I should have written this yesterday. But I was exteremly tired. I finished the final exams of the final 6th year in Ain Shams University Faculty of Medicine. Few weeks and I would officially append those initials to my name: M.B. B.Ch.

The last exam was an interview style surgery exam. The professor asks in what you have studied in the past year in surgery, asks about some old pathological specimens stored in jars, about operative details, surgical instruments and radiographs.

I have been asked in non of the above. Here is an exact transcript, the interview took no more than 1 minute.

Prof.: "What is this ?"

Me: "A jar showing a kidney with polycystic disease"

Prof.: "What is the etiology of polycystic kidney disease?"

Me: "Its an autosomal dominant disorder due to a defect in the short arm of chromosome number 16."

Prof: "What is a short arm?"

Me: "A chromosome is divided into two unequal parts by a centromere"

Prof: (after a mild pause) "What is PCR?"

Me: "Polymerase chain reaction its a ..."

Prof.: "Have you heared of something called ICAM ?" (i dont know the spelling)

Me.: "No."

Prof.: "What is p53?"

Me: "It is a gene linked to several diseases and ..."

Prof.: "Thank you, you can go."

I was a little surprised that things ended so quickly, I greeted him politely and I went away. I only realised several seconds later that this was perfect.