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.

I'm not sure I understand these ratios. Surely if each applicant has 4 choices then there are 15-20,000 applicants making up to 80,000 applications. This gives each one just over 1:3 chance of gaining a place. Statistics isn't my best subject btw .....

The MSAG website show figures for 2015 there were 83034 applicants fighting for 7424 places to study medicine in UK

It also depends on which university you apply to ,some universities have 18 applicants for 1 place but usually it's 8 to 10 applications for 1 place .some universites have lower ratio 6:1once you get an interview it's 2:1.

UCAS reckons it was 20,390.
I think MSAG means number of applications, not applicants?

I'm sure someone on this thread posted that numbers had been falling in recent years. It's still massively competitive especially as you are competing with some of the brightest kids around most of whom deserve a place.

My DD got a waiting list letter from Cardiff which is bit relief . Does anybody know around how much people get in to through waiting letter and in past anybody who was in the Waiting list for Cardiff didn't get a place ?

Usually students do get a place when they are on a waiting list don't know about Cardiff but My DS friend was on a waiting list at Leeds last year at number 14 he was offered a place,he declined because he got another offer on results day from another university.There is a Good chance your DD will get a place.With the changes to the A levels anything can happen .I wish your DD Good luck.

Still waiting to hear from ds's top choice. Arghhh! How come they take so looong to let everyone know? Surely with interviews well finished and scored they know how many places they can offer and who the top X number of applicants are. Why sit on the 'maybe' pile for such a long time?

Some universities tell you when they give offers out like Liverpool its end of March but other keep giving out in batches,usually by April offers are given out, Leicester keeps giving their offers up to May.Its a stressful time for students.My DS heard back from one with an offer very quickly but still waiting to heard from last two universites.

How do late offers actually work in practice, though? Ds says UCAS wont let you 'firm' any offer while any of your other applications are still 'awaiting a decision'. But firm/insurance choices need making by end of March, don't they? Also accommodation applications are only possible once you've firmed. Doesn't that mean that medics end up with the last choice of dodgy halls that nobody else wants?

(Meanwhile back in real life we are facing with ds being diagnosed with a thankfully non-serious but fairly debilitating medium term illness right through A levels and I'm here on MN stressing about things that don't matter to avoid thinking about the things that do.)

Haffdonga Sorry to hear about your DS, Which Uni's is he waiting to hear from?

Yes that's right you can't firm until you have heard from most of them I think that's what my DS said, But you do have up to May to firm, so all medics are usually in the same situation. My DS too is waiting anxiously because he wants to firm Leicester but he can't until the others let him know. He is worried about the accommodation too hoping to get first choice of room with ensuite. Still haven't applied for student finance yet ,the parent part which have to fill I think I forgot the login password ,can it be reset anyone know, just want to use same information because My son applied last year and was unsuccessful in getting medicine course offer.

Thanks Ness . He's waiting for Birmingham. Frustrating because other friends have heard from them a couple of months ago. He'd be quite happy to have a rejection from them actually, if only to get his head round the choice he does have and get on with life.

Haffdonga, DD heard from Birmingham in about early April, so hang on in there. She was not interviewed until mid March, and I assume they had to see how good her batch was before making decisions on others.

You can withdraw an application, say if you have a firm and an insurance and don't want to wait to hear from a third.But don't worry. The end March deadline only applies if you have heard from everyone. If not, I think the deadline is May.

I went to Birmingham with her, as she had not been to an open day. I spent the morning walking around the campus and looking at accommodation. It looked good, with some nice accommodation near the medical school, and just off the campus.

Thanks Need that's really helpful. Ds really liked the campus there, but needs to remember that for most of the course he'd be off in placements around the midlands and an attractive quadrangle is probably not the soundest base for your future life choices.

Halfdonga, just spotted that your son is ill. I am sorry.

