#medical school entrance exams aren’t real. what the hell is this

[groose]

am i on fucking crack

[dxmedstudent]

Roger Kneebone, professor of surgical education at Imperial College London, said that a decline in hands-on creative subjects at school and practical hobbies at home means that students often do not have a basic understanding of the physical world.Backing a campaign by educational thinktank the Edge Foundation to encourage more creative subjects in the national curriculum, Kneebone said spending hours engaged in virtual worlds was no substitute for experience in the real world.

Okay, you know what? I’m mad. Not at the interestingly named Mr Kneebone, but at the wider picture. Whilst the popularityof smartphones is real, there are still lots of young people out there making artistic things and being practical with their hands.  I just think it’s harder for those people to get into medicine. You want students to be more creative? Stop putting up the grade requirements for what you need to get into med school. There’s no reason why someone with A*AA would be a better doctor than someone with AAA or even AAB. You need someone with academic skills, but getting good grades is more than enough proof of someone’s ability to understand the basics and work hard; they don’t need to have ‘perfect’ results. Because it’s hard to balance A levels and getting the high grades you need to get in, with the extracurricular activities you need for emdicine, and preparing for the entrance  . And frankly, well-meaning older figures who got into med school when the grade boundaries were much lower, probably can’t always understand what the pressures are like today, unless they listen.

But Arts and crafts are incredibly time consuming and therefore difficult. And other arts that help with manual dexterity (say, playing an instrument) are also very time -consuming. Everyone likes the idea of a student who can play the violin or paint well, but they also like the idea of picking students with the absolute highest numerical marks; they want to have their cake and eat it. We end up with students feeling pressured to spend less time on creative exploits, only to be told that they aren’t developing enough skills because they gave up playing the piano or doodling to get the grades to get in and stay in medicine. But if you basically demand students have absolutely exceptional grades and ever increasing percentages in their exams, you’re basically guaranteeing that students who are creative will  be forced to put less time into their hobbies or give up entirely, in order to keep up with the demands. Because there’s only so much time in the day. And most of the creative students I know didn’t necessarily get the absolute best grades; they did welll, sure, but the students who do absolutely best in exams are often those with very little life outside of revision. I’m a crafty person; I learned to knit, to embroider, to sew. I taught myself to draw, to paint, to create. I’m exactly the kind of former med student that is perfect on paper in this context And you know what? That’s only ever been an interesting aside in medicine; my skills and interests in that arena have never been valued seriously, because when it matters, the criteria always default back to things like grades or publications, and eportfolios are another kind of hell entirely. At the med school application level, hobbies are a very small part of applications compared to grades, entrance exams, interviews, and the entirety of your personal statement, though at least they are acknowledged in that context. Further up, they count for a lot less. The emphasis is much more on other achievements. Which is what it is; there’s a lot to be said about medical training, progression, and what we choose to value or allocate points for when it comes to applications etc. But the point here is that it’s not entirely fair to criticise people for not allocating a huge amount of time to pursuits that you don’t in any way encourage or value when it comes to it. I am creative in spite of being in medicine, rather than being enabled by it.  If you really think creativity adds to medicine, then perhaps encouraging it, or explicitly valuing it in those who take the time, would encourage more people to be open about their interests, and encourage more people to keep up with them. Maybe this’d all be very well, if working in medicine itself didn’t crush the creativity, mental health, and general life out of the people who work in it. Many people I’ve worked with have expressed concerns with how medicine is increasingly becoming dominated by basic ‘service provision’ (i.e keeping the service running, but at the expense of learning opportunities or chances to really engage with patients), and protocols, and how the ability to think creatively in medicine is increasingly stifled because our progression is 100% about ticking boxes on our portfolios, which are surprisingly hard to actually do, because there’s just so many boxes to tick on top of working busy jobs with plenty of oncall 12h shifts. From what I know about surgical training, I don’t think it’s any healtheir than general medical training. There’s probably a lot that we could improve. And I agree, these hobbies and skills and being good with your hands is definitely important for medicine, particularly surgery. They are also just really, really fun in general, and it’d be great if more people got to explore their creative side. I don’t see the world as being separated between ‘creatives’ and non-creatives; I really believe that anyone can get into creative hobbies at any time in their life, and that there’s a creative hobby out there for everyone, potentially. One of my best friends picked up drawing again in her 30s, and I’m so glad she did, because it’s amazing how quickly she’s improved, and how much joy she gets out of it, and I honestly enjoy seeing her journey so much. So many people tell me “Ah you draw? I wish I could draw! I’m no good at that!”, but I think that they might well have more potential than they realised, if they didn’t feel put off by the idea that you have to pick up a hobby as a child, or else you won’t be any good. But that doesn’t ahve to be true, and anyhow, hobbies or creating don’t have to be about being good, they can be about enjoyment. But I don’t think it’s constructive to bemoan youngsters “not doing X enough” in general, or act like we’re divorced from all this. We, those in medicine, those who shape training, those who pick the criteria for what students get in, and those of us who shape society (that’s everyone, you included) also shoulder the responsibility. If we want students to do something, it’s up to us to facilitate that. To encourage. To give them the tools and the environment where exploring new hobbies is encouraged. To form an environment where students can learn these skills, and develop these experiences. I learned the fibre arts from my mum; many people might not have that kind of encouragement at a young age if their parents missed out on it. So how can we encourage kids into woodwork, or crafting, or music. Music is another rant and post altogether; learning instruments is expensive and difficult and it’s easy for a wealthy person to say ‘why aren’t kids learning instruments?’ as if everyone has the money to give their kids bassoon lessons. But in reality it can be hard to encourage participation in  we need to think about how to encourage kids to try new things, and to dedicate time to hobbies, in a world that increasingly puts more and more time demands on us all.

