Was frantically running around doing the things I usually whine about, and realized I’ve been doing this thing for seven months now. Seven months, of whining, doing things ANYWAY, whining, doing things ANYWAY, because really, WHADDAYAGONNADO. And WHO should I see surpassing my franticness and secretly whining in their heads but… this year’s batch of pre-residents! Pre-residency has always been some sort of an event, because really, with all the rote-ness going on in the daily grind, we welcome any sort of new face we could come across. New faces, red and plump and cherried, which we hope won’t dry up and prunify at the slightest provocation. This of course leads to all sorts of nostalgification, as it has only been four fucking years ago that I was in those same darn shoes.

Pre-residency specially in this department can be quite tricky. Everyone is competitive as hell, and knowing what is coming to them once they get accepted you would wonder why they are fighting for these positions ANYWAY. Yet despite the competitiveness one should still project some sort of congeniality, but at the same time you don’t want to be too congenial lest you be misconstrued as being too laid back, but at the same freaking time you don’t want to be misconstrued as being a total cut-throat bitch, but at the SAME bleeping time with just three weeks of opportunity to shine amongst the fifty or so competitors who has time to NOT be a cut-throat bitch ANYWAY? So the best image to probably project is that of an unfazed busy-busyhan applicant.

We all have our dark, dirty strategies on how we got in, but we will not go into the details here. Too embarrassing, and even I have my limits on self-deprecation. Just remember, applicants, that this is not the end of the world, you are not fighting for one million dollars, you won’t get cancer if you don’t get accepted, and there are far better opportunities elsewhere. If those nuggets of advice don’t convince you, just look at me. I got accepted, finished it, and right now I’m miserable as hell.

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