Just wasted a day because uni prospectus was incorrect

[alypaly]

just travelled over 200 mies today to a university to find out that although my son got 4 A* and 5 A's they would not consider his application for medicine despite the likelihood of 3 predicted grade A.
It wasnt in the prospectus or the ucas info that if you have resat one of the sciences to better your grade. (which he did...he resat biology to go from B to an A)you wont even be considered. Pretty annoyed as i could have visited another uni today and also I have wasted £60 in petrol.

DH works in this area. He says work experience depends on the university's criteria. Some expect relevant medical work experience but this is not the case for all universities. As it has become more difficult for the increasing number of applicants to medicine to get medical experience some universities have relaxed this criteria. However, most, if not all, will expect applicants to have gained some sort of voluntary work that demonstrates they have worked with different groups of people eg children or elderly people.

By the way, Glasgow will accept resit results.

Work experience can also be useful for demonstrating ability to communicate with people which is a critical skill for a doctor to have.

hi snorkie,it was gcse resit they were objecting to

beautifulgirls...they know because the gcse certificate shows 8 A's and a B and then a seperate certificate with a later date shows the A grade. And they can ask for evidence

Pisces we did check in the prospectus and the so called up to date ucas website. It wasnt even up to date and when we phoned the university I pointed out that their ucas web page was wrong and they apologised. They didnt then tell me that GCSE 's had to be achieved in one sitting. It was only one that he resat and he got a B anyway and is predicted to get 3 A's a A2. It does make me mad when some people drift into this subject and my son has shown his determination to suceed by doing one resit.He only missed the Grade A by one mark. We even had the paper remarked to find an extra mark. Not exactly a failure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

belleabellabelle Nottingham said at the open day that they sometimes ask to see the certificates and the resit result comes on a seperate certificate so if the uni asks to see them ,you have no option. They said that students would immediately be taken off their offer list if not achieved at one sitting or if 2 certificates were produced. They will not reprint on one certificate because it shows the different dates taken.

I don't think anyone "drifts into medicine" any more. Not when it's so difficult to get in for. And to be honest, when they've got so many candidates, it's perfectly reasonable for them to select people who got fantastic GCSE results over people who had to resit.

gerontius,please believe me, there are a couple of students from my sons school who glibly said they wanted to do medicine (mum and dad are doctors)..they turned up to the uni open day and just sat at the pub on campus drinking to skive a day off school. They didnt even turn up to any of the open day lectures.And what makes me angry is that they will probably get in,even with that kind of attitude

Yes, but to get in they'll have to work hard enough to get their grades, and do the necessary medical work experience. If you weren't committed to Medicine you really wouldn't spend all that time on it.

when you have parents that are already doctors and consultants its not difficult to get "relevant" work experience with colleagues. DS1 has done so much relevant work experience and come out with excellent references and some life changing experiences

Is this not well known then? I'm in Scotland and Highers or Advanced Highers have to be done in one sitting as it is so competitive. Same with vets too. I had a friend that did Audiology to get in to uni and will then transfer when he has more experience. Some things are just more competitive than others. Biology is key if you want to be a doctor I would have thought and 69% won't cut it.

some parents almost force the career on teir children with their own expectations and i am seeing it happen with my sons friends. Some are also devastated thet their DC's dont want to do medicine and follow in their footsteps

Can he get a shit load of work experience in over the summer holidays and apply through clearing, some people may not make the grades expected and not get in?

Alypaly, thank you for this information. Possibly because we have just finishedthe roller coaster of Year 11 I had not got round to looking for this sort of information. I am slightly annoyed that schools do not point this sort of thing out, rather they encourage re-sits!
Good luck to your son, I know it is no consolation to you but by posting this information you have helped other people.
Thank you.

Seems reasonable that they want to see that the student capable of getting good grades at first attempt - disruptive and expensieve if they need to keep re-sitting exams @ med school.