[myselfinserts]

“Ssh. Stop fussing. I’m just braiding your hair.”

One, two, three. One, two, three. One bundle over the other. Longer became shorter. 

As reluctant as he was.

“Come on, just stay still!”

“Mary, come on, I’m working!”

“There! Are you done?”

“Ssh. Stop fussing. I’m just braiding your hair. It was getting into the oil.”

“Yeah,” Regi sighed. “That’s bound to happen when you work in the support tech side of things. Everything gets into everything and you get messy. That’s just how it it.”

Marianne watched them bicker from her spot in the lab. Tanith was in class with Amaryllis right now and the three of them were supposed to go shopping for her birthday. It was the one time they were all home in the past month without having to tend to business. Such as Reginald’s upgrading of equipment. Or Mary’s latest charity D&D festival. Or Marianne’s ‘not really a raid’ assignments from the commissioner for the past year and a half.

God she hated that last one.

But it didn’t matter today. Because they were all home. They could all focus on Tanith.

At least, that was before Proto Postman’s Stun Stamp Gun started malfunctioning and Mr. Clifton asked Regi to personally take care of it.

Things just weren’t going right.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Regi said, his shoulders drooping. “But this is gonna be my biggest paid job to date, and it’ll look good for the team if we help Mr. Clifton. Plus, we need the cash. Fees on the training grounds went up and Tanith needs the space to practice until the entrance exams.”

Mary pouted, crossing her arms. “We probably wouldn’t need it if you cut out the IRN Bru and crisps. How much do those rack up a week?”

Regi’s voice when soft as he curled up on himself. “I need those snacks. They help me think.”

“They raise your blood pressure and cholesterol is what they do.”

“Enough,” Marianne sighed. “Look, how about a compromise. Regi can ask Amaryllis to hold Tanith for a little longer. Maybe have them teach her how to cleanse a place of negative energy, like the old Welwick house down by the private beaches. In an hour, giving Regi plenty of time to finish the gun, we’ll all head out and get the gift and pick up the cake and dinner. And tomorrow, we’ll also budget our books so that Regi can have his snacks and we don’t have to worry about paying the bills. Sound good?”

Mary and Regi looked at each other, smiling.

“Sure,” they agreed in unison. “That’ll work.”

Marianne smiled. 

“Good. Now Mary, come help me prep the rest of the setup. We have a lot to do before Tanith gets home.”

Mary nodded and gave Regi a quick peck on the lips before scurrying upstairs. Marianne followed, pausing only for a moment to look back at her brother, who had returned his focus to the gun.

