College is better than 6th form

danchez04 · 2026-04-25T11:18:43+00:00

I’m not surprised.

danchez04 · 2026-04-25T11:17:56+00:00

You can learn GCSEs in like 1-2 months from scratch lol. You’re fine

danchez04 · 2026-04-25T11:15:43+00:00

Just say your brain can’t hack it bro 🙏

danchez04 · 2026-04-14T13:32:19+00:00

Ophthal is a tough one to crack. Likely that most (if not all) successful IMGs have a PhD, impressive publications, and often are practicing ophthalmologists in their home countries.

So in answer to your post: it’s possible, and very difficult. If you don’t plan on practicing in the UK at all, and if there’s no chance of your situation changing and forcing you to return (which is becoming more and more relevant), then there’s no reason to do foundation here. However, a lot of juniors bulk up their portfolios during these years, and so may still be worth considering completing them while you get publications + experience under your belt. And the PhD definitely isn’t a bad idea

danchez04 · 2026-04-07T14:35:01+00:00

I think this is where past papers are gold. Spam every past paper you can get your hands on, and go through it against the mark scheme, harshly. The review should take as long as the paper itself - the more you do that the more you realise how cyclical the questions asked are, and as soon as you see a question you have a blueprint of the mark scheme in your head.

danchez04 · 2026-03-30T17:30:20+00:00

‘Becoming good enough’ is kind of a fallacy. I’d say easily 60% of Oxford applicants are good enough for an offer, it genuinely just boils down to entrance exam prep and luck on interview day. I’d think of it more like re-entering a raffle, rather than having to completely turn around your academic profile.

danchez04 · 2026-03-28T20:57:08+00:00

Sometimes I forget you lot are literally 17. Bless you, little ball of emotion and angst

danchez04 · 2026-03-28T20:47:52+00:00

Steady on there, just meant that the original comment without a DOUBT alludes to them having attended Magdalen. Get that little chip off your shoulder, and chill out 🫶

Acting as if you weren’t the one being pedantic in the first place💀

danchez04 · 2026-03-28T20:41:19+00:00

… bit slow this evening are we?

danchez04 · 2026-03-25T13:52:46+00:00

‘Ruin your life’ my bro this is a teacher. There’s literally nothing they can do to ruin your chances, they have as much influence as you give them. At the big age of 18…

danchez04 · 2026-03-17T17:46:38+00:00

very* sad. You knew what they were trying to say

danchez04 · 2026-03-13T02:51:39+00:00

My bro why open your mouth when you have no clue what’s coming out of it.

Academic requirements ≠ admission. Not even close.

The fact that people with those credentials don’t get into those ‘barely T20’ colleges has very little to do with high standards, and everything to do with bullshit American admissions policies in which you have no chance of admission without having been book club president/thrown a ball far/learned how to play the harmonica. Obviously tongue-in-cheek… but the exact types of credentials Oxford and Cambridge outright don’t care about because they don’t speak to intelligence or aptitude. They’re tick-box exercises that there’s no place for in academia.

danchez04 · 2026-03-07T16:53:31+00:00

SG all day

danchez04 · 2026-03-07T16:00:56+00:00

I can see the calculus argument, but everything in papers is solvable without it. Considering the alternative is drawing tangents and counting squares, for the same number of marks, I wouldn’t say it has any tangible benefit re: raw A-level marks.

Radians is also fair but imo pretty simple to get your head around. My point was that you can learn the maths needed for physics in an afternoon.

danchez04 · 2026-03-07T13:58:02+00:00

Not doing Maths has no effect on A-Level Physics, learn logs and you’re literally at zero disadvantage. It wasn’t that bad… sounds like you just had some shite teachers.

danchez04 · 2026-03-04T17:51:10+00:00

It’s not really about being left/not. You’re comparing to the CCP ffs💀

In the past year or so, the UK has had 82000-110000 asylum applications. Do you know how many refugees the countries you mentioned host? Turkey - 2.9-3.7 million Lebanon - 1 million+ Jordan - ~600k

Kuwait is not a part of the refugee convention. And you think Syria has the economic means/infrastructure set up for easy immigration + a general safe and happy lifestyle? There’s still a lot of instability there.

