Sorry, another medicine question! Personal experience please.

[Mindgone]

DS is stuck for a fourth choice, here are his stats:
GCSE. 8A* 3A
AS. AAAB in maths, chemistry, biology and psychology
UKCAT 725 SJBand 1

He doesn't fancy PBL, London, or the BMAT unis.

I was just wondering, bearing all this in mind, where others' DCs have been happy? Any personal experience and/or advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

DS got over 90% in only one AS, so no good for Cambridge anyway.
He has just re done his PS, after much deliberation, and I think this version is much more relevant, thankfully! How are the others doing with theirs? Will hopefully be ready to send it off soon, and forget about it for a few months probably!

My d sent hers to the school for references yesterday. I think we are all well and truly sick of the whole process already. But only a month till BMAT so no let-up

I'm SO glad we don't have that to 'look forward to'! Best of luck for her!

Ucas finally got sent off by school today, and DS has had a notification from them, and one from a uni! I know we are in for a long wait, but still feel quite excited by it! :)

What did the notification say? DS submitted Friday for medicine 4 choices no fifth choice!

I didn't see it, just presume it said that they'd received his application. Which unis did your DS decide on, if you don't mind saying? No probs if you prefer not to :)

Although my daughter is not a medicine student she has had a fantastic 3 years at Bristol University and has just stated her 4th year there. She has loved both the city and the University. A great place to be a student.

Leeds, Bristol sheffield and birmingham. We live I. The middle of those :) bmat next month!

Great choices, at least none will be too far away. DS's final 4 are Durham, Sheffield, Leicester and Nottingham. Durham is about 3 hours from us, and the others are around 1 1/2 to 2, so not too far either, that was surprisingly important to DS!
Best of luck with the BMAT prep, Leeds is really great! :)

if he gets a nottingham interview PM me as I have some experience there

Ooh, that would be great, thanks very much!

Love to join in here! DD's application went last week to Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Cambridge. Would be very happy with an offer from any of these as she really likes them all. Feels like she has been working non-stop for months as several weeks of the summer was taken up with Ukcat and now she's getting ready for the BMAT. Friends going for other courses are already getting some really great offers so it's hard!

My d applied to Oxford, Birmingham, Leeds & Cardiff. She didn't think her UKCAT was high enough for Nottingham but have just seen that the scores overall are lower than last year. Oh well. And she has already got an offer for her 5th choice - a bio science at Liverpool!

So some of them may get interviews in the same school! Fingers crossed for all, BMAT looming here .

Welcome Oyster2! And congratulations on your d's first offer Decorhate! Even if she'd rather not, it must be a good feeling!
Carriemac, we could have a MN coffee corner on interview days! Here's hoping!

Does anyone know when the interviews start?

I would have thought that the first ones would be mid November. It's difficult to know whether interview prep would be presumptuous at this stage, or foolish not to?!

May I tag on a 'stupid' question:
to get into med-school they need to do volunteer work.
What age to start doing that and how many months or days would be typical in a successful applicant?
Thx.

Am sure others with more experience will answer, but work experience often starts during the summer after GCSEs and will continue right through sixth form.

A few days here and there isn't really going to cut it, neither is shadowing a surgeon for a week, it needs to be a regular commitment, and involve actual patient care, so helping in a nursing home every Saturday for instance.

Dd started in early year 11 with volunteering in a residential home for elderly people and has also done a few hospital weeks and a couple of other short placements, mostly in summer holidays after year 11 and year 12. Most medical schools do seem to understand that hospital experience is hard to come by but I think they do value the longer term volunteering as it shows commitment. It's as important for your child to find out if medicine is really what they want to do, so it's a two-way process. In the application our advice has been that it's how you reflect on what you've done more than the amount you've done which is important. Hope this helps.

thx!

My dd found it hard to get work experience. She shadowed a GP & community nurse last Chrustmas (Y12). She has also been volunteering with a group of young adults with learning disabilities. She finally got a 15 week placement in a hospital last month. But I don't think she feels she is learning much from it tbh. Just helping with meal rounds. She used her imagination in her PS ;)

There's lots of care work around here (& actual residential homes, 3 in walking distance) so I don't think DD will struggle to find a place as a volunteer or maybe even a PT actual paid job.

DS has an interview for his 5th choice! Very exciting, even if he hopes not to need it! :)

This report from GMC is relevant to applicants, at least I like the League Table in Chapter 2 (how many Medical students report that they were adequately prepared by their Med-school).

League Table leader is not RG of course MNers will think that must be a typo.