Dyscalculia.

As I type this (well, the intro anyway... I don't write that quickly), I am somewhere under the Bristol channel on a train. I've had my Cardiff interview this morning and looking forward to a nap...


Hopefully, the admissions team won't read this post - on two separate occassions I have proved my mother right in that 'the most intelligent people have no common sense. Yes, I have quite a few A Grades but I am also a right royal thicko. Obviously I do not use this terminology in reference to anyone other than myself. Particularly whilst working with Special Needs children.


That was as far as I got on the train before I decided to play Angry Birds instead. And it's also now a day outdated, so I'll start afresh. On the eve of the interview I realised I hadn't read the Interview Checklist. Passport, driving license, NI Card, bank statement. Photocopies. And photographs. Bugger. An 11pm trip to my Grandads printer/scanner. A 7am trip to the photo booth at ASDA, disaster averted. 


I say 'disaster averted'... yes, I suppose I got to Cardiff okay and with the relevant documentation. I was incredibly tired what with all the panicking and rushing and gentle rocking on the train which always puts me to sleep. But my photobooth picture was not pretty... Now, I'm not entirely sure what they want it for - they ask for two photographs - and I assume it's to put with  your statement as a reminder of who you are. I'm hoping they don't use it for my Student ID Card because I look like a drug-crazed serial killer. It's a bizarre fact that applicants refrain from wearing make-up to interview, tuck your hair behind your ears, no nail polish, flat shoes and high necklines with low hemlines. God only knows why, although I suppose how could you have a doctor who was partial to some blusher and eyeliner? Never mind... the point is that without make-up I look rather jaundiced. See below.

Shannon, medical applicant and autism  support worker

Aileen Wournos, notorious serial killer and hooker.

Anywayyyy, the interview itself. If I'm honest, and without tempting fate, I had good vibes. The interviewers were lovely (friendly 4th year, charming anaethetist and grandad-like GP with the best Welsh accent you could hope for). They asked me the basic questions as well as quizzing me on the more interesting parts of my statement, particularly around my jobs and Extended Project. They laughed and smiled and nodded in the right places, and I even got a 'I like the way you put that, that was very nice'. But I guess you never know... Like I've said again and again, there are so many fantastic applicants it must be a real challenge to choose between them. From my gut feeling, what will have let me down will be my initial nerves - I was called in 10 minutes early, so hadn't had a chance to fully focus and it showed. When speaking under pressure I find it difficult to control the pitch of my voice and have to concentrate on keeping my breathing even. During one question I paused to catch my breath and re-focus, and was even asked if I could 'expand on my answer' as if they thought I had finished. I'll kick myself for that one.


So there you go, now it's kind of limbo-land with very little going on either way until February. I can kick back now for 3 weeks or so, and just see what happens. My mental time frame looks like this:


Hull York: offer made before end of February. (Last interview held yesterday, so just waiting for candidates to be ranked - assume it could be earlier)


Cardiff: Endeavour to inform candidates before the end of February


Leeds: begin interviewing in February (invites given out mid-January), offers made in April


Southampton: First offers made in February (last year they said this but gave some in January). Could wait until April.


Speaking of Southampton, I had an automatic email reply from them which contained lots of information including 'this year, our UKCAT threshold score will be 3210.' My score was 2981. Of course, I was upset (and yes, shed a tear) until the next day when mum asked to read the email. 'What did you say your UKCAT score was Shannon? It says here the threshold score will be 2310.' Oh, right. I guess I read it wrong then mum. No need to worry, I'm still in the race. Was wondering why my Grandparents called to see 'if I was okay'.

Bookworm.

As much as I've come to terms with not getting into University, and as much as I love my gap year job(s) (and the money), I am still rather worried.


I don't mean worried about repeating the same 'Oh, you know... I didn't get into University' routine (although it is a recurrent nightmare of mine) - I'm worried that I'll forget how to be a student. After all, working post-A Levels is pretty easy: I have very few bills to pay and none of the stress that comes with it; my working day finishes at 3.15 and then I work part-time taking children swimming, horse riding, feeding the ducks etc and once I've finished work, my time is my own. I have no homework, my University application is done and I'm not fretting over job applications. The days of poring over textbooks until 11pm are gone. For now at least.


