Medicine 2019

[kaykay72]

Hi,

Does anyone here have a DC applying for medicine to start in 2019? It would be nice to meet others as we embark on uni visits, predicted grades, UKCAT etc

We’re in Kent, d is planning to visit kings, UCL, Nottingham, Sheffield and Newcastle at the moment. She really wanted to go look at Belfast but they want three A’s plus an A at AS level but won’t accept her additional qualification in place of this (despite it having a higher UCAS tarriff). We went to an open afternoon at BSMS which she liked more than she thought she would, so is pondering the BMAT.

I have two older kids (well, adults now), one of whom has just finished his masters, the other just completed his first year elsewhere, but medical applications are just so complicated in comparison to their experiences at this stage.

Hope to hear from others in the same boat :-)

Ah, we have not worried too much about the essay part as Cambridge ignores it and Leeds gives it half the weighting of the other sections.

I don't know how Imperial uses it.

I’ve also popped over from 2018 thread. I echo mumsneedwine - pick strategically. My DS is off to Sheffield (chosen initially as he had very strong UKCAT). He loved it at every stage - he said the interview was the best organised and everyone so friendly (not his experience everywhere). Their applicant open day sold it completely for him (and us). He was not keen on London. I would say beware what is promised at open days. Nottingham told him he would definitely get an interview with his UKCAT score - he didn’t! He had 5 A*s at GCSE but the way they weight UKCAT doesn’t actually reward those who do well as pretty much everyone would get 7 out of 10 points.
Anyway good luck to everyone this year. It is a massive rollercoaster- but before you know it you are getting teary over buying mugs in IKEA 😂

Hello everyone. Another one from the 2018 thread - DS is off to Nottingham- he just had the one offer in the end.
We weren't particularly au fait with the intricacies of how GCSEs and ukcat were weighted and exactly what each medical school wanted - in hindsight we weren't very strategic in choices and kind of ploughed on with the places DS liked the look of on open days.

I think a couple of things that helped were a good spread of work experience and volunteering which he could talk about in the PS. And we did fork out for a medic portal MMI half day course - he said it was useful, and he was glad the first time he did a stations interview wasn't in the real thing.
We also tried to engage him in medical ethics discussion every now and then - not saying I had any marvellous insight but just tried to get him to argue for or against things - something he wasn't really required to do in subjects at school.

Has anybody had experience of technical glitches in UKCAT exam?

DS did it today and his result was OK (700 which is probably fine for Sheffield, but marginal for Newcastle), but the on-screen calculator was not working during QR. The person at the centre gave him a normal calculator to use, then took it away as he realised they were not allowed. DS therefore had to do it all mentally as well as losing time trying to make it work and then explaining the problem. It is really difficult to assess the impact, but it clearly did not help him. The 3rd and 4th section scores were both a bit lower than I would have expected based on his final mocks on Medify.

Any similar stories out there?

Monkey2001, that sounds a bit stressful and not terribly fair, I would see if you could email someone? Having said that 700 seems like a good score, the percentiles will be sent out at the end of the process, but judging by last years that would be a fairly solid mark for many medical schools. I am in the position of having a DD that did very well at being invited to interviews and got offers from all those she attended (similar UKCAT score) - slight issue at the end with new spec and missing biology teacher means she has gone with Plan B; nevertheless, I am happy to share experiences and advice about getting to interview stage. It is a gruelling process and a little unpredictable, but if your DS chooses sensibly and also considers the way the course is taught that suits him best, then I am sure he will get to interview stage. You will see from previous threads how varied the experiences have been, just recently a friend told me about a doctor friends DS who got no interviews, despite good GSCEs, predictions etc. He applied to Oxford, Imperial, Kings and UCL... he was devastated not to get an interview and his father was shocked. His mother had suggested he might try somewhere outside of his fathers favourites! Medic Portal gives very good info. and you can use it work out scores. Kaykay we didn't look at any on your list, but would suggest broadening the list depending on UKCAT score and or BMAT score - again how the course is taught is a big consideration, plus maybe where placements are and chances to intercalate. Friends son at Newcastle, described it as gruelling but he is doing really well and has intercalated - he did give up his sport very early on at Uni level though. Finally, if you ever have any doubts about the teaching your DC is receiving, get outside help - I had a number of a biology tutor but didn't ring them because I believed all that I was told at parents evening, despite having nagging doubts at the back of my mind.

2B1Gmum sorry to hear about DD's Biology. We went through that at GCSEs where they had not been taught full syllabus, so have been more careful in Sixth Form. So gutting that you considered a plan which might have helped . What has your DD decided to do?

The person running the exam centre for my DS has submitted a report about it and I have e-mailed UKCAT people. I was just trying to find out whether it was something that often happened.

@monkey2001 - that’s terrible! Sounds really unfair but kudos to your son for going on to get a great score, I’m sure it must have put him off his stride for the later sections. It might be worth him (or you) asking on the student room forum if anyone else has had similar experience as there’s a bigger audience there - I’d suggest starting a new thread to try to attract attention x If he’s applying for in undergrad place, there are not many unis that have previously had cutoffs that would put 700 out of the running though, it’s well above the average score x

@Katisha - We also tried to engage him in medical ethics discussion every now and then - not saying I had any marvellous insight but just tried to get him to argue for or against things - something he wasn't really required to do in subjects at school.

