- Hi there.
My name is Julia Haimer and we're here
at the university of Sydney
and I'm studying at the school of medicine.
I'm a second year medical student,
and I'm gonna show you what it's like
to have a day in my life.
Come on into the great hall.
(gentle whimsical music)
(energetic music)
So here we are in the great hall.
So the shop that you saw outside the building,
you can tell it's a pretty old building. Well,
it's actually one of the oldest building on campus,
built in the 1830's.
So the university of Sydney
is actually the oldest university in all of Australia.
And one of the oldest in the world,
this is obviously graduate
and three year's time or two years' time now,
now that I'm a second year medical student,
I have another two years left of school after this year,
and we will end up in the great hall,
just like we began in the great hall.
(gentle whimsical music)
So we're here at the Abercrombie building.
It's the School of Business,
but our medical faculty hosts a lot of our lectures in here.
So I'll take you inside and show you one of our lectures.
(gentle whimsical music)
So we're here in the Abercrombie building,
where we host most of our lectures in medical school,
and we also have group based learning.
And so in a room like this,
just a small seminar room we work
in teams of five to six students,
and we'll try and solve some sort of case.
So this morning we had a case that was on stroke and we
worked together to go over the pathophysiology,
the mechanism, why this lady would get a stroke,
looking at the imaging,
other investigations that we would order while working
with different tutors that are experts in the field.
So we had a neurologist as well as the cardiologists.
So for me personally, when I was 16 years old,
I signed a division one scholarship down
to the United States to play
at the university of Connecticut and volleyball.
So my goal as a human at that point in my life
was just to be an athlete.
But this is when I realized that sport,
although it's fulfilling and lovely,
but it still kind of felt a bit selfish in nature.
And I knew that there was so much more that I could give
to the world, and again,
that spark that went off in my first neuroscience lecture
really started to take over my life that I've wanted
to explore more.
And so I know I was at a turning point
with finish my masters.
Do I want to create a complete the PhD
or do I want to go on medicine?
Because the more I learned about the brain,
the more I realized that it actually connected
to this entire beautiful body.
And the more you knew about the body and the intricacies
of the body and how that connects to the brain,
the better neuroscientists that you can become.
So I decided a career in medicine
is probably the best choice for me.
I love being with people.
I love talking to patients and being behind a microscope
or behind Matt lab on a computer during your imaging,
wasn't a hundred percent fulfilling.
It was interesting, but I needed that human interaction.
So decided to apply for medical school
and the University of Sydney
was just a perfect option for me.
Not that it's super important,
but it is one of the top medical schools in the world.
So looking at world rankings, it does rank quite high.
I'm always in the top 20 to 30 schools.
So for me having,
been at a school of a good reputation
of academic excellence was important,
especially being at the University of Toronto before
I wanted that similar high level of academic .
Yeah, Prestige, integrity.
However you want to define that.
So applying to medical school can be a very daunting
and stressful experience.
I personally have applied for medical school for four years
in a row.
So I totally understand if you happen to be
in that position right now, I get it been there.
Don't give up.
If you want to be a doctor, you will be a doctor.
It may not be the school you thought of originally,
but you'll get into a school
and you'll be exactly where you're meant to be.
So for me I applied
to a couple of different medical schools.
I wrote my M cat,
which is the medical school admissions test
for the United States in Canada,
and that test score is good to apply to schools in Canada,
the U S as well as internationally.
But if you're from Australia
and you're applying from either within new South Wales,
so within been the state or external to the state,
usually you're right, your GAMSAT.
So there's similar standardized tests,
different formats but at the end of the day,
standardized tests or standardized tests,
they're a pain in the butt,
but you gotta do them and study hard for them.
And it's an interview process.
You'll have five to six different stations
and interview at each station.
I did mine via Skype.
So I got into all of the schools I applied to in Australia
but Sydney was my number one choice.
So accepted that in a blink of an eye and hearing it.
(whimsical music)
So there's tons of places on campus
that you can have incredible food,
but there's over 20 bars and restaurants on campus.
So whether you are a NASA eval or a glass of wine,
maybe the bottle after classes,
there's just some great places to have a drink or to eat
and hang out with friends.
So we're here at one of my favorite restaurants
called Forum, but it's a very social atmosphere on canvas,
I think because of all the restaurants
that people are outside,
they're having a good time and we're not just indoors
studying all the time.
There really is that study hard balance,
but also play hard balance.
My biggest advice,
if you're choosing whether or not you want
to go to medical school or which medical school to choose,
I don't think you can go wrong
no matter what direction life take you,
you can always change
and new opportunities are gonna emerge, new pathways.
Every decision you make is just an opportunity
to learn more about yourself,
to grow as an individual and as a person.
And I think the more life experience you get,
the older you get,
the more wisdom you gain and you'll make the right choice
that has been for you at that time.
So if you've already chosen a school
and you want to change your mind, don't regret that choice,
that choice led you to a new opportunity
and that new opportunity is gonna lead you
to more opportunities.
So enjoy the moments, absorb,
enjoy exactly where you are right now. It's gonna change.
So just be happy about what you have and always think about
bright opportunities for the future.
Bon appetit.
(whimsical music)
Well, thanks for watching.
If you liked this video and you wanna learn more
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Thanks guys.
(whimsical music)