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.

[SomersetS]

We're still plodding on with Open Days. Sheffield last weekend. York & Leicester this weekend. Liverpool next weekend. Feels like everything DD fancies is "up north"! Done Exeter & Southampton before summer. UKCAT interim results have me worried but keep looking for our four favourites (GCSEs have ruled out Cardiff & Edinburgh who were our favourites before we had any admissions knowledge). Pulled out of BMAT 9/9 as DD less keen on those Unis. Fancy. UEA on paper but it's a 5 hour drive! Anyone been? Or Keele?

[mumsneedwine]

Loved UEA. Great campus and course. My DD just put off by Norwich. Thinks it's a bit quiet. Shame as I think she's be really happy there. Not my choice though

[Chuckie88]

decorhate and swing. I'd agree with your thoughts about Leeds being lenient. My DD dropped a grade at A levels but Leeds still accepted her. So thanks Leeds. DD is loving life there. Packing now for me and her to drive up tomorrow to move into the new flat ahead of lectures starting Monday.

[LoniceraJaponica]

DD liked Nottingham. We will be looking at Leicester tomorrow.

[PisforPeter]

Are you sure you want your children becoming medics given the current state of the NHS???

[SomersetS]

PisforPeter - think the NHS is a mess & definitely not an ideal time to choose it as an occupation but we need great doctors, lots of them, & DD has never deviated from her desire to do medicine in last 4 years. I do believe she is capable & will make a great doctor (in the right area). At the end of the day it's not my decision some I'm doing all I can to help her get there at the right Uni for her.
She wants quiet campus not party central.

[Fortybingowings]

PisforPeter is right.

[Katisha]

Hello again. Well my original question was about Birmingham entry but DSs UKCAT seems to have opened it back up as a possibility according to their number cruncher thing. Off to look at Nottingham today. He's liked everywhere he's looked tbh but is put off UCL by the accommodation situation.

[SomersetS]

We have 7.25 on the Birmingham score but am worried that's quite close to 7. Some of the others tricky to calculate, particularly Nottingham! (Apparently they invented the UKCAT).

[LoniceraJaponica]

Nottingham put less emphasis on UKCAT. Newcastle want a really high score.

[sluj]

Hi all.
This was me two years ago and DS has just gone back to UEA to start year 2. Some of you have asked about UEA so I can give you some info about that.
The campus and Norwich itself are beautiful, very safe but lots to do. Norwich has a great shopping centre. There are tons of pubs and a handful of clubs but a lot of the social life seems to be on campus in the LCR which has bands and club nights.
The course structure is so sensible I don't know why they aren't all like it! Its set into modules -2 or 3 a year- dealing with different areas. For instance DS is just about to start respiratory. That means in a Friday his PBL group will sit down and discuss what they know as nd what they want to find out and divvy up that weeks research to feed back the following week. Then they will have lectures and seminars all focussing on respiratory issues. On Wednesday morning they will work on their cadavers and will be looking at the lungs. All day Thursdays are spent on GO placement where they will be learning various things but with a particular emphasis on respiratory. As they are teaching practices they have willing volunteers who come in to talk to them about their respiratory history and what it's like to live with things like lung cancer or emphysema. On Friday they get back together with their PBL group and discuss what they have learnt and seen. It's all facilitated so there is someone there guiding them and answering questions. Logical !
The last 4 weeks of every module are spent on hospital placement so they will see respiratory problems on the ward.
The whole course is very hands on with GO placement every week from week one and a hospital placement right from module 1. My DS was giving flu injections at the GP after 6 weeks as a medical student 😷
There are also lots of lectures and written content too.
UEA students come out to for feeling prepared for their first F1 post and I can see why.
DS was very lucky and got 3 offers from UEA, SouthHampton and Hull/York by applying to his strengths to get to the interview stage.
He rejected Hull/York because he didn't want to randomly allocated a city to study in.
He didn't get an interview in Nottingham ad they change their score cut off each year. He would have easily got through the year before so watch out for systems like that.
We looked at Keele and Leicester too if anyone wants to know what we thought of any of these places.
I'm not going to spell check this because I lost the whole post last time I tried to preview so apologies for the typos.
Good luck to all your Docs and remember to use the Student room chart to apply to their strengths. They will all come out as doctors in the end so just make sure they are maximising their interview chances

[sluj]

I wish I had spell checked now! GO is meant to be the GP 😀

[LoniceraJaponica]

We are looking at Leicester today.

[swingofthings]

So nice to see this thread picking up, more messages in the last 24 hours than the last 24 days!

Good luck to all those doing visits. I am putting my head in shame and admitting we haven't done one. I think the main reason being that the way it is going, what's left of valid choices means that DD can't be picky! She'll go where she's taken will visit when she gets 4 offers!

Interim results came out yesterday. As it stands, DD is 20 points from 7th centile. If the trend is similar to last year, ie. final position went down 40 points from a similar average), then she'll be within it. As the 7th centile seems to be a crucial cut off, she will need to wait until the 9th when the final position is released to make her final choice!

Thanks sluj and mumsneedwine for your comments about UEA. This school has now taken position 3 in DD's list. I think they take a 33/33/33% approach with CCGs/UKCAT/PS (or is it A levels), can't remember but either way, seemed to become more and more a sensible choice for DD.

