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.

I always got 'fine' and I've got a girl. Basically I don't want to talk about is as I'm fried. Fingers crossed all has gone well today.

My DD had her first med school interview at Birmingham today. She said it went okay but mentioned that two of the examiners seemed quite moody and bad tempered with her.
A couple of the people interviewing were super lovely so she wondered if it were a case of them trying to rattle her.

DD is in a tizz so now I'm in a grump, too.
She got more interview offers (sounds great but) she is having multiple crises over things like... assessment exams, parties, hair dye, hair colour.. all of which is huge distraction from interview prep but she can't stop obsessing over ... hair dye, parties, peer groups, gossip...

Argh, I never wanted her to apply for medicine. She's making dramas out of minor annoying things. Grrrr.

My dd was at birmingham today too 5 hours sleep! She thought it went ok so fingers crossed! I'm just relieved she got through it ok - her back injury has flared up after our car was rear ended last week. I thought she would have to reschedule but she didn't want to. She's 50% done now too. 😱

Good luck for all the forthcoming interviews. Does anyone know what the Cardiff cut off was this year? My friend's daughter did not get an interview but by my calculations she has 26 points. Does that seem right?!

Cardiff needed 27 points this year. It was not a massive surprise as 26 points have been needed in previous years and there are many more people with 8/9 grades than there were with A*. Some people with 27 did not get interviews, presumably because they did not describe enough work experience in their PS. Hope she got interviews elsewhere.

@Monkey2001 Cardiff told us at an Open Day that they didn't consider PS when selecting. I'm guessing this must have changed if they had too many applicants on 27 points this year. They also mentioned that they were considering using some sort of testing for selecting the 2021 cohort, but not UCAT as they didn't believe that an applicants UCAT score was a reflection of how good a Medic they would be. Interesting to see what they do as it's one of DDs favourites.

@lionfish from Cardiff website as part of the process of selecting for interview:

Non-academic requirements

Applicants who meet the minimum academic requirements and are sufficiently highly ranked academically are assessed on non-academic criteria according to the information contained in their Personal Statement and the Referee’s Report given on the UCAS Application Form. Applications are reviewed by trained selectors and the following are assessed:

insight into a career in Medicine
evidence of experience and reflection in a caring environment
evidence and reflection of personal responsibility
evidence of a balanced approach to life
evidence of self directed learning.

Interviews now all over and DS is gloomily predicting 4 rejections again, just hope he is wrong

Monkey2001 Take heart - I'm sure after 4 interviews in such quick succession, he must be drained and on a downer. Nothing to do now but sit tight and wait for news. Hope he has fun activities planned for the next 9 months!

@monkey2001 Poor monkey junior. I'm sure it's not as bad as he thinks - maybe a bit of self-protection (assume the worst and anything else is a bonus). He's a year older and more mature, he's got last year's interview "practice" and a year of extra work experience to draw on and he's shown a really gritty attitude, sticking with his dream. I'm sure he'll be pleasantly surprised.

Will keep everything crossed for your DS Monkey. Those DC on this board heading back for another try at this are demonstrating commitment, resilience and determination. Ladsmum your DS too. Hope they get to follow their dreams this time round.

Huge respect for those DCs having a second stab at this. Such a hard, stressful process to go through even once.
DS on his way back from Cambridge as we speak. He is really quite ill, sore throat, cough, etc. He refused to let me accompany him, so sent him with lots of paracetamol and lozenges.
I have no idea how he's done.
He's already talking already about what he will do if he doesn't receive any offers.

@Monkey2001I hope your DS will receive at least one offer (he only needs 1!), I'll keep everything crossed.

The info you shared was interesting and completely different to what we were told at the Cardiff open day. They specifically said that PS would only be read the interviewers on one particular MMI station that would refer to personal statements. They also said that they would look at PS post interview if candidates had the same score. It must be that they've had so many applicants on 27 points that they've had to use them earlier.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement!

Actually Cardiff has always looked at PS in a bit of an opaque way. St Andrews has a similar thing where they don't score the PS, but they check you have done sufficient exploration of a career in medicine as part of selection for interview. I am told that one of the main objectives of the admissions process is to ensure they recruit students who will complete the course, so confirming both academic ability and motivation/resilience early in the process can help that. It is a great shame that they are not transparent at open days - Leeds is the same in that they present their minimum requirements without indicating what you are likely to need for a successful application.

Thank you for the info re Cardiff. This may be highly relevant to my own child (ren) so it is very interesting. I guess if you need 27 points then Cardiff "favours" those applying post A level or at least post at least one A level, if you have them under your belt. It's pretty hard to get 27 points from just GCSEs I would have thought! My friends daughter has got other interviews so hopefully one of those will be more positive. Good luck to all your children.

DS had Sheffield interview yesterday. It's his 1st choice so fingers crossed.

DS1 is halfway through - interviewed at Cambridge and Leicester this week, both of which were "OK". Absolutely no idea what that means or how his performance measures against the competition so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Norwich next week then Leeds in January. Schoolwork is slipping, no revision done for Mocks which start after Christmas!

@Monkey2001 - I am willing mini monkey on nearly as much as my own child. I really hope they value his tenacity.
@242Mummy - best of luck to your DS. I get the point of the schoolwork slipping - DD has two this coming week, one of which involves an overnight stay and has a big commitment at school also so mocks after Christmas will need to be worked for in the holidays.
@speedyhedgehog - hope she was pleased with Birmingham.
@MedSchoolRat - I sympathise. At the moment, off and on, I am struggling to do anything right with DD. I know it is the stress of it all but occasionally I am unsure of what to say or do for the best. It is most out of character for her and I will be very very glad when the 20th December comes around and all are done. I love her so much and we usually have such a great relationship that I am finding it tough - I think the next few days will be challenging for her and me. So there we are - Confessions of a Mum

I know I haven’t been on this thread, but I have been doing some watching! Anyone not heard anything either way from Edinburgh? DD’s adamant she shouldn’t check in with them, even though school have advised her she should!

Checking with Edinburgh will not affect her chance of getting an interview. If people with similar stats have got interviews there is a risk that she has missed an invitation due to a spam filter (assume she is checking spam - lots of Leicester interviews went there!), so no harm contacting them. The general expectation is that RUK applicants will need very strong applications - so all A/A at GCSE, at least AAA predicted for A levels and UCAT probably over 2750 Band 1.

She has all those - 2930 for UCAT. She’s had her other three interviews already and she’s been checking her spam folder regularly. She did pretty thorough research on where she should apply - Edinburgh is probably her aspiration. I’m just going to have to apply some pressure to make her contact them!

yessirnosir probably a good idea. I think people have seen rejections on Track, so worth checking that too in case they do any other updates there.

Sunderland interview at 08.40 tomorrow. Interviews there seem pretty rigorous - MMI's , debrief with the candidates and a numeracy exam (mostly drug calculations - I think). DH and DS2 came home from the sailing club this evening and announced that one of the other sailing Dads, with whom we're friendly, was interviewing. I think DS1's nerves went up another notch at this piece of info. Clearly this will have to be declared but not sure how this will pan out.
We'll be glad to have a bit of a break over Christmas before Manchester on 6 Jan. A chance for DS1 to catch up with his friends who have already gone to Uni.

That is an early one - good luck!