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....

twitter.com/UCATofficial/status/1305816632338649091?s=19

This is the tweet I saw - refers to "very different test patterns" (so perhaps people taking it later in the cycle than normal etc?). Hope there's not a disparity in results between those taking at home and in a test centre...

Wow, your DD is very organised to have submitted to school already. Mine hasn't quite finished the PS (hopefully by the end of the week) and she is still waiting for her biology teacher to write her reference which should have been done in June. Until she does that, her year 13 tutor can't write her reference. Hate things being last minute.

I think there may well be some disparity with home/test centre exams. I know TSR is a small window and quite extreme but the home problems were highlighted. Twitter is awash with complaints about not being able to complete the test although again, you're more likely to see the horror stories.

I am refreshing the ucat page every now and then.

@MaddieElla DD goes to a large sixth form college so they have a very early internal deadline so she didn't really have a choice - although it's quite nice having it all done. I think they have so many to check and write references for that they just have to start early.

DD has just forwarded me e-mails from UCAS track, confirming her choices and also one Uni has already acknowledged her application with a lovely e-mail. It's starting to feel very real now!

DD also agonised over her PS but at least they are not used as extensively at most places any more. I don't like the thought of them being scored for some reason!

DD did mention some horror stories around UCAT being sat at home. I bet that's got a lot to do with the delays. It would be good to see the deciles though so hopefully soon. I am also refreshing the page, between work calls!

As I mentioned at the time, my ds had a terrible time doing the test at home, he couldn't upload his id and the screen kept logging him out. The test had to be rescheduled and all the stress did contribute to him not performing as well as would have liked. He was also asked my the proctor to close curtains and turn the light off in the room so she could see him better and this meant he struggled to use his white board during his test. He did try book his re-test in a centre but none near us had any slots free. The whole experience was stressful beyond belief.

@LaLaFlottes crikey, that does feel real even just reading that you’re getting acknowledgments. Let the rollercoaster begin, good luck!

@Powergower that does sound incredibly stressful. It’s hard enough without IT issues and in some cases, unhelpful proctors.

And refresh...

They're not going to release them today are they...

Not looking likely.

Just as an aside, we live near the University of Lincoln and I took a walk the other day to see how the new medical school was looking. The whole area has a lovely feel to it, lovely looking campus and it’s mostly new. Obviously it was quiet but it was nice to have a look and it actually looks very promising.

Interim UCAT scores up to 20 Sept here now
www.ucat.ac.uk/ucat/results/test-statistics/

Surprised to see still 15,000 to take the test (19,000 taken so far)

Thank you for the information.

Thank you!
I really can’t see how there can be 15,000 still to sit the test though!

Madness isn't it. People who wanted as long as possible to prepare (I would have worried about covid restrictions, or becoming ill for some reason and not being able to sit it).

People deciding last minute that they want to take medicine/dentistry?

Who knows but let's hope the decides go down. Although it only affects one of DDs choices, the others are much safer.

*deciles

Five thousand more applicants this year than 2019. Makes sense given this years grades, I know at least 5 students from this year who have decided to apply for med/ vet/ dentistry off the back of grades they never thought they'd get. The deciles are so high this year.

Do you think the figures are correct though? So they are saying 19,000 candidates have sat UCAT between 3rd Aug and 20th Sept but expect 15,000 more to sit between 21st Sept and 1st Oct? That seems quite odd to me.

However it is going to be harder with more applicants if this is the case. The deciles are high, but at the end of the day in most Unis they only need their UCAT to be good enough to secure an interview and then it becomes obsolete except in a couple of cases where they use UCAT post interview or SJT as an MMI station.

I wonder if interviews (if they are lucky enough to get them) will be panel rather than MMI as it will be quite limiting having on line interviews?

I've recently attended (online) open days with Sheffield and Southampton and they both confirmed they will be doing online interviews only, panel style but with questions based on MMI

@Djchickpea thank you that’s good to know. So they should still prepare for MMI style questions then.

Lala - my thoughts exactly... I wondered if their data is correct. But surely it must have been checked and double checked by many professionals to ensure it is accurate.

Fingers crossed the increase in numbers won't throw things into chaos for our DC!

@Millylovespuddles - agree! It’s just sounds such a ridiculous number but they must be able to see how many tests are booked between now and 1st Oct.

If it’s 15,000 then that must be a huge amount of online tests. I would predict issues if people have booked on line and then it crashes and they have issues and then the deadline passes and they can’t get a new date.

UCAT did always say to sit early to avoid problems though didn’t they?

Let’s hope Dentistry has become massively popular for 2021 entry!

Another pressure on numbers for 2021 applicants must be the CAG resit students who can rely on their UCATs from the last application cycle without having to retake it ( e.g at Birmingham) who are not included in the interim UCAT numbers..not sure how many other courses are also taking this position but could it squeeze places even more? I'm unclear whether their 2019 UCAT scores would be judged against current year deciles or last year's either - if anyone has any info on this my DS is tying himself in knots!

So confusing! In Scotland that’s was no option to resit, so Dd has refine UCAT and improved her score. Hoping that her grades & better score will get her some interviews and give her a chance. She has left school now, so if she doesn’t get in this year she’ll take another degree and consider the graduate route

@MazarineBlue I wonder if some of these students have also re-sat the UCAT in case they don't make their grades in the Autumn? Or would their 2019 UCAT also apply for the summer resits?

It's so confusing isn't it. I keep trying to second guess things but am starting to think we need to just try and forget about it and hope for the best - but also be prepared for this to be a two year application process and if they don't get in they can work on whatever went wrong and try again for 2022 entry.

Lala - that's the approach we are taking. There are too many variables with the actual a levels, add on top of that the reduced places/ extra applicants... as if it wasn't a stressful and competitive enough process!

Really sad that our year 13s are facing this without anyone (government, ofqual, unis) addressing the adverse impact on them.

@Powergower it really is sad isn't it. DD is currently quite upbeat as she's excited that she's applied and is starting to receive updates on track - but I know she will have ups and downs with how she feels about it all.

Has your DS decided where to apply and is he doing BMAT? DD is not doing BMAT as she's decided that as she was happy with her score she would apply to 4 UCAT options.

Ds not keen on doing bmat, I think those applying to bmat unis this year might have less competition as so many don't seem to doing it. It's fairly ridiculous anyway that they're expected to have a bmat uni choice without sitting the bmat until November. I would prefer him to do the bmat but leaving it to him to decide.

Ds has decided on keele, Leicester and Lincoln for now. He's unsure of Liverpool because they've changed their criteria and it's not clear what it is this year. He's also dismayed that Sunderland and keele have said they're not penalizing any students who don't have enough work experience. Whilst I understand this, what this decision does is penalise those students, like my ds, who do have excellent work experience. Lincoln is also a risk because it refers you to the Nottingham criteria for entry, but I know others on this thread have suggested Lincoln entry criteria might be lower than Nottingham?

Uclan is another potential but they take so few UK students.

Ds reworked his statement and asked me read it. It's one big massive paragraph. When i mentioned it, he said you don't need paras for UCAS as it uses too many characters. Is that right? His statement is fine but it looks really odd without paragraphs!