The Newbies

Ah, they're so cute. So fresh and enthusiastic.

So YOUNG. No, I'm serious, they're all about 19 or 20, or the group I met was.

Today I had my first meeting with the new group of first-year medical students. My university has this unique in Canada programme of "Med-P" which is where kids make the choice before entering university, and apply directly to medicine. Usually the kids of doctors, they often have a more complete view of what they are in for than do most nineteen-year olds. They do a one-year access course to give them the foundation in science and then they work like hell to catch up with people who have undergraduate- or graduate-level degrees.

They generally are more enthusiastic and energetic than the jaded graduates. They study harder, obsess about details and exams and how to pass. They all pass, of course: they're brilliant!

And they have no idea what else is out there.

Good luck, kids. Try and have some fun. Don't get old before your time.