It is really worth speaking early to the school exams officer to make sure you have the proper documentation. DD had d & v and a high temperature before her last exam, and I ended up having to drag her to the GP the day before to get a certificate, and then drive her to school the next day to sit the exam as best she could. She then had to declare herself ill when she got done as much as she could, and was then sent to the school nurse for further confirmation that she was unwell. (No problem there, she claims as soon as she was out of the exam hall she threw up.) She said she felt so out of it that she had no idea how she did, but somehow got the required A. I don't know how much leeway they gave her for her illness.

I also know from a friend's child who has a chronic illness with regular flare ups, that if the school think performance has been affected by illness, they need to tell the University as soon as possible. He missed his University place because of an illness affected performance in one paper. The University said they would have taken it into account, but only hearing on results day was too late. They were full. (He was re-offered the place the following year, though had to resit that paper.)

Thanks Needmore , I've just read your advice out to ds. He is currently trying to be the hero and do it all without letting anyone except the GP know plus a late night run to a and e when the symptoms were unbearable.

So very very stubborn.

Haffdonga and S1966

Students can withdraw their applications to any universities that they haven't heard from. They do not need to wait until they have received either a rejection or an offer. Then they can make their firm and insurance choice and apply for accommodation INFO HERE.

Cancellations
You can cancel a choice or your whole application
If it's just one choice you'd like to withdraw, you can cancel it in Track (as long as the university or college hasn't sent us their decision yet).

DS did this as he had already received offers from the two Unis that he wanted to have as his firm and insurance choice. He liked the idea of rejecting his third and forth choice Unis before they had a chance to reject him. Technically he didn't receive any rejections

Haffdonga, I get the teenage stubborness. Part I suspect is a reaction to being judged and perhaps rejected. A sort of "I'm not jumping through hoops for you if I am not good enough as I am". Also in the case of my friends DS I suspect there was a bit of denial going on, where he was determined not to be defined by his illness, or plead special favours as a result of it. However I think his UMS for that paper were about 20 below those on other papers (he himself had not realised how big the impact would be) and he was still only about 3 UMS below the A* he needed.

Part of the experience that comes with maturity is that asking for a level playing field is different to seeking advantage.

He does need to have a chat with either the school examinations offer or his head of sixth form. And if they don't seem to be clued up on what to do, ask on MN. (DDs school was very clued up, so we were just led through the process. I understand exam boards are quite cautious, so despite evidence from AS, mocks, she still dropped a grade from her predicted A*.)

Birmingham tend to ask for A*AA, but certainly last summer they were letting people in who had narrowly missed.

Anyone else still waiting for Edinburgh? ZZZzzzzzz
They don't even interview, not sure what the delay is.

starship My DD has a friend waiting to hear from Edinburgh as well, she is waiting to hear from Bristol, fingers crossed for them both!

Several kids in our school waiting to hear from Edinburgh . I don't think they have given out any offers yet

Oh poor girl, Ness, hanging on for two this late is tough.
Kristina you're right, a few sets of rejections, probs more to come, but only offers to their current med sciences graduates a few weeks ago.
My dd isn't hopeful but just wants to know really so she can plan stuff for Leeds if it's a no.
Haffdonga dd's pal is waiting for Birmingham too and getting disgruntled.

Off topic a bit but has anyone planned finance? Friends of mine have fees paid to uni by loans company, use the maintenance loan for accommodation (we'd have to top it up, as would most I think.) then give roughly £70 per week whilst away from home for food, clothes, nights out etc.
Anyone's plans/current arrangements differ wildly from that?

Mentee number 1 placed on 'hold' list and been told they are still considering the application he's effectively on a waiting list and they will decide if he gets an offer at the beginning of may. Does anyone know what the chances are of getting an offer if you are on a waiting list? It seems so unfair to not be rejected but not get an offer either. Mentee is disappointed but very focused on a level revision now and next interview which is in April.

Mentee 2 has been rejected from 3 unis and awaiting hearing from the last 2.

Btw the uni won't tell him what position he is on the hold list. And tsr students are reporting there are over 150 on the hold list! So chances of an offer look slim.