To Be Or Not To Be A Distinction Student?

A consultant once told me that I was comfortably better than average, and he asked if I wanted to be a distinction student or was I happy with where I am right now. I said distinction, of course. He then told me that to be one, I'll have to put in more effort and hard work. But I definitely have the potential. :)

That was 3 months ago, back when I was doing Medicine. Surgery has come and gone. I'm at the end of my Obs & Gynae attachment. I'm still doing the same things, putting in similar amount of effort as I did before. Understandably, I've been getting the same grade.

I was talking to the 5th year senior the other day about being on the Distinction List. How could I aspire to be on the list, get the Distinction grade when the consultant is hardly around sometimes? He then told me this disturbing piece of information:

"To be a distinction student, you have to be seen by your consultant ALL the time. You gotta do nights, you gotta do weekends... and then you'll get an A."

WTF?!!?

I was quite disturbed, because being the academically ambitious person that I am, I would really want to aspire to be on some kinda list that makes me stand out as a great medical student. But on the other hand, I really wanna enjoy my 3 years in England as much as I can because I know I will regret it if I don't. (As it is, I already have one regret, which is not going for the Ash concert in the University. The ticket was only 10 quid. Aaaarrgghhh! Oh well, hopefully they'll come again next time). And which will make better memories in the long run? Slogging away and being on the Distinction List? Or working as hard as I can and playing as hard?

I already made up my mind. It's just a shame that it's at the expense of the List. Why can't I have it all? SIGH.

Now, in Seremban, every single person is made to work hard so that makes things easier. If you're really good at it, you WILL stand out. You don't have to play the bloody game of 'Let The Consultant See Your Face.'

Oh well. I'm going to see Take That live in December so yeah, I'm really happy! No regrets there. None at all. ;)