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.

Peternas - I have apologised. And tried to explain how I read what you had written, which wasn't, to me, particularly clear.

Do you really have to stick the boot in again? You said it would make it more difficult for him to succeed, which I took to mean he would find getting the length of F1 more of a challenge than a straight A-level entry student.

However, as I have also said, I was trying to post a positive story, from an alternative perspective.

I am well aware, more than most, that most medical schools don't take resits in today's world, and was trying to emphasise to make sure to put at least one down that would take resits - my son's school didn't advise us of this since, and since most only take resits if you had them down first time round, he lost out.

I was not, and am not being sarcastic and have sat in tears reading your response to what I thought was a nice post I had made.

Smash box you are being very thin skinned. This is a discussion of competitive entry into medicine. Your DS has done amazingly well to get into GEM. It is however , a cautionary tale about concentrating on 3 good a levels and applying strategically to med school to avoid lots of extra debt and a shorter overall career.

Yes, medicine at Birmingham. Some encouragement for dd particularly as her friends are getting offers for other subjects. She's aware that it's just the first step though. Hope others hear good news soon.

Hers hoping. DS s has gone to the admissions tutor at Birmingham, I'm hoping that's a positive sign

How long was it from going to the admissions tutor to getting an interview oyster?

About three weeks, but this might not be a good guide as the uni probably had to wait until 15 October before doing anything. She applied well before the deadline so was probably in one of the first batches they looked at.

Thanks. My d only sent hers a few days before the deadline so I won't expect to hear gor a while then!

Mine only a couple of days before the deadline too, I guess we have a long wait!

"Mine only a couple of days before the deadline too, I guess we have a long wait!"

Not necessarily true. I remember DS sent his on the last but one day when he applied a few years ago - much to my great annoyance because I had kept reminding him to do it early - and in less than a week he got a London school interview for a date that had ALREADY PAST a couple of days back!!!

He phoned the school saying he just got their e-mail requesting an interview on a date that's already gone and they promptly gave him another date on the phone for the following Monday, this to be followed by another e-mail to confirm.

Do not take this as gospel truth but from my personal observation, very strong candidates are more likely to get early interviews. Best of luck to all your kids!

smashbox I completely get where you're coming from and think your son has shown great perseverance and has clearly done great. I can't see that he'll be at any disadvantage whatsoever, quite the reverse.

Early interviews are dished out like sweets in my experience, largely on grades. But the really strong applicants are those who do well at the interviews and go on to get at least three offers, sometimes four, all comfortably achievable. Weak applicants will get perhaps one offer only, although it's true that that's all you need. But that weakness is likely to rear its head at a later stage too. So many applicants with great grades don't do well at the interview stage - too arrogant, too awkward etc. Everyone applying has good grades, but the strong ones are those who are able to tick the other boxes too. Success in medicine is about far more than grades.

Agree about interviews looking for all-rounders and less grade focused. I went to kings but I'm from Leicester and knew some school friends who went there. I did my Foundation training with Manchester deanery so have been up and down the country a little! I found there were benefits with all of the different regions and different styles if teaching.

To the lady smashbox who's son is doing post-graduate Medicine: congratulations. At Kings (and this is generally the opinion shared by my friends at other unis too) post-grads definitely were more focused and performed much better in exams. I don't think the other posters meant any personal attack but I know how emotional my 6 years were for my DM too...

Sorry I'm a bit behind with catching up reading on the thread... Re: interviews, I can't emphasise enough how much med schools focus on communication skills!!!! Smiling, approachable candidates are much more likely to receive offers. Work experience is always great to talk about and show commitment - even if your DCs don't have a lot of previous experience, arranging a week or two of voluntary work for the future if possible as it can still be a talking point. Voluntary work with elderly etc is great. Typing quickly and on phone hence poor language at mo - apologies if I've missed the point and the info is outdated!

Umm, do you think that personality counts for more than answering the questions with the "right answers" then?

Generally the interview questions tend to not have a fixed 'right' answer but interviewers want to see how the candidate approaches it and handles themselves under pressure. Depends on the type of question of course... But that's what was usually the case. Has your DC had an interview? If you have any specific questions that's you'd prefer to PM then please feel free.... But yes, I strongly believe that personality does count for more.

No interview yet. But what you said sounds hopeful, as DS has a very caring and lovely personality, (obv not biased at a all!).
Thanks Umm, will PM you if I think of any relevant questions!

Can I just throw my two pennies in?
Having a biomes undergrad will not help you get a better f1 year.

F1 is allocated my score, half made up of situational judgement score and the other half overall score of exams, publications, degrees.

Whilst a previous degree does give points to the score, this can be achieved by an intercal or by a better overall exam score. It's between one and three for a previous degree I think.

My actual point is that it's your overall score that gets you a better choice of job. Not pointing out a biomed degree to prospective jobs, they won't know you have it, and a music degree would be worth as much.

I do think being a second time student is much easier than an undergrad.

Also for those coming up to interviews I think I have a list somewhere of questions asked back then. Feel free to ask if I can be of any help to anyone!

It is stressful but only as stressful as you make it, sit back and enjoy the ride. As far as I'm concerned it's the start of an amazing journey.

Yes, at foundation interviews it's different (I intercalated and have mixed opinions as to whether it's really worth the extra year) but I meant that those who do end up going down that route tend to end up doing better at medicine as a second degree - it was more specifically aimed at the person who's son is already doing it, as opposed to recommending it as a first choice.

Although a bioscience deg won't necessary giving you extra points afterwards, you're more likely to be eligible for fast-track medicine as opposed to having to do the full 5 yrs if it's a non-science based first degree. One benefit doing any extra deg outside of med (even those who intercalate as in my case) is to give the opportunity to try to get a publication from research... That will add a lot of strength to CV and benefit for years to come. Also medically related degrees eg. Biomed, pharmacy etc should hopefully help at least in practice as an F1 by enhancing basic science knowledge.

Hmm think this has all progressed beyond the scope of the thread, as far as I understand most are in the "applying to medicine" stage! Once all the DCs are through hopefully, there's potential for a future "to intercalate or not" thread

Unfortunately I'm not as organised as holiday - the interview questions I'm sure will be very useful practice

Woohoo! D has an interview at Birmingham!

Fantastic news!

For those dcs doing the BMAT, how are they getting on?

I've seen a few BMAT books lying around so I assume she is at least giving them a cursory glance! She also has school assessments next week but I suspect that BMAT will be used as an excuse to not do any work for them!

Fab news Decorhate! Well done your DD! :)

Hopefully your DS will hear soon Mindgone

Thats fab decorhate

Just another step along a very long road though. Sometimes it's hard to be optimistic for them when there are so many hoops to jump through.

Thanks! Yes, it's hard, being cautiously optimistic, whilst realistic, at the same time knowing that the odds are stacked against them, statistically!