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Ali's final year at Cambridge medical school (2017)

project history · status: completed · last event: milestone (2018-06-12) · owner: Ali

Parts: Ali and Paul give a presentation at the Cambridge International Mental Health Conference (2017) · Ali promises not to shy away from death and dying in his medical student vlogs (2017)

Told alongside: Ali expects to get at least a foundation job in his top five, maybe his top ten. · Ali says he will make another video on what happens once he finds out where he will be for the next two years.

About: University of Cambridge

date event what video
2017-09-02 launched Ali starts his final year as a medical student at Cambridge University after five years, with one more year to go before he and his classmates officially become doctors in August 2018. Final year begins - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #01 00:00:00
2017-09-07 (said on 2017-08-28, implied) milestone To end the bank holiday weekend, Ali and his fellow students drive to their placement in King's Lynn for the first time. Journey to placement - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #02 00:04:01
2017-09-22 milestone On Sunday night Ali drives to King's Lynn, picking up four people on the way, for week three of his senior medicine placement. Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Baking - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #06 00:03:18
2017-10-12 milestone Ali says his first medical teaching session went quite well: it was really scary to give, but people seemed to enjoy it and rated it excellent throughout on the feedback form. My first lecture for medical students - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #09 00:01:09
2017-11-11 milestone Ali gives a two-hour supervision on malignant haematology (leukaemia, lymphoma and similar) at Emmanuel College, from about five to seven in the evening, and finds it really fun. Malignant haematology supervision - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #12 00:01:34
2017-11-18 milestone Ali opens his conference talk on making apps: a final-year Cambridge medical student who makes apps and websites on the side, he addresses people familiar with computers who have never coded. Speaking at a Medical Tech Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #13 00:03:48
2017-11-21 milestone Ali had an interview for an Academic Foundation Programme on the day of the video. Oxbridge Medicine Interview - Q&A 00:17:09
2017-11-25 milestone Ali and his friends arrive at a field in Nottingham for a three-day wilderness medicine conference, camping in tents, with workshops, lectures and scenarios to come. Students' Wilderness Medicine UK Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #14 00:00:00
2017-12-02 milestone On the second day of his emergency medicine placement, after a day in A&E, Ali is timetabled to go out with the ambulance crew for a 12-hour shift starting around 8am. Ambulance Day - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #15 00:00:00
2017-12-09 milestone Ali starts his first-ever night shift, arriving at the hospital around 9.30pm for a 10pm start, to spend the night in A&E. A&E Night Shift - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #16 00:00:00
2017-12-16 milestone Ali's Cambridge medical finals are about three weeks away: a multiple-choice paper on the medicine and a short-answer paper of paragraph answers to clinical ethics and law scenarios. Finals study sesh - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #17 00:00:00
2017-12-22 milestone With only a few days to go until their final exams, Ali and his fellow medical students take a break one morning to sing Christmas carols in Addenbrooke's Hospital, his first time singing carols in public. Singing carols in the hospital - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #18 00:00:00
2017-12-23 milestone On the Sunday before his first finals paper, with St Albans covered in snow, Ali's only aim is to get back to Cambridge in time, by train if they run or by car. Procrastinating before finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #19 00:04:16
2017-12-24 milestone Ali finishes the last written paper of his Cambridge medical finals and is glad it is done, though he found it a really, really hard exam. Finishing finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #20 00:01:10
2018-01-03 (happened 2017-12) milestone Ali and his friends do SJT practice at Lucia's house, going over the questions on the TV and discussing whether they agree with the mark scheme. Preparing for the SJT - Ali's Vlog #21 00:01:49
2018-01-06 milestone After the SJT everyone mills around the Guildhall discussing it, and Ali says pretty much the biggest exam of their medical school career is over. Magic, pizza and SJT - Ali's Vlog #22 00:00:00
2018-01-20 milestone With his final-year written exams over and pretty much everything done, Ali spends the Christmas holidays just hanging out with friends. Christmas in the Cotswolds - Ali's Vlog #23 00:00:05
2018-02-10 milestone In week two of his emergency medicine placement, Ali is on an all-day Immediate Life Support course covering the ABCDE approach to assessing unwell patients. Life Support Training - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #24 00:00:00
2018-02-24 milestone In his final year Ali takes part in a two-day Death and Dying course on breaking bad news, working with actors trained to cry on demand. Breaking Bad News / Death & Dying - Cambridge medical student VLOG #25 00:00:06
2018-03-03 milestone Ali and his fellow students are on their GP placement in the middle of nowhere, spending their days seeing patients and drinking lots of tea and coffee; he finds it really fun. Lacrosse and A&E - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #26 00:00:09
2018-03-10 milestone In the evening Ali prepares for the Prescribing Safety Assessment and edits video and drone shots for Instagram. A day on GP placement - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #27 00:04:00
2018-03-14 milestone Ali will be assigned to the East Anglia deanery for the Foundation Programme, his first choice because he loves Cambridge, and is now ranking its jobs. What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained 00:06:50
2018-03-14 setback Ali applied for Academic Foundation Programmes in Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and in London, was interviewed at both, but scored too low and was put on the reserve list. What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained 00:07:52
2018-04-05 milestone Ali thinks he got one of his top few foundation job choices: his first year at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and his second at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. (hedged) Finding out my Foundation Year Jobs - Quick update 00:00:29
2018-05-01 (happened 2018-04-30) milestone Ali's exams finished the day before the livestream (30 April 2018), so he now has all the time in the world to make lots of videos. First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A 00:06:48
2018-05-14 (happened 2018-05) outcome Ali learned a couple of days before the video that he passed his final-year exams at Cambridge, so he is pretty much officially a doctor. Monthly Favourites #4 - Ali Abdaal 00:00:00
2018-05-29 looked back Finishing medical school is bittersweet for Ali: it has been incredible, but like his first three undergraduate years he is glad it happened and would not want to do it again. Live Stream - Hangout 00:23:20
2018-06-12 milestone The night before, Ali says the first of his final OSCE exams is the next day: five stations, four of them history taking and one challenging station that will be a mystery; he feels quite relaxed about it. Study with me + The Magic of Categorisation - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #38 00:07:15

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