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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:
Kr1stina · 16/09/2016 12:03

That's very sad

Decorhate · 16/09/2016 17:16

I've read in some cultures it's prestigious for daughters to study medicine but then working is frowned on. So perhaps she has been spared 5-7 years of hard slog for naught!

Abraiid2 · 16/09/2016 18:33

That would make me furious if it meant another worthy candidate who intended working as a doctor missed a place.

honeyroar · 23/09/2016 21:18

Hi, sorry I didn't reply before Kr1stina, I lost this thread. Hope your daughter did ok with her UKCat. My stepson said it went ok, he did a bit better than the previous year, but still not amazingly (I don't know his score). Before he left he seemed as though he'd decided on doing chemistry. He is having a great time in South Africa, he hasn't managed to do the voluntary work he was hoping to, which is a shame. He comes back to apply for uni next week. Last time we spoke to him he was veering back towards medicine!! I don't know! I'm only his step mum, so down the pecking order, plus he's 19 soon, so isn't so much a child anymore. I feel a bit out of the loop at the moment. Ive been away on work trips when he's rung, so haven't spoken much.

Powergower · 27/09/2016 09:18

I hope it's ok for me to join this thread. I am mentoring a young lad (have been helping him for a few years now) who is applying for med. He's had a rough life and is from a massively deprived background. He initially wanted to apply for dentistry but has decided to go for medicine. He has just handed in first draft of ps to school and is preparing for his bmat. He didn't do great in the ukcat so is relying on the bmat.

My role is to advise and guide him (he has no parental support, little school support). He us also applying for a few access schemes he is eligible for. He is struggling with the stress of this year dealing with applications, whittling down unis, studying for a levels and trying to keep on top of everything.

titchy · 27/09/2016 09:23

Power I think you posted about him before?

It is very late in the day to decide med rather than dent. Does he have work experience? The right predicted grades? BMAT going to be Ok? Presumably his school knows his application has to be in in a couple of weeks?

I applaud you mentoring him truly, but the right advice maybe to not go for medicine this year.

RedHelenB · 27/09/2016 09:25

Did he go to any open days? The bit about switching from dentistry to medicine is interesting as Sheffield mentioned in their talk about comparing the two when filling in the application to be sure you've plumped for the right one.

If you are mentoring in that school again it would really be worth looking at the access schemes early on with the students as these are aimed at widening participation and will give work experience, a guaranteed interview, lower offers etc.

Powergower · 27/09/2016 10:08

Tbh my advice was for him to stick to dentistry as that is what he was preparing for. However I can only advise and support and he disclosed that his real aim was medicine bit didn't apply because he thought he wouldn't have a chance. He has gp experience through a widening access scheme this summer. He has a fabulous cv consisting mainly of long term and award winning local community volunteering. He is predicted 3 A at a level.

He has been to a few own days and had been umming and aahing between the two for a while it seems. I do feel that he may have to take a gap year because it is all so bloody competitive. He seems to think that it's not too late in the process to switch so I'm still supporting him.

At the moment he's pressing school to give him feedback on his PS which I have to say was very impressive.

Kr1stina · 27/09/2016 13:26

Medicine and dentistry PS need to concentrate on work shadowing, what the applicant leaned about the job and why they would be good at it .

The only point of mentioning the community volunteering is to demonstrate how he can meet the person spec of a doctor / dentist.

I know this sounds harsh, but every single applicant wil have a list of interesting EC activities, be a school prefect, will have done community work . There's no point in listing it, it's not a CV.

Doing lots of worthwhile things in the community shows that he's a great kid who cares about his community. It doesn't , on its own, show why he would make a great Dental student . It could even be argued that he shoudl study politics or social work or community education .

He needs to make the link, not the admissions officer.

I know it's hard , because you are clearly very fond of him and feel he's done well considering his background. But he doesn't know what he wants and it's getting too late .

I agree with those who said he might be better to apply next year. He might feel he has nothing to lose by applying this year , but He needs to check if any of his chosen universities won't accept reapplicants .

Kr1stina · 27/09/2016 13:31

I should warn you that no dental school in the country will entertain an applicant who really wants to do medicine but thought it was too hard to get into. Or vice versa.

He needs to be 100% committed to whichever course he wants. The last thing they want is to give a ( very expensive, publicly funded ) place to someone who might change their mind .

If there's even a hint of the above, either on the PS or at interview , his application will go straight in the bin

RedHelenB · 27/09/2016 15:13

Kr1stina - actually that's not what was said at Sheffield dental school they said they wanted to know you had looked at both.

If he is on a widening access scheme then he will be guaranteed an interview if he has completed it which is one step further than quite a lot of applicants.

Think his UKCAT score might be a bit on the low side for medicine so he needs to look really carefully at the admissions policies for all medical schools.

Powergower · 27/09/2016 15:18

From what I've seen of his PS his experience is living to skills learnt such as communication, empathy, organisation, team working etc.

Its easy enough to talk about 100% commitment but for the young people I mentor they often do not know if they will have a home to live in, or food to eat. Their lives are full of complications and complexities. And unpredictability. If he doesn't get any offers this year then at least he will have experienced the ucas process and will be more aware next time.

