Support thread for anyone applying through UCAS this year

[Lorelai]

Following on from a thread in chat I thought I would start this so that we can hold each others' hands through the UCAS process with all its challenges.

Who's with me?

Mrs W, DD might be choosing accommodation choices that we discussed a few weeks ago see my post earlier today.

What exactly are pre and post offer days. We have just booked a post offer day, it's a conditional offer from a uni that DD hasn't looked around. I thought we would be just looking closely at the dept and the accomodation, no mention of interview .

They give us a bursary which covers the expensive train fares because, and I was surprised at this, our postcode falls into the HEFEC?? widening access re low participation in HE. I didn't even know this until yesterday. It's still me forking out for the hotel but we are combining it with some christmas shopping and a night on the town, so not too bad a deal.

mrswoodentop ds1 has decided to apply to Goldsmiths if he gets no offers. He can do an English degree there via distance learning and hopefully work at the same time. Applications are not via ucas so he can wait and see what happens. Not the best way to graduate but a tenth of the cost and as long as he can find some sort of job, I figured it a better option than sitting around wondering what to do next.

Post offer open days just give you a chance to make up your mind which offers to accept. Pre-offer visits are connected with the offer. They don't always include interviews, but if you just don't turn up without a good reason you will not get an offer. They just narrow down the group they are going to give offers to.

really useful finding this thread, UCAS should go tomorrow or Monday, he won't discuss favorite uni or visits until he hears something - sensible child - but I think he is quite anxious and still undecided about which Uni he would choose so 'visit day/ interview' would be helpful in that respect. He visited 3 in the summer round of open days but the other 2 were only decided upon recently so hasn't visited (luckily both an easy journey should the need arise).

Ucas form in and paid for. Oh this is going to be stressful. Good luck to everyone DC's.

lazymum, thanks that makes sense.

Adamschic,well done your dd,ds not likely to hear from there until at least Jan so putting that to the back of his mind,I thought it would really suit him but he still seems pretty set on Sheffield,although reading the other thread on here i am a bit put off[hmmm]

Thanks Mrs W, I'm pleased because it's not too far away. Got a long wait for other offers too.

Don't be put off Sheffield for that reason. There are plenty of happy students we know of in halls and there is a healthy private sector for flats nearby.

There seems to be something amiss with the design of some modern halls. One in Leeds is circular with a central well and I'm told noise reverberates round this well like an echo chamber.

Once you have an offer there will be accommodation open days. You can often find out quite a lot if there is a student website too. That's how I found out about the fridge wars in the hall DD was moving in to. Stolen chicken kievs!

MrsW don't be put off by that, there are drunken tossers everywhere, not just in Sheffield! and I'm sure there are lovely students in Sheff too.

Someone upthread said that pre-offer visit days are used to sift students. Not at my university.

Hi lovely people. I'm a mature student at Brighton uni (and a regular mumsnetter) and I've got to get some opinions of people applying for uni - or helping their children apply - as research for an assignment.

If you have a couple of minutes to do this really short survey I'd be really grateful!

Survey for PARENTS of uni applicants

Survey for uni applicants

I can help with info on my uni (Brighton) or my hometowm (London) if anyone needs it!

Thanks very much!

Campergirls - what does yours use pre-offer visits for? They seem to be compulsory if you are invited and some people are rejected before they get one.

OMG! application sent 17th Nov - offer received 18th Nov. Not first choice (I think) but who cares - he's got an offer.!! Soooo relieved! And the course only takes 35 too. Treats all round today to celebrate.

Wow ,where from if you don'tmind me asking?

Eatyourveg, that's great, and so quick, saves the pain of waiting.

Is anyone feeling slightly nauseous now that this might be becoming a reality. DD has received a written offer and it states that the fees for the first year are £9,000 but subject to change for subsequent years. Just seeing the £9,000 is bad enough let alone that they could just put it up.

I still don't understand fully what is being in offered in terms of help, such as this so called National Scholarship. It's only for one year but starts and 50m 2012, then 100m, then 150m the next years, how can this be right and fair? DD won't get it anyway, but it's mind boggling.

