Medicine 2018?

[Katisha]

Is there already a thread for medicine applications for 2018 entry?
If not can I start one?
Wondered if anyone knew about the Birmingham GCSE situation as DS has A stars and As at GCSE and likely to be predicted A stars at A level but is coming up on their offers calculator as unlikely to get an interview.
Is it pointless to apply to Birmingham if not all stars at GCSE? Didn't get a star in biology.

welcome mumontheverge. All I can say is that just about everyone I know whose done it has overall found it easier than the practice and done better than the mocks. Mainly because QR is a lot easier and so score of 750+ are normal for those who were only scoring about 600-650 and that makes up for the others.

Keele: They have a cut off of second decile, so under 600 or so. Everyone else is based on their own experience form. I do believe you have to have X amount of hours of work experience. After that, who knows how they select.

Leeds is BMAT. I think it's a mixture of BMAT results (but I don't think they have a cut off unlike BSMS) and PS.

Which other schools is she considering? With such amazing GCSEs results, she could apply to those who score and rank on the basis of GCSEs, but that would depend if she would want to go there. Good luck to her tomorrow.

Mumontheverge with those GCSEs she can apply to Cardiff where my DD starts tomorrow - they do a MMI interview (lots of different stations) and only use ukcat if they have two ‘identical’ candidates ... good luck for the ukcat tomorrow!

Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol are others to look at if she does not do well in the UKCAT. Also some of the London ones. DD got an interview at KCL with a fairly mediocre UKCAT score.

Lonicera - where does she fancy diagnostic radiography? We looked at Medical Imaging in Exeter. I think that sounds fascinating.

9A*s - I too would recommend Cardiff.

Just realised Plymouth changed the way they admit last year - it's back in the game .

Somerset do you mean in terms of looking at the overall ukcat total rather than sub divisions? DD has looked into and decided she quite liked Plymouth.

OMG ukcat is now on my mobile auto text! Don't know how I'll feel about this in a few years time each time I meant to text UK and CAT will automatically follow!

swing (and others) it will be fine. At this point DD was recovering from a near fatal accident, so the priority was to get her back into school, whilst I was madly scrambling around researching her possible choices. (I spent days reading medical school websites and TSR and googling, plus got some really fantastic help from fellow MNetters). Somehow she survived the application process, despite a very average UKCAT and no BMAT, took a gap year to get her head strait and started at Bristol last weekend.

I drove her stuff down earlier this week and she agreed she though she would be happy. Her accommodation is lovely and freshers week has been interesting. She cant wait for lectures to start. But yes. It seems to have been worth it.

Hang on in there. Poor DD's interviews were all in March, so it was a huge wait. She was not told of two till after Christmas, the point at which most of her friends had offers. But she got there. My own view is that medicine will suit her. Just five more years to go!

Swing - yes! Just by chance I realised it changed. Overall score was good but AR was below 2016 threshold so thought we'd lost it as a choice. Liverpool tomorrow & then DD will decide, & confirm after 6/10.

Somerset ideally Leeds. She did a taster day there in July. Bradford also does it and I think the third option was Liverpool, but I can't be sure of that.

Just had another google and seen that they do it at Keele as well.

Hi UCAS is about to be submitted but DS having a last minute wobble UEA vs Bristol for final choice. Has anyone been to open day at UEA or know any details on admissions etc

We have visited Bristol but concerned as PS is 50 percent so it is very subjective and do not want to waste a choice. He has a very good UKCAT and predicted grades . 7A*2A and a 1 B for GCSE. Other choices are BSMS, Southampton and Exeter.

Any advice help would be appreciated

Thank you

From what I know UEA uses GCSEs, UKCAT and predicted grades equally to select for interview. I have also heard that they combine UKCAT and interview score to offer places (info from tsr). We haven't been, but DD is considering it too.

DD is also very keen on Bristol, despite the subjective 50% from the PS. She really liked it when we visited, I think partly because the medicine building is right in the university and also it was a really sunny day when we went and we have had rain on most of the other open days!

Am slightly jealous of people who's DC are ready to submit (or have submitted). The PS is still a work in progress here, along with writing up an EPQ ready for presentation on 6th Oct.