For these students overcoming personal and contextual hurdles is often the main challenge. I mentor 3 young people all applying for different courses and fully understand why they might change their mind at the last minute.

soapybox · 27/09/2016 17:08

Powergower - as long as his current PS is geared clearly to medicine and he connects the dots between his experience and volunteering to the qualities needed as a doctor he should be fine.

Has he missed the boat for UKCAT though?

He/you may find this document helpful to join the dots!
www.nhsemployers.org/~/media/Employers/Documents/Recruit/VBR%20Behaviour%20framework%20based%20on%20the%20NHS%20Constitution.pdf

Kr1stina · 27/09/2016 17:22

Yes of course . I was only advising that he check, as some schools will not accept reapplicants,so he only gets one chance to apply to them .

Would I be right in thinkning that he's not completed any widening access schemes so far? he may be able to apply for the scheme at Newcastle now.

And I'm not criticising him for not being 100% committed, it's just that he needs to pretend that he is even if he's not sure. There's a place for indecision and weighing options, but that's not in the PS or the interview.

Powergower · 27/09/2016 18:09

Kr1stina your advice is always valuable. His teachers have told him that he must not let on that he was considering dentistry at one point. He hasn't completed any access scheme but has applied to the local scheme. I'll ask him to look into Newcastle. Are they allowed to apply to more than one access scheme?

Kr1stina · 27/09/2016 19:59

Yes he can apply to several widening access schemes. If he gets an offer from Newcastle, they will require him to firm them before he can enter their Partners scheme .

All the schemes operate slightly differently.

RedHelenB · 28/09/2016 08:11

All the partners scheme does is allow slightly lower grades on completion of a summer school, I think the biggest hurdle for dentistry/medicine is getting work experience and "selling yourself" if you come to it from an underprivileged background. That is why the Sheffield scheme is so good as it does guarantee an interview and makes sure you have done the necessary work experience. I think they drop the grades too if you are successful at interview.

Needmoresleep · 28/09/2016 09:04

I read the other thread.

TBH I think he should use this year as a practice run. His UKCAT score will rule him out of most places. If he gets an interview that is great, if not he should shrug his sholders and remind himself that lots of applicants will have had the same experience.

His priority this year should be to get the very best A level results he can, then over summer shadowing or widening access scheme, perhaps a job in a care home or similar, and then at least an hour of UKCAT practice a day taking the exam in latish September.

He will then also have to be realistic. If his summer grades are not good, medicine will not be an option. However the better the grades the more alternative choices he has.

In short I think you should caution him not to raise his hopes, but to see it as a two year process. And his best chance probably lies in working like blazes this year, including some parallel out of school work looking at the course and mark scheme, and using revision guides or Internet teaching material, if he feels his school have recruitment problems or are not really teachning for the A/A*.

Needmoresleep · 28/09/2016 10:09

Kristina,

to pick you up slightly on your earlier post but KCL say:

"Community activities (Very Desirable): We look for applicants who have participated as fully as possible in school, college or community life, making the most of the opportunities available to them and also demonstrated some experience of society beyond their immediate environment. Your interests, achievements and contribution to your community are taken into account eg clubs, theatrical, religious etc.

General (Very Desirable): We look for applicants who not only have interests but may have also achieved in these areas eg music, sport, first aid, etc."

Bristol say:

"Given the very large number of applications we receive each year from applicants who have
achieved or are predicted to achieve high grades, we necessarily place substantial emphasis
upon the quality of the personal statement. We look for:
ï‚· a realistic interest in medicine;
ï‚· relevant life skills;
ï‚· a wide range of interests;
ï‚· acts of altruism and voluntary work;
ï‚· communication and interaction skills
Our mission is to identify and attract those applicants who satisfy all the criteria outlined
above and whose academic and intellectual interests and potential are germane to our
methods of teaching and areas of expertise."

DD, who is sitting on a deferred offer, recently spoke at an event for Yr 12 would be medics and was suprised at an increased emphasis on "roundedness" given by experienced mentors. There seems to have been a bit of a shift from pure academics to looking to those with a broader offer. Though obviously this depends on the individual course. They can vary a lot and there is no substitute for reading an individual University's PS guidance carefully.

skyfall2016 · 30/09/2016 14:29

Hi there, do you know of any good interview courses for medical schools running in London?

soapybox · 30/09/2016 14:59

Yes Needs More, having sat through several medicine sessions on open days and from feedback from my DD who had three interviews last year (and got three offers), the emphasis on both regular volunteering and extra-curricular activities was very strong. All of her interviews were MMIs and at all of them when discussing her personal statement the emphasis was on what she had learned from those experiences and how they would assist her with being a good doctor. The volunteering aspect was very much from the aspect of being able to make a committment, within a heavy school/sports workload and keep to it.

The medical school that she is now at, made it very clear at interview that they were not looking for 'brains on sticks', as they put it!

skyfall2016 · 30/09/2016 17:34

thanks soapybox., has your DD attended any interview courses in addition to the medicine sessions on open days? Are there any good ones around?

soapybox · 30/09/2016 19:22

Skyfall, my DD's school got some contacts in to conduct practice interviews, some of whom were on various London medical school interview panels. As such, there really wasn't much need for her to go on any of the commercial courses and so I am not sure whether there are any obvious better ones to go for. A friend's daughter went on the medlink med course and thought it was quite good - do they do an interview related one?