Manchester Uni for medicine - don’t want her to take a gap year!

[Cluelessatthisstuff]

DD didn’t get into her first choice - Oxford. Insurance was Manchester which is a very good RG university and I believe has the biggest medical department in UK. Daughter wants to resit a subject in the hope of getting an A* but I’m really uneasy about this, namely because all of her friends are going away for uni so she’ll be at home, alone and working part time in Costa coffee. I just don’t think she’ll be happy.

Does anyone have any experience with Manchester uni? Doesn’t have to be medicine specifically but anything that could help my DD? Thanks

It would be crazy to turn down Manchester in the hope of a possible future acceptance from Oxford, for all the reasons that have been pointed out. If she wants to practise medicine, doctors need to show resilience and fortitude. Aiming for an unnecessary A* retake might indicate perfectionist traits and frailty in mental health which won’t do her any favours at all.

This below-coming from a medic.

*Whatever "ranking" PolPotNoodle is looking at is irrelevant, about 10 minutes after everyone graduates.

Medicine courses are strictly vetted for quality, in the UK. Yes, it would be nice to go to Oxford. But it genuinely barely matters once you're inside the behemoth that is the NHS and working as a doctor.

Oxbridge quality gives a significant edge in a lot of cases where you're then competing to get into the best of the private sector, but I wouldn't put medicine in the same situation, because in the UK the whole field is effectively nationalised.

No one gives a shit what UK uni you graduated from inside the medical field, a few niche domains aside.*

Ridiculous waste of a year to resit just to get an A*. If she doesn't need it, what's the point? Unhealthy perfectionism. She should grab the place she has with both hands and crack on.

Also what is an A* going to prove if it's second time around with a whole year to study just that subject? Anyone could get one in those circumstances surely?

My son wanted to do this (but wasn't studying medicine). I knew he didn't have the discipline to slog away for a year on A level re-sits while all his friends were off being Freshers. He had set his heart on a prestigious Russell Group uni and just missed out due to grades but I just thought the chances of him improving those grades and getting a place at said uni were too much of a gamble. He had a perfectly good insurance choice and I just thought he should grab that opportunity and go. Now he says he's so glad he did as doesn't think the RG uni would have been a good fit for him especially after twiddling his thumbs for a while. Sometimes people just need things spelled out to them. Your daughter should grab this opportunity with both hands and not look back.

Manchester is a fab city, have lived here for 15 years now. DW studies nursing Manchester as a mature student, they have links to some world class hospitals so clinical placements are excellent.

No experience of Manchester Uni, plenty of great experience as a patient at the central Manchester hospitals (MRI, St Mary's, RMCH) where presumably they spend some time .... Fantastic hospitals, fantastic staff.

Pretty sure Oxford do not accept exam resits. If considering going through clearing take into account the course content, how much patient contact there is, and from what Uni year this starts. Theory is all very well - (I believe patient contact does not start till about year 3 for medicine at Oxford) but some Uni's start in the first year; a major practical skill that needs to be developed no matter what future discipline aimed for. Did your DD sit both UKCAT & BMAT? as obviously this will dictate options now. Good luck, at the end of the day once qualified from whatever Uni, DD will not have a problem getting a job. Well done to her on her grades.

Doctor here. I agree with PP that she should take the place at Manchester. I know someone studying there that really likes it. Agree also that which uni she went to doesn’t matter at once once working.

However an interesting positive she won’t know about: did you know that when applying for Foundation jobs after graduating, the jobs are allocated based on your ranking within your own medical school? So if you go to a very high quality university and do middling-well you will get a middle ranked Foundation job I.e. less desirable city or rotations. If you go to a less competitive medical school you might do really well (and if she had a conditional offer from oxford this sounds like it might be your daughter) you will be top ranked in the year and have much better job options. She might want to consider this as all medical schools cover the same content but the quality of postgraduate training jobs varies hugely.