Thanks DOW its really hard as DS really liked Bristol too but worried its a "wild card" choice and whether there may be a higher chance of interview with UEA. It was sunny when we visited too maybe same day!

Someone told us to apply to three med schools which maximize your chances of interview (e.g they score on great gcses or fab UKCAT score) & allow one which is slightly more risky. I think my DS will choose 3 which like a good UKCAT score & then his more risky one will be Keele.

It is really hard July, as all the official advice is to apply where you are most likely to get an interview, and theoretically for your DS that is UEA rather than Bristol. But, if he really liked Bristol, he may decide that it is worth the risk (if he is applying to some less risky places). On the other hand he may decide to apply to UEA and love it when he sees it! I guess this isn't really helping, but I do understand.

My DD is probably going to apply to Bristol, Cardiff and Leicester, (that we've seen and she likes) plus one other that we haven't been to (maybe UEA or Newcastle).

I hope that he can make up his mind without too much anguish!

July - in terms of distance Bristol & UEA couldn't be more far apart? Is the Geography an issue? Bristol is home for us & is a great city with great hospitals if that helps. Very expensive rents & property though.
I thought UEA might be a good choice for us except for the distance. It's 5 hours from here & no flight. Bristol's method of choosing students - 50% PS is odd but interesting if yours is great. (Good also if UKCAT low of grades not all that). I'd only risk it if you love it.

I'm sitting on the train leaving Liverpool. It was a wild card suggestion by me & it's been a success. DD really likes it. We all like it in fact & it moves into 2nd position.

Think we have 4 subject to 6/10 UKCAT confirmation.

Thanks for replies. I think he is now veering towards UEA at the moment. We are booked in for a campus tour next Friday now so decision should be made next weekend. Southampton and Exeter are the safe choices due to good predicted grades and UKCAT. BSMS may the wild card as the BMAT is not until November so hopefully UEA will be a safer choice than Bristol.

DD's school is still dragging its feet re predicted grades. They haven't sent any out yet.

Nor ours though they know what we need!

I can see we are all still weighing options, debating with ourselves what the best choices should be! I'm there too, with a complete change of heart. After totally disregarding any London school, St George has now taken first place! We really like it from every perspective and as DD has a lot of work experience, we think she has a very good chance there.

So St George it is now, and most likely Plymouth, but it could be Exeter depending on latest UKCAT position, and still Manchester, maybe UEA or Southampton :). We discussed Bristol and DD understand the extreme competition but she is confident with her PS and is prepared to take it as her wild card. As she reminded me, they are still inviting 800 applicants to interview and that's a lot!

Awaiting for Friday BMAT results to see if Brighton remains an option. Really hope so as she did their wider participation scheme and she loves it there, but no point in applying if she doesn't get a good result as they apply a cut-off score and that's that.

DD got her A levels predictions confirmed last week at Parents Evening. She was adamant her Biology teacher would only give her an A but she confirmed that she did well at her last mock ten days ago and affirmed that she was definitely giving her an A*, so that made her day!

If you're going for Exeter you need, on the basis of last year's experience, a three-A prediction to have a good chance of interview. My daughter only had a 2-A prediction, though ultimately achieved the three, to everyone's huge surprise. Her UKCAT was good too. Still no interview at Exeter as she ended up in tier 3.

Nobody from her school had an interview though they all got places at other medical schools.

Exeter seem to be swayed towards those who already have A level results. Achieved A levels put you in a tier up on predicted.

Just a word of caution as they were all so disappointed last year.

Thank you Abra1d we did get the impression from open day that Tier 1 was the place they wanted you to be.
DS would not apply here if he was not predicted the 3a* and high UKCAT for this reason so it will be choice. So fingers crossed for an interview.

He should do well! Best of luck to him. It's such a rollercoaster year.

Thank you I hope he gets a place somewhere mostly so he can avoid ever doing the UKCAT again - two hours has never gone so slowly :)

What plan Bs do everyone's DC have in case they don't get into medial school?

I want DD to succeed, but I am very aware how competitive it is and hopefully have prepared DD that she may not get in at first attempt, without trying to discourage her.

If she doesn't do as well in her A levels she is looking at radiography. She looked at biomed and decided it wasn't for her.

My DS backup is to take a year out and reapply.