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.

Aly - I think you need to do, as your son's HoY suggested, and apply for some universities with lower entrance requirements. Hopefully, this way he might stand more chance of getting a place.

His GCSE's aren't bad overall! As Webwiz suggests, look on the student room, there's a question directly related to your query -
www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1321545
Key points he needs to address beyond the academic are work experience (and this should relate to anything that gives him the opportunity to understand the doctor/patient/team interactions, an understanding of what 'being' a doctor entails (and the obv Q, why does he want to study medicine), volunteer work and participation in his school day-to-day.

Although not directly relevant to this thread, does anyone know how med schools will react to this scenario.

DS1 just done A2s and has offers at Durham for social science degrees. Now he has changed his mind and seems to 'passionately' want to become a Psychiatrist. He wants to do Chemistry A level next year and according to him will get work experience and voluntary work jobs in mental health and then apply next october with this under his belt. How will the universities look upon this change of direction and the fact that chemistry is being taken on its own a year later?

It would be worth a call to several of the psych admissions tutors to see what their view is. Depends what his other A2' grades and subjects are (don't know what's required for psych) obv...otherwise from what I've read PROVIDED the gap year w/e is very relevant to the anticpated course - and this is evidenced in both PS and at interview he might be ok. But 'might' isn't enough - call the admin officers!

Admissions would be through normal medicine route I assume. Specialism only takes place at end. I will get him to phone a few though. Other A2s are maths, biology and RS. History at AS level. He knows he needs A grades in all A2s. I'm just looking at the years going by as he changes his mind about what he wants to do. Although he appears to be more serious about this than anything before and says he doesn't want to waste 3 years doing another degree just to change direction at that point. Hey Ho.

Lazymum-if it doesn't work out at this point, he ould do graduate entry medicine? Courses vary but have a look at Nottingham, St George's and Keele for starters as 1st degree can be any subject (and sometimes even a 2:2!)

I will inform him of that option. But that would mean another 10 years or so of studying - OMG. He still would need the chemistry wouldn't he? And he wouldn't have done any science subjects for 3 years by then.

Lazymum - the student rep that came to DD2's school last week to talk about life at university was a medical student who had done a first degree at Liverpool in Biosciences and then transferred to UEA for medicine. She did say her student debt was a bit eyewatering but she was happy with the decision she had made.

Webwiz - she has done a science degree though and had the relevant A levels. The more I ask people about this the more I think if this is what he wants and he is talking of his 'future career' for the first time ever I should let him get on with it. But some research needs to be done to ensure this route could result in entry to medical degree. He had better get on with it. so far he has requested a deferral of the offers he has presently and that gives him the year in case he changes his mind!

Lazymum - Here's the list of acceptable degrees for graduate entry to Warwick medical school www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/study/ugr/degrees/#s surprisingly it has things like social anthropology and geography as suitable so a science background isn't necessary. What was your DS planning to do at university? It was Durham wasn't it - are Durham degrees still as flexible as they used to be? - I started on a joint honours in Zoology and Psychology(with a bit of anthropology) and switched to straight Psychology in my second year. It was quite easy to change because Durham encouraged a broad first year.

webwiz ..thanks for the info..will look later.His biology was his first exam and he was really nervous. The rest of them he sailed through with far less nerves. So I guess its just one of those things...but he knew he hadnt done as wll as he wanted when he walked through the door

lazymum....Lots of unis are saying A" have to be gained at one sitting...so his extra A will be classed as a second sitting possibly. Check though.

kitty.we are looking at one good one and 3 lower ones just to give him a fighting chancen

Thanks webwiz - that list for warwick looks ok. His firm is for combined honours in social sciences which can include up to 5 modules such as psychology, anthropology, sociology etc. His insurance is Anthropology and Sociology. It looks like some of the graduate medicine courses might be ok if warwick is anything to go by.

Lazymum - teenagers like to make life difficult don't they

How wrong of the University

Do I recall a thread in the past week or two with the OP where we discussed the need for mostly A* for certain courses/universities?

If I am correct, the YABU.