Meant to say - surely schools should be more clued up about this

I'm not with this.
Does the University only go by the date on the certificate i.e. the result when the individual modules are added together at the end of Y11? Many people take science modules in Y10 and therefore have the whole of Y11 to do re-sits, if necess, and it still all comes out on the same certificate.
Has the OP's DS done a re-sit in Y12 - that is very unusual and, I would have thought, not a good idea as it takes concentration away from the ASs. Much better to make a note on the personal statement along the lines of 'I only missed the GCSE by one mark and have learned from the experience, I am now predicted A* for AS'

thanks bella....good luck to your son too.Mine has just finished year 12 and is now nervously awaiting his AS results in biol,chem,geog and latin. Glad the info has helped at what is a really stressful time all round,what with personal statements, UKCAT yadda yadda

Senua....resists come out on a totally separate certificate. He reast in Jan 2010 and got results in may on a separate certificate. He was sitting AQA exams. Unfortunately Nottingham told him face to face....no chance of admission

This must be really frustrating for you and your son, but med schools are so over subscribed (3000+ applicants for 200-300 places) that they can freely discriminate.

Predicted grades mean nothing - everyone applying to med school will have 3 or 4 A grade predictions. I had my offer after getting the A level grades, despite having really, really poor GCSE results. If your DS is unsuccessful in this application cycle, but goes on to achieve his predicted grades, he will be in a much stronger position.

But take heart - I know that one med school gave too few offers last year, resulting in about 50 places available in clearing.

Have you come across new media medicine? I found this a helpful resource.

This has happened for a while now - Uni's stating requested grades in the prospectus and asking for higher when you actually visit. When DS1 was applying for Medicine 6 years ago a couple of Uni's asked for more As for interview than were in the prospectus (one of his friends was turned down by Nottingham for not having (I think) 6 A grades)so he wasted a place. You really have to do your homework and find out what is needed in reality. I know it is frustrating, but at least you found out on the open day, and your child didn't waste one of their choices. I know for a fact that for the Dentistry course at DS2s uni they state 2As in Chemistry and Biology and 1 B at A level for next years entry, but requirement is now 3As.

I'm amazed that a course cares about GCSE resits: medicine is ridiculously competitive though.

If he applied, but only claimed a 'B' in that subject on the UCAS form would he be OK, or do they also require 9As at GCSE as a minimum?

Alypaly the StudentRoom is a useful source of information - here's the link to the medicine stuff www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=195 your DS will have to plough through it a bit but it can be really helpful. DD2 looked through the thread about applying for Maths and found some useful stuff especially as someone had put up the rejection feedback they'd got from Bristol - you needed at least 7 out of 14 criteria to get an offer and DD2 is sitting at exactly 7 of them so she knows she has to improve her application or to leave Bristol off her list.

Did your DS have a reason for getting a B or was it just one of those things? DD2 had taken most of her science by the summer of year 11 and knew what grades to expect so any resits needed were taken by people were taken then.
I found this on the student room as well (can't you tell there is something else I should be getting on with )
www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Where_to_Study_Medicine
it has all the GCSE requirements and resit policies for all the medical schools.

Good luck - I'm glad I haven't got any budding medics.

"med schools are so over subscribed (3000+ applicants for 200-300 places)"

Has anyone suggested to Nice Ham & Egg that the law of supply and demand should apply? With this many applicants, the NHS could cut the wages of doctors (£80,000-120,000), surgeons (£200,000-400,000) etc and there would still be plenty enough (cheaper) people applying to train.

It could happen Fembear, as I understand it there are more students coming through the system at the moment than there are potentially jobs for. The thing is it costs a lot to train them so there is a reluctance not to put them to use when they're qualified

Iirc unemployment amongst doctors in Germany is c.20% though they don't have the same system of university entrance as us.

I have no knowledge of medicine (work in a Law Dept) but have moved around a bit and know that really, honestly, the most highly rated law depts are not always the best for teaching. And I'm not talking Uni of Wherever, just for example within the Russell Group itself.

Also it is may be much easier to get a first in a less competitive dept than in a higher ranked one. Maybe medicine really is that competitive that if you don't do study at the right place that's it, but I doubt if that's the case for all specialities (maybe surgery?).

I am constantly amazed at how low my existing dept is ranked compared to my last one (both Russell Group). Check why the score is low if going via tables e.g. feedback, value added etc are scores that wouldn't worry me in the least (really, I know too many students who don't pick up their marked essays after we've spent ours pouring over them).

I went to Oxford for both UG & PG and yes it was great in many ways. But I've learned so much more since I left there ...