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.

Great news Somerset

Thanks Susie for your words of support. There's so much negativity nowadays about being a doctor, but I get to speak to quite a few in my line of work and although there are frustrations in the system, many still very much enjoy their job and wouldn't change it given the chance. It's nice you're one of them!

Manchester form submitted last night. Pfff, I hadn't expected it to take us right back to the stress of the PS. We assumed she could just take what she'd written in the PS and adapt it, but she realised when she read it again that although she could use the same examples, she had to describe how it related to different skills, and she then faced that same stress with word count, except that it was for each section rather than the final product. At 10pm, we were still considering which words she could take out! 2B1Gmum, has your DD sent hers too?

teta, good luck to your DD and her interview at Surrey. You are so right to mention about focusing about school work. I realised that I've been nagging DD a lot about her applications/preparing for interview when she's been telling me she had to revise for exams and I'd hinted that this wasn't a priority. Both are really, but in the scale of things, it is indeed more important to get these A/A* at A levels and the exams will be there before they know it!

Yep, Bristol already started to send offers too. DD hasn't even received the email to say they are looking at her application, so she is not in that batch, which is not surprising as she submitted her application three days before the deadline!

22 years ago way less people took A levels and way less got the top grades. It has always been competitive.

Sheffield say they are on time by their timetable & will publish UKCAT cutoffs later today.

swingofthings, no NAI form still needs some last minute word count adjustment too, she has had busy week because of catching up after school trip, then helped out at open evening and has had Biology and Chemistry tests too! Teamwork section was proving interesting, she is writing about extra curricula drama production, but we had to laugh because she found the G in charge really frustrating to work with and that came out as a bit obvious, so needs to reword it a little. Also found that volunteering etc. section could have done with more characters. I do understand why Manchester ask for this (sort of) and am sure at interview it will be useful, but there is so much DD can't fit in that is on PS and reference, e.g. a medical Summer School, a day at Glaxo/McLaren for science students from London schools - all about eradicating Malaria for Red Nose Day. Ce La Vie. She gets home early on Fridays so hope it will be sent by 4 ish...agghh. Like your DD mine has UKCAT in 7th decile, so hope this is not deciding factor but just to reassure they are genuine. Admissions guy at HYMS said they skim read PS just to make sure there is nothing worrying like racism - he looked at the audience and said 'believe me we do see it' - hard to believe but there you are. HYMS is DD's least likely chance of interview I think, but because of their complicated scoring system and her SJT band 3. Like your DD got 1s and 2s every time with 'mocks'. Her other two choices are Liverpool and UEA, again hard to tell as I wasn't up on UKCAT when we visited in the summer so didn't make a note re cutoffs and I have since heard Liverpool very PS dependent, but can't work out UEA's criteria. Time will tell, my moto for last few years has been 'everything happens for a reason'. Middle child change of heart on subject and reapplied after gap year, ended up at Durham, one he hadn't even considered, mostly because of rugby team, he loves it and doing well and playing lots of rugby. Gap year was best thing for him.

Fantastic, Somerset!

2B1Gmum good luck with the final tweaks. The teamwork section was also the one that gave DD most trouble. She used the same team activity she talked about in her PS, but then realised she's used it to support leadership skills, whereas this was about handling a challenge. She had to rewrite the whole thing giving it a different twist, and then had to write a 3rd time because the 2nd version was too long to just cut words! Like you, we assumed that this version meant she could expand more on her experience, but it has turned out to be the opposite and even more stressful although in a shorter time! Similarly to her PS, she has focused on specific experience/skills and left 3/4 of all she did all those years thinking that she would be able to use this in her PS!! Nothing wasted but still frustrating!

UEA criteria is 33/33/33 GCSEs/Alevels prediction/UKCAT. Assume they give a score for each and then add for a cut off? I don't think they have published how they actually go about it beyond that 1/3 consideration.

I assume Manchester won't be sending invites in the next couple of weeks, and BMAT schools not until December. Bristol have started but then with over 3000 applications, they have no choice but to start early!

Birmingham offers coming out thick and fast today.

(For interview that is! - three that I know of this morning)

Eek we squeaked into the Sheffield cut off (2690) - we have 2710!