One of the things I'm always telling sixth-formers who want to apply for medicine (or often have already applied) is that if they are doing all science A-levels they really need to find a friendly RE/philosophy/sociology teacher to help them form a group to have lunchtime/after-school discussions about social & ethical issues. These are so likely to come up in interviews, and in my experience students doing A-levels in history, politics, philosophy, RE or sociology perform immeasurably better on these interview sections/stations than those doing three science/maths subjects.

DD took RE as one of her gcses options and I agree that I think it helped her a lot both on terms of being curious and opened about societal matters but also gaining confidence in her arguments.

It was especially helpful in one station at one interview when she was challenged quite harshly by the Head of the School on a very sensitive matter. Her position actually went against the grain but she held her views with argument.

Since there is no right or wrong in these matter I expect what they were looking for are pupils who could make decisions and stick to them whilst still listening to other people's views.

It is about personality but practicing debating certainly helps.

Hello - do you mind if I join your thread? DD looking to do medicine but not until 2020 (Just completed GCSE's). I am totally out of my depth - only child - so keen to know the process and pick up tips so I can be of some help to DD.

Hi oneteen. After GCSEs DS managed to get to a couple of open days in the September which helped focus.
There's a list of days on Medic Portal
www.themedicportal.com/medical-school-open-days-2018/

Also perhaps your DC should start thinking about some sort of longish term volunteering if they haven't already done so.

Katisha - Thank you - I will look at the open days...

DD is a young leader at the moment with Brownies and I'm hoping she will spend one Sunday a month at the Sue Ryder hospice....a friend is a Practice Manager and has agreed DD can go and work there a few days in all the school holidays ....so we are starting to get things together on that front ..I assume its not too important what the volunteering is as long as it's regular ?

She attended the Biology Lab day at Warwick Uni in the summer and loved it but not sure whether there are any other days/events she can attend.

Hi Oneteen. You can go to any of the open days. I would suggest going to one or two this September as Katisha says it helps to focus. Also it means you have less to do next year. My DS visited Manchester at the start of his A levels as his brother was there and it really spurred him on as it convinced him that medicine was for him. He didn’t actually apply there in the end though but was a useful starting point!

Yes the volunteering needs to demonstrate some commitment but the main thing is to be able to talk about it in way that shows you have a grasp of the issues. DS went into a special school to assist in a class every week, through his school, but was very much taking it at face value at first - had to encourage him to ask questions while there and think beyond just the basics of what he did each visit.

I'm hoping she will spend one Sunday a month at the Sue Ryder hospice

It's worth encouraging her to keep a diary so she has notes of anything she experiences at the hospice that make a particular impact on her. When she comes to think about applying she should be able to come up with the best examples of her commitment, responsibility, empathy (i.e. ability to appreciate how someone else is experiencing a situation), caring/compassion, initiative, ability to work effectively with others, ability to communicate effectively, etc. It's far easier to do this if you made records as you want along, rather than trawling back through your memory for the best examples.

She probably won't be allowed to do much at first, and might find this frustrating. However, if she persists with it she'll start to see how the little things she does make a difference, and she's also likely to be given more to do once the staff know she can be trusted.

For experience in a hospice it's also important for her to reflect on how she adapts to the distressing experience of being around people who are all terminally ill, and on what she learns from the staff who manage to make the hospice a place of positivity and celebration of life rather than of doom and imminence of death.

went along
Not want aong
Sorry

along

I wish I could type.

Thanks Skiitan/Movingmountains/Katisha

I've been quite impressed with DD this summer because she is starting to pick up some wonderful attributes from the things she has done and seems to have natural empathy - a diary sounds a great idea...she is really enjoying after dinner conversation with her friends parents (talking about genetics etc) which will give her confidence at interviews (they are far more intellectual than me).

Hi I am new to this talk. My daughter is going to apply to medicine for 2019. Her stats UKCAT 2590 band 3. Gcse 5A* and 5A. Prediction 3A in biology,chemistry and maths. In AS achieved A in RS. She has work experience in Carehome, one week in disabled children school, pharmacy and one week in a heart hospital. Which schools she can apply? She likes Keele. Thanks

Hi @Rare88

There’s a great thread in the medical section on the student room forum where they can help with which unis look for what in their selection. They all look at UKCAT, gcse, predicted A levels, and personal statements in different ways to decide who they are going to interview. If your daughter is a member it would be worth her while to have a read through to see what others with a similar profile have been advised, or at least to give her a starting point to do her own research x

Thank you. She has posted in the student room. She had some informations and the research for her strength is going. But difficult to finalise.

It’s getting the balance right between the unis they like best from open days or on paper, and the ones where they’d have the best chance of getting an interview with the results and experience they have. St the end of the day they’re all extremely bright, highly motivated kids and the competition for places is fierce x

My DD is applying for Dentistry, but I think it’ll be useful for me to be on this thread as so much of the application process is similar. Anyone else here for Dentistry?

Open day visits now completed. DS likes Cambridge best (by a long way), then Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle. UKCAT interim results will be released on Friday so we can hopefully get a feel for where the cut-off is likely to be for Sheffield and Newcastle. Very excited to see the famous Julian at Sheffield after hearing so much about him - he was great, very informative and entertaining at the same time. Interestingly, none of them pay much attention to the PS - the only one of his choices which uses it in shortlisting is Cambridge. Leeds use it in the interview process.

People may be interested to know that the cut-off for Sheffield should go down a bit this year as they are interviewing a lot more people - I will put the numbers up when I can find my notes, but I think they are interviewing a couple of hundred more than last year.