours of the previous HEAL assessments, I found that the HEAL assessments of 2011 focused very heavily on what was emphasised in lectures, and was very fair, requiring understanding, rather than the usual HSFY rote-learning. Which I liked. The only downside for HEAL, in my opinion, was the terrible wording of several tutorial exit-test questions, resulting in their removal, which I felt made the whole process just slightly less fair (probably because I got all of the removed questions right, which would bias my opinion. But hey, this is my blog, I can say whatever I like ). But seriously, the opportunity to use the logical, 'thinking' part of my brain in HSFY was a refreshing change from most of the other papers, and I really enjoyed this course's challenges of my thought processes.

3) HUBS191/2. Simple: This course was blatantly obviously relevant to the reason I came down to Otago. Because of this, I found the course content stimulating (even if there was oodles of it, and it required that vast majority of my study time, to get lower marks than most of my other papers). Plus, any course with Matt Bevin lecturing part of it, is going to be good.

4) MAOR102. Not stricly-speaking an HSFY paper, sure, but lets face it, it may as well be, since around half of HSFY take it. I'd say most of my enjoyment of this course came from the fact it was totally unrelated to any of my other papers (except perhaps HEAL), and so gave me something non-HSFY related to do. I found the first half of this course (the pre-contact part) very, very interesting, and were it not for the second part of the course, this likely would have been my favourite paper. However, the way the information was presented in the second half of the course didn't sit so well with the scientist in me (I shan't go into too much detail except to say that I felt that the information was presented in a rather biased way, which rather ignored all sides of the argument which didn't directly benefit the point they were trying to make), which took the shine off the apple for me somewhat. Overall, a paper I went into expecting to be bored by, but actually found very interesting, and thought-provoking.

5) CHEM191. My worst paper of semester one, and hopefully the year. I didn't really find the content that useful in the long run (seriously kiddies, your CHEM191 'skills' are totally irrelevant in BIOC, despite CHEM being a prerequisite). However, I found the assessment structure fair, and the lecturers both effective and able to stimulate my interest in a topic I have no real interest in. The labs were, surprisingly, really interesting (I made panadol!), however my general hatred of anything even remotely related to chemistry sees this paper near the bottom of my list.

6) CELS191. My best paper of semester one, and likely the year. Sure, the content was interesting, but I found the assessment structure nothing short of ridiculous (see: GLM1, the most ludicrously badly-worded test ever written), and the lab course totally and utterly irrelevant, and a complete waste of my time. Seriously, if you're not going to assess the labs in any formal assessment other than badly-written, overly-complicated online tests, don't even bother having a laboratory component to the course, especially if the lab sessions have nothing to do with the lectures whatsoever. The only thing that prevents this papers from being at the bottom of my list, was Peter Dearden's pure concentrated awesomeness (approx. 10mol/L).

7) BIOC192. I'm fully aware that this may seem like an odd recipient for the wooden-spoon. However, to me the paper was overall rather forgettable. Sure, the lecturers (especially Zaharic) were effective, and the lecture-handouts nothing short of life-saving, but to be honest I just found the course material more than slightly disinteresting, and the labs no more useful than those of CELS. Probably an unfair reflection of an overall very well-run course, but for me, this paper held nothing of interest, and I was glad to be done with it.

A note on UniCol: It wasn't even on my preference list for residential colleges, but when I was offered a place here, I decided it would be better than flatting during first year. I'm very glad I decided this. Sure, UniCol can be pretty loud on 'drinking nights' (Thursday and Saturday in particular), but that's nothing a good pair of earplugs can't fix. The master (Chris Addington) is a real character, and keeps the place in good order, and I really respect the guy for what he does; running a college of 517 hormone-ridden teenagers cannot be an easy job, but he takes it all in his stride (as do all the staff), and the college runs really smoothly. Sure, the food isn't overly fantastic (but really, it's not that bad either, and it's definitely better than anything I could cook), but it's not exactly a deal-breaker. Overall, I've made plenty of great friends here, and I'm really glad I got put here. It is a college that promotes a really healthy balance between grades and social life (although you have to be very careful as a health-sci to keep the grades side of that balance higher than the social life side....), and I feel that being placed in UniCol (as opposed to my first-choice colleges St. Margaret's and Carrington) has actually been a good thing for me (read: I'm not ripping on those two colleges, I'm sure they're great. However, for me, UniCol helped me to not be too much of 'that' health-sci). I'll end this section with this: If you get offered a place in UniCol, take it. There are definitely worse places you could be staying in first year.

