“Think yes, Think MTAS” by Faye Cooles
I am a medical student at Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK. While at school applying for University through UCAS (University and Colleges Admission Service), I was repeatedly told, “Think yes, Think UCAS”. This phrase had me rubbish collecting, coaching maths and almost teaching flower arranging at a retirement home, all with the hope of embellishing my CV. But now with applications to MTAS approaching (Medical Teaching Application Services- UK’s new medical post-graduate employment system), there’s a new mantra to learn and this one goes, “Think yes, think MTAS.”I feel somehow cheated that surviving in medical school isn’t enough. That it’s insufficient to attend lectures, ask complex questions or hover eagerly on the wards. Now with MTAS, passing all exams without psychological breakdown isn’t sufficient in the cut-throat world of junior doctor posts. You now need to be that 1st author publishing, committee chairing, nauseatingly organised ‘supermedic’. And this might not even impress if you hadn’t reflected on how it improved your communication skills.
Panic. My extra-curricular activities mainly involved staying sane and motivated following draining teaching schedules. Surely I must have developed some skills required of a future doctor along the way? Such as empathy when consoling a friend with relationship problems, teamwork when organising dinners or social flexibility when going to parties where you knew no-one.
But unfortunately this gradual acquisition of life skills and human understanding doesn’t fit nicely into a MTAS required 200 word anecdote. Time obviously to jump through the hoops of application form tick-box requirements. However I don’t particularly feel like helping sick kids paint, organising an AIDS charity or running marathons every weekend. So if I did it, would it mean anything? Does doing things just for the sake of a CV help you develop any skills when all you really do is watch the clock? And isn’t that unfair for those people who feel genuine about something but are made to look less impressive by the hoards of hysterical CV point collectors.
I would ideally make a stand and claim my CV only contains stuff I feel passionate about and I will never again “think yes, think MTAS”. But I don’t know if I can, the mass panic is too strong. After all, medics are generally all personality type A; the stressed type that get myocardial infarctions.
Maybe it’s time to give in, tick that box on volunteering and offer my flower arranging services to the old folks home down the road. Faye Cooles: F.A.H.Cooles@sms.ed.ac.uk
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March 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
As a student from a medical school with a relatively high proportion of ‘mature’ students I think this article highlights very well some of the inadequacies of the current system. Many of my peers have partners, families and other commitments which mean they can’t be onvolved in ‘helping sick kids paint, organising an AIDS charity or running marathons every weekend’. At the same time their other ‘commitments’ that stop them doing these things also make them far more rounded and interesting people which in turn will make them better doctors than the ‘obsessive CV builders’.