For some reason, I have thrown myself particularly vigorously into preparation for my Cardiff interview and it's taken some getting used to! My procrastination is worse than ever, and I'm generally very demotivated to revise (although this could be due to Xmas break). After a week or so of complaining, I've fallen back into my familiar pattern of planning my revision tasks meticulously, creating detailed notes and brainstorm diagrams that can be used right up until I am called into the interview rooms. And the reason why this is particularly bizarre behaviour is that a Cardiff interview is almost unique in that in encompasses a chat about yourself. That's it. There's no test on chemical compounds, or tricky analyses of recent news stories, or Oxbridge-style brain teasers. Cardiff are interested in finding out about you, expanding on your personal statement and hearing you speak naturally about yourself and your interests. 


Of course, there's very likely to be the standard 'Why Medicine?', 'Why Cardiff?' but any medical student wannabe worth their stethoscope should have these carefully pre-prepared. (In short, Medicine is a vocation that combines science and psychology with a person-centered focus and has the common goal of bettering others' lives. Medics are constantly relearning and learning new material, as well as reflecting and increasing their personal growth to become life-long learners. Cardiff practice dissection, to me, essential for developing respect and appreciation for the physical aspects of patients. There's a nursing module in Year 2, opportunities to intercalate a degree and a Senior Clinical Project in Year 5 as well as the usual Elective.)


I've heard rumours that a basic understanding of the Welsh NHS (operates seperately but still very congruent with English NHS, free prescriptions and a reform in 2009) and knowledge of recent news articles may be important. But the vast majority is exploring the PS - of course, this has the dual function of allowing candidates to expand on topics in a way they may not have been able to on paper (e.g. my work experience at GWH and volunteering wasn't even mentioned and my recently-changed employment status may need some explaining) and sussing out candidates who may have taken a certain artistic licence with their claims. 


So the next part of Operation: Interview is to go through my statement with a toothcomb, writing my own notes on how to expand each statement so I have some pre-prepared thoughts should I be asked about anything on it. For my opening 'Why I want to be a doctor?' paragraph I've brainstormed further reasons, linked these together and tried to find practical examples (such as    'I found the physiology of nerve transmission fascinating during my A Level Biology course, but even more interesting when you consider nerve function to be the root of all movement, thought, emotion, memory and unconscious responses such as breathing and blinking'). Something I was told at my practice Oxfizz interview was to develop my skill of cross-linking ideas. So when I am asked about my Extended Project on the Psychology Of Tribal Medicine, I can drop in how the contrast in atmosphere at the Prospect Hospice and local hospital (both of which I have volunteered at) produce different feelings in patients which may in turn affect their perception of their illness, much as my report suggests.


Of course, it's all well and good to practice and rehearse in my bedroom, but something quite different when you're in the actual situation... As well as nerves, interviewers can word questions unexpectedly, may push for a particular answer or challenge a point of view or may want to spend the whole 30 minutes discussing the finer details of your journey in. We'll see.


The interview is next Tuesday, and like Hull York Medical School, Cardiff aim to give out offers/rejections by the end of February. The statistics for these kind of things are always interesting - I believe there are around 3000 applicants for Cardiff's 280 places. That's a statistical chance of around 1/10 at application. Around 900 people are then interviewed, so about 3 people per place but (and this is the part people forget) around 450-500 offers are given out, increasing your chance to around 1/2. Not quite as high as HYMS' 2/3, but it's certainly a relieving thought going into interview. 

Wreck.

Apart from the ridiculous journey, Hull went okay. Ish. For an interview, anyway.


HYMS interviews are a pretty set procedure for everybody - seven questions on very set topics, plus your opinion of an article you've just read. I'm not allowed to discuss what was asked - but HYMS very helpfully provide a list of 'example' questions on their website, which are conveniently very similar to many of the questions I was asked.  


Unlike anywhere else I've been, HYMS include a tour of their campus as part of your interview - the campus is really lovely, and the accomodation is as well. The student house we looked around backed directly on to the campus and housed five people with all bills included as well as a cleaner. An extra large room here (which was pretty enormous) cost £72 per week; which I thought was pretty fair! Even my taxis around Hull were cheap, so I do think it would make a perfect student-budget city.


After our interviews we were shown a presentation 'persuading' us to choose HYMS, should we receive more than one offer. Interestingly from the 1100 applicants, 800 passed the academic criteria (meaning 300 applied to a Uni they couldn't get in to?!). 450 were invited to interview on of these 290 of us will be offered a place. This means that my chance of success now is around the 2/3 mark. Which is reassuring, particularly compared to somewhere like Leeds where my chances are around 1/16.


