Medicine Applications 2017

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As UKCAT season is in full swing and I can't find a thread anywhere else I thought I'd start this off. This is for parents of children looking to apply for Medicine at University with courses starting in 2017. UCAS application is only a couple of months away. It is hard to watch our kids put themselves through so much to work in the hardest profession imaginable and I thought it might be useful to start some sort of discussion here.

unlucky it is hard but there may be places in clearing and if she does very well in her exams it will give her confidence if she decides to reapply. Reapplicants with good grades are welcomed because they have shown commitment and are seen as less likely to drop out and because the higher the grades the more likely they are to complete the course. The number of applicants also continues to drop, so another reason there may be more chance next year.

It isn't all luck though - appearing confident when you arent is a useful skill for a doctor. Confidence in the doctor gives the patient confidence and increases the chance the patient will comply with what they need to do to recover. Doctors also frequently have to take decisions when they dont have all the facts. Setting out what you would do to get more information is valid but sometimes they will have to decide on insufficient information and they have to be willing to do that. So she needs to work on appearing confident if she decides to reapply.

If this makes her doubt what she wants to do did she have a 5th choice? If not she can add choices/ apply in clearing if she wants.

She checked with the universities and they said there is no waiting list like that . For my information - how should kids behaved in an interview - like v casual or professional behaviour ?

Thankyou all for the nice kind encouraging replies 👍

Bad luck to your dd but definitely look to apply with grades in hand next year. Definitely make sure to get feedback and arrange more practice interviews. My dd just had some back from Cardiff dentistry and it was very detailed. If she had not got a place this year she would have reapplied there because they automatically reinterview if you meet your grades and the UKC AT doesn't need to be done again.

Unluckystar, I am so sorry for your DD and yourself, because even though DD will only be applying this Autumn, she has already invested a lot and myself with her, so can totally understand you grief and disappointment. It is hard as a parent because you have to cope with your own feelings whilst trying to be there emotionally for our children.

She said that she would need more information to give an opinion and was marked down, as apparently she just should have guessed.
Just on this comment though, even though no-one can judge because only your daughter was there, but I am guessing that what they were looking for was decision making skills, ie. showing the ability to make a decision without knowing all the facts, but able to come up with the rationale for that decision. Doctors dealing with emergency have to make quick decisions which involves quick thinking without being able to have all the info they need at the time to make the right decision.

I expect the obscure choice of topic was voluntary. They were pushing your DD to take a side, not because one side was right and the other wrong, but because they were looking for quick arguments for either side. Saying that she needed more information is indeed what would have been marked down because doctors often face situation when they don't have all the information they would like to have.

Of course it is too late now unless of course she decides to give it another try. I hope she does and wish her good luck in the future.

My DD has been rejected from all four of her choices; not sure why as she is predicted A*s, UKCAT was above average and she's got hospital, care home and SEN work experience. She didn't even get an interview.

She's planning on a gap year but any suggestions to help improve her application?

Atmosphere is a little tense at home and she's very demotivated.

1. get feedback as to why she was rejected

2 .go through the unis criteria- does her PS address all the points they mention?

1. Get as good grades as she can in her A levels

4. apply to those unis that interview the top academic scores.

I do think interviews favour those who are confident and personable. The quite thoughtful ones find it hard to stand out. It's a tough process for those who lack self confidence or self esteem.

Oh Chocolate it's such a lottery.

I'm fairly sceptical about how much difference, if any, the PS and work experience made to ds's applications. I went to several open days with him and all the med schools said either they didn't use the PS at all or would only use it to look for red flags. 1 uni told us that PS writing was at such a high standard these days with applicants all getting help from parents and teachers that they were pretty meaningless as a selection tool. (Although all said they would expect the applicants to be able to reflect on their WE and volunteering in interview.) I think Ds could have got away with doing less than half the voluntary work and WE that he actually did as long as he could talk a good talk about a few examples of things he saw (teamwork, empathy etc).

On the other hand, every minute of practice he put in to his UKCAT was worth it. I'm sure his very decent score and decent grades (and then using these to apply to unis that used the scores) were the only factors that got him as far as the interviews.

Thankyou swing of things for the notes about the interview

6 years ago my nephew didn't get a place at any of the universities to which he'd applied to study medicine. He was devastated at the time but didn't give up. He reapplied the following year and got two offers. He is now a junior doctor. During his gap year, he volunteered abroad, shadowed in a hospital and got lots of interview practice, but I don't know which of those, if any, made the difference. Maybe it was the fact he was determined enough to keep trying!