Pet peves: Consider this my list of 'If you ever do this, expect me to despise you'.
1) People who whinge about the way the course is administrated, especially those who b**ch that test results are taking too long. Seriously, there's >1300 of us. You're lucky it doesn't take 2 months to get your terms test results back, they're working as hard as they can, so don't whinge.
2) People who study ~12 hours a day, for the whole of HSFY. Seriously, you're not going to improve your marks by doing this. All it proves is that you're obsessed with HSFY to an unhealthy stage, not that you really want medicine. You have to have a balance, and working smart>working long hours.
3) People who spread rumours to screw with people. Don't do it. The others are in the same boat as you, and they're all really scared and gullible. Don't prey on that for your own advantage, prick.
4) The overly-competitive, who wont help people out. Sure, it's a competition. But seriously, have some common human decency. If someone doesn't understand what you consider a very basic concept, then they likely wont be competition for your place in med/dent/whatever, so take 5 minutes to help the poor sod, you'll make their day.
5) People who have no social life in HSFY, not because they can't have/don't want one, but because they're paranoid it'll affect their chances. Balance. That's really all I need to say there. Never underestimate the importance of balance in HSFY.
There are others (trust me, I'm an opinionated, judgemental prick, so there are other things that p*ss me off about people in HSFY), but these are the main ones, by and large.

The HSFY course as a whole: Lets get one thing clear before I start this: While I was doing HSFY (I'm allowed to use past-tense now, I finished it today), I hated it. Really badly. Several times, I wanted to quit and do something easier. But I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. But seriously, the course is amazingly well-run. I'd also argue it's among the fairest (if not the fairest) of any selection process for medicine anywhere in the world. Bold claim, yes. Here's some of my reasoning: We all live within about a 1km radius of each other, sit the same exams, and attend the same lectures. There are pretty much no external factors influencing grades between groups of health-scis, and so the grades you get, by and large, are the grades you deserve. UMAT's validity may be questionable, but I'm inclined to think it no less or more questionable than an interview (after all, they're both one high-pressure window where you have to perform at your best, or you're out), and I don't think that grades can really be used as the only determining factor for 'who would make a good doctor', so the use of UMAT in the selection process here really doesn't ruffle my feathers (read: this opinion is likely biased by my reasonably good UMAT result). All in all, I think the course is very well run, very fair (the NCEA vs. CIE debate will rage forever, but I'll just say this: I only just scraped university entrance, and did better in HSFY than many of those with ~100 excellence credits in level 3, and those with similar CIE grades. HSFY is a fairly level playing field, at the beginning of the course, and I think it's pretty hard to estimate HSFY marks based on school marks).

Conclusion: If you're sitting at highschool in New Zealand, wondering whether you should do HSFY, or apply to undergrad med/dent in Australia, my advice would be to do HSFY. Sure, it's a hellish course at times, and it'll test your limits, but I feel that's really helped me to define why exactly I want to do medicine, and just how far I'm willing to go to get it. Do HSFY. It'll be cheaper/more logistically convenient by far, You can always apply to Aussie as a non-standard at the end of the year (as I have), and HSFY definitely isn't a waste of time, even if you don't make it into your chosen professional course. What it teaches you extends beyond simply the course content, and it's hard to explain, but if you do it, you'll know what I mean. I'll always be a health-sci, even when/if I'm a 50 year-old practising doctor. Without meaning to sound overly philosophical, a year of hellish competition wont kill you, and will probably do you good. Sure, I hated it for most of the time I was doing it, but, looking back on it now, I'm really glad I did it, and am really proud of myself for sticking with it, even when it all felt too much.

Disclaimer: All views expressed here are my own anecdotes, and you probably really shouldn't base any decisions on my opinions, nor take my word as fact. I hope this blog is found to be interesting, but I really would rather it isn't quoted in discussions about decisions relating to health-sci, as it is highly opinionated, and contains few concrete facts.

Really, I'm just glad it's over. I hope my marks are good enough for medicine, but, even if they aren't, this year has been a good thing for me. I wish HSFY 2011 the best of luck with their professional course applications, and HSFY 2012/subsequent years the best of luck tackling this horror in the years to follow.

I just can't believe it's over.