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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Medicine 2020

990 replies

EightToSixer · 30/09/2018 20:53

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.

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PiggyPokkyFool · 29/10/2019 18:55

Thanks everyone and I passed on good wishes. She is trying to finish off R and R for Keele tonight and feeling very emotional. Her lovely one to one resident at the care home died this morning and I think having to really think about their time together is difficult when it is so recent - never mind relate how the things she did for and with her relate to the values of the NHS constitution!
I have left her to it as I know think I was annoying her. She keeps talking about the positives i.e. lovely lady is now pain free, no longer confused , passing was peaceful and she hasn't cried but I can see she is feeling it.
Poor considerably taller than me little DD1.

PiggyPokkyFool · 30/10/2019 16:35

How did today go @EightToSixer? I was thinking of your DD - hard enough without feeling below par. DD only did UCAT so I don't know if you get BMAT straight away or if there is a lag? Either way I hope she is happy with things.

speedyhedgehog · 30/10/2019 16:55

Yes hope it went well today for all the BMAT sitters from another one whose DD is only applying to UCAT unis. Fingers crossed for you all.

Original poster
EightToSixer · 30/10/2019 17:52

Oh Piggy your poor DD, that's a very difficult rite of passage to learn. Thinking of her.

DD still very poorly but thought the exam went well, she loved the essay topics and chose the one on innovation in surgery and team work. They get their results at the end of November (she originally thought it was January, so is relieved). I'm not sure whether Oxford gets the results sooner or not.

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PiggyPokkyFool · 30/10/2019 18:24

Thanks @EightToSixer - it was certainly an original line in the R and R form when I read it - ...up to her death today...... but I think maybe writing about it was cathartic for her. Care home were very good, informed her within an hour or two and offered her support if she felt she needed it.
Reading her R and R I could see why DD was/is talking about the positives of a peaceful death - she never discussed what happened there with me but it became obvious from what she had written than the last 3 months have been a real escalation of the dementia for her lovely lady.
Anyway - very glad your DD felt it went well for her today despite the illness - our poor children, no time to stop at the moment for illness or grief. Do you feel they are constantly running from one deadline to the next?
So now we wait - good luck to all and thank God we have somewhere to post/vent and share!

LaLaFlottes · 30/10/2019 20:17

Hello - sorry to barge in and I can start a new thread if you’d rather, but DD is planning to apply for medicine although it would be for 2020.
She’s been doing some practice UCAT questions over half term, just to get a flavour of it and she’s finding it quite hard. Can anyone recommend courses which may help her get in the swing of things? Did you DCs also find it tricky at first glance?
Thanks so much for any assistance.

PiggyPokkyFool · 30/10/2019 20:33

Hi @LaLaFlottes - if she is applying 2020 entry she should already have sent her application in and sat her UCAT. Do you mean 2021 entry?
Reference UCAT - DD did Medify and felt it prepared her well.
www.medify.co.uk/ukcat

LaLaFlottes · 30/10/2019 20:35

Ooooops sorry I meant 2021!
Thank you for the link I will take a look.

Original poster
EightToSixer · 30/10/2019 20:39

Hi @lalaflottes. You're welcome on here to learn from our last 12 months of struggles. I was just saying to my DH that I wouldn't have half the understanding of the process of it wasn't for the helpful people in this group and the camaraderie when things are tough.
DD (and lots of others on here). Used medify for UCAT prep. DD didn't start using it until 2 months before the test but her scores increased massively with every mock test on there so it was absolutely worth the money for access. She used it again for her BMAT prep too. It certainly worked for her as she did unbelievably well in her UCAT.
Is definitely recommend an early UCAT date in the summer holidays, it spreads the workload a little and they are less likely to have cold, coughs etc at that time of year. Good luck to your DD.

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mumsneedwine · 30/10/2019 20:59

Another one for Medify. 4 weeks prep before exam and ended up with 4 offers so must have worked. I'd say don't worry too much now but agree an early date gets its out of the way. DD did the UCAT ones in the week before the exam and did have the 1001 questions book which she said was helpful. Get some work experience and volunteering and ensure you get the predicted grades required at end of year 12. And research what Uni uses to select for interview (not admissions) as they vary hugely.

Well done everyone who did BMAT today. I was in my school and the kids looked exhausted at the end. Although I believe MAT and NSAA were worse !

LaLaFlottes · 30/10/2019 21:13

Thank you so much!
She’s doing her best to be organised and prepared- but I will pass on your thoughts about not worrying about it too much yet.

