Medicine 2020

[EightToSixer]

Ok, so I know it's super early, but I've been hovering at the medicine 18 and 19 threads. DD is keen to apply for medicine in 2020. Is anyone else in the same boat?
I thought it would be useful to share info and stories, it's all a very steep learning curve because despite me now having a PhD and working in a RG university I was late to learning and not a patch on my DD who is very driven and organised.
Hopefully people will find this group and we can share the rollercoaster of the next two years.

We were at Sheffield yesterday, dd liked the course and the atmosphere. We will do Nottingham and Birmingham next weekend. On paper, Birmingham is the favourite, so looking forward to seeing it.

Birmingham so impressive. Lovely old building but ultra modern inside and right next to the hospital and main uni campus which is very well designed.

DS1 loved Birmingham but he's not going to apply as he got 7s for English Lang and English Lit (9s and A*s for everything else). Because Birmingham scores both English Lang and Lit, he is starting the selection process 4 points behind the competition. A shame as he really liked it when he visited.

We visited Sheffield during the hols as they ran tours of the campus - probably not the same as Open Days when there is more of a vibe and people around. Student Union building was impressive. Lots of building work going on!

I think dd is really going to like Birmingham - I won't be at all surprised if it's confirmed as her favourite after we visit. Isn't it a shame when an A at GCSE makes something a risky choice? To be honest I hadn't realised how much the GCSEs would count for. I'm very grateful dd did well, she fractured her l2 in December of year 11 and had very patchy attendance until Easter and still struggled sitting still during exams so it wasn't a given at all. Any dc with firm favourites already?

@242Mummy Where did you find such specific advice English Lang/Lit for Birmingham admissions? I've looked and all I can find on their entry requirements is a 6/B in English Language? Thanks for any help, there's so much information to plough through to help them make the right decisions.

lionfish The information is all on their website:
www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/medical-school/applying-to-medicine/selection-for-interview.aspx

I find the 'minimum' requirements set out by unis very misleading. Often they ask for a minimum of 6s at GCSEs and AAA predictions for A Level but the calibre of students who apply often have much, much higher achievement.

For example, Birmingham's 'minimum' requirements are 7 GCSEs at Grade 6. If you work out the score based on the formula on their website, you would not have scored high enough to be called to interview even if you obtain full marks on the UCAT.

To apply strategically, calculate your DC's score and see how it compares with previous years'. Birmingham's selection score last year was >8.

@242Mummy I've just found the info on the selection for interview page. Oh my, there's so much more to think about if DD is going to apply tactically (ie where she's most likely to get an interview rather on where she'd like to go!)....

I really do feel for you all with so many different choices & possible permutations of results! As Dd is only interested in Scottish unis we only need to pick from 5 and there's not an enormous difference between them. I think at the moment her first choice is Aberdeen, then Glasgow, Dundee & Edinburgh. Aberdeen is possibly the 'easiest' to get into and Glasgow the hardest but they're the ones she likes best.

Worst is all these kids working out where best to apply based on the combination of where they like the course and where they are most likely to get an interview based on their individual strengths - and then only 1/3 ish coming out of those interviews and ending up with an offer. Its a tough course to try for isn't it?

Good luck to everyone. It is tough getting in and it makes year 13 a bit of a marathon. But applying strategically is so important as getting the interviews is half the battle - then it's just showing them you can be a Dr. Interviews look for empathy, listening skills, following instructions and the usual why a Dr. Sheffield send the questions before hand !

Bet you've all done it but look at the interview selection criteria, not the minimum requirements. Cardiff like lots (8 ish) 8/9s, Exeter look at predicted grades, Notts score GCSEs and UCAT (including SJT) etc. All different - although many are just ranking by UCAT once passed min requirements.

Wishing all DCs the best of luck for the next few months.

Hello, I am coming over from the 2019 thread (hello fellow 2019 people, specially @ladsmum). My son got 4 interviews and no offers but has the grades now, so just needs to crack an interview!

First can I correct some things people have said in recent posts.

Hedgehog - Edinburgh no longer score the PS before the interview, but they use it in the interview. The new scoring system is here, but they have not revealed how the academic score will be calculated - see page 18 www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/applying_for_medicine_low_res.pdf

242mummy? Bristol changed their admissions filtering last year so UCAT scores from 2018 and earlier are no longer relevant. Cut off for 2019 was 680 (I think, was definitely slightly below 700)

Somebody mentioned thinking Exeter might be dodgy with a disappointing UCAT, but at Exeter they rank on A levels, only using UCAT as a tie break. If you are predicted 3xA you are safe for an interview, AA*A should be good too. Lower is risky.

