Hyper-Academia

These are tough times to be a doctor, especially one who's aspiring to study further. The Entrance Exam is a mockery; there is no Entrance..its more like a crack in the wall; should be called a 'squeeze-through-if you can' exam. The pressure is crazy, the competition intense, there are more repeaters than there are people in some countries, and there are more subjects than there are seats.
For someone who has spent a good (and bad) part of the last 5 years not studying, its even more difficult to meet everyone's, including your own, expectations. Its inertia, really. If you've been having so much fun not doing something, you're never inclined to try out anything else. Except at gunpoint. Which is what it has come to.

Maybe its the overdose of medical stuff thats been passing through my brain the last couple of weeks, but now i see everything as a clinical case. My 12-yr old cousin who's always asking for new games on the comp is suffering from ADHD; (never mind that i used to do the same thing). My normally cheerful friend was sad after a bad exam, maybe she has an underlying bipolar disorder.
And if your headache isn't an aneurysm waiting to burst, then i dont know what is. And get that mole checked out too.
As can be easily imagined, this got very irritating for everyone involved, and i learnt one of the most important lessons of being a doctor. Never..EVER.. give medical advice to anyone for free.. not unless you're paid for it. No one will listen, cause nobody wants to be told they're sick. They'll whine about their problems till the cows come home and die of boredom, but if you agree with them, they take offense. Fact of life.

There's one thing about this medical madness though; you'll never walk alone. And like what the Liverpool supporters must have felt this season, its a relief at first, but it just gets sad after some time. I came across this site that lets you share all the info on the various exams that doctors can give for PG studies. Its pretty useful, but it also gives an insight into how far gone some people are in this medicine mania. And believe me, its bad. Hundreds of different running forums, each with tons of people intensely arguing on minute aspects of some question, which was asked in some paper 15 years ago. Its a bit like a card game..Player 1 puts down a card( asserts something). Player 2 immediately challenges the move, saying - "Reference?"
Player 3 backs player 1 by playing the Robbins card (Textbook of pathology). Game over? Not quite, because player 4 plays the trump card.. Harrison reference. Player 1's bluff is called. Player 4 wins!
Crazy thing is.. all 4 players go on to play in the finals, and all 4 probably get seats too.

Guess now i know what it takes. You gotta be mad before you can be a med.