She almost could have sworn he heard him sniffle.

“Mary, come on! That’s enough!”

“Ssh. Stop fussing. I’m just braiding your hair.”

Marianne rolled her eyes as she tried not to complain about it. Mary did her best to try and put her hair back into its usual loop braids, but the constant tugging on her scalp was too much. She swatted her friend’s hands away, letting her hair fall back down. Lady L continued her barraged of paper balls at them.

“When she says no, it mean no,” L slurred. “She looks better with her hair down anyway.”

Mary glared at her. “Will you stop acting like a child?”

“Only when you stop acting like a real jerk.”

“Enough,” the police chief sighed. “We’re glad you two are okay. It probably would have ended a lot worse had you not been there.”

“It’s alright,” Marianne sighed. “I’m just glad it’s over.”

“Me too,” L groaned.

The chief looked at Marianne. “She okay?”

“She just got a dose of pain meds. She’ll be loopy like that for a while-”

L hit her with another paper ball. “You’re loopy!”

“Like I said, she’ll be fine. We both will.” Marianne smiled. “I should be let out in a couple of weeks. Just as soon as my quirk becomes usable again. Right now I can’t really use it, and I have major stitches, but other that that I’m good.

Mary smiled, ignoring the balls hitting her head. “Well, that’s good to hear. Because there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

L stopped the barrage. “No questions. Only glory.”

“Ignore her,” Marianne sighed. “Go on.”

The chief smiled. “Skald here wants to offer you a job. A position with the Elemental Geodes.”

The room went dead silent. Marianne couldn’t believe this. She’d been working towards this her whole life. Joining the Geodes meant tenure. It meant stability for your family. It meant unlimited travel and helping people. It was a Hero’s dream. A team of the best from across the world joining together against evil.

And she’d made it?

“You’re joking.”

“Nope,” Mary giggled. “We’re doing some shuffling right now and we all get one person to offer a position. You’ll get an Elemental title and moved into HQ, and everything will be taken care of for you. You’ll be free to do almost any hero assignment.”

L raised an eyebrow. “Almost any assignement?”

The chief nodded. “Each member of the Geodes gets a title and an assigned sector.”

“I talked with Cindra before coming,” Mary explained. “So this offer is 100% legit. I’d like you to come join us under the title of Salt, and you’d be given one of the top spots in our organization heading a department. With that, you’d end up being part of the commitee that assigns heroes to jobs, collects intel, making major decisions-”

“Which department?” Marianne asked excitedly. 

“You’d be heading up our Special Operatives Raid Division.”

Marianne felt her throat get tight. She could feel a tingling deep in her bones. The breath against her ear. The rocky wall behind her. The sight of everyone convulsing and crying in pain. 

The knives.

The blood.

The screams.

“Get out,” she muttered.

Mary and the chief looked at her, completely baffled. Mary gently took Marianne’s hand. “Mari-”

Marianne smacked it away, her voice raising. “I said GET OUT!”

Mary’s eyes began to well with tears. Marianne didn’t care. She could feel the pain. The pain wouldn’t let go. The ridicule of being ‘just a healer’. The inadequacy. The near death every time she was paired up with other heroes. She saw the pain everywhere. She saw it all over L’s masked face. All over Tanith’s whenever she’d caught them fighting. All over Regi’s face whenever Mary made a little comment about him.

Pain. 

Nothing but pain.

Make it stop.

“Marianne, what’s wrong? Why are you-”

���You wanna know what’s wrong?!” Marianne got up and started pacing the room. Her breathing was getting shallow. She was dizzy. She didn’t care. She’d opened her stitches again. She didn’t care.

She was done.

“Here I am after nearly dying and you’re asking me to permanently put myself in that position again! I told you. I told all of you, ‘no more raids’! I’m not going to be some two bit RPG Healer to round out your teams anymore! In all my years as a hero, none of you treated me with any amount of respect! ‘You’re nothing but a rinky-dinky nurse with a flash splash power’. ‘You aren’t a real hero!’ ‘Leave this one to the real heroes!’ I’M SICK OF IT!”  She kicked over one of the chairs. “All I’ve wanted to do since I came back to Elspie was see my baby brother! To hug him and tell him I love him and apologize for hurting him and not being there when he needed me most! And instead I had to go play bait for some villains and former heroes in a hideout raid!”

