Medicine 2021 - part 2

[Millylovespuddles]

Following on from the first thread:
DD now has UKAT booked for mid-August. She couldn’t get a driving theory test booked until after the UKAT date, but will keep an eye out for cancellations.
Now, her big dilemma is Oxbridge it not....

@LaLaFlottes you are correct. Scores are sent to Unis after the results are collated. No need to do anything.

Also so sorry to hear there is already some school disruption - what a nightmare.

@Millylovespuddles that is such bad luck for your DD to be caught up in this.

@Powergower I hope the test from the bubble comes back negative. But are school saying they may go on line anyway? That seems a shame to be already saying that.

@mumsneedwine thank you! That’s great - one less thing to have to think about!

Lalaflottes - yes for some reason school are mentioning online learning. Perhaps they are preparing in case they need to close, but certainly three messages coming through are that 6th form could well go online soon. Their online provision only started in July and was very poor so I hope it has improved.

DD is racking her brains trying to whittle down her choices. Likely so far are Glasgow, Oxford, Liverpool and one of Nottingham, Leeds, Cardiff, and a riskier option of Edinburgh.
But, we are a month till deadline day, and a lot could change before then! Geography/airport access is also a big factor and rules out a good few.

@Powergower yes maybe they are just preparing for the worst case scenario - and it's good to be prepared! Hopefully they will get some time in the classroom first at least. I'm also hoping that schools will be more prepared for actual decent on line learning if it does happen again. Fingers crossed - they just need to crack on with the syllabus one way or another.

@Millylovespuddles they sound good choices! It's hard to cut it down isn't it. I think we have St Andrews, Sheffield, UEA as definite choices now - and HYMS, Liverpool and Leicester are all in the running for the final place. DD's deadline is Thursday though so she has to choose very soon. It's the school deadline though, so there might be scope for changing her mind, but I think once she's decided she should stick to her choices as we've been over it many times as she sat her UCAT early on 5th Aug so has had her results for a good while!

She knows Oxford will be the aspirational one, and wants three solid courses which should offer interviews, but also be places she'll be happy to study/live for the next 5/6 years.
But the more I read about stats and strategies, the more worried I get! Latest concern is the low interview to offer rate at Leeds, so you go back and re-evaluate every step, trying to anticipate every scenario and the consequences.
I feel for our DC and the huge effort they are enduring to try to get to on track with their dream.

I know what you mean @Millylovespuddles. It's hard to find a balance of where they really want to go and also the strategic element of an application!

DD knows that there are not many places for "rest of UK" in Scotland but really wants to give St Andrews a go - so she's going to apply but is limiting her choice to only one Med School in Scotland because of this. Otherwise she would have applied to Edinburgh also.

She's looked at the interview to offer ratios and I do think they are useful but only to an extent, as this year it could all be different anyway. I guess they may interview the same amount of students for less places - or interview less students for the lower amount of places! Who even knows if there are less places anyways!!

DD had been looking at Nottingham, I think based quite a lot on the high interview to offer ratio, but then a new FOI request showed that for 2020 they actually interviewed more people for the same amount of places, so I think these types of ratios should maybe just be used when they literally can't decide based on other info, such as location, course structure etc etc. Having said that, we did a flying visit to Nottingham and the campus was lovely.

One thing DD has tried to look at, is where her academics give her a boost, post interview. So for example at Sheffield and St Andrews, they use situational judgement as part of the interview score, so band 1 gives a slight advantage.

Lots to think about isn't there!

Sorry if this has been discussed earlier but just wondering what sort of things your DD/DS is putting down as the 5th choice? DD has no idea what to put because she's adamant she won't be choosing it so seems a bit pointless. I have no idea what to advise!

@IsThisNameTaken my DD isn't putting a fifth choice. Medicine is all she wants to do and if she doesn't get in this year, she'll try again next year.

@IsThisNameTaken DD has decided not to put a 5th choice as she will take a gap year and reapply if she is unsuccessful.

