Medicine Applications 2017

[adski]

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.

It's difficult to say. Here we have good score for section 1 and 2 and not great for s3.

Well done little star ship and power's young people

Yes I am so worried about my daughter ... 10 A* 2 As at GCSEs and 4 As at AS levels but she's only got an average grade in BMAT - I think 4.7, 4.5 and just 2A in S3 (despite doing 2 essay subjects at AS) ... she spends all her time working and that's all she got poor thing.

Both BMAT and UKCAT are a slight lottery in my opinion newsroomgirl. How can you possibly judge a student on a one-off test?

All I'd say newsrommgirl is the my daughter got very similar BMAT scores and still got offered an interview so it's not the end of the world. Support your daughter, encourage her to stay positive, crack on with the A-levels and aceing the exams. Even if things don't work out, there's always next year when she will have more experience and can try again if medicine is what she's committed to.

I agree with chuckie. News your daughter hasn't done badly and she may still get an interview. My mentee got 5.9 4.7 and 2c. He is gutted with these scores. He's hoping his contextual data allowance will still get him at least an interview. Good luck to all who are still waiting to hear from unis with regard to interviews.

The distribution of BMAT scores is here for anyone interested www.admissionstestingservice.org/images/344660-bmat-explanation-of-results-2016.pdf

Please explain to any disappointed young people that this exam is only taken by very able young people so that an average, or even low, score doesnt mean you wont get interviews at other medical schools.

I remember once seeing someone get into Cambridge with something like a 3D essay score, really surprised me in a university that expects a lot of essays.

It's getting easier to get into medical school as applications have been declining for several years.

This is a long, tough, process but once they get to medical school they have 5 or 6 years of hard work and then a tougher working life. If they dont get in it's not the end of the world, it could be the start of a better life.

newsroom, most medical schools will say how they weight different elements. How many BMAT schools did she apply for? What was her UKCAT like? and has she tried any schools which put a higher weighting on GCSEs and predicted A levels, or on PS (assuming that is strong).

Already taken is right. Medical applicants are a very able group, and it tends to be the most academic who try BMAT. Some medical schools are perceived as looking for very academic students (Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL) but when DD took part in a briefing earlier this year, her school were claiming that even these were placing more emphasis on non academic attributes and achievements. Acing BMAT obviously helps, but it is not everything.

1. You only need one place. Very very few will get four offers. From observation, failing to play to your strengths when choosing where to apply is a major reason why able candidates do not get offers.

1. Inevitably with a process that aims to filter perhaps 10 applicants for each place, there is an element of luck. Sometimes luck goes with you (At one interview DD was interviewed by someone from the same speciality that she had done her hospital placement in, so had ready answers to questions on hospital procedures) at another it can go against (she failed to recognise some of the vocabulary one interviewer was using, and found him hard to hear/understand.) They can't take everyone who is good enough.

1. Brace yourself for a long wait. DD was lucky to get one early interview offer, but then did not hear from the other four till after Christmas and did not have an interview until March. It is difficult when others hear early and most of your peers have received offers. DD was one of a handful who were without an offer by the end of March. One of her close friends got his final rejection on the same day as she got an offer, yet was the first to congratulate her. Class!

1. A gap year can be a positive thing. Medicine is going to be a long haul, and after three consecutive years of school exams, DD is happy that she has a chance to relax, gain perspective, and improve the sort of skills that support successful study like organisation, independence and communication.

One thing you can do is skim through last year's medical school threads on The Student Room to get a sense of when offers are made. TSR is an odd, trollish and boastful place, but it helps to be reassured that plenty of interview offers go out in the New Year and that some offers don't happen until May, and indeed August.