L snickered. “Go off, girl!” She threw a ball at the police chief’s head. “Hey. Hey, hey. Did you know Sparky Sparky bitch man was heading the operation on the villains side?”

Marianne froze, slowly turning her head to look at the chief, who crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall. “Did you know Zap would be there? That he had a grudge against me?”

The chief didn’t look her in the eye. “We had suspicions but weren’t able to confirm anything until you two brought him back in a body bag.”

Everything snapped shut. Marianne’s voice went cold.

“Get out of here. Both of you. I don’t ever want to see you two again. You can tell Cindra thank you for the offer, but I wouldn’t touch another raid party unless you tied me down and strung me up like a pig over a spitfire. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have any friends or allies there. And I certainly don’t have any in front of me right now.”

“Marianne, I am your friend!” Mary insisted. “We’ve been friends for years! I’ve always been there for you!”

“Then call me once I’ve been permanently blacklisted by the Geodes. Then we’ll talk over lunch and start over. Otherwise, I want nothing to do with you right now. Get out of my room!”

Mary’s eyes went wide as she got up and ran out of the room, crying heavily.

“Marianne,” the chief said calmly. “If you turn this down, you’ll be blacklisted in every other major city across the isles. Turning down the Geodes isn’t a good idea. You’re not All Might. Hell, you’re not even Renegade. You’re not strong enough to manage a hero career on your own.”

Marianne didn’t waver. “Then I guess I’ll have to go and find a hospital to work at instead. I hear they’re always looking for doctors, and last I checked, I am a certified field doctor. Shouldn’t be too hard for me to breeze through medical school again.”

“Mither-”

“Get. Out.”

The chief shook her head and left without another word.

L looked at her, the medication finally starting to make her sleepy. “Hey, Marianne?”

Marianne looked at her, drying her tears away. “Yes, L?”

“You got at least one person in your corner.” L held up her fists. “I’ll give anyone who gives you trouble a mean right hook. So don’t say you don’t have an ally. That’s what I’m here for.”

“That so?” Marianne smiled. “Thanks...” She knew L probably didn’t mean it. She was higher than a kite being flown by the Banks family in Mary Poppins. But fuck it. She didn’t care. She was glad L was there.

For once, seeing her face reflected back at her was a comfort.

[fiftyshadesofocs]

ROASTING A BNHA OC - Nakajimi Aiko

HI YES WE AREN’T DEAD. 

We were patiently waiting all this time! You know why? Because the second season of BNHA is out, and since - it seems - we mostly do BNHA on here, then why not wait until some new ocs would come out. 

And who are we presenting to you today?

suukiishie-create’s character, Nakajimi Aiko. This is gonna be one hell of a ride.

Mod Cloud -

Okaaaaaay I'm all fired up !! Yep, this time I'm opening the clash, let's go, shall we ?

Biographical Information

Japanese Name: 中島愛子 Rōmaji Name: Nakajima Aiko Alias: Chīsana Kyojin ( 小さな巨人/ The Little Giant )

> The Little Giant, well that's cute as fuck but I'm sure there's much more names to choose, it's kinda common. ( Just think about the one in Haikyuu, or the soccer team in Inazuma Eleven, for instance... )

Personal Description

Birthday: January 20th Age: 15 Gender: Female Hair Color: Pale Orange

> In all honesty, I was sure she was blonde. Pale Orange is a great color but well... Where's the orange in her hair ? Just say "blonde" and we'll stop here.