Having done an oxbridge degree myself followed by a RG university degree I would also argue that it’s a lot better for your mental health to be “good” in your year and not “average” (same person, different unis)

My brother reset an A level.
Got into Oxford for chemistry.
So not unrealistic.

I don’t think Oxford accept A level resits for medicine

If she hasn't spoken to Oxford first to see if this plan would be a winner, then I'd encourage her to do that. Manchester sounds a good option and I don't think the year out would be helpful in this instance.

Also both medicine and Oxbridge are very risky gambles because if they decide they don’t like you at interview, it doesn’t matter how good your grades are. IIRC those who I knew who were going for Medicine a couple of years ago and had to resit an A level didn’t even apply to Oxford because they don’t accept resits for medicine. Turning down an offer from a RG med school in pursuit of an A* which won’t lead to an Oxford place would be a disaster move IMO

Manchester medical school has a perfectly decent reputation. The GMC does a lot of inspections to ensure that all UK medical schools are up to standard. The important thing is to get a medical degree somewhere. Once you've done your first job, no one is looking at your medical school history, they're looking at what you've done when actually working. I don't even look what the medical school was when shortlisting doctors for vacancies.

Surely the correct answer is 'she's an adult, it's up to her?'

Does she want to be a doctor or an academic?

If the former she should take the Manchester offer. If the latter she should talk to Oxford before doing anything. My understanding is that they don't take resits for medicine except in exceptional circumstances.

I do feel for her being disappointed in her grade and not getting into the uni she wants, and I understand her wanting to know she’s doing everything she can to try and change that. However, I doubt that Oxford would offer her a place with having done a resit (apart from in special circumstances), so I think she’d only be disappointed again, unfortunately.

I guess this is hard for your DD not having got her first choice. Once she has come to terms with her understandable disappointment can you help her look at why she applied to Manchester in the first place? There are dozens of medical schools in the UK so something must have appealed to her at the time of application.

Manchester is a vibrant city, and very much geared towards students, with a large variety of accommodation across the city. There are two outstanding hospital trusts - The Christie and Salford Royal - so high quality clinical experience available. Of the many medics I work alongside clinically, two are Oxford educated, and neither has progressed much faster or higher than their non-Oxford peers.

As a doctor:

Once you are at medical school no-one care what your A levels are 2 minutes after arrival

Once you are qualified no-one cares where you went to Medical School. Even if you want an Academic career which most people don't. Oxbridge really doesn't make a difference career wise. I have spent a long time working with Cambridge students and graduates - most of them are going to be GPs same as everywhere else, and they are just the same as any other junior dr when they qualify.

Unless she has checked her plan out with Oxford, she should go to Manchester as she risks ending up with no place at all next year.

and RG Medical Schools are the best

1. will Manchester allow her to defer?

2. Will Oxford consider re-sign?

I was under the impression it was a 'no' for both of those.

*re-sits

No one cares about a level grades once you start your degree, literally no one! When I applied (early 2000s) I was told no medical school accepts resits. Not sure of that's still the case but a "vanity retake" may put her in a worse position next year

Sorry but she wold be really really risking a place at med school if she did that.
Honestly, no one gives a toss where doctors trained once they are qualified, and in certain areas Oxford at a slight disadvantage as they don't get hands on until quite a bit later than some of the PBL medical schools. If she wants to stay in academics, Oxford is no doubt the place to be, but if she simply wants to be a doctor... then take the place at Manchester and be a doctor. She will need to pass the same exams and assessments, and become and F1, F2 exactly the same.
My DD1 trained at a different RG Uni, had a ball and is doing very nicely as a junior doctor and no one cares which Med school anyone came from!
PS I live in Oxford... it's expensive and not that special!!!

Also, a significant number of oxbridge students do their clinical years at other unis (year 3 onwards)

I accompanied my niece to the Oxford med school open day last summer. I seem to recall they said - at the parents' talk - that they won't accept resits.