My Story
Let’s begin my story at the very end. As you all know, I’m a final year medic and neuroscience supervisor at the University of Cambridge. But, I also gym 2-3 hours a day, I’m involved in research, I write, film and edit for askCamDoc, I always make time for family and friends and I still get a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep. And honestly, I feel like I could be doing more! However, this is the rosy end remember. Getting to this point of optimal efficiency and time management, was a long, long journey. Click here for the videos.
Rewind back 5 years to my 1st year, all I would do was either study in my room or be at the gym. Occasionally, I might make the odd night-out for special occasions like birthdays, but otherwise, I was a room and gym hermit. Why? In all honesty, my priority back then was to prove myself. What I mean by that is, I didn’t want getting into Cambridge to be my peak, I wanted to do well! So, I made exam success my priority at the cost of anything social. Fair enough, it paid off and I secured a triple first over years 1-3, but sadly at a huge cost: many experiences I could’ve had were all pushed away.
This realisation came to me in my 3rd year. I remember rocking up to Cambridge that year after a 4-month summer, still feeling absolutely exhausted and burnt out. I remember sitting at my desk about to read the first lecture of the year and thinking: “ah shiii, here we go again.” And that got me thinking: “what actually is the point of it all?” The answer I soon came to realise was quite obvious: “happiness”. Years 1-2, academic achievement made me happy and that was enough, but come year 3, that alone wasn’t enough anymore. I felt like there was a void that another first just wasn’t going to fill. I wanted to make up for lost time, make new friends, gain new experiences tbc…
Making up for lost time! Where to begin? Well, I started locally, I became much closer to the people in my house in 3rd year, went on more nights-out, more chills and even went on a spontaneous mid-year holiday to Copenhagen. I started playing squash again and joined more societies. Those who knew me from years 1-2, were looking at me like “yep, he’s finally gone off the rails”. But, I was loving it! And I still managed to keep on top of my work. Sure, I wasn’t as prepared for each lecture or supervision as before, but it was enough to get by and even get a decent first at the end of the year.
I carried this mentality through to my clinicals and began 4th year with a raw eagerness to get involved in everything! I agreed to attend a lot of events, joined loads of clinical societies and applied to be a supervisor for neuro. Over the year, I ended up supervising 5 colleges, racking up almost 11 hours a week at the peak! However, this wasn’t the most sensible of ideas. I was, without a doubt, spending far more time marking essays, preparing and delivering supos than I was doing medicine. At the time, I justified it by arguing “supervising is good for my CV and my bank account”. But, come exam term, this argument fell apart. I came to a sudden realisation: “it’s 2 weeks before exams and I haven’t revised in more than 6 weeks”. This set me into a panic and cram mode. I was at my desk 6.30-23.30 every day solidly for those 2 weeks just to have any hope of passing. Luckily, I managed to pass quite decently at the end, but that experience really taught me, “it’s never a good idea to totally neglect your studies until the last minute”.
Having learnt some hard lessons, I entered 5th year finally with the correct attitude. It is possible to do everything you want to be doing and still do academically well! But, it’s important to follow these keys: planning, prioritisation, flexibility and discipline. Find out more in the Guide! Click here for the videos.