From what I have read though, biomedical sciences, biochemistry and medicinal chemistry are popular choices for the 5th option.

Thanks both - I think DD's school are keen for them to fill all 5 choices, but seems a waste of time researching other courses. Like your 2 DD's she will take a year off if everything goes wrong next summer!

Another one here who's not putting down a fifth choice. DD's said she'd much prefer a gap year if need be.

Only reason to put a 5th is that they will get an offer when everyone else does. It can be a long wait for them when everyone else seems sorted and made DD feel 'wanted' - even if she'd never have taken it 😊

I agree mums.

DD is putting Mpharm down as her 5th. She works in a pharmacy and would be happy to do the degree. But if she did decide medicine was the only thing she wanted to do, she'd still feel better if she had at least one offer. Although pharmacy is competitive too.

I was a bit worried because I've read so much about saturation but she's spoken to several of the pharmacists at work and they've relieved her worries slightly.

Let's just hope one of the 4 comes through for all our kids in this horrible year.

Yes it's going to be a very weird year. Ds school still open, so that's good news.

Hi all, new to this thread. I’m the mum of a 2nd year med student. I apologise if this is a topic that has already been covered off upthread and also for going off any current chat-piste. But wanted to make a point within a forum that might value the info.
When your DC are making choices (in this pandemic era) please please please ask your Unis how they will be delivering lessons during a lockdown! What is their plan?! Unis are supposed to be delivering (in return for your fee) a comprehensive blended learning program. I am told, that if done properly it would typically comprise of

1. Newly produced (not recorded from last year) lectures streamed online
2. Seminars and practicals - small groups to be timetabled as normal. This is the guidance that has been provided by the government for teaching. Applicants need to be aware that sadly this isn’t happening. Last academic year during the lockdown both Birmingham and Sheffield provided very little provision; the latter just made recordings of last years lectures available to first year students and expected them to ‘just learn’ it with no support. KCL apparently have been great. If we were at the stage that you guys are at right now.....we would be asking these questions Of Unis and potentially reappraising choices.

@Serengetiqueen thank you for the insight. That's interesting to hear there has been quite a difference in provision depending on the Uni. Also a little worrying as Sheffield is on DD's list!

On another note, I believe the UCAT interim results are out sometime today.

Serengetiqueen - thanks for sharing. It's definitely on our list of concerns. I think a lot of new students will find this year tough. I do feel that for new applicants there is very little scope to accrual question the unis and their provision. The power is very much in the hands of unis when it comes to medicine, especially if a lot of the 2021 spaces have been filled by last years year 13.

Has anyone seen the UCAT interim results yet? I saw a tweet from UCAT referring to an unusual pattern of results which is why they were delayed from last week; hopefully that's because people have been sitting it later or having to reschedule in some cases rather than anything else?

I have said this before, but if you are looking for a tie break, it is worth looking at intercalation options. Bristol all you to intercalate anywhere as long as your marks are good and they themselves don't offer the course. DD is therefore spending this year in London in a very research heavy department, which can only but help her get a job in her preferred field. Others require you to intercalate in house with limited options.

Looking at the options is also a way of understanding the strengths of various medical schools.

Unusual pattern of results, that sounds worrying. I would hazard a guess that there have been a LOT of problems with home testing. TSR is full of people who have had problems.

Here's hoping the unusual pattern is very low numbers of people taking the test this year and there's a place for everyone.

@MaddieElla I agree that does sound worrying - but also agree with your thought that it would be great if the pattern is extremely low numbers of candidates!!!

Haha, we can dream.

I remember seeing their tweet about unusual patterns now, around a week ago. I was hoping there’d be an update by now.

I've not seen any other updates saying that it won't be today so am hoping the results may appear this afternoon?

DD has already submitted her UCAS form to college so I hope these unusual patterns don't come to anything! I could do without this to worry about along with everything else at the moment!