Eye Color: Dark Brown Blood Type: A+

Quirk: Size Manipulation / Healing

> HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT. You’re joking, aren’t you ? Really ? But WHY does BnHA OCs NEEDS to have TWO FUCKING Quirks for Arceus' sake ??? I mean, look, size manipulation is already a really nice power but why does she needs to get something else — healing to be precise — to look more badass and shit ? I'm sure healing Quirks are kinda uncommon and it's really — sorry but I can't tell what I think otherwise — stupid to give a power like that without real reason. ( In fact there is below, but for me, it's awful shit. )

Status Status: Alive Occupation: Student Department: Department of Heroes Class: 1 – A Affiliation: Yuuei

Classical shit. :)

Family: Nakajima Hiro (father – Transformation Quirk); Nakajima Kaguya (mother – Quirkless); Shūzenji Chiyo (maternal grandmother – Healing Quirk – Alias: Recovery Girl)

> I'm fucking dying. Recovery Girl, really ? If your OC is Chiyo's grand-child, she should have the same quirk as her, no ? It's fucking logical, I don't even understand why does Recovery Girl is in her bloodline when Aiko has a size manipulation Quirk. The pro hero is just an excuse for « allowing » her to get healing powers. B U L L S H I T.

Love Interest: Bakugou Katsuki

> Like 90% of female OCs (including me) I'm not even surprised. ( Roast asked me to guess with whom that OC was in love. I should have done a bet with them, I won lmao. ) [ Mod Roast: I can confirm and thank god we didn’t LMAO ]

Personality Multiple; Sarcastic; Loud Mouth; Perverted; Sweet; Loyal; Temperamental; Confident

> What is this shit ? Sweet and Perverted aren't AT ALL in the same register, it's awkward for fuck's sake. And I don't get it, « Multiple » ? Does she have some issues as regards her behavior ? Not like bipolarity or whatever but something in that case ? I hope it's written below.

When you first meet her, she comes off as overly dramatic, usually spewing profanity and loves calling hot guys “daddy” out loud. 

> Ahem. I'll say nothing about the daddy kink but it's really awkward when we saw her appearance. She looks like a pre-teen, for Aizawa's sake ! [ Mod Roast: And also she’s 15. Everyone there is 15 or 16. Please. DON’T call children ‘daddy’ or ‘mommy’. PLEASE. ]

She has a tendency to fall in love too quickly, and is very protective and jealous over her love interests. 

> I like this part, I admit it. (Not because my baby is jealous as fuck over her boyfriend because she feels too insecure, no no)

Her size manipulation is tied into her emotions, so it is very common for her to shrink and grow randomly throughout the day.

> Well, that's nice to know but why is that iin her personality description ? You can explain that her Quirk is linked to her emotions or something like that, but I think it's not useful to say in that way she is changing her size whenever she feels anger or happiness, I don't know. Maybe you can develop the idea and change the way you have explain that part. That'll be better and more interesting.

She may be over the top and crazy, but she has an amazing heart and is the best friend anyone could ask for, going completely out of her way for loved ones. Basically if you can get past the initial judgement she is bae. (This description was not written by me)

> It's not bad at all, but I think «judgment» is a bit too much. She is a selective person ? You don't explain it, so I don't fully understand your OC's personality. Oh well, that's maybe because this description isn't even a description. For instance, mine are LITTERALLY a novel. Ask Roast if I'm lying, they always read my shit when I'm finishing my OCs' datas. [ Mod Roast: YOU COULD MAKE A FUCKING BIBLE WITH ONE OF HER DESCRIPTIONS. Mod Cloud is a MONSTER. ]

What. It's your OC and you haven't wrote it by yourself ? I don't judge it because you may have faith in your friend's ability in writing — and that's nice of you — but you haven't put something else in the paragraph ? You just copy-pasted it and that's done ? I really feel stupid to be honest ‘cause I'm roasting your OC but you didn’t even wrote the whole thing and I'm doing a critic about your friend's work. Your OC is even worse than I thought, because you didn’t even take the time to use your friend's work to develop better your OC.

History Before joining U.A., she had a relatively normal childhood, considering her mother is Quirkless. 

> What's the problem with the fact that her mother is Quirkless ?

Her father has worked with her since she was a young child to try to teach her how to control her size manipulation. Her father is a huge pervert, which really helped shape her personality. 

> That's nice her father has an influence in her character, even if it's not in the best way lmao. [ Mod Roast: It’s also pretty disgusting that she was influenced in that way, yuk. Like that’s her father, for fuck’s sake. Don’t talk about boobs and daddy kinks with your fucking father. HE SHOULD ACTUALLY DO THE OPPOSITE, LIKE, THAT’S ALSO A FATHER’S JOB. ]

She has never met her maternal grandparents, after hearing about her grandfathers death she decided to seek out her grandmother, wanting to build a relationship with her, though she only knows her real name, not her alias, only knowing she works at U.A, which is why she chose this school.

