Abstract
My decision to go to medical school, made in 1949 when I was 12 years old, resulted from an interest in photography and a series of illnesses with numerous x-rays. Thus, I decided to become a radiologist. Getting into medical school was not an easy task when only 10% of the medical school classes had to be women according to the National Health Act of 1948. Since I was at a small boarding school, my ambition meant my father forcing the school to recruit a senior master from nearby Tonbridge boys' school to teach me physics and chemistry. I also benefited from vacation chemistry tutoring at King's College, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. By the time I was interviewed in 1955 at Durham University Medical School in Newcastle upon Tyne, now Newcastle University Medical School, I had forgotten my real reason for becoming a doctor, but I was accepted dependent on passing 4 “A-levels.” On a Mediterranean cruise in August, I learned that I had passed the 4 subjects and would enter the “second year” of medical school that October. In those days there were ostensibly no grades, but later I found out that I had only passed my chemistry by 1 mark (pass was 40/100) and physics by 5. Botany and zoology were easy passes. The next hurdle was “Second M.B.” after 15 months of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. Approximately 10% of the class would be eliminated by this examination. Pathology, Public Health, Pharmacology, and Introduction to Clinical Medicine began during our “third year.” Pathology
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call