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.

From reading forums it appears that often good candidates who don't make the cut for medicine are often offered another course by same Uni e.g. Biomed so hopefully won't end up with no offers?!. At least that way hopefully they would have a choice of gap year & try again or go with something similar. PS of med applicants clearly all about medicine so we will trying to choose something closely linked.
Ours won't be going until after 6/10 - need to confirm those deciles.

Mine is bit lucky as in 7th decile so gone with her favourites. She put a 5th as a course at her favourite Uni. Not because she would take it but because she'd like one offer like everyone else.

Cant believe it's time for 2018 entry! My dd got a place at Dundee in 2016 and started her second year a few weeks ago. I would very highly recommend Dundee, it's been great so far and is a decent city for students. Liverpool was her insurance.

Some might argue by putting a 5th choice suggests that you are not entirely committed to medicine. I'm in two minds about that.

No one sees the choices. They are not disclosed to Unis - even the order placed isn't. All they know is you've applied to their course

I agree with MumsNeedWine - DD will put down fifth choice even though PS pretty clear what her ambitions are! Nice to get an offer to hold even if we don't use it. Just finalising the spreadsheet....

That's stupid advice peteneras (no change there) . Everybody should put down five, especially medicine applicants. If they drop a grade results day will be traumatic enough without going through clearing. My dd's fifth choice was Dundee for biomed.not only did it NOT impact on her medicine offer but they offered her a financial incentive to take the biomed place.

My DS just put down 4 choices and his 5th choice was a gap year and try again the following year (though he might have had a 5th choice if it came down to year 2)
There is definitely a problem in that your P.S. should declare you as a potential med student whether or not they see your other choices. Having said tha t

NorthernLurker my DS didn't put a fifth choice down because he was absolutely 100% clear that he wanted to do medicine. I'm not sure why it's such bad advice, it seems pretty reasonable.

Yes same sluj, DS would simply have re-applied.

Whoops posted too quick somehow.

I was going to say that despite the PS being clearly med orientated it didn't seem to stop the alternativalternativofferse tyo medicibe offers coming in for friends who had other options for that 5th choice.

OMG someone send me a spell check.
Or stop me from posting Educating Manchester whilst posting on mumsnet after half a bottle of wine

I'm logging off now. WATCHING Educating Manchester. Time for bed

Are you stupid or am I stupid, NorthernLurker? I'm in no doubt who's the idiot here who cannot even read two simple sentences that I wrote this evening. Was that an "advice" I gave about the 5th choice you see above? Not surprising your simple mind cannot see further through a medicine applicant's PS. In all seriousness, is an applicant who's prepared to spend 3 or 4 years at uni following a non-medical course entirely committed to medicine? I might even say that's dishonest!

DD did not put down a fifth choice when she was applying two years ago. However as the year progressed she found herself really enjoying maths and physics and wondered about studying bio-medical engineering. Interestingly that year Imperial were willing to accept applicants up to June, so had she not got any medical school offers she might have looked at it more closely.

Instead, and with a couple of medical school offers under her belt, she thinks she may intercalate, either in engineering or some form of neuroscience. (Or whatever else interests her at the time.) Luckily Bristol allow her to take courses away from Bristol so she could go to imperial/UCL and have a very strong reputation for neuroscience.

When looking at medical schools I think it is worth looking at their intercalation options. They can be very different. Birmingham has a strong focus on public heath - probably not DDs thing.

I agree though. If you want to study medicine, and are happy to have a gap year as your Plan B, there is no need to put down a fifth option.

Sorry typo "Bristol have a strong reputation for neuroscience"

DD's school advises that you leave the 5th choice blank so you can apply for anything else you want. At the Newcastle subject talk they told us that if you put biomed down as your 5th choice you have to do it if you don't get into med school.

sluj, you made me laugh!

Like others, DD is already fully committed to doing a gap year and replying if she doesn't get in, but she'll probably put a biomed 5th choice anyway... just because you can and there is nothing to lose from doing it and things can happen between now and next September.

Peteneras, I don't understand your post. Most medicine students pick a biomed course as their 5th choice. How is that a non-medical course? The daughter of my colleague didn't get an offer. She wasn't as aware of the process as we are here and was as prepared. She opted to do a biomed course although she was massively disappointed and really really didn't want to at first. As it happened, she loved the course and felt much more ready to study Medicine when she applied as a graduate entry. She's just started her second year at Southampton.

Needmoresleep (that could be me right now!), thanks for that information about Bristol.

Just read your post Lonicera. That's another point I hadn't thought of. Does this mean that there are saying you are can apply for anything else you want through clearing? The problem then is that there might not be any relevant course in clearing?

Swing, when we were waiting for results 2 years ago I had a look the day before to see what was going to be available in clearing if the offer was missed & there were plenty of biomedical courses available in good unis

Even if you need to apply to medical schools in October, you don't need to add the fifth choice till mid January. Interests can change and evolve, so I think it is worth keeping the flexibility.

There are a lot of non-Doctor medical roles in hospitals. The engineer interest came after talking to someone undertaking cutting edge research at a London teaching hospital. He had patient contact, but with a small number and over a longer term, which he said he preferred to the production line that many doctors faced. It must be worth researching different options rather than simply opting for bio-med as a standard fall-back. Graduate medicine is a long and expensive haul and even more competitive than first degree.

DDs 5th is not Biomed. It's science related but covers her interest in genetics. She is intending to reapply if all goes badly - but as someone says, lots can change in the next year. It's quite nice knowing it's done and in the hands of fate - unless the UKCAT deciles move by about 40 the wrong way and then, well, plumbers earn a lot more money than doctors. 😁

DD looked at biomed before deciding she didn't want to do it and switched to medicine. Biomed will definitely not be her 5th choice.

How many biomed students are would be medical students then?

Her plan B is diagnostic radiography.

Thanks Decorhate and NMS for the tips. DD and I had a discussion about Medical Engineering some months back. That's an area of Medicine I find very interesting but DD doesn't. What attracts her to Medicine is the contact with patients and the investigation to reach diagnosis.She absolutely loved her placement in Haematology for this reason.

I thought a very large number of biomed students were would be medical students, but maybe not.

Hi. First post to mumsnet. My daughter is hoping to apply for medicine 2018 entry. She got 9A*s but is really finding the UKCAT difficult with practice scores of 600/650 average. Test is tomorrow. Any tips and does anyone have any info on Keele or Leeds application weightings?

My daughter had Biomed as her fifth choice at Bristol and was given an offer. Exeter rejected her medicine application and offered something similar. She still wound up with two medicine offers and it was good to know she had an offer from somewhere had all else failed.

NB, Exeter really mucked applicants around last year by seemingly changing their tiers after applications were in. There was quite a fuss as it was a wasted application for a lot of people. Check their small print carefully. My daughter thought she would be in tier two, with a good chance of interview, but seemed to end up in band three because they favoured people with grades in hand. It turned out fine for her but was very stressful at the time.