Medicine 2018 part 2

[LoniceraJaponica]

New thread here

This Julian has become a real favourite, very good at communication skills, impressive. SomersetS, clearly they are all looking for something a bit different, but who knows which will give the offers in the end, fingers crossed it is one at the top of your DDs list! DDs next at UEA will be different from HYMS as it is full on 7 MMI, I think HYMS was friendly and well managed but also DD says she has learnt from it i.e. not to say the first thing that comes into your head in a panic, it is OK to take a breath and think about it. She says she did blurt out something in one station and afterwards regretted it!

And yes, getting an offer and getting in to any medicine course is a great achievement and those that do will I am sure be very proud and happy with where they end up. I did have one negative comment from a current student at Southampton, not of the Uni itself - they told me to tell DD 'don't apply, if you are clever do a science degree and get a better job with better hours and better money'. It was at the time of junior doctors contract changes, but even so not nice to hear (and I did tell DD), especially as this student has a parent who is a successful, happy and well paid doctor and whose family have a decent middle classed life with all the trimmings! Time will tell what this particular student decides to do.

Movingmountains, I feel your pain and frustration. DD has late mocks (after half term), after parents evening and grade card, plus one chemistry test where the highest mark seemed to be a D (including a student with Cambridge offer for Chemistry and 3 other medicine applicants!). I hope you get a reassuring answer from the school, but if not I would look at outside revision courses. DD did one last year for Geography AS level and got one of the highest marks in the school, they even asked to get her paper back so that they could see how she did it. She said it was down to a bit of extra revision and really good exam technique tips. Doesn't stop me worrying all over again though.....

Moving mountains - I feel your pain re mocks! DD had them after Christmas and felt some didn't go well - waiting for results now! She is still waiting to hear from Birmingham & Edinburgh - think Birmingham want all their interviews done by 19 Feb and she won't know about Edinburgh until mid March. Such a stressful time for them all. I have turned to Gin 😉

I'm with you with anxiety relating to achieving A levels and deciding how much teachers/school can be trusted.

DD had the choice of two schools, one with a very record of achievement and top number of pupils getting medicine offers but that would have entailed a long travel journey or a new 6th form of a school established only 4 years, making many promises but with no result to judge on, only 10 minutes walk away.

In the end, DD chose the latter and it's still difficult to establish if it was the right decision. The school is not doing great, the Headteacher that set it up left, with rumours that she left the ship before it sank. First A levels results were not what was expected and a number of pupils with offers at Oxbridge/Medicine didn't make the grades. Those were pupils who had achieved all A*s at GCSE.

However, I feel that DD has been progressing well, with seemingly very good teachers in terms of knowledge and commitment and so far, no disruption in terms of staff turnover or anything else. However, I don't know anything about A levels, let alone the new format of it, so I feel a bit vulnerable not being able to support DD in recognising whether she is getting the right education to allow her to achieve those A levels. She seems confident that she is getting the right support there but it's hard to tell and clearly there is no option of learning from mistakes.

She's done well in her mocks (besides Mechanics!), but again, it doesn't mean anything if the mocks only covered what they've done so far rather than what can be expected in a few months (argggg, only a few months!!).

I can't imagine what it must be like to have gone through the full loop, experiencing the elation of knowing they have a place, to see it all crumble because the school didn't support our DC adequately (because let's face it, they are all capable of getting the required grades, otherwise they wouldn't have an offer in the first place).

Are there any A levels teachers on this forum? If so, what would be your advice? Take more an active role or to bugger off and let teachers do their job, trusting them and our DC?

Thanks for the useful tips everyone - I have looked up revision courses and found ones for biology and chemistry but not physics (apart from a week long one in London)

swingofthings Iam actually an A level teacher but not sciences. It is a a very difficult call - I generally say trust the teachers but I know from bitter experience with my DS1 that is a fools paradise! I think it is best to trust the judgement of our DC - they tend to know if the teaching is letting them down. the tricky thing is then to know what to do about it - which is what I am worried about now. My DS says his physics teacher is not good and he is having to teach himself a lot of the course. I will be gutted if we have gone through all this trauma of applying to medical school for him to have been let down by poor teaching and preparation at the end

As swingofthings said, I too haven’t heard of any medical student who isn’t happy with where they’ve ended up. Last year a girl whose first choice was St. Andrews ended up at Sheffield after receiving her results and apparently she is having a pretty good time there...
Movingmountains, if this is any consolation, my DS got a C in his physics mock but ended up with an A in the real thing (he was 4 marks off an A* too). There is plenty of time for your DS to improve on his grade.....🙂

Mountains, DD did a couple of commercial easter revision courses for AS, though not A2. She is dyslexic and learns orally, so it helped to go through everything in a classroom, and with a different teacher, plus pick up exam technique tips and figure out a couple of things she had found hard to understand.

She noted that some of the others had big gaps in their knowledge. If that is the case a course would be a useful way of highlighting where to focus self study efforts.

(FWIW DD got better grades at AS than A2, and I suspect the forced and structured revision may have played a part.)

A friend's dd had the same bitter experience. She and her classmates sailed on happily until results day when none of them got above a B in one subject. Her DD missed her Oxford offer (for a different subject) which was a huge pity given she is a natural intellectual. My friend regrets not using a revision course as an external check on progress. The downside obviously is that courses are expensive.

