Electro Kevin's men...

One of my oldest blogging friends, Electro Kevin, has some great news to impart. He doesn't do a blog at the moment, but is a regular on C@W and other great sites, where I can see his posts and other stuff.

Since I started doing an online sort of thing nearly eleven years ago (when the real Scotton Pinkney site was around), I made so many good online friends, like Lilith, Philipa, Idle, Tuscan Tony, The Lakekelander and several others, I miss them all, especially Kev, who is a stalwart in his own skin, and we've heard of his twin sons who started getting going since before the eleven plus which they passed just like that!

I'll just cut and paste Kev's comments for the world to see, because Mrs O'Blene and I are are just feeling great about the results!

(Elec's posts)...

Sorry to brag, Scrobs. 

I just can't keep it in. 

Laddo's come back from med school (2nd year - where did that go ?) and has won a 4 year scholarship to research brain tumours during his summer hols. He gets mentored by leading brain surgeons and specialists - maybe a stint in Harvard too. 

£2k a year so no more Deliveroo at weekends for him. Yay !

This is the medical equivalent of being selected for the youth squad of a top six Premier League side. Literally top in his year. 

He's decided he wants to be a brain surgeon and hopefully this will set him up with the contacts, experience and CV he needs to be selected for it. 

They like his attitude and from the Facebook pages he is clearly a very popular young student. 

The other twin is doing well too - MSc in Chemistry, excellent results but not quite so driven. V proud of him too.

They were nine eleven years ago so we were in the prep stage. I recall that period. We could not afford to have both go through the tuition so we paid for one and Mum got paid in free tuition for invigilating the weekend mock exams which went on for about a year. 

The boys got to the grammar and Sam decided that he wanted to be a doctor at 14, which we took with a pinch of salt (most kids say that) but looked up what he needed to do. 

He had to build a CV of voluntary work, DofE, sport - a set of extra curricular activities that developed well roundedness. He represented England at orienteering, coached in underwater hockey, helped out in a hospice at weekends and held down paper rounds and shop jobs (in sixth form.) It was important to keep him in a motivating peer group - both orienteering and underwater hockey have a fair number of doctors in them. 

When his GCSE results came in we knew he was a contender. He got the near perfect scores that medical school demand. He then opted for IB instead of A levels with a bent towards chemistry, biology and maths. He got 39 out of 45 which is the equivalent of 4 A* + 1 B at A level. 

Only one university offered him an interview. As it happens the one that did took him on. 

The less I say on this the better. I can understand universities rejecting a candidate of this calibre but to not even interview him ??? We can all surmise why. 

Their loss, quite clearly. 

We are so thankful to Leeds for taking him on. 
As well as his IB he had to take two extra exams: UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) and British Medical Aptitude Test (BMAT) - these were taken at the local driving test centre where everyone else was doing their driving theory test. This on top of an already heavy workload. 

This guy is EXACTLY the type you'd want poking around your brain in a crisis.

rvi - I have twins. The other is doing a chemistry MSc and is scoring 90%s in exams and dissertations (Southampton)... yet this is overshadowed (we are trying to be conscious of this situation.)

Sorry to brag yet again. I'm just astonished by it all and trying to comprehend it. 

Durham is a fantastic university. My niece has a shot at Oxbridge but wants Durham for her English Lit as it is the most revered in this subject. 

Her Dad's Chief Scientist Engineer at Gillette and her uncle's head engineer on fuel systems at Jaguar. There are several teacher in the family and wifey's a systems analyst by profession... and here I am... a simple train driver serving the drinks !

I do feel a bit left behind at family gatherings now. 

(We had a house full of med students last summer.)

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Scrobs here now - All I've done is cut and paste the lot, as they're Kev's words, not mine, so the story unfolds magnificently!

I'm absolutely delighted and so is Mrs Scrobs, that we see the result of a lovely family, over half a generation of time on this small blog, but seeing men actually, getting there!

Best news this year by far!