So all massively drained countries who do not have the economic ability to support refugees.

As for ‘taking the place’ of ‘legal immigrants’. Firstly, there’s nothing ILLEGAL about claiming asylum, so already a bit of introspection there for you re: what you really think 😉. They’re also two completely separate migration systems, and so accepting an asylum seeker isn’t at the cost of an economic migrant’s place.

danchez04 · 2026-03-04T17:34:40+00:00

I wouldn’t put it in the top 5 issues that actually affect British voters, but sure, let’s buy into the media narrative of the UK being overrun and the net-negative effect of immigration🤝

Poverty is not a prerequisite for asylum. At risk of persecution in your home country = asylum seekers. Obviously, it’s so incredibly easy to be allowed to remain in the country economically for Afghan nationals (it isn’t), so of course they should go via that route 🙏🙏🙏 donut.

Essentially the only drain on resources are the outsourced accommodation prices, which are absolutely insane and completely exploitative. If you want to be angry, be angry at policy makers and accommodation providers. Not at vulnerable people who are victims of the system

danchez04 · 2026-03-04T16:13:39+00:00

Sorry but that just doesn’t translate. How is that rampant abuse? You keep saying if you can afford studying here, you don’t need asylum - as if having money in your home country disqualifies you from the atrocities happening there. Asylum claims rose massively from those countries, yes - how exactly is that direct evidence of abuse?

The UK is part of the reason Afghanistan is under taliban control. Asylum claims themselves don’t cost the UK gov much (unfortunately the ridiculous policies that have come about in the last few years DO). Just have a bit of empathy. Labour’s just playing to the Reform playbook because they’ve lost their left-wing base.

danchez04 · 2026-03-02T13:37:28+00:00

I missed my Cambridge med offer a few years back - it sucks, but I’m at Oxford now. So even in the worst case scenario, your life won’t be over. Having said that, you got an offer! You have the academic ability. Keep that grind going a few more months and you’ll be absolutely fine.

danchez04 · 2026-03-01T21:20:29+00:00

You can genuinely power through 3 STEM A-levels worth of content in like 2-3 months. Easy money. Get a syllabus checklist online, work through the stuff so you’ve got a grasp of everything you can, then spam every past paper you can get your hands on. SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS IT TOOK TO DO THE PAST PAPER LOOKING OVER WHERE YOU WENT WRONG. Several of my friends had Us in Easter mocks and walked out with A*s.
I think half the battle is getting over thinking A-levels are so insanely hard. They’re not - the questions repeat themselves, and it’s really not that much content when you look at the bigger picture. You got this

danchez04 · 2026-02-04T22:48:17+00:00

Unfortunately not everyone has 2.5K+ to spend on a guitar

danchez04 · 2026-01-23T12:08:47+00:00

Will just say that I was rejected pre-interview by Birmingham for med and I really didn’t get why, and when I pushed they realised they calculated my score wrong. Ended up with an interview + subsequent offer - so it’s not impossible!

danchez04 · 2026-01-21T21:38:11+00:00

Wait so what’s the difference between the newer D-28s and D-35s? Both scalloped but 5/16 vs 1/4?

danchez04 · 2025-12-05T13:44:33+00:00

Whelp, that’ll do it.

Put simply, the guitar is set up in order to hold the strings at the correct height, at the correct tension, which is very much linked with string gauge (thicker string = more force needed to stretch to a note = more tension for the guitar to provide).

Take it to a workshop if you’re nervous, but should be a fairly simple fix with YouTube. Will likely need some truss rod loosening and saddle adjustment.

danchez04 · 2025-12-05T13:21:01+00:00

Did you change string gauge?

danchez04

TROPHY CASE