> I almost laughed, it looks like a stalker's story. That's almost ridiculous, that's the only reason she enteed Yuuei ? Don't you know that phones and Internet and rendez-vous exists ? That's pretty awkward.

Her mother ran away as a child because she was Quirkless and felt like she was letting her mother down though it wasn’t something she could control.

> Just what the fuck is this thing ? Recovery Girl isn't the kind of person who thinks that way, I'm almost sure. Plus that's useless, you put those words here and that's it. That's  not even a story, that's too short. Work on it for Bakugou's short sake, I feel ashamed like crazy. [ NMod Roast: Recovery Girl being someone who works in the medical department, it’s very unlikely she would be mean with quirkless people. Just saying. It’s like saying that a doctor would discriminate a patient because they have an handicap. ]

And yeah, that’s- that’s it, there’s nothing else to day, I’m done.

Mode Roast -

Oh boy of boy, with what shoudl I begin. Well with the beginning of course ahaha, hm sorry. I lied we’re going to begin with the quirk.

Quirk and Abilities Body Size Transformation (Bodi Saizu Henkan / ボディサイズ変換 ): The ability to resize your body at any time, making one-self extremely small or large at will. Healing ( Hīringu / ヒーリング ): The ability to heal others by touching them with the palm of the hand. Healing is limited and only works in small spurts. --hand me down power from an relative. Strength Proportioning (Kyōdo Puro Po /  強度プロポ): Her strength is proportionate to whatever size her body is, i.e. she will not have super human strength if she is shrunken down to the size of a flea.

WE’RE STARTING WELL IT SEEMS. Do I really need to explain why the “strenght proportioning” isn’t a quirk? That shit’s normal. Did you know that a spider’s web is one of the most resistant materials? But why can a person break it easily? Because of our size too baby, boom. If you piut more strigns together, it’ll be more resistant. So sorry to break it to ya but that ain’t a quirk. 

Also why the fuck does she needs two quirks. She can already become gigantic and small at will, like, isn’t that enough?! A character doesn’t need to have two or more quirks to be strong, look at the characters in the show! All of them have their unique ways to be strong in their own way, even the characters that aren’t in class A in the first place! And what’s that, a relative gave their powers to her? Don’t you know that only All Might has this kind of quirk with the One For All, as Izuku stated it in one of the episodes, that we never heard about a quirk that could be passed to someone else? Work more.

Other Statistics

-   Hero Status    - Power: 4/5 B Speed: 2/5 D Technique: 3/5 C Intelligence: 5/5 A Cooperativeness: 0/5 F

-   Fight    - Leadership: 5/5 Physical Strength: 4/5 Stamina: 3/5 Observation: 4/5 Agility: 3/5 Mental Strength: 3/5 Willpower: 5/5

Why is her cooperativeness so damn low, what does she wanna prove;; ALSO THIS IS BULLSHIT, SINCE HER LEADERSHIT IS 5/5. A leader also has to know how to cooperate, that is BASIC AS FUCK. And the fact that she seems unable to cooperate also makes me doubt about her super intelligence right there miss.

Trivia - Aiko is no.23 in Class 1-A. - Her name Nakajima Aiko 中島愛子  means Little Love Island ; her nickname is Ai. - She ranked 11th during the Entrance Exam, with 41 rescue points and 7 villain points. - She also ranked 11th for the Quirk Apprehension Test. - She uses mainly her Body Size Transformation Quirk to stay small. - She uses her Healing Quirk a lot in battle even though it drains her physical energy. - She uses her Body Size Transformation Quirk to become large as a last resort.

Yeah so 11 is kinda her lucky number I guess. That means she took Kouda’s place for the quirk apprehention test and someonelse’s place, isn’t that beautiful. Well it’s only natural since she’s in class A, right. 

★ Conclusion:

Mod Roast: Bad. Bad. MS. Two quirks. Not developped enough. *sprays water* Go. Away.

Mod Cloud: Is that even an OC? Holy shit...