The Future of This Blog

Someone once commented on this blog’s heading*. “Reader, traveler, politics, medical student…” they mused, “Are you sure you’re in the right field of study?” For a second, I thought they were joking. But they weren’t. I had spent enough time wrestling with my career choice. Suggesting that it was a poor one did not dissuade

FAQ: Will I Get Into Med School?

My fist response: don’t let me stand in your way.

My second response: be realistic.

On Poverty and Health: The Obesity-Conundrum

I want to address some pertinent falsehoods about health and fitness, and why the disenfranchised have such a hard time of it.

A Key To Disillusionment In Work And Play

Shame, I feel sorry for us; because all we want is to belong, but somewhere along the line we have taught ourselves that to belong means to be among people who think like us; never realising how deprived such a community would be.

[Guest Post] From Nursing to Medicine

While the best-known route to medical school in South Africa is the “conventional”: finish high school and enter med school the next January, it is by far not the only route followed by medical students here. The journeys are numerous, like Tash’s journey of an older medical student, which she graciously shared here. Today, Roxanne

Dear Medical Student: Med School Is Not Worth Your Self-Harm

Dear Medical Student: medical school is worth a lot of things. I can tell you that because I went from hating medical school to loving being a doctor (well, on most days).

But it’s not worth that.

Overview: A New Study About Selection Criteria at South African Medical Schools

These figures show how black students in South Africa make up the majority of medical students in South Africa in numbers – HOWEVER, relative to national demographics, these students are under-represented.

Another Song for Medical Student, Interns, and Basically Everyone

I heard this song for the first time as I was driving to my New Year’s Day call on Friday. Apparently I’m the only person in the whole world who hasn’t heard it, but WHATEVER okay. I wept a little. THIS is what I want to say to people. To the new interns who are

Dear Graduates: You Should Be Supporting #FeesMustFall

As alumnae, you are the elders. You should be safeguarding tertiary education in this country. Who are you sucking up to by decrying these protests? Which lecturer are you still trying to impress?

Seven Years! A Milestone of Sorts.

I realised that I don’t feel sad when I think back on these things. I read through my journal of September-October 2008 and I thought fondly of the girl who agonised about her first HIV-test (the one that was strongly suggested in our admissions packet), and who worried that her university would be too conservative for her (it was a little conservative), and who honestly believed that she would find a cure to HIV.