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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Medicine Applications 2017

539 replies

adski · 08/08/2016 14:11

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.

OP posts:
Needmoresleep · 17/08/2017 08:27

Congratuations Abra1d and Triplets Dds! Good luck to anyone else waiting.

Haffdonga · 17/08/2017 08:51

DS is in!
Don't know his grades yet but frankly now that doesn't seem so important. Thank you all for sharing the angst and mutual support on this thread. Perhaps some of us will pass each other laden with bags in a corridor on drop off day!

pixelchick10 · 17/08/2017 08:55

So happy DD has 3 A* s and this morning (after holding no offers) has a place to study medicine at Cardiff in September!

tripetmumof4 · 17/08/2017 09:03

Thanks everyone for being here , this thread has been so helpful . Daughters grades A*AA , so relieved. Will be thinking of others who haven't heard yet , very best of luck x

unluckystar1234 · 17/08/2017 09:04

Congratulations all!!
Pixel chick 10 - did DD was on waiting list on Cardiff ?

Abra1d · 17/08/2017 09:13

Yay! Haff and Pixel!

alreadytaken · 17/08/2017 09:32

congratulations to all those who have places - and pixelchick can you expand on how she got her place (i.e was on waiting list or rung by them or rang around ) to help potential applicants in future?

needmore I did find some foundation stats - google Recruitment Stats and Facts - The Foundation programme if you are interested and you'll get the 2017 pdf. What this shows is that there isn't a great variation in average points between medical schools and if you look at the highest points achieved you'll see they werent at Oxbridge, reinforcing my message that what matters for any individual student is not which medical school they go to but what they do when there. The lowest points achieved werent at Oxbridge either but that probably has more to do with the caliber of applicants than the standard of teaching. So no need to panic about the competition for London posts but a lot of students do like to stay near their medical school. Yes their ideas will change a lot at medical school but after their first clinical year (5th year of study) my child and some of their friends already seem to have ideas about speciality choice that they will explore further this year and probably in their electives. Those ideas may have changed a number of times over the previous years but they are now being based on some experience and a bit more recognition of their own strengths and weaknesses.

Anyway once the euphoria has worn off for new starters time to think about vaccinations, find out what their med school does about hep vaccine and at least get a list of current vaccinations from their current gp.

NorthernLurker · 17/08/2017 09:45

Congratulations to all. It doesn't seem like a year since dd got her grades and made her offer. She has a friend who has got in this year having dropped a grade on one a level but exceeded on another. Huge relief and it's not even my child Grin

Abra1d · 17/08/2017 10:05

Thanks, Northern!

user1482340609 · 17/08/2017 10:58

Having stressed about Pre U grades, DC got a D2, which is equivalent of an A*! Now off to Cardiff and very happy. Flagon4, hope you got better news than expected too xx

newnamenewnamenewname · 17/08/2017 11:58

Congratulations everybody and good luck to anyone going through clearing! Smile

I've only just found you guys but I thought I'd pop on to congratulate everyone.

DS actually missed his offer for his first choice by 1 mark but they have accepted him today Grin. It's been a long stressful wait in limbo as he got his results last month (IB). There were some extenuating circumstances - he was ill and on prescription high strength codeine for his last 2 exams (although he actually still made his grade in that subject) and the subject he missed out on by 1 mark had the coursework heavily moderated down so the school is appealing the whole year's marks.

For anyone reading the thread in future years, the most important advice he was given was to let the university know as soon as possible, before results come out, if there are mitigating circumstances that you might not make your grades - if you are ill or, like user1482340609's DC, the school has had problems with teaching.

Original poster
adski · 17/08/2017 12:48

DC also got their grades and is in. This after initially being rejected after interview so future years reading this hang in there.

Congrats to everyone whose kids got what they needed and commiserations to those that didn't.

When our DC thought they weren't going to get in this year a Professor he met wrote "Keep going! One of my students just got into Oxford after trying 4 times everywhere!"

It is a brutal process.

OP posts:
Abra1d · 17/08/2017 13:18

Congrats all!

Kr1stina · 17/08/2017 14:37

Congrats to all your kids and also to you long suffering and supportive mums Flowers

Pixel chick - thanks for the info. DD has passed it onto her friend who also got 3A and was holding no offers ( after getting 11 A in her GCSE, so we assume she messed up on the UKCAT).

Abra1d · 17/08/2017 15:01

And congrats to your daughter, too, Kr1stina!

Flagon4 · 17/08/2017 18:19

Well done on your DC' s result- my DC also managed a D2 (flabbergasted was not the word!) and is also off to med' school in September. I am hoping the rest of their cohort also did well.

Abra1d · 17/08/2017 19:25

🥂Flagon

user1482340609 · 17/08/2017 19:41

Fab news, Flagon, wonder if our Dc know each other !

Haffdonga · 17/08/2017 22:52

Can I raise a glass and say congratulations to all of your amazing dcs and to us who have supported them all through it. Wine

DH and I are drinking champagne (while ds of course is out celebrating with his mates). We feel utterly utterly relieved . I never really even thought medicine was the best choice for ds so he's done it all in spite of me but am just SO glad he's got what he wants after what felt like 2 years of stress (personal statements, volunteering, UKCAT, work experience, interviews, exams etc).

I'm sure it will all be easy from here on in, wont it? Wink

Kr1stina · 17/08/2017 23:02

🍸🍷🥃🥂🍻🍺🍾🍹🍸

Abra1d · 18/08/2017 06:06

It was indeed two years, Haff,

What a business...

Kr1stina · 18/08/2017 12:01

Two years and two months for us. Not that I'm counting

Ever since she went to the Open Day in June 2015.

Part of me envies these smug mums you spot on these threads who say

" oh I don't know anything about open days / personal statements /UCAS/UKCAT/ references / work experience / funding / bank accounts - my fantastically mature and organised child handles all that himself " .

Hmm
Abra1d · 18/08/2017 12:18

My son did that for history. Medicine is so much more complicated to apply for.

Kr1stina · 18/08/2017 13:28

YY my daughter really struggled with finding work experience and then persuading them to give her dates in the school holidays, as they usually want the school kids there when the uni students are there too so they don't have to supervise them ( fair enough ) .

It's ok for the kids who have relatives / family friends who are doctors. I read one PS which was all

" while shadowing my uncle who is professor of surgery at X" and

" I had the opportunity to compare medical care in three countries while travelling with my family in x,y and z" .

Research by the SUtton Trust has shown that the focus on WE and PS simply advantages the children who already have privilege , it doesn't have any levelling effect.

That's why the unis are having to work hard to diversify entry in law, Dentistry, medicine and vet Med.

Ok rant over .

pixelchick10 · 18/08/2017 19:22

Yep DD was interviewed by Cardiff, not offered anything but told to ring up the med school on the day of her results just incase - she got 3 A*s and was offered place on the spot!