Cardiff - you needed 8A and an A for 2018 entry. In 2019 they treated 9s as As and 8s as As, so the cut off probably went down. This year it appears they are treating 8/9 as A. Obviously there are a lot more 8/9s out there than there were As so I would not apply to Cardiff unless you have 9 8/9s.

People looking at Birmingham they have an enormous list for contextual offers which includes 90% of all state schools (I think it might be all the non-selective). People from those schools get interviews with a lower assessment score, and offers are AAB. (Standard offer used to be A*AA for non-contextual, AAA for contextual)

Bristol also has a big contextual list of schools, though not as big as Birmingham. Bristol contextual offer is AAC/ABB, but you don't get a concession on the high UCAT threshold for interview.

One of the things we did not consider last year was the ratio of offers to interviews. Leeds was his best interview, scored in top 60% which would have been good enough for an offer at most places, but they only made offers to 360/1,000 interviewed. St Andrews has moved to the top of the list for DS as in recent years over 85% of interviewees from RUK have received offers.

Last year he applied to Cambridge, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle. All nearly good enough apart from Newcastle - I think it was a mistake to travel all the way from Bristol on the morning of the interview and was quite tired, he could not answer simple questions like when he had shown resilience (he thought of plenty on the train on the way home!)

This year looking at St Andrew's, Sheffield and the other 2 will depend on the UCAT results, but maybe Dundee and Leicester. He did not quite get the AAA for Cambridge, but he did the August BMAT as we were waiting for a review of marking (needed 3 marks in Physics for an A*), but the paper he submitted came back down 2 instead of up 3!

Thank you @Monkey2001 for the additional information. Congratulations to your son for achieving such great A level results. Hopefully he will be successful in his application this time.

I'm all for DD applying tactically, I'm pretty sure she'll be happy anywhere that will have her! She's only just started year 12 so is looking to apply for September 2021 so plenty of time to research, do (more) work experience and concentrate on the actual task of getting the grades...

Good luck to all frantically trying to decide where to apply and those who still have UCAT and BMAT exams ahead.

Thanks for all that Monkey - hope you will be joining us this year, I read last year's thread a couple of weeks ago and it is hard reading sometimes. I really hope your sons resilience pays off and he is sitting pretty with an offer soon knowing he already has the grades. 🤞

Apologies for coming across a bit miserable yesterday.

Brilliant post monkey thank you.

No need to apologise speedy, it's a tough slog for parents and kids.
Good luck to your ds Monkey. One thing about Dundee, we went to the open day and they said they only take around 16 English students, so that's something to consider. The Edinburgh open day didn't explain how they mark the academic section either, just said it would account for 25% of the final score. Guess we should have asked about that, but it was super busy and Dd just wanted to escape!

Thanks for the pointer emummy, just found this www.sfc.ac.uk/web/FILES/announcements_sfcan062019/Intake_Targets_for_Medicine_AY_2019-20.pdf
which says that there were 14 places for RUK this year. Top tip, back to the drawing board.....

Does anyone know or am I just late to this...but is it true that for medicine you need to pay fees for years 1-3/4 and the last 2 or 1 years fees are covered by the NHS? Thank you.

Last years fees are covered by NHS. However they don't get any student loan that year. They have to rely on bursaries and parents. But they all seem to manage somehow.

Thank you!

Does this thread include dentistry or is there a separate thread?

Hi, just a question about Birmingham and @242Mummy. If one should avoid Birmingham if one has English language and English lit at a 7, what would you say about if only one of them is at a 7 (in our case English lit, he got the 8 for English language)? Obviously also depends on the UCAT score, but are there any statistics on who many they interviewed did not have a perfect GCSE score for the GCSE part?

He got five 9s (science subjects, maths and geography), three 8s and one A* from the previous year - so in total 9 at 8/9, and one 7 (English lit) and one A from the previous year. Any views on where we should be looking (we are a year behind you, but thinking about open days to visit).

I think he really liked the sound of Birminham, and his scores will give him a 5.5, but of course there will presumably be applicants with 6 on the GCSE component, and if that is standard, maybe we shouldn't bother.

Bimkom From his stats, I think he scores 5.625 out of possible of 6 points for his GCSEs. Once he has sat his UCAT, you add the decile score (check the link on uni website for scoring system) to that 5.625. From previous years, it looks like applicants need a score close to 8 to get to interview so if he scores approx 2700 for his UCAT, he should have a good chance.

But don't take my word for it, this is how I would calculate the scores if it were for my own child. Please double check yourself.