What direction to head in after semester 1?

With the absolutely dreadful first semester examination period over, many students, in particular health sci students may be stuck in limbo. Results do not mean everything however they will be flooding in in the coming weeks. This makes for nervous times as pretty much it will determine how on track you are to your goals. In this blog I will be talking about potential situations that you ma be in after getting your semester one results and the potential pathways and advice I wish I were told during this stressful time. 

The first situation are those individuals that are absolutely over the moon, ecstatic with their results, these results differ between everyone, whether its someone who gained 100% in all four papers to an individual that managed to reach the 70% threshold, getting through the first semester of HSFY should be something you should be proud of. As I said if you are one of those people who scored extremely well and are on the right track towards medicine or dentistry I congratulate you, obviously what you did first semester paid off big time. My advice for you is super simple, keep it up, you're already halfway through one of the hardest academic years of your life and there is no point giving up now. In saying that I know coming from someone who definitely did not get these grades and envied those who did, please, pretty please do not be arrogant and flaunt your grades like the feathers on a peacock and wear them like a badge of honour. Because although you may have done exceedingly well, others may have not and at the end of the day everyone is in the same boat trying to get to the same destination, in order to get to that destination in the quickest amount of time you have to work together as a team. So in short, congrats, keep at it, but don't be a dick.

The next is to those who definitely by no means do badly however their percentage sits around the high 80s, low 90s (however may be higher due to the 5% grade boost but what I mean are those who aren't guaranteed to get into med after semester 1). This is where I personally sat and it sucks because you know that you have worked so hard just to come up a little short. But lucky enough for you, there is another semester for you to bump up that percentage. The first thing that I would address is what worked well and what didn't't work well. I know that this is hard to do because of the while global pandemic thing that swept the nation last semester and therefore online learning became the new normal, but there has to be some adjustments that potentially could be made. The first thing that needs to be done is to prioritise what you want out of the upcoming semester, do you want to be in the best position academically or do you want to focus on other things whether it be your relationships, friends, sports or hobbies. There is no real right answer here, but in my opinion, you only get to do HSFY once and you might as well give it your all next semester.

The next scenario are those individuals who are high 70s, low 80s or higher. I would say keep at it, depending on what you want to do in the future, these grades are good enough for some of the other options as long as you work hard semester 2. Potentially if you are lower 70s, but still met the threshold you may still be able to get into physiotherapy, pharmacy or even dentistry, remember you can get rid of your worst paper and replace it with your optional paper next semester. Dropping out of HSFY shouldn't really be on your mind unless you know you do not want to do any of the professional programs and instead you should focus on what you really enjoy. There is a broad enough range of subjects that are covered in first semester where you can really find something you are interested in.

The final situation are those who failed a paper, didn't meet the 65% or 70% threshold you were looking for or just had a shit time in general during semester 1. There are still options out there and pathways for you to pursue. Look for the positives. although there may be not many, and they're probably hard to find I know for a fact that there is always a silver lining in everything you do. In the most optimistic way possible look for different avenues that you can pursue. The most important thing is though to keep a positive mindset and not get dragged into a spiralling hole with no end in sight. Once again I reiterate, grades do not define who you are as a person. they are merely a way of assessing ones ability to retain and recall knowledge. The university provides a career advice program which may be helpful. As someone who did not end up pursuing a professional program after HSFY, I may also be able to provide some guidance and help if you will so feel free to email me at HSFYblog@gmail.com.

I hope that this blog was useful and helped ease some of the angst that surrounds with the end of semester 1 especially when grades begin to come out. Over the next few days I will be writing a few more blogs, in particular covering the three core semester 2 papers, what paper you should choose as your fourth or should you take a fourth? Outside of those two I don't have many other ideas, potentially may branch outside of HSFY and talk about flatting or what not, but if there are any topics that you want me to cover feel free to email me at the aforementioned email address and i'll be sure to respond, or comment below. Cheers.