(Also, we were told that each year around 50% of applicants to Medical School in the UK don't receive any offers - so now I don't feel too bad about my rejections last year.)


The reflex question for everybody to ask is 'so how do you think you did?' It's a really hard call; I felt I answered all the questions reasonably well, and had very few 'Doh!' moments. However, you come out and everybody seems to have given the same answers to the questions! A couple of questions were reiterated to me, as I hadn't fully addressed all aspects that they had asked for, but for others I tried to give a very balanced, full answer which often ended with 'however I feel your question is too broad to give you a specific answer'. I know that, despite my 'ultra-cool' demeanour in the holding room, I become very nervous and can appear quite flustered and edgy. I guess they know you're nervous. The one question I can say I answered really well was based around the standard 'Why do you want to study here?' and this is where my interview prep really paid off.


Each interview has to be prepped for differently - at HYMS your interview is completely seperate to your personal statement score, so there's no need to analyse your statement and second guess what's going to be asked. Like all interviews, I expected the 'Why do you want to come here?' and the general probing of my awareness of current medical issues; but they're hardly expecting you to be familiar with every piece of research. I keep up-to-date by reading the NHS' Behind the Headlines website every so often and listening to the news occasionally. In terms of HYMS specific prep, I spent an hour or so each night for a week reading and poking around on the Medical Schools' website. 


But that's it. I find out at the end of February. As a very pleasant surprise, I received an invite for interview at Cardiff next month (the email arrived the day before Hull, so was a good nerve-settler). Cardiff is very different in terms of interview technique and requires lots of prep... so that's my holiday homework (although at least I'm not revising for January exams!!)


Hope you've had a good Christmas! 

HYMS

So perhaps my claim of 'I could hear next week' was a bit optimistic but I've finally heard something!


Up until now, University correspondence had been minimal. Moral was low.


HYMS (Hull and York Medical School) contacted me asking for more information on my gap year. Leeds thanked me for applying and let me know that due to 'large volumes of applicants' I shouldn't expect to hear until the first week of December at least.
Cardiff also said thank you, and reassured that whether interviews were held in November or March, applicants had an equal chance of an offer.
Southampton remain silent.


AND THEN...


An email from HYMS last week, inviting me to interview! Luckily, it's the day after we get back from our Derren Brown cruise - so in a space of 24 hours I'm going to be travelling from Bruges to Southampton to Swindon to Hull. And then back to Swindon. I don't mind, if I'm honest. I don't mind the 5 hour train ride, or the nervous build-up, or the £100+ it's going to cost me in Travelodge fees and packet sandwiches. I don't even mind the pressure of an interview or the awkward moments spent 'sizing-up' the fellow applicants. FYI, HYMS received 1000+ applications for 150ish places. 600 people are interviewed for around 350 offers. That's just about 50-50. The way HYMS work is a 'leader board' style... where more points at interview mean a higher chance of acceptance.


I'm also aware not to build up my hopes too much - after all, an interview in no way guarantees an offer - but at least it's something. After six weeks of silence, it's a little relief to know that my application hasn't been completely passed over. Mind, I haven't had any bad news either (I think post-Xmas is usually when the majority of rejections are made).


In reflection, (as long as I have an offer this year) this year has been a great opportunity: I've taken a year out to explore other interests through my work, develop and mature as a person as well as de-stress and remind myself how to be a legal teenager without the constant pressure of exams (read: pub visits and lazy evening in my trackie bottoms)! And I hope I have an opportunity to express this in an interview...


I really would love to get an offer from HYMS - they're a relatively small (read: personable) medical school, with a huge focus on learning through experience (up to 50% of the course is on placements in primary and secondary care centres). They also practice PBL, a form of team-based learning where each week presents a 'challenge' to explore and research, therefore expanding your knowledge as you work. HYMS trains you to be a doctor, rather than teaching you medicine. 


My outfit is set (pink pin-stripe trouser suit, with a pencil dress as the back-up option), now just for the preparation! Re-reading my statement, EPQ, books I've quoted, finishing my scrapbook, cramming as much from NHS Behind The Headlines and the news, watching TED on my iPad, plus scanning the HYMS website and prospectus for any pearls of wisdom. Exhausting, nerve-wracking, exciting stuff.