Wonder what is happening to the legal challenge.

Yellowstone, how did it go? Hope you don't mind me asking and you can PM me if you would rather do that, if you want to answer.

No rejection yet adamschic :) but no offer either :( though one person at school has an offer. BMAT results due on Tuesday at midnight but he came back from that exam pretty unnerved. He's seems generally unnerved :( He didn't put a fifth choice down, he says he'd prefer to re-apply.

I hate this feeling, I just always hope I feel worse than they do.

Please do let me know about the 'not straightforward' apps your DD has made - I'm watching and hoping those turn up an interview/ offer :)

No news is good news. Have PM'd you.

yellowstone Is that the first interview that he's waiting for news on? I do hope it went well .
Fingers crossed too for the BMAT result. It seems not to be an exam they can get much feeling for about how well they've done because it is so outside their normal experience.
Even with the result known they can't tell how it will play with the individual university but you should hear from Oxford quite soon after the result. The BMAT is the last piece in the puzzle for the admissions dept. before the interview invitations go out.

I warned you it was nerve-wracking!

Yes it is unitarian and no it was decidedly meh but thank you for asking. He was asked what sport or instrument he played to county or professional level (with music noticeably absent from his PS)! The BMAT was grizzly he says (or 'really not good'). So yes, a bit gloomy coupled with fairly tense. The ones who took it at school are going to stay up to midnight tomorrow to get the results/ watch the site crash!

Still, everything's busy here which is the best way to forget any waits and he has lots of siblings all rooting for him, so that's all very positive and good. Hanging on to the fact that several of the DC here (three that I can think of) were rejected from good places last year but also accepted by somewhere really good is the thing to hold onto I think!

That last sentence fails to make sense!

DD hated BMAT and was particularly nervous about the essay bit. It is harder than anything they do at A level, I gather, and so they come out feeling grim in general.
I think they've changed the way they express the result since she did it but the examining body seems to work on a bell curve so that the pass mark can vary - and they have to pass all three sections. Then, just to add a further complication, some unis place more emphasis on certain sections.
In other words, he might not know how well he's done when he sees the results tomorrow night. Sorry!
But, as a basic rule of thumb, above half marks in all three sections is reason to be cheerful.

As I said upthread somewhere, DD did not get the best BMAT mark in her school but she's at a BMAT med school nevertheless. The ones who took it with her are not.
It's a complex jigsaw that the admissions people work on when picking med. students. Your DS hasn't had a rejection yet so it means a lot of his pieces have fallen into place already.

Your experience is very helpful unitarian, and it wasn't worth me asking about BMAT specifics because it would have been all Greek to me. He certainly had no helpful parental resource and school doesn't do anything beyond entering them (all/ correctly!) for the exam. He bought two BMAT books which were recommended to students at an Open Day and that was that, which is all that most can do - I suppose. I wonder what proportion have an in-house doctor to guide them at home and what proportion do actually pay for external help (and is it significantly helpful?).

I can think of three MNers whose DC applied last year and it's interesting that none got four offers but all ended up somewhere very good. I wonder what the subtleties of the application processes are at the 'top' universities, or are there just too many suitable applicants, so the process at some level is random?

Here is the link to the TSR stalking thread for last year
www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine_Applicants_Stalking_Page_2011_Entry
it gives BMAT results for all those recorded as well as whether they received an offer.

The BMAT is used as a cut off for interview. Different medical schools use different cutoffs.

The PS is scored by some medical schools.

The interview format varies.

Some people come across well at interview and have clearly grasped concepts of team working, ethics, detailed knowledge of uptodate genetics/science, enthusiasm, curiosity and empathy and commitment.

Others can only drone on about the very many types of work experience and their leadership skills as demonstrated by their extracurrics and prefectship.

Extracurrics; useful to show coping with stress/work life balance/team working/ability to cope with challenges therefore choose those to mention which can be relevant to working in a DGH in the sticks far away from home.

There is an element of fate/innate ability to communicate about the whole thing so take a step back.

But make sure he knows at least one relevant scientific concept in dazzling detail.