DECISION:

I thought long and hard before I made a decision to leave my home country to try a different career pathway, which was not a popular choice among the majority in my college. 

I did not know about PLAB until my cousin introduced me to it during my final year of medical college. In retrospect, I’m very glad he did. 

In our country, we have a post graduate exam called NEET which is purely marks based. It is difficult but achievable. Once you pass NEET, the post graduation course lasts for a span of three years at the end of which you are pronounced an MD/MS doctor. 

The UK route seemed a little uncertain as it takes 8-10 years to receive your completion certificate. Secondly, it also requires CV building, financial investment and more importantly I had very little guidance available. Leaving the comfort of home (especially not being able to be around my parents as they are growing old) was my biggest fear. 

Despite all this, I wanted to explore the medical education system outside my country. I wanted to do something different, something unique! I read about NHS (National health service) and fell in love with the quality of the health care. I wanted to be out of the rat race in India and take my time. I sat down to explain it to my parents and they were very supportive. 

Pages like Naseers journey, road to UK and savvyimg were the best sources I found to gain all the information regarding IELTS/PLAB/life in the UK. They were extremely helpful in understanding the process as it seemed very complicated.