I don't want to set myself up for a fall by giving away too much now, so I'll let you know after the interview/on the decision day.

Cartography.

So I'm all applied and raring to go (according to the emails etc I could be hearing back any time from next week-ish...), whilst feeling a nauseous mix of anxiety, confidence and scepticism.


With Medicine, there's no 'the hardest part is...' because it's all time consuming and nerve-wracking and difficult, from the personal statement to the UKCAT, to actually choosing where you want to go. If I'm honest, last year I copped out on my choices - they became secondary issues, despite how important it is to think carefully where you want to live for the next 6 years!


Last year my choices looked like this:


University of Bristol because it's local. And reputable. And I kind of like the shopping there.
University of Oxford again it's local. The shopping is very good and the streets are just so quaint. (Plus it's the only place I'd ever visited prior to applying - admittedly whilst I was in Year 8 - so it just made sense.)
Peninsula Medical School apparently everyone gets in there.
Keele University the prospectus is pretty. It looks like a castle, on a lake, IN A VILLAGE. Too cute.


Looking back, I'm not surprised the 'so why do you want to study here' part didn't go so great... and it's actually rather embarrassing to read my honest responses here.


This year, however, was far more thoughtful... and hopefully you'll find the reasoning behind my choices potentially useful, regardless of the course you're applying for! It's difficult to know where to go - after all, it's logistically impossible to visit all of them, and when you do they all look fantastic and lovely and welcoming. 


FYI, there are 32 medical schools in the UK, three of which are for postgraduate medicine only - compared to a subject like Maths, or English, Medicine is relatively easy to begin narrowing down.


The first step was clearly to eliminate anywhere 'too far'; I'm talking Scotland, Northern Ireland and Newcastle.

And then I'm thinking how poor I'd be if I lived in London (plus I couldn't cope with black-coloured snot 24/7), so those were crossed out too...

And I wouldn't want to apply anywhere for the second time running - if I wasn't good enough last year, then I guess they probably won't want me this year.

So now I'm left with thirteen. Birmingham won't accept me (they'd like 7 A*s and I have 5), plus it's a big, mean-looking city. Come to think of it, I'd much rather be somewhere with a bit of breathing space... so Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham can be crossed off too. I've tried the Oxbridge thing, and I wasn't really feeling it so Cambridge might as well go too.

So I'm down to my final eight (much like Judge's Houses on the X Factor) and four have to go. If I'm honest, neither Norwich nor Sheffield really inspired me when I read up so that makes narrowing down slightly easier... And I'm left with six, only two more to decide against before my final four.

So what do we have left?


L for Leeds
H for Hull and York Medical School
Le for Leicester
C for Cardiff
S for Southampton
B for Brighton and Sussex Medical School


I thought about the things I most wanted out of medical school; I like the PBL learning method (each week you learn about a topic e.g. heart disease and your learning progresses outwards, like a spiders web, rather than linear learning, like at school), I want to practice full body dissection, I want an opportunity for research and intercalated degrees (a mini-degree as an extra year within your medical degree), I want to live on a campus but the change of a dual school Uni is appealing. I want fresh air and space to think.


So I tallied them. I read the prospectus and gave each school a mark in a column if they have it. Cardiff practice full-body dissection. Southampton are research-led. BSMS can provide plenty of fresh air and space, Leeds is a perfect student, party city. And you have to remember applying to medical school is competitive - where do I appeal most? My strong UKCAT score would be wasted at Cardiff, who barely look at it whereas Leicester love it. Southampton don't interview, so you need a strong personal statement - is mine that individual?


Eventually, I think my heart and head compromised. Regardless of the 'scores' I'd given each, I'd already started to fall in love with the four I knew I really wanted. All for different reasons, but all unique and perfect in their own way. Cardiff's dissection room. Southampton's research labs. Leeds' student-friendly campus. Hull/York's contrast between beautiful York and poverty-stricken Hull.


It'll be interesting. At the moment I have a vague idea of where I'd like to go most -> least. But then I haven't visited them all yet... and I doubt I'll have much of a choice to make. Best of two, if I'm lucky. We'll see; I've been told to expect answers before Christmas.

The O Word.

Overworked, overstressed, underpaid.

