Good luck to all the new Medicine to Be mums for 2021 and wishing all your DS and DD a smooth process and happy outcome, whatever it is or when!
I was a bit disturbed reading all the pages of debate around Oxbridge and future prospects and questioned the appropriateness of such debate here. I remember well, as many long term posters will do, the confusion with the minefield of information about this very tedious process, and how resourceful it's been to have such threads with wonderful posters dedicating their time to respond to queries and provide reliable information to those who are now in the same boots they were years before.
To read that these forums are just 'uninspiring' because they don't tackle more philosophical debating as to which medical school is the most prestigious is insulting and condescending. It is without a doubt the case that a number of students, and parents, will view Medicine as a mean to a prestigious career, and as such, will make reaching the most prestigious paths their goal.
It is sad that it can't be appreciated that many applicants will want to study Medicine purely as a mean to practice medicine in their adult life. That includes a large number of 11 A*s GCSEs pupils.
It's been said that most such students will almost inevitably be accepted in a Medicine programme, but this is not my experience and I've seen stellar students getting top grades in their GCSEs not doing as well with their A levels, or who failed all their interviews.
Similarly, some average students can end up taking a path that wouldn't have forcibly been expected of them. My DD falls under this latter group. She 'only' achieved 7 As, 2A* and 2Bs in her GCSEs. Then even more shockingly, although she did ok in the main part of the UKCAT (7th decile), to the surprise of everyone, and herself first, she failed the Situational Judgement section ending up in Band 4. This was totally unexpected as she'd only got Band 1 and 2 in all her practices and her jugmental ability is what had been praised in all her placements. Still that's what she got and at this point, she thought her dream to do Medicine straight after her A levels was over.
Ironically, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it greately reduced the Unis she could apply to and made the selection a lot easier. She still had about 8 Uni left to chose from, so she could really narrow down where she'd have the best chances.
In the end, she had three interviews and three offers. We were then concerned about her Alevels as she attended a very average comprehensive school which had never had a pupil going to Med school. Ironically, once again, her not doing so well in her GCSEs turned out to be a blessing as it highlighted how easier it is to be over confident and ending up not doing as well as expected. It made her much more diligent in her work and revisions for her A levels and it paid off as she got A*AA.
Still when she started Uni, I worried that she would struggle to adjust, finding herself for the first time with fellow students all very clever, academic and motivated. She hasn't. She's adjusted extremely well and excelled at her first year exams. This despite taking on a PT job at her Uni and working FT at all home when back home. She ended up chosing a PBL course even though she thought it wasn't right for her, and now says that it's the best decision she could have made as she loves that approach to learning.
She has never been motivated by prestige, and her initial interest was to study medicine to become a GP or consultant at a local small hospital. She had no interest in research. Yet she has been approached some months back about the possibility of undertaking a funded PhD that she could do after her 3rd year intercalating. I would never have thought that this is something she would consider, but after meeting with the tutors, current PhD students, and having visited the labs, she is now seriously considering it.
My point is that GCSEs give so little insight in the future of our to be medics. There will be so much more learning to do as they get on, learning about themselves as a person, what motivates them, their style of learning, what matters to them in life and what they really want out of Medicine.
If prestige is a motivator to fulfillment, then of course Oxbridge and the London schools are the ones to consider, but there is so much more to Medicine than this for others.
So class of 2021, good luck with the journey and if you are a lurker with a child who doesn't have stellar GCSEs and feeling down reading about all those 11A*s posts, don't despair because the journey is far from over!
I hope this thread will be as prosperous, inviting and resourceful as the ones in the previous years have been. I learned so much here, and being able to share the fear, nervousness, disappointments has been really comforting. It's been great to see how many kids who didn't make it the first year went on to succeed getting a place the following year, or take other very inspiring and rewarding paths.