Chocolateandcheese where did she apply and what were her GSCEs like? If she also had good GSCEs I would get a copy of the UCAS application from UCAAs to check that what was on the form was correct.

Every year there are good candidates who dont get places but who get a place the following year. Take a look yourself at the Student Room wiki www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Applying_to_Medical_School_using_your_Strengths and when she reapplies make sure it is to ones that require hgh grades.

Did she apply to any BMAT universities?

Chocolate My daughters school did put down the wrong predicted grades which she only found out when she received a rejection from Exeter saying she didn't meet their guidelines. Despite my daughters head of sixth form contacting them, Exeter said that all their interviews had gone out, and she would be put on a waiting list which came to nothing, the other Universities did listen and amend, so it is worth checking what was sent off by the school. I was quite shocked that Exeter took that attitude tbh.
When my daughter did her placement at the local hospital all told her not to give up if she didn't get in first time as most of them didn't get in until the next year.
Also as many others have said there were places in clearing last year.
Hope that helps.

Exeter seems opaque in its application process. My daughter applied, believing she was in tier two, two predicted A*s. Good UKCAT, so a reasonable chance of an interview. But then they seemed somehow to move the goalposts after she had applied and she found herself in more like tier three, rejection pre-interview. It felt like a waste of an application.

Abraiid2 When my daughter had her first rejection from Exeter they said they only interviewed candidates with 3 predicted A*s, I agree with you as that was not what was on their website. It's tough enough process without changing the goalposts along the way. As I posted earlier they ignored my DD school when they phoned to say a mistake had been made with her predicted grades. Not impressed with Exeter at all, not professional at all.

I know! They should make it clearer who they're interested in.

That is pretty outrageous of Exeter. The application process is complex enough without them not making it very clear their criteria for calling to interview.

For those of your dcs without any offers, I hope they can put their disappointment behind them & concentrate on aceing their A Levels. My dd knows at least two people on her course who got offers after results day - but I think they got. straight A*s. It's also important to know that many medical courses will have a lot of older people who have done something else first. The certainly will not be the only non-school leavers if the get in second time round.

My DS friend last year got three rejections and one added to waiting list, but luckily on results day he got two offers, he chose to go to Nottingham and declined Leeds.nottingham called him in July for an interview after rejecting him pre-interview.So there is still hope don't give up, my DS on the other hand had all four rejections but worked hard got his A levels and took a Gap year applied again ,received three interviews and got one offer waiting to hear from the rest.

Lots of students were disappointed with Exeter, students with achieved AAA got rejected because they were in tier 2,only achieved AAA got into tier 1 which didn't have UKCAT cut off But rest had a cut off,My DS did get an interview from Exeter as he had achieved 3A ,however he has not heard back interview was quite intensive only had 3 minutes to talk at each station which included reading the questions.

Little mistake in the thread should say only achieved 3 A got into tier 1 But website clearly said 2A and A were to be in tier 1 But ended in tier 2.They changed the criteria, probably because so many were predicted with A* s.

S1996 By Exeter changing the criteria many students wasted a choice, my daughters situation was that the school messed up her by putting the wrong predicted grades down but if they change the goalposts I do think it's unprofessional.

all medical schools "move the goalposts". If you look on their websites they say what they consider necessary, in academic terms, for their course. Some of it isnt necessary but that's another discussion.

In a competitive world when they get a lot of aplications they take those with higher qualifications because research shows they are more likely to complete the course and not waste the high cost of training them. As applications to all medical schools are competitive and they all require more than is stated on the websites. Attend open days or hang out on the student room and you can find out how different that is likely to be.

alreadytaken Well fortunately the other three Uni's my daughter applied to didn't move the goalposts, I'm not sure if students are predicted A*s how they can move the goalposts! My daughter attended all open days and according to friends, trolls delight on the student room.

Ness1234 you are absolutely right trolls have nothing better to do,just don't understand when medical students are already feeling under pressure why they like to torment them.I as parent found it very helpful the student room but my son never goes on student room. But one student thought I was a man pretending to be a mother,I did not reply to his message think he was trolling.My son only managed to get an interview after ringing them the email wasn't sent properly from Exeter admissions.If I didn't follow the Exeter thread my son would have not rang them,only on the advice from students he did it ,he didn't believe a university could make mistakes.

You do not need A*s to be a doctor, the only reason the grades are getting higher because there are so many applications to medicine and because governments has a quota each year universites can only take about 6500 students a year in the whole UK and about 60,000 to 80,000 apply.