Well, most of that is my own fault... Currently I'm still working three jobs, totalling around 45 hours per week. Obviously, the tax is a bitch. And to be honest, nothing can be as stressful as January/February - realising I'd failed to get in to Uni and that my A Levels were sapping all the motivation and spirit I'd started with. If anything, I'm in a fantastically rare stress-free situation right now. 

As well as Homebase and working for the council (Sessional worker, swimming with special needs children/teenagers) I work at a secondary school as a 'Learning Support Assistant' (read: Teacher's Lapdog).

But I dress FAR better.

I also hold an additional role as 'ASD Coordinator', this means looking out for the autistic students within school and keeping in contact with home (we have an unusually high ASD cohort).

So far, I've really enjoyed my work within school: it's rewarding, interesting, stimulating and the Learning Support department have been really great at helping us 'newbies' settle in. But that doesn't mean I'm not pleased to see half term...

It's so funny to be back in a school, back watching lessons - an hour for a lesson goes so fast! I love watching the children giving it large, being rude to the teacher, giggling about some joke - I remember doing it myself - and it's only now I'm older that I see how cringy they are. Honestly, rolling your eyes at a teacher and whooping when someone is told off is not cool.

I've also realised how much I definately do not want to be a teacher now, regardless of how hard they work and how many hours they put in (judging by my own career choice, noone can call me work shy!) it's just how disheartening it must be to stand in front of a group of people who really do not care what you have to say. I want to share my passion for science with people who are keen to hear, whether as a higher education professor or to patients' who require the information: I don't want to train and then spend my working hours controlling crowds of uncaring, unruly children. Of course, not all children are like this; I work with lower ability students and so tend to see more of the classes full of 'difficult' children who either can't, or won't, behave because they fail to see the point in school. Interestingly, many of these 'naughty' children who are quickly written off by teachers are actually very keen to learn - once you've given them the attention and time that they need, their behaviour improves. One little madam asked me this week if she could sit with me in Maths - she's gone from being a nightmare, to the most attentive, hard-working student in the room. Just because she gets it. It's not fair for me to criticise, but one does wonder if smaller classes would allow teachers' to give children the attention they need to work hard and achieve... perhaps this is how private schools, with notoriously tiny classes, churn out such impressive results (and students)?

And the other thing that breaks my heart: how these kids sit there and say 'schools crap anyway, what's the point?' The point is that those grades say something about you for a long time, they'll dictate the types of jobs you can start off with and whether you can pursue a career in something you're passionate about, rather than a job just to feed your family. Isn't hindsight a fabulous thing? If there's one thing that is certain about humans, it's our ability to look back and realise that others' generally do want the best for us.

I think I've picked the perfect gap year job - the hours are generous enough that I can enjoy my friends and wages, whilst the work is interesting enough to be worthwhile. I've also realised how quickly working in a professional environment forces you to grow up; this is the first time where I've been given a position of responsibility and treated as an equal by adults, rather than a child. There are things that need to be worked on; I still find it difficult to talk to teachers as colleagues, rather than 'Miss' or 'Sir' and I'm very aware of how much reassurance I need, by asking questions and checking that I'm doing okay. However, I really hope that by the end of the year I can feel confident in the roles that I hold, I can reflect back on all the positive and character-building experiences I've had and I should have a respectable amount of money saved up for Freshers' Week. Roll on Xmas break...

Trimming.

Today is the day Jordan can finally rejoice; my UCAS has been sent off, so I'll be de-stressed for at least a week.

I am aware that 11th October is exceptionally late (deadline is 15th and I'm sure I wrote earlier of sending it in early) but the summer went rather quickly and I was extra-pinickety with what I wrote.

If you haven't yet read the final version of my statement you can do so here.

So, I guess/hope I'm not the only one that finds writing these things incredibly difficult - where do you even begin?! Hopefully, my breakdown should shed some light on the writing process... and also make non-Uni applicants realise just how much is expected of the statement!

The Middle

It may seem counter-intuitive, but for a PS the middle is the best place to start. This provides the filling for your statement and the really interesting parts.

The first step (for a medic) is to brainstorm around three key points:

Why Medicine?

What are your motivations? Specific interests in the field? This section will probably be the shortest and will end up being adapted into your opening

Experiences

How do you know medicine is for you? What voluntary work/employment/work experience have you had? What did you learn from this? (Most of my interviews were based around 'what I've learnt on reflection - they absolutely love it)

Personal Achievements/Extra Curricular

What makes you stand out? This is where your Grade 8 violin/Royal Ballet School/Olympic swimmer/President of the Student Union fit in.