She has good GCSE results - eight grade 9 and two grade 8 and she’s done some work experience at our local small hospital and is volunteering every Saturday at a care home.
We have done some research and been to a couple of open days.
I will now read the thread from start to finish!
Thank you

speedyhedgehog · 30/10/2019 22:23

And another one for medify! I didn’t start reading these threads til after DD had sat her UCAT and didn’t know about it. She had the question book but it wasn’t really working that well for her. She started watching YouTube videos and got the medify recommendation from there so we bought it for her last week of prep. She used it extensively for those 5 (long) days and felt it really, really helped, especially the timed tests and she did very well, so it’s a big thumbs up from us.

LaLaFlottes · 31/10/2019 10:07

Hi all - another question if that’s ok?
Did any of your DCs attend any of the Debate Chamber summer school?
DD has been made aware of them via her college and they sound wonderful but are quite expensive so just wondering what your thoughts are.
Thank you 😊

Monkey2001 · 31/10/2019 14:23

Never heard of Debate Chamber.

I get the impression that medical schools are not going to want to give an advantage to applicants who have accessed expensive experiences or used nepotism, so it is best to do things with local NHS and care homes. A medical student at Leeds said he had wasted several thousand pounds doing a work experience thing in Europe which the med schools knew he had only done because he could afford it.

Things like that will not help you to get interviews though may give you things to talk about when in an interview. All but Keele, Manchester holistic route and Sunderland shortlist using exam results - mostly UCAT or BMAT, although some also weight GCSEs, Exeter use A levels. A good UCAT score is by far the best way of getting interviews. No medical schools score personal statements although some check you have explored the career as a stage gate.

242Mummy · 31/10/2019 16:31

DS1 attended a Young Doctors course run by Debate Chamber in the lull period after GCSE exams. He enjoyed it and I think it gave him a general overview of what Medicine covers. Nice to do but not necessary - we were looking to fill up holiday time and also live close to London so the course suited us. Since then, DS1 has moved on to 'meatier' experiences which would carry more weight in his application.

ladsmum · 31/10/2019 19:42

Lalaflottes - may be worth looking at your local hospitals and medical schools for this kind of experience for free. We are in the North East and several of our local hospitals offer clinical skills type taster days and Newcastle Uni med school had some great taster experiences too. DS was late to the party (wanted to be an architect until he did some work experience!) so he missed the deadlines but know some others who found them useful.

Monkey2001 · 31/10/2019 20:34

Yes, DS did an NHS organised one in Bath and it was £80 for 3 days. Included live relay to an operation and talks by doctors and other medical professionals. They do it annually at the end of June (RUH 6th form conference).

LaLaFlottes · 01/11/2019 09:15

Thank you all. We will try and find out about NHS run options.
242Mummy - we are also close to London so they are convenient and do sound interesting. There are five over the summer holidays next year.
DD has also seen some of these extremely expensive experiences abroad - it seemed a ridiculous expense and did make me worry that unless you could afford these experiences you would be at a disadvantage but from your feedback I’m happy to see this isn’t the case.
She’s volunteering at a care home and has done some work experience - we will focus on that for now along with options that can help with UCAT and BMAT.
Thanks

emummy · 01/11/2019 16:04

Dad went to her local NHS ‘Doctors at work’ program, it didn’t cost anything. She also contacted some local GP practices who were happy to let her spend a few days with them during her holidays.

speedyhedgehog · 04/11/2019 09:16

Has anyone done/ is intending to do an interview course? There does seem to be a lot available online for free. There is nothing local to us (back of beyond Smile) so we'd have to travel and not sure it'd be worth it. Any opinions/ experience out there?

HostessTrolley · 04/11/2019 09:43

My Dd didn’t go to an interview course but we did go to a day run by an organisation called medic mentors. It was reasonably low cost, quite inspiring and full of tips, there wasn’t individual interview tutorial/mocks but a session on mmi’s, how they run, the kind of things asked and some role play - and lots of q and a opportunities with current med students. Dd is currently a first year at ICL.

speedyhedgehog · 04/11/2019 11:12

Thanks for the recommendation! Will have a further look at that. Hope your dd is enjoying her course so far. X

ProfessorLayton1 · 04/11/2019 14:45

Dd did not go to any interview prep course but kept up to date with NHS news, read about the universities she was applying and our local medical university gave a talk in her school.

ProfessorLayton1 · 04/11/2019 14:46

We are not in London and felt that it was not worth travelling to any of the courses
Do you know any doctors who could do some practice interviews with her ?

speedyhedgehog · 04/11/2019 16:43

Possibly professor, she got on really well with one of the gps she did work experience with so could ask. DD send me an update this morning that all the unis now have the ucat scores so that's what set me wondering again when we had pretty much discounted it.