Mine has 2730. She doesn’t know yet (I’ve been stalking the site all day). Just a relief to get one interview !!

Mumsneedwine - look here

“ Update: (10.11.2017) UKCAT ranking has been completed and the cut point, for home and overseas applicants is a UKCAT score of 2690. “

www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/prospective_ug/applying/whathappens

No email from Sheffield yet but think we are safe to celebrate quietly. 🎉

some excited for them !! Although mine refusing to believe it until she gets an email. But think we can celebrate a little bit 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Part of me says wait for the email & part of me says do a little dance! The numbers don’t lie!

Any news from Cardiff, Southampton or St Andrews ?

I have to stop checking emails or I’m going to go mad

Southampton are quite late I believe. No idea about the others but let’s keep each other informed. Going interview clothes shopping on Sunday - DD has agreed that might be a good idea ! Zara here we come.

We did well in Next. My DD needed petite so it was the obvious place to start but they had lots of mix & match suits, washable at reasonable prices in petite, normal & long. Dress, skirt, trousers & jackets. We need shoes though. Size 3 (!!) low heel court or similar. Struggling because so ridiculously small size.

Thank you. Next is a good call - not sure she’s ever set foot in there before ! Apparently she’s already ordered a dress off ASOS - hoping it’s slightly less revealing than the outfit she is wearing clubbing tonight. I almost asked her where the rest was 😳

Fantastic news Somerset, it's all going in the right direction! DD bought her jacket for 6th form from Next and it has lasted very well considering how she's looked after it!

No sign of anything happening with DD but not unexpected. BSMS won't be until December as awaiting BMAT results, Manchester probably won't have looked at anything until yesterday's deadline for the form. SGUL doesn't seem to do things too early, and Bristol interview offers have start in full mode, but the message is clear that it is only the start and DD is unlikely to be in the first batch as she's not had confirmation that her application has been looked at, so it's a game of patience! She working a 10 hour shift today and again tomorrow at the nursing home this week-end so she doesn't have much time to think about it, which is for the best!

Plymouth have updated this years UKCAT cut off on their website- its 2400 (600 average) DD is well above this - so fingers crossed, as it's her number 1 choice. Interview offers start going out on Monday (someone on TSR called them) 😬😬😬

Well done on all the brilliant Ukcat results. I'm sure the interviews will come flooding in over the next few weeks. Relaxing vibes for the parents! I know this time last year I couldn't sleep because I was so anxious over dd's application .
Dd has another interview - for Liverpool .We've booked accommodation for the Surrey interview and will do Liverpool in a day most probably. Last year we stayed in the Adelphi which my Dd pronounced Care Home Chic ( scene of uni balls of my youth). Seems to have gone downhill since then.
Still no news from Bristol and no Questionaire yet.....,

The Holiday Inn is really nice in Liverpool. Right opposite Lime St station and 10 minutes walk to the Uni. We also stayed at The Marriott right behind. Daughter did a taster day there and we went back for Open day - I loved the city and she loved the Unis proximity to Top Shop.

And SomersetS just saw this. I think I slightly love Julian

Hello again everyone.

As you have noted, having completed ranking by UKCAT score, our UKCAT cut point this year has been calculated at 2690/3600. This means you need a UKCAT score of 2690 or higher. The cut point turned out to be the same for both Home and Overseas applicants (even though both groups were ranked separately).

The team will start processing interview invites on Monday, and are aiming to get them all sent out by the end of next week. This means that we are still currently on schedule.

Best wishes

Julian
Director of Undergraduate Medical Admissio

Mumsneedwine - hi, who is this Julian that you are in love with?? 🤔😍😂

He’s the Director of Undergraduate Education at Sheffield and he’s been keeping everyone updated on TSR. They’ve been so open and up front during the whole process it’s been so nice of him to let the kids (& parents) know when things will happen & the exact score needed for interview.

Mumsneedwine - that’s exactly what I said last night “we love Julian” - I think it’s fantastic that Sheffield are being so informative. Even at the open day I remember being impressed with him.

Shame DD didn’t apply to Plymouth - we would meet that cut off too.

Tera - Liverpool -eek- sending out interviews?? Might urge DD to check her emails more often.

May the good luck continue for you & your families.

Think teta’s is a Vet !