Medicine 2018 part 2

[LoniceraJaponica]

New thread here

[swingofthings]

That's a very low cut off for Southampton. Southampton used to have a reputation of high cut off but supposedly is one of the most secretive school when it comes to their selection.Their cut off is about the same as SGUL, which reputation is exactly the opposite (low UKCAT threshold)! It really shows however much homework we do, there is always that bit of uncertainty we can do nothing about.

I have a friend whose daughter is at Southampton, didn't get a place after A levels so did medscience and applied as a graduate. Third year now and very happy there.

Well done on those who secured 4 interviews, that's amazing.

Welcome innertiger, don't know anything about Birmingham but very few with offers so far. Where else has your DS applied?

I think it's part of the process to look back and assess the outcome of our strategies and wish we'd done some things differently or relieved with the choices we've made. I think most of us will reflect and note that things didn't go exactly as we'd planned but hopefully the outcome will end up the same nevertheless.

I am surprised that despite an increase in applications this year, DD would have got an interview from all schools that were on our initial list, so if i could change something already, it would have been to go to more open days. At the time, the priority was to make sure to pick the 4 that she was most likely to offer an interview but so far, the outcome is that if she gets an offer for her 4th choice, the one she (actually I!) went for by default, it is most likely to become the one she will firm.

We also debated a lot about whether to go for Bristol or not. I think DD got caught with the popularity of Bristol, which I am sure is no coincidence, it must indeed be a top medical school, but as it is, she's loved the three she had interviews at to the point where she's totally put Bristol out of her mind now and doesn't care much about whether she gets an interview there or not.

I hope this thread will prove helpful for all the mums of next year's applicants. As you've said innertiger, the process makes picking secondary school a doodle!

What we've got to remember is that very few students are unhappy at the school they ended up with, so whether they get one interview and one offer, or 4 interviews and 4 offers and have to decide which to accept, they will be happy to be studying medicine.

[2B1Gmum]

I think between us we could write a mini thesis on medical school applications, but no doubt within 2 years it would be out of date with schools placing different emphasis on UKCAT scores, p.s., predicted grades, adding or taking away SJT etc. Having said that the group on this thread are better informed than DD's school ; I am seriously thinking of sending some info to careers and UCAS advisers - they are very new to it so I do understand, but she was told by one teacher to take out caring and teamwork from her PS and focus on academic relating to Chemistry and Biology! So many people also told her to keep studying maths.

It is frustrating when even armed with info. from the medical school interview offers still don't come your way Movingmountains - but is Liverpool still the favourite? You have a strong candidate I am sure, hope it goes well. DD booked the Thursday of half term for her interview and we hope enough time to grab a quick bite to eat after...

Hope weather stays OK for those with interviews in the next few days - DS2 will be on a coach back from playing rugby Exeter to his uni, Durham, late afternoon today - I think he might see a few weather changes on the journey! Off to work where the summer garden furniture is being put on display

[adrinkofwater]

Just wanted to say well done to those who got Southampton interviews. It's our nearest Uni so DD didn't consider it as its "too close".

Sorry to those who had Nottingham rejections. Its so hard, especially when they are very capable and used to doing well. I hope you hear good news from other places soon. It would be nice if some Unis started handing out some offers soon!

[Movingmountains]

Thoroughly agree with you 2B1GMum about the thesis! Liverpool is still the favourite so all his energies will be put into MMI prep. We are going on the Tuesday of half term - very much looking forward to having a good look around. Southampton is a low cut off as Sheffields much higher. Trouble is they all vary so much year on year.

[Movingmountains]

Thoroughly agree with you 2B1GMum about the thesis! Liverpool is still the favourite so all his energies will be put into MMI prep. We are going on the Tuesday of half term - very much looking forward to having a good look around. Southampton is a low cut off as Sheffields much higher. Trouble is they all vary so much year on year.

[innertiger]

2BIGmum - finding this thread a really useful source of knowledge but I'm also slightly worried that we have not been strategic enough. This is most probably just nerves setting in as we sit and wait and wait....

swingofthings - DS has also applied for Exeter, Imperial and Bristol (his favourite). He's had interviews at Exeter and Birmingham, has Imperial this month and we've heard nothing from Bristol.