If not, it's a bummer, but you should blame your sixth form tutor, not the university.

The university has so many top applicants and they can afford to set high grades.

I've just reread some of the thread and resitting a Biology GCSE in 6th form is very unusual for a student wanting to go on to do medicine. I'd say unless the reference from your school includes a very good reason why he ended up with a B the first time he may have to lower his expectations unfortuately. I thought from previous threads that he wanted to do vetinary medicine and his work experience was in this field?

Lazymumof - DS1 is wanting to become a Psychiatrist (in last year at Med school now). He has done truckloads of work experience for years (psychiatry and other medically related work). Think it might be good for your Son to have a look at becoming a Dr first, as he will have 7 years once he gets into Med school before he can actually work in Psychiatry (although he can do an elective for a month or 2 in his chosen field and a 3 month stint in his F1/2 year). I would get him to ring up all the Med schools and see what they say. Lots of open days at the mo, so can speak to the admissions tutors there. Gap year may be good idea before he starts Chem A level. FWIW I would get him to do a range of work experience, along with long term work in say a nursing home, as med schools want to make sure the students want to study Medicine - don't narrow the ps down to just Psych. HTH.

its insane that we have such tough entry requirements to become a doctor...

... and then in the NHS employ a third of our doctors from people qualified abroad. often in very dodgy places where the standards are much lower.

This year medeicine is extra ahrd to get into; cousin has all the grades, extra curricular stuff, workw experience and has been refused a place anywhere at all.

He ahs though been offered a palce on a special course designed to get him a aplce in the future- a sort of foundation medical year with very good success- can''t tell much mroe sorry as Aunt is a bit mad and tends to go hush hush about anything that may indicate her ds's are not actually God amde into man, but tehre are options.

The extra curricular stuff giving you an advantage is not a myth - I have sat in on our medical schools discussion on entry (I teach some first year courses) and in the last 3 years they changed the entry requirements to a basic academic level, then gave credit to everything else but not any additional academic qualifications. The intake is now so much better, everything from attendance, and especially the patient and group interaction has improved. I know of one other med school thinking this way as there has been a problem with hot-housed purely academic people in the past, who cannot think on their feet and don't like to touch patients or other such nonsense.

If he can show he has got straight As at A levels whilst working part time or at least juggling a hobby and work experience, it is a much better reflection (IME) that he will cope well with medicine at university (there are all kinds of distractions they didn't have at home, including feeding and looking after themselves), than whatever the GSCEs showed. Good luck!

Oh and whilst I understand they need to screen some people off, there should be flexibility: grades at a certain specific point are not necessarily indicative of ability: my GCSE's are shite, becuase my dad was an alcoholic and Mum catatonic with depression at that point. OTOH my degree is good and my post grad grades so far are pretty good. Not med school, am not delusional LOL, but mroe than adequate for most carres (MA grades at B average).

DH's course (again very far from medicine) has raised it's grades next eyar just to deter the sheer influx of applications: DH got in on work experience and maturity in fact but on paper he would not get into next year: he has achieved so well this year he has scores inclusing a 100% and 97% grade. Clearly he is mroe than able for the subject.

I do worry about ds1; he has a SN that drosn't affect his IQ but does mean emotionally he matures far more slowly and is IME far mroe likely to get good grades later on. He doesn't want to do medicine but does come up with ideas that are needing decent grades and whilst I know academically he could do it, I know it will be academically at 20, 25; not 16 or 18. The sort of thing they should take into account IMO, and look behind the grades.

mumof3teens - that is veery helpful. I will have a discussion about this with him. He really needs to want to be a doctor first and foremost before he embarks on this route. From what you say if he narrows his aspirations down to psychiatry at this stage the med schools may not like this.

mumof3teens

The only route to becoming a psychiatrist is by getting a medical degree.

There is no choice to be made, IYSWIM, because medicine is the only way.

A medical school will not mind if a person applying to study has well founded reasons for wanting to do a particular speciality. Obviously it is important to be open minded and realise that experience may change career intentions, but someone who has a good reason for wanting to work in a particular speciality will not be viewed negatively.