Thanks Movingmountains, that's helpful. DD seems very confident that she is getting the right support and so far, I have no reason to believe otherwise. It's so disheartening when they get a poor teacher and there really isn't much they can do about it but rely on themselves. At least it's still early enough that something can be done about it. I think the kids who failed at DD school did so because they/parents didn't realise until late that there was a huge gap in the curriculum that hadn't been taught and I'm concerned that this might be the case again, but DD has assured me that it wasn't the case. They have three or four pupils that year (out of only about 60) who have applied to medical schools, and at least three of them have had interviews and two already places, so it wouldn't look good on them if all failed to get in due to their results.

How many schools applied to (and got interviews to) expect at least one A* rather than AAA? All DD choices are AAA but have to admit that this is a bit of luck as not a factor in deciding except as a contributing one for the 4th one.

Movingmountains, I think trust your DS, if he feels the teacher is the issue do look elsewhere, a tutor may be better than a revision course, at least initially to see where the gaps are. Whilst DD did well after a revision course, she said the pace was slow and covered a lot of areas she was already confident in, it was more about technique. Your DS being a bright boy might find some revision courses too slow as well - if you go down that route make sure they are going to cover what he needs and the class is not too big (some of them are a bit on the soft sales side on the phone).

I have told my DD to let me know if she wants another revision course for any subject - but we are waiting to see what the school comes up with first as theirs are only £25. I was happy with parents evening, but Mocks may tell another story of course.....
I wonder if HYMS will send out offers next week or Feb?

it was more about technique
I think that's really the key element to getting the needed top grades isn't it? This is the part that DD struggled with. Her biology teacher said that she was an extremely bright child with an amazing knowledge of concepts and ability to recall them, but her exam technique was what was stopping her getting top marks last year. DD admitted that she found it hard as she's always hated studying for the sake of exams, she just enjoyed learning for the sake of learning.

Her teacher worked really hard with her on developing her method and it seems to have really paid off. I supposed teachers can be like pupils, some will focus more on the discipline and getting kids to enjoy developing their knowledge of it than focus on teaching them methods so that they can get an A* rather than A or A rather than B, when for many pupils, it won't really make that much of a difference.

Think birmingham has sent out offers/rejections for the first interview batch today. Good luck everyone! DD was in second batch so has to wait until march. On tsr seems like those that thought they'd done badly got offers and those who thought they'd done well didn't!

Morning all! Birmingham offers are starting to come through after the delays they've had with sickness with admissions staff.

Thankfully my DS has received an offer (so relieved, complete understatement) but it doesn't state what for. It was from the med team saying sorry for the delay, we are making you an offer but exact details to follow in the next 3 weeks.

Good luck to all who are waiting #justoneoffer

Congratulations to you DS innertiger, such wonderful news. There is nothing quite like that first offer and the enormous relief that comes with it! 😀.
Last year the offers at Birmingham seemed to be A*AA for those doing 3 A levels, AAAA for those taking 4, and then for others where contextual data was applied, I believe it might have been something like AAB (but don’t quote me on that last one!).
Huge congratulations again 👏

Fantastic news innertiger! You must be feeling very proud and relieved!

That's great, innertiger! You must both be so happy!

We are off to Newcastle tomorrow for DDs interview on Wednesday. We have quite a lot of time before our flight back in the evening. Any ideas on things to do/see?

Thank you muddlethro and specialted - we are indeed a very happy and relieved household today
I do love the support on this thread!

and adrinkofwater too! Sorry, page hadn't refreshed.

All the very best for Newcastle tomorrow!

Congratulation innertiger - what a relief! Well done to your DS

adrinkofwater, hope your DD has a great interview at Newcastle tomorrow 👍.
My sister lives on the edge of Newcastle and tells me that Paradiso (Italian/Mediterranean) restaurant is really good and not ridiculously pricey! She says the Laing Art Gallery and the Baltic Gallery are also worth a visit. And if I was heading to Newcastle, I’d visit my favourite dept store, Fenwick! Also, it’s quite nice strolling along the Quayside too.
Have fun...

Innertiger, very well done. DS2 has an old classmate studying medicine at Birmingham, pleased to be there and planning on being a g.p.

On our way back from interview at UEA, DD feeling relatively good about it. Small group, one other also got a Manchester interview.

I hope Newcastle goes well drink and enjoy the city, another good city to study in.

Congratulations everyone.

Having my own proud Mum moment 🤗 DD just got an early offer from Leicester!!! (And she likes Leicester (2nd choice)).

Gobsmacked - didn't think we'd even get an interview. Also thought HYMS would announce offers/ rejections first but Leicester beat them to it.

Phew. #justoneoffer

Fingers crossed for everyone else. Interview Liverpool Monday.

Might crack a bottle tonight.
Blimey what a sense of relief.

Big congratulations to your DD on her Leicester offer SomersetS! I think a celebration is definitely in order tonight! I imagine you can’t stop smiling! 😀

Brilliant news SomersetS - definite celebratory drink moment

Wow!! Well done all, offers seem so far away, Edinburgh doesn't do anything until March, and Southampton interview still to take place.

Fantastic news innertiger and Somerset. DD also received an offer from Manchester today.

Good luck for tomorrow adrinkofwater.