To be awkward, I also added

Gap Year Plans

Debatable whether required - but it makes sense to say what you're planning to do after receiving your A Levels, incase they think you're a bum.

Referee Statement

All the bits that won't fit in your actual statement or are a bit too simple e.g. Maths Awards/helping out with an open evening

The headings help to provide structure to your statement, and you'll probably be able to pick them out in mine, despite not being as perfectly ordered as they are here.

Under each heading I started bullet point-ing my interests.. and another key point: apparently admissions tutors want evidence for everything you say. So, I made notes as to which resources/experiences I could link into each statement. For example, I'm really interested in the role of the brain and nervous system after reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat.

For the experience section it can be difficult to remember back to all of the experiences you've ever had - personally, I'd done over 200 hours voluntary work when I wrote mine, in 5 or 6 places. Luckily, I kept a reflection diary which I could read back through, highlighting key examples that demonstrate this or that skill. Even better, if you can write your reflection diary in the format 'Today we did XXX and I felt/thought XXX and this made me realise/taught me XXX' you'll save so much time later on and be bang on for a medic place.

Achievements can be the difficult bit - particularly if they don't seem a big deal to you, but it's important to remember what skills they demonstrate. To help me with this, I looked up the admissions criteria (each PS is 'marked' for a number of categories such as 'demonstrates responsibility' or 'caring experience') and wrote a list of qualities Medical Schools look for - then all I needed to do was find an example for each. If you're interested, my checklist looked like this:

• Understanding of medicine
• Motivation/Commitment
• Caring attitude
• Social awareness
• Effective communication
• Teamwork and leadership
• Appreciate others' views/empathy
• Responsibility
• Non academic interests and linking these to stress
• Study skills
• Self motivation
• Reflection
• Perseverance
• Over-coming setbacks

Hopefully once you've gone through this process you'll be left with a bullet-pointed list of skills, qualities and experiences you'd like to include in your statement. Grouping these together into topics, linking to related subjects and expanding these topics into full sentences should form a very nice base for your final statement.

Introduction

The most important thing. Since KS3 English you're taught the importance of a powerful opening and it's no different here. I found this bit extremely challenging; it needs to capture why you want to study medicine in a very clear, honest way. There are plenty of examples on the internet that use quotes to open - personally I think this sounds cheesy and lazy, but your choice! (NB However, I do think that quoting a book as inspiration/interesting in your statement is a very valid point).

For my opening I used the 'voice record' app on my phone to record a five minute informal explanation of why I wanted to study Medicine in the format of an answer to 'So why do you want to study Medicine?'. It sounds tacky, but expressing this aloud really focused what I wanted to say and what was most important for me. I listened to it back, copied it exactly and edited the colloqualisms. My final opening was an amalgamation of this opening and my original opening from last year (because let's be honest, in one year my motivations and enthusiasms haven't changed).

Conclusion

I'm very partial to a decent conclusion. Something sharp, summative and powerful always sounds good. I used this section for the standard 'I really want to go to Uni/be a doctor' but it can be good for squeezing in key words that you may not have been able to elsewhere (I'm thinking of my admissions tutor list here). Anything that suggests you want to develop/use specific skills, looking for a challenge etc sounds pretty good to me.

Trimming

Unfortunately, any good medic should find at this point that their statement is double (if not triple) the allowed amount of 4000 characters (about one side of A4 in size 11 font, if you're interested). The really hard part is trimming it down, without losing too much of the meaning. A good start is looking for any repeats, such as any experiences that demonstrate the same quality. After all, the tutor isn't hugely interested in which grade you have in piano - it's the skills that it demonstrates (perseverace, commitment, manual dexterity) that is important. And after that, it's up to you to decide which is most important to keep. However, you will feel a sense of pride in how many positive things you have to say about yourself! There is something satisfying about writing out a list of how fantastic you are...

Whilst medics should be nodding in agreement, I imagine other disciplines recommend slightly different approaches (although saying why you want to study a subject is always a good idea!) but a lot of this can be adapted to individual circumstances. Hopefully this gives a little insight into how such an important piece of writing is built up and why us medics stress about it so much! After all, it is one of the most important parts of any medical application.