Medicine 2020 (part 2)

[Monkey2001]

This follows on from the first thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3380915-Medicine-2020

Getting seriously worried. Mid-Feb and no offer.

Thank you @MedSchoolRat. DS is also still awaiting to hear from Leicester. They have started to send some offers now. Let's hope that they don't keep him waiting too long.

Waiting for Dundee and Aberdeen, not expecting to hear until some time in March.

Has anybody looked into tablets for med school? Several (Imperial, Leeds, Leicester) issue iPads to students and DS still uses a laptop he got 8 years ago which is creaking at the seams. He has always made notes on paper, but now seems to be a good time to catch up with 21st century.

If anybody has done the research, I would be grateful if you would share your thoughts. It is his birthday next week, seems like a good opportunity to get something. Maybe some of the veterans who dip into this thread may be able to give some advice.

Thanks!

Mine started with the cheap chrome book she'd had through 6th form. But it got v slow so we got her a Macbook this year using the educational discount they qualify for (still v expensive but so fast and everyone else had one !). All her lectures are watchable back on line as are all books, so needs to be reliable and not hang.

Monkey as a card carrying veteran I can confirm that my DC have always done creaking at the seams when going up to uni (literally hanging on a thread of a hinge in some cases), so not in a position to give great advice. I've never heard of an educational discount, which is bad of me. No-one ever asked for a new computer saying everyone else has one so although I'm aware of minor blips when things crashed the uni computer dept always came to the rescue.

I'm not advocating that as a way to go though, and a birthday seems like an ideal opportunity to renew/ upgrade. But the uni computer guys do seem to be genius at retrieving stuff and crank starting ageing computers.

My DD has a laptop, but for lectures uses an iPad pro, which I had bought second hand for me, but it's made its way to Nottingham on a permanent 'loan' . It is light, easy to carry (she has quite a hike from halls to the med school), and she is able to add notes live to the powerpoints as lectures unfold.

Apple offer educational discount to all students and teachers. It's about 20% I think. DDs chrome book was 6 years old, had cost £125 and done its job, but was dying a slow death. Hoping the upgrade will last a long time.

Mine tried the writing on slides but didn't work for her. She types onto them. DD has bought 2 books as library is all on line.

That's worth knowing about, the Apple discount.

Monkey2001- Dd has IPad Air with pencil which we bought for her last Christmas.
IPad Air is not as expensive as IPad Pro - supports Apple Pencil and come with a cover with keypad.
She also has a computer which she has had for ages. She downloads all the lectures slides on the iPad before the lecture and annotates it during lecture apparently.

DS convinced us that he “needed” a MacBook Pro for Christmas (DH went on the fact finding exercise with DS and is a pushover when it comes to stretching the original budget - apparently I’m tight!). We wanted something light to take to lectures that would be good for doing work on and could also be used for streaming movies etc in his student room. We looked at the educational discount - think he just needed an academic email to qualify but decided on a reconditioned one from laptops direct. DS has been very impressed apart from the lack of USB ports.

Thanks all, lots of useful tips there. Will pass on to DS2, who is the family tech-support.

There are other brands available than Apple folks. In fact higher memory spec ratchets up the price with Apple 🙄 DD Sheffield uses a higher spec HP hybrid foldy type laptop which she says is invaluable for lectures. Also check the halls insurance policy upper limit on these items as there can be a single item ceiling. Sadly theft in halls not uncommon.

Monkey I'm so happy for you and DS I've RTFT as DD applying for 2021 but ended up just scanning looking for updates on your DS!

Thanks @MedSchoolRat for the update. I’ve added a couple so we can keep a running list: I’ve also added the grade requirements for the 2 DD has offers for. It might help us all later at clearing time to have that on the list if people want to copy, add the grades and repost it?

OFFERS
Birmingham x 3
Bristol x 2
Edinburgh
Exeter (AAA)
Kings
Manchester
Newcastle x 4
Nottingham x 2
Oxford
Plymouth. (AAA)
Sunderland
St. Andrews
UCL x 3
? x 2

RESERVE LIST
Anglia Ruskin

AWAITING WORD
Bristol
Cardiff
Imperial
Kings
Leeds
Manchester
Q Mary
Sheffield x 2
Southampton
UEA x many

REJECTIONS
Cambridge
Oxford

AWAITING WORD
Bristol
Cardiff
Imperial
Kings
Leeds
Manchester
Q Mary
Sheffield x 2
Southampton
UEA x many
Liverpool

My dd had an offer last week from St Andrews requiring AAA
This was the same as Newcastle.
Hope offers come flooding through soon for everyone.

Hello @nuttychoc my DS is very likely to be going to St A. Which one is your DD's top choice?

AWAITING WORD
Sheffield should be (at least) x3
Leicester missing

Hi MONKEY to be honest I have no idea which one she prefers, really delighted with both offers and is very torn.
With St A's she has chosen the English route and I think she would like to have a look round Manchester and Bart's.....
Would you know if there is any advantage on firming either early for accommodation choices or is that sorted later?
She found both places very friendly and welcoming at her interview.

@nuttychoc, @hoodiemum is our St Andrews expert (her DD started there this year). DS also on English route. There is very little information about Manchester and Barts on the St A website. DS assumes that the St A people join the Manchester/Barts Y3 people - do you know whether that is right Hoodiemum? We are going to one of the London offer holders sessions, and can hopefully get an answer there.

At St Andrews they say there is no accommodation advantage to choosing early. If you firm or insure you need to book accom by 1st June for guaranteed accommodation. They keep a selection of each type of accommodation for each set of results. We are a bit concerned about how over-subscribed the accommodation DS wants is (standard catered).

Hi @nuttychoc, @Monkey2001
I'm not used to be a resident expert in something! How exciting!
Yes, I think they go into 3rd year at Manchester (and Barts if that's a standard 5 year course). The older medics tell DD that the popular choice is Glasgow for Scottish route. The vast majority of the English route kids end up in Manchester, apparently - can't remember the numbers but it was perhaps as much as 90%, so best not to assume Barts is a viable option if you're not going to finish near the top of your cohort. They're mostly very happy with Manchester, as easier to pop up to see their Glasgow friends, cheaper, and they can all stay together as a gang (as well as liking it as a med school).

I wrote down the numbers at the Open Day:

English (70 students) - 50 Manchester, 20 Barts
Scottish (62 students) - approx 30 Glasgow, 20 Edi, 10 Aberdeen/Dundee

DS has offer for Cambridge (AAA).
Still awaiting word from Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Filling in DDs offers, though I am 99% sure I have seen lower offers on here for some of her choices. Hope its useful. Keeping everything crossed for more offers through soon and for all the DC/DP! on here to get an offer they are happy with and meet it come results day.

OFFERS
Birmingham x 3 (AAA)
Bristol x 2
Edinburgh (AAA)
Exeter (AAA)
Kings (A*AA)
Manchester
Newcastle x 4 (AAA)
Nottingham x 2
Oxford
Plymouth. (AAA)
Sunderland
St. Andrews
UCL x 3
? x 2

RESERVE LIST
Anglia Ruskin

AWAITING WORD
Bristol
Cardiff
Imperial
Kings
Leeds
Manchester
Q Mary
Sheffield x 2
Southampton
UEA x many