Education Who has/done what?

No tuition or direct out-of-pocket expenses is what I meant. But you already knew that.

 

EMS is an awesome career so long as you don't expect to make much money. Medics do OK, but EMTs are generally recognized as being one of the most under-paid providers out there. I think Nursing assistants are the only ones who get it worse than us, and there is no way I would take that job (despite having the license).

It also depends on where you work. In this county EMS is entirely fire based and if you're not on a fire department you're stuck running non-emergent transports. In some places the city contracts with a private service to handle EMS and so you'll be right in the thick of it from day 1. Some places have a third service model where EMS is a separate government agency, and this is probably the best deal if you can get it.

The place I worked the last three years did almost exclusively non-emergent transports which had it's up sides and down sides. The down side is that it's frequently dull and toting gomers from the hospital to the nursing home or back and forth to the kidney center is hardly exciting. On the plus side, we also did a lot of stuff my fire department colleagues never do such as mental health and long distance transports. My record so far is picking up a patient in Vancouver BC and transporting them to Portland OR. We took patients that needed a higher level of care to Seattle (an hour and a half) pretty regularly. I've been in the hyperbaric chamber at Virginia Mason, given report at the Harborview ER, and been inside Western State Hospital (State psych hospital),none of which are things most EMS people ever do.

EMS is one of those things you do because you love. No amount of money would make it worthwhile otherwise.

 

GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education. These are taken at age 15/16 in the 12th year of education and are mandatory. They're in the basics; maths, English, science (may be split in to physics, chemistry and biology), religious education etc. Pretty much everyone will do around 10 GCSEs.

After GCSEs you can go on to do A-Levels (Advanced level General Certificate of Education) in the 13th & 14th years of education. Generally at least 5 GCSEs are grade A*-C are required to be accepted to study A-levels. A-levels are more specialised and are almost always a requirement to do a university degree. People generally end up with 3 A-levels and one AS (Advanced Subsidiary - basically half an A-level). For example, I did Maths, Further Maths, IT and Physics A-Levels (two of which were required for my Engineering Masters degree) and General Studies AS-Level.

 

12 O levels, 3 A levels, 1 AO Level.
BSc(Hons) Microbiology
MSc Computer Modelling

12 years as an analyst in the IT-specific call centre industry. Left that, tried to set up my own company, failed dismally.

Have recently started teaching adult learning, and am currently spending one day a week studying for a PGCE(PCET) course.


EDIT: Oh, and for those across the pond, GCSEs were introduced in the late 80s; their precursor equivalents were split into GCE O Levels (General Certificate of Education, ordinary level), which were for more academic students, and CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education), which were for less academic students. The two were combined in the late 80s to form the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Until 2000, AS Level was actually an advanced A Level required for entry to top tier universities like Oxford or Cambridge, and the AO Level was half an A Level (most A Level students at the time did something like an AO Level exam in General Studies because it was a qualification that didn't actually require any additional studying).

There has been much criticism over A Level results in recent years, because the number of students receiving an A grade is increasing year-on-year - the reason for that depends on whether you took new or old style A Level exams!

 

Something to do with swarm robotics, I think he was using e-pucks. Paul something I think his name was.

 

I have a BS in Physiology & Neurobiology. I'll be back to school next semester to work on an MS in the same via research (neurogenesis in the subventricular zone). Plan for after that is either MD, PhD, or both concurrently.

 

Thwy've stopped doing that though. Saw some little cluster bots though, so it maybe them. If it is they were working well, dancing infact...

 

A shame they were quite funky

 

Just started first year of Chemistry with Pharmacology, not sure whether I'll do 3/4 years yet though.

If I wasn't here, I'd either be working in the local computer shop (fixing/building/selling) or training to be a paramedic (or similar) because it sounds exciting.

 

BSc in Criminology from Southampton Uni!

Loved it!