Medicine 2021

[Millylovespuddles]

Hi all
It looks like there’s no medicine 2021 entry thread yet, so it might be an idea to get the ball rolling.
My DD is getting stuck into her A level course, doing well so far, but I’m guessing we parents could do with some mutual support and advice from parents who’ve been here before.

Wales still has letters too. And some people are applying with older GCSEs due to year outs.

Letter grades in NI too.

And AS exams.

Apologies. Meant to put that ! V rude of me.

Ah ok. Didn't realise independent schools had the option to stick with the old GCSES, thanks.

A pp (possibly Goodbye stranger?) mentioned that one aspect of choosing a Cambridge college is the number of research fellows in the chosen subject- I presume this is published on the college websites?

Also Cambridge talks about there being an option to do three years of research between years 4 and 5 - the MB/PhD programme - but you intercalate anyway in year 3, have I got that right?

They stuck with IGCSEs Pumpkintopf.

Yes if you go to the college websites, then to Medicine, it should give a list of teaching fellows. I mean, it won't alter a student's experience vastly, since they'll all be taught and a lot is done centrally, but if there's a large number of teaching fellows then it will probably indicate that that college has a particular strength in Medicine also it may well take more students for Medicine, which is quite a good thing socially, at least to start with. DS noticed a large number at a particular college when he was idling through the online prospectus, rather than actively looking for it but then it was a beautiful college anyway and sounded good all round, for him at least.

Thank you goodbye stranger for your advice.

I have been lurking on this thread as have been helping my DD apply for vet medicine. I am a doctor who works with med students and doctors in difficulty as well as helps with med school interview prep ( can't discuss here). Medicine is full of high achieving, perfectionist and highly anxious women nowadays. I am shocked by the fact the medical profession has not realised that the ultra competitive selection process is driving this. From purely a MH and later happiness perspective I would try for med schools which are seen as less prestigious but have excellent pastoral care. Find out how much they encourage their students to do other things and how they look after their mental health. I would not be overly bothered by the idea that the better the med school the better the foundation programme. Lots of F1/F2 doctors have wonderful experiences in DGHs and go onto achieve their dreams in medicine. post grad exams are the limiting factor for most and again it is down to mentally healthy, resilient doctors who do best.

I don't see why there should be any becessary correlation between less prestigious med schools and superior pastoral care. Also, the collegiate system at Oxford and Cambridge has a significant advantage in that respect.

Necessary not becessary :)

sorry yes - I know C def has excellent pastoral care, don't have 1st hand experience of O. I guess what I am saying (and maybe its just a MN thing) don't over focus on the prestige of a med school. Keele for example is a new med school, has excellent student satisfaction ratings and turns out excellent doctors.

With a new medical school, how can you judge the quality of its doctors especially well?

Sorry for all the Cambridge focused questions, it's just the first one DS is trying to thoroughly research.

A lot of the colleges say they can guarantee college accommodation for the first three years, but I can't find any that guarantee it for six for medics - are there any, does anyone know? Thanks.

The term 'college accommodation' is used very generously by the Oxbridge colleges Pumpkintopf - beware!

No need for any apologies whatsoever re Cambridge focussed questions - it's an entirely legitimate choice!

Thank you goodbye stranger. I just feel very ill equipped to help advise ds and it's so useful to have access to people who know more than I do, thank you for your patience.

Would you suggest the best thing to do would be to shortlist the colleges he's most interested in and visit individually to get a feel for their accommodation/distance/atmosphere?

I think he'd be inclined to shortlist Sidney and Christ's as they were part of his outreach experience, then possibly Downing and Emmanuel seem good for medics?

Also - he achieved 9 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 1 grade 7 in GCSEs from a state school in an area considered eligible for contextual offers from eg Bristol hence the Cambridge outreach opportunity.

He's studying Bio, Chem, Phys and Maths currently, predicted A* in all, obviously option to drop one but at the moment feels maths is helping his physics.

First lot of work experience scheduled for Feb half term at our local hospital, shadowing a consultant who specialises in dementia. Am hoping to get him further w/exp in a more research based environment so he gets the contrast. He's planning to do some sort of 'reflection journal' at the end of each day to refer back to.

Hasn't started an EPQ but could do if helpful - my feeling is it may be useful to develop deeper thinking on an area he could then discuss at interview.

Noted the recommendations re UCAT books and medify, presume there is similar for BMAT. My instinct is to go for Cambridge over oxford to get the early BMAT before deciding on applying.

Am I missing anything in my thinking, wise people who've done this before? My worst nightmare is missing some sort of vital component because I don't know about it!

Thank you.

Hi handmedown. Come over to the vet med thread as we are very friendly and holding hands through the waiting game.
Sounds like you are very organised for medicine and your son sounds great. For word exp keep details of any interesting cases and what he has learned - this is the important bit. For example, long hours, unpredictable, NHS structure, role of everyone on the team (if porters don't move the trolleys no one else can come in !).
Cambridge outreach is fab (as is Oxford). Can't think of anything you're missing.

Oh and EPQ does give them some in depth knowledge to discuss. And a few medical schools give lower offers if have an A. So maybe useful ?

anyway good luck to everyone's DCs, Medicine has been a fantastic career for me so far and I honestly have no idea where any of my many fantastic colleagues over the years trained. It is a career I whole heartedly recommend

Thanks for that. Too much negativity about it sometimes. My DD is enjoying it, even when its a bit tough (the brain), but she has never doubted it's what she wants to do. Gets to scrub in for a day in surgery this month. Hope the vet thing is going ok - my other DD hoping to start that in Sept.

Pumpkintopf your DS has fabulous grades and he seems to be ticking all the boxes for top medical schools, so very good luck to him (excellent grades plus w/e). My advice would be not to overthink it on his behalf. He should go with whichever college takes his fancy tbh. I think it a very bad idea to go with Cambridge simply because of the possibility of taking the BMAT early, but if your DS actually prefers Cambridge over Oxford then that's a different kettle of fish. His GCSE results would put him in a strong position for interview at Oxford even with a less than stellar BMAT. There are less applicants per place for Cambridge though, so that's in its favour. Since you asked the question about six years of college accomodation I'm wondering if he likes the idea of stability, in which case Oxbridge is more likely to appeal than so may other med schools which send their students hither and thither on placements. DS was pretty much Oxford based throughout his six years, with minor forays out to Reading/ Swindon etc. When I read of KCL or Bristol placements all over the shop I think how different these clinical experiences can be.

mumsneedwine I think only one poster is relentlessly negative on these threads. My DS is a year ahead of that poster's and that many years ahead of your DD, doing F2 in London and still enthusiastic. The negativity probably reflects more on the parent or the DC than the profession itself.

Pumpkintopf pls excuse my typos I'm attempting to cook supper and MN simultaneously with poor results.

Thank you both, that is excellent advice.

I do think the prospect of a college 'home' plus relatively central placements, and the individual attention of the supervisions would suit him really well - and Cambridge is much nearer for us than Oxford so that's a bit of a factor (maybe more for me than him!!)

Was just having a quick look at UCL - their campuses look so spread out all over London though..!

Goodbye stranger not at all! Very grateful for your sage words.