Are you sure you want your children becoming medics given the current state of the NHS???
It's not about what I want but what DD wants? Does DD knows the current situation of the NHS? Oh yes she does, all too well for her unfortunately. Does she still wants to study Medicine? Absolutely. Why? Because as she says, she strongly believes it is her vocation, and the NHS is not her only opportunity to end up practicing Medicine one way or the other.

I've had many people asking me and her this question and frankly, I find it a bit patronizing. The world will always require medics, so why trying to discourage people to meet a undeniable societal need just because the sector is currently going through a crisis. It's those who didn't listen and still went into Building 10 years ago when they were told not to due to the economy who are now having the last laugh as there are plenty of career opportunities and good money to be made in this sector.

[sluj]

Hi.
We quite liked Leicester even though it didn't make the shortlist. At the end of the day if that had been his only offer he would have snapped it up. The same goes for the University of Outer Mongolia!
Negatives I remember from Leicester-
-Halls of residence were a bus ride away
-campus was a bit grotty as was Leicester itself if I'm honest.

Positives -

• very friendly staff and students
  
• shiny new medical building just being built looked fabulous.
  

Hope you enjoy your day

[sluj]

Swingofthings. Your approach is actually quite sensible in just choosing unis where you can have the best chance of an interview in the first place. We narrowed them down using a 3 hour travel radius too.

If you get an interview you can look round then.

If you are lucky enough to get more than one offer there are also offer holder days to help you choose your first choice and insurance. This is where D'S decided to ditch Hull/York after looking round the Hull campus and talking to staff there.

Having said that , I personally quite enjoy open days and looking forward to DS2's turn next year

[Fortybingowings]

Swingofthings. You are of course right too. The world will always need medics, but practising medicine in the UK is a cesspit at the moment. By all means encourage her to do it with the aim of practising in Aus or NZ though. Life as a doctor is good there. Finally, the first step to long term survival as a doctor is acceptance that it is a job, not a vocation.

[Fortybingowings]

www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/these-four-words-that-may-offend-you-may-also-just-save-you/news-story/4ab0a8c59dbcf3aba5efe2037a920cfd

[Needmoresleep]

Katisha, what is the UCL accommodation situation. They used to guarantee accommodation to all first years. It is a very very well regarded medical school.

[LoniceraJaponica]

sluj DD quite liked Leicester. If you think the campus looked grotty you should see the 1960s buildings at York. The surroundings are nice but the buildings look like council flats that have seen better days.

DD isn't bothered about a bus journey. She currently has to get a bus to school, and the fact that lectures start at 9 is a bonus as she has to be at school for 8.20.

[Katisha]

needmoresleep just the grottiness and expensiveness of it in London...

[sluj]

Lonicera - glad your DD like Leicester. It's got a lot of positives going for it. As I said, my DS quite liked it too.

We went to York and actually loved the campus there but thought the Leicester one looked like a Victorian factory site with various industrial United added on. No lovely grounds like campus universities.

I went to Lancaster myself though so have an affinity with 60s architecture 😁

[peteneras]

I’m just sitting here alone smiling to myself reading some of the recent postings – just as well though or else anyone who sees me will think I’ve gone cuckoo or something . . .

Not meaning to offend anyone here but the thought of people visiting unis/med-schools etc ‘deciding’ and ‘choosing’ which one to go for just made me react the way I did above.

Just so that you know, you don’t “choose” which med school to go to for your medical education/training. The med school decides and chooses you! At this stage of your application, you should really pick the four med schools that you think best suit your strength(s) and you can do this without leaving your front door. Nearer the end of the application process and if you’re lucky enough to get just one offer, then that’s the school you go to even the school is called the University of Land’s End or the University of the Outer Hebrides.

It’s been said many times before, a medical degree course is very unlike most other regular degree courses. Other than the traditional BMAT schools where you stay put for three years at the same place, almost all UKCAT and non-entrance exam schools – and these schools make up almost 90% of all UK med schools - will have you here, there and everywhere throughout the whole duration of your medical training. Especially in the final two years, you’ll be sent miles and miles away, maybe even overseas, from your beloved med school doing your electives and/or placements or visiting GP clinics; rotating every term so much so you forget how your med school looks like.

So my point is to research the best four schools that suit your strength(s) at this early stage and visit if you like, the schools that make you the offers at a later stage in order to establish a ‘firm’ and an ‘insurance’ school. Good luck!

[LoniceraJaponica]

"Just so that you know, you don’t “choose” which med school to go to for your medical education/training. The med school decides and chooses you!"

We are well aware of this, but if we hadn't gone to Brstol last week DD might have put it as one of her choices. As it turned out it was a no from her. She just wanted to narrow it down to the 4 she is interested in applying to, and where she thinks she has a chance of getting in.

We haven't done much more than sit through the subject talk and have a tour of the department. We haven't looked at accommodation as there is no point unless an offer is forthcoming.

Interestingly they talked about where the students will be based throughout the training. The overseas part is optional at all the med schools DD looked at, and most unis send students to other hospitals within the same county.

[Trippy4]

I think the information sharing is a great idea . Knowing how you feel about a course is not ridiculous and course we are aware of how competitive applying to medicine is . I 've just dropped my child at med school and feel totally convinced she made the right choice from her offers , Nottingham BSMs, Hull York and Leicester .