[innertiger]

And swingofthings - I couldn't agree with you more about them being happy wherever they go. Right now having one offer would make us a very happy household

My new mantra is Please, just 1 offer, just 1 offer.....

[mumsneedwine]

Mine too innertiger. One teeny tiny offer would be v v lovely

[Needmoresleep]

For those applying to Bristol, DD did not hear from them till about this time, certainly it was after her Nottingham pre-interview rejection.

Her interview was in March. One person at her interview had only been invited the week before.

Bristol was her aspirational choice, but someone has to get a place and she did. Her peers are a pretty diverse bunch, no particular type, so she says she still has no idea what they are looking for.

Good luck to all who are waiting.

[Movingmountains]

Same here innertiger - just one offer!!!!

[watfordmummy]

That can be our new hash tag!!

[SomersetS]

Wow. Lots of news.

Nottingham - DD really liked but I was so unsure of how they scored candidates we decided it wasn't safe enough. Changed my goal posts is just mean. Sorry for those that got rejected - as long as everyone has one!

Southampton was on our "shall we shan't we" list right up to the 11th hour. We bottled & plumped for Sheffield (got Interview next week) but seems we would have been ok at S'oton after all. 2630 cut off. Hope DD doesn't feel we made the wrong choice there. Despite the lovely Julian Sheffield is her least fav. Rumour is their interview is toughest.

Mumsneedwine we have Liverpool 5/2 too! Good luck.

Have heard the TSR rumours that HYMS could be any day despite them saying Feb. Now it's getting close I'm terrified.

Bristol - Thankfully that's home for us so we didn't try. I know some people who work there & even they admit they simply amble through the applications a bit randomly! She told me that my DD & her experiences etc were the type of PS they were looking for but who knows. Liverpool was our most PS heavy choice.

Fingers crossed for everyone.
I agree "just one teeny tiny offer please". Each.

I agree 2B1G I feel the need to contact DDs 6th form Head & offer my experience to Year 12. Seems a waste otherwise.

[mumsneedwine]

Good luck with Sheffield. My DD had her interview back in November, her first one, and seems like an eternity ago. She said it was ok, thinks she bombed it as it was her first, but at least she didn't come out sobbing like one poor girl. She says just be yourself and smile as they are all really nice.

[SomersetS]

Thanks. I think now she has Liverpool too she will be less worried as it's least favourite. But who can tell - she might change her mind once she's been again. Her Dads taking her overnight to give the city a good viewing.

[mumsneedwine]

Mine recommends Meadowhall. And go see the student village as it's almost brand new and very very nice.

[Movingmountains]

SomersetS my DS enjoyed his interview at Sheffield (despite being really poorly). He said it was really well organised and friendly. He really liked the city centre and university. Good luck

[Minikew]

I think Nottingham medical admissions are really badly organised and lack transparency. DD has 8 A*s and 2 As. UKCAT 2700 SJT Band 1 and has lots of work experience. She received a pre interview rejection on 15th January 2018 with the standard offer of other courses which she was asked to respond to by 31 January 18 otherwise her UCAS track would be updated as "rejected". Two days later she received the UCAS track update so never got the opportunity to apply for one of the alternative courses! In my opinion it's "their loss" and I have advised her to forget Notts and concentrate on her other choices. I am annoyed with them though and to make things worse they will not give feedback until 31 March 2018.

[Movingmountains]

Minikew totally agree. I am completely confused about what they wanted in PS. My DS has lots of different work ex and has had part-time job since he was 15. He also had lots of cross curricular. PS was good enough for Bristol. Makes you wonder whether they even read them or rejected them on some other criteria. 3 others from his (state) school also got rejected. All of whom had interviews at their other choices including Oxbridge in a couple of cases.