Thanks Chuckie, Power, Already and Needmore - she applied for 2 Bmat schools, Cardiff (which she has an interview for) and Bristol which place a lot on your personal statement. She steered away from places that put a great emphasis on a high ukcat. If I remember right she got 630 ukcat. Thanks for all the warnings about the long wait!

really good post from needmore. I know leeds and Bristol certainly do not place great emphasis on actual bmat scores as long as you've not tanked it. also agree that there does seem to be a lot of luck involved with passing ukcat bmat and scoring an interview.

Although Bristol isn't Bmat is it ... it is ukcat but I think they place more emphasis on other things like personal statement

Manchester uni, cardiff, newcastle have sent out some interview invites but it seems a lot of others are going to send then nearer Xmas. I understand the delay but it does make for a very nerve wracking holiday period.

Also Birmingham and Sheffield Babbas

Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee have sent out some interviews . Belfast are supposedly sending some out next week.

I think leeds should be sending out interview invites end of this week or early next week.

My mentee has an interview at Brighton. I've been trying to speak to his teacher to see if they can help with interview and mmi practice but getting nowhere. My mentee is making some enquiries about help with travel costs as the train tickets alone are almost £90.00. He has saved some EMA money from last term and we can find him a smart suit to borrow I think. Can anyone point us toward any free resources to help with the mmi prep? The local library has no interview prep books and he can't afford to buy new books. This is such a huge achievement for him he burst into tears when telling me. I was pretty choked up myself.

When is it? I will have a bit of a hunt, as the books DD used were knocking around recently, though DH may have got rid of them.

This one was good.
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190931966X/sr=8-1/qid=1480968827/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1480968827&sr=8-

And this covered the ground, in terms of the ethics interview.
www.amazon.co.uk/Medical-Ethics-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192802828/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480968947&sr=1-1&keywords=medical+ethics

DD found it really boring as everything was either glaringly obvious or very obscure. However a doctor friend explained that she will be answering ethics questions in exams over the next six years so she needs to get used to it. Oddly her extensive exposure to TV medical dramas helped as ethical dilemmas often come up as plot lines.

DD did not do much more, but she is confident in interview situations, and had done both GP and hospital shadowing. Others will have ideas on what else needs to be prepared (NHS structure, hospital procedures) but if your mentee is not confident I assume the best thing might be to have adults ask him questions.

Is there a way to save journey money via split ticketing, or travelling by coach?

What he might do though is focus on why he will be a good doctor rather than on his relative disadvantage. And why, even if his results to date are not great, why he will be able to cope with a demanding course. Contextualisation will have helped get him the interview. However he will not get a place unless they are confident that he will both make a great Doctor and can cope with the course.

I think this site has been mentioned before but ds has found the sample answer do's and don'ts useful.

www.themedicportal.com/e-learning/interview/

Thank you needmore and haf. I think the travel options include a megabus which seems very good value. The interview is in Jan. He has come up with a good idea of voice recording himself in his phone answering questions so he can listen to himself back and strengthen his voice and response.

Does he qualify for the 16-19 bursury at his school or do they have a hardship fund? Either might cover his travel costs. Also the school library may have some books or the librarian may be prepared to order them

Power - that is brilliant news, I'm really pleased for him.

Remind him that everyone starts the interview on an equal footing . He has exactly the same chance of getting an offer as some public school kid who has had every advantage in life .

He just needs to do lots of practice, especially for the role plays and ethical scenarios.

If he contacts the university they might pay his travel costs?

Or approach the local newspaper?

Thank you for the advice and well wishes, he is adopting for some travel costs via the 16-19 bursary fund. Just getting an interview invite has increased his confidence levels massively. School are also getting more involved (finally) and looking at trying to get some interview practice sessions in. Ultimately my advice to him is that the admissions team wok be aware that the candidates are young and nervous and he needs to read up on ethics and current topics and just try his best in the day. I'm amazed by the resilience and perseverance of these youngsters.

Powergower - PM me. I have a couple of books (including the Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction to Medical Ethics, which my daughter - who is now a medical student - found very helpful). I'd be delighted to post them to you - I'm fed up of dusting them!!