[2B1Gmum]

Somerset, I hope Sheffield goes well - briefly looked at it on line and the course looked very good. Friends who know the area say it is a lovely size city and very friendly - my father used to be a regular visitor for work and enjoyed his stays. I almost hope HYMS don't get in touch too soon, DD has three interviews in next four weeks - a bit intense and I hope she can concentrate on those. An offer would be amazing, but if they send rejections just before an interview at another Uni it must put a bit of doubt in the applicants mind. I know she is so lucky getting 4 interview invites.... at one point I convinced her getting less was a good thing. HYMS was the one we least expected; goes to show once again how difficult to predict these things are.

Surprised at Nottinghams rejections with no real obvious reasoning, perhaps they decided to interview less and have a higher offer ratio post interview? How on earth they calculate how much to over offer by is another conundrum - they can't afford to have more acceptances than places, so maybe they are just playing it very safe by interviewing less in the first place. As I have said (and others), I know people at medical schools now that got in on clearing having not previously been interviewed by that school, so they do get their numbers wrong sometimes. Be interesting to see which is your DD's favourite after Sheffield and Liverpool interviews.

[2B1Gmum]

last sentence to Somerset, meant for first para. But to others too, always interested to get feed back post interview in terms of feel of the place and the course.

[2B1Gmum]

Just did a bit of research, courtesy of medical portal amongst others, one area I have ignored for obvious reasons is the cost of the course to non EU applicants, Nottingham is significantly cheaper than many others at £21,000 compare with over £30,000 for many. Also, I am sure many are aware of popularity e.g. twice as likely to get an interview at HYMS than Nottingham. I presume these figures are based on last year - but I don't suppose they vary much. There are also figures showing number of places and all the other stats you could wish for, The Medic Portal comparison tool was a great help for DD when deciding on her fourth choice. A good one to recommend to the next cohort.

[LoniceraJaponica]

I suspect that DD will be reapplying next year, as her decision to apply for medicine was a rushed one and didn't give either of us enough time to plan more strategically.

So far she has an interview at Leicester, a rejection at Nottingham but offers of other courses and is still waiting to hear from Newcastle and Edinburgh. The last one was a bit of a wild card as she didn't know what to choose as a fourth choice. She disliked Bristol, didn't really like York and wouldn't even consider Liverpool.

[2B1Gmum]

LoniceraJaponica, keep positive for Leicester - maybe it was meant to be (sorry been to my first yoga class today and I've gone a bit hippy). Did you visit many of the choices, or was it more on course and looking on websites? We only visited three, but DD spent time at St Georges summer school and Work Ex. she only ruled it out to move away from London. I thought we would look at York for Bio Chem or similar, but I went with DD to the PBL lecture and loved it, George Spinks, neurosurgeon and lecturer, did a great job of making it interesting and fun (he even bought in home made brownies - sadly DD couldn't have one). All her choices are big on early clinical and PBL/CBL.

Friends DD has a Bristol interview (possibly heard after Xmas) and Southampton, has had Manchester and liked the city - it was her first interview, full on MMI. Interested to hear from other Manchester applicants as we haven't visited yet!

[specialted]

2B1Gmum, George spinks works in the private hospital where I work, he is legendary for his cake baking!! And such a nice chap too.

Somerset, Sheffield is my home city, I absolutely love it. It is a very safe city and the student union was voted best in the country for 7 years running (so they told us at the open day anyway!) DD really likes it and I loved the transparency of the whole process. They were even really good when my daughter ticked the criminal record box on her ucas form by mistake. They sent a really nice email asking what crime she had committed so they could assess whether or not it would be appropriate for her to study medicine! That was not a good start to her medical school application!

[LoniceraJaponica]

Thank you 2B1Gmum
We looked at loads of universities, and visited alll of the medical schools DD applied to except for Edinburgh. She really didn't like Bristol or Manchester.

She can't apply to Sheffield because they require 6As at GCSE all sat at the same time. Although she has 5 A, 3 As and 2Bs, her school had a policy of all students sitting at least 2 GCSEs at the end of year 10. She achieved 2 As in year 10, and an A in the January of year 11. In the summer she achieved 4 A*, 1 A and 2 Bs. Also Sheffield is our local city and too close to home.