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....

@powergower - we are in same position..my concern for my DS is what if his grades go down rather than up (eg he's currently predicted an A in chemistry - great if the mocks means he gets an A* and he can crack on but quite a radical rethink needed if it goes the other way!). Like you they are based on y12 content and he's had very patchy support since march. The college is at least expediting marking his exam so at least he'll get results around 12/10!

It's incredibly frustrating. Ds submitted a written appeal, as per school guidelines, against his predicted grade of a b in biology on Monday. His appeal email has not even been acknowledged. He now has 2 weeks of tests which may help his appeal but school have said ' there are no guarantees' and the grades are assessed by experienced teachers 'at current working levels'. No consideration of 6 months missed learning with no online provision, no consideration of possible improvements this year from 'current levels' and no leeway whatsoever kids who started off badly in year 12 and now have to pay the price for not being in since March. Ds results from these tests are expected 14th March.

Mazarine and clean - it is so frustrating, and seems really unfair. More so this year. School should not be basing predicted grades in current levels, that's ridiculous. They're supposed to predict based on previous form, attitude in lessons and expected improvement during year 13.

I knew early entry applications were a minefield but never at any point did i expect problems to arise from the schools handling of predicted grades! There is zero compassion or leeway at our school.

@Cleanmean I would be incredibly frustrated. If his working at grade was a B in year 12 then surely they would naturally be predicted an A. What were his results for the tests he sat in Oct 19?

I really hope they respond to you ASAP.

DD has had mocks this week, but because we have the greatest luck in the world, she started coughing on Tuesday during her physics exam and I picked her up and took her for a test. Thankfully we got her result back in record time and it was negative, so she missed a chemistry exam which she's taking as we speak in the library at school. As if this week wasn't stressful enough.

The only prediction we're not sure on is chemistry, but I'm hoping she'll be okay.

Hello, Looking to join the chat as I've been lurking for a while but am very on edge about DD's UCAS application.

In her favour
9s x 11 at GCSE plus an A* in F/Maths.

Score of over 3000 in the UKCAT and band 1 in the situational judgement section
Predicted A, A, A* (and was given an A in A/S level F/Maths this summer)

Stacked against her
First choice is an Oxbridge Uni which she has really set her heart on.

From what her teachers say, she's not especially strong in interview scenarios. Not bumbling/inept, but not stand out memorable and this is Oxbridge we're talking about.....

Was scheduled to do Medicine related work experience in Easter hols, May half-term and a week in June this year. - All cancelled and no chance of it now

Had started volunteering in 2 care type facilities (different age ranges) - one ceased after 2 weeks because of Covid and the other never got off the ground for the same reason.
So no work experience to really speak of to date.

Another girl at the same school is also applying for Medicine at the same Uni and as of yesterday, when she gleefully informed DD that her application was now submitted, the same college ! This girl is on target for A* in all of her 4 A level subjects (although the 4th one is F/Maths) This girl got allocated the October 2019 half term and February 2020 half-term Medicine related work experience slots so has been able to write about this in her P.S. (Oh and she scored 20 points higher than DD in the UKCAT and band 1 also)
I can't really think that the school has the chance of getting two girls in their cohort into the same Oxbridge college for Medicine especially as DD would currently appear to be the weaker candidate on paper (although she did out perform this "rival" in GCSEs)

DD is beavering away now towards BMAT in November so no-one can fault her resilience, it's just that she may be considered the weaker of the 2 candidates and they can't take everyone so I'm a bit gutted on her behalf but not showing it naturally.

Hoping that I can keep a steady composure to support her all I can by joining this thread and keeping up with everyone's DC's progress towards a place to study medicine in 2021.

Oh, and I should add DD favours the integrated learning type Medical courses, instead of the PBL ones has discounted all those Uni's with PBL learning.

@SATSmadness - if your DD favours integrated learning type medical courses, then is she sure that Oxbridge is what she wants? DS a couple of years ago had his heart set on Oxbridge, but then when we went to an open day at Oxford (because he decided he really wanted medicine a couple of years ago, we actually went to the Oxford open day at the beginning of Year 12, when they were actually running), and then he looked at the Cambridge course as well, and decided that, much as he loved the whole look and feel of Oxbridge, he really didn't want their course - as it is very much like school for the first three years, and he really wanted early patient access and an integrated course. Not to say that he would have got into Oxbridge, but he decided that to jump through all the hoops to try and achieve a course he didn't want to do didn't make sense. Obviously if Oxbridge is her dream, go for it, although she might want to think about a different college (are there no others that would do?), but if she really wants an integrated course, Oxbridge is not the place.

@SATSmadness have the school got any thoughts on both applying to the same college? Would your DD have a second choice she could apply to instead maybe? I know it's not ideal, but maybe better than worrying about this other candidate?

Plenty of time to practice for interviews [smile

I probably didn't phrase that terribly well, she likes the idea of 3 years learning under her belt in the Oxbridge courses

After her Oxbridge first choice she then favours the non PBL type courses elsewhere.

Applicants have to put down that 5th, non medicine choice, presumably unless it's "medicine or bust" for them and she's happy to opt for something allied to medicine for that.

They all seem so earnest about it these days. I ended up doing something I wasn't that sure about anyway (crap info/guidance at my school) and came out of Uni never to use the knowledge acquired again, just the graduate status because of the doors it opened all those years ago when only the top 20% or so went to Uni or Poly. I did have a fabulous 3 years though at a standard red-brick Uni.

@SATSmadness oxford/Cambridge won’t see their ucat results, so any difference there is irrelevant and really not worth stressing about. Don’t focus on this other girl. There will be lots of applicants for the medicine places at all of the colleges, they will all have their own strengths and weaknesses and you’ll drive yourselves mad making comparisons. My d had friends whose parents are medics so got lots of opportunities for experience, one in particular took delight in rubbing my d’s nose in it. My d had a job so she could buy and run her first car - most of her friends didn’t work outside of their A levels as their parents bought them everything. My d’s job turned out to be really valuable in terms of supporting points she made at interview. Your d might do better at the BMAT - who knows? There are lots of things she could read, study or do, if she has an interest in a particular area - my d read quite a lot on medical ethics, which proved useful in more than one interview.

My d always wanted to study medicine at Cambridge - until she looked properly at their course structure and knew it wasn’t for her. She’s a happy second year medic at imperial now.

Good luck x

Well UCAS form emailed to school for them to add their reference and submit. So unless school throws some sort of wobbly (which they shouldn't they have been through it, and he had his interview with the Head on Thursday about it, at which he was read his reference), it should be in pretty soon. Some sort of milestone, I think, although it doesn't feel like quite the time to celebrate, but at least it is done.

Big sigh of relief when it’s done.

We have just got through mock week thank goodness. All predictions and references are in, and are good so that’s another tick box done.

Still hasn’t finished the personal statement but I’m told she knows what she’s doing and not to stress her out asking how much she’s done.

@bimkom I know exactly what you mean. Such a relief to submit it and now the excitement begins as emails arrive from the Uni's. Just wish we had been able to look around them!

Well done to all who have submitted and those who are all set to do so.

We are still doing mocks and awaiting predicted grades which school won't issue until next week! Ds is happy with his ps so that's something but still chasing his reference and nervously awaiting predicted grades.

Where have all your dc applied? Dd has Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and is unsure on her 4th

DS has Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield and Liverpool. He decided against taking the BMAT just to apply for Leeds (although otherwise Leeds would have been a serious contender). Probably Manchester was next on the list, or Birmingham, or Newcastle. ie all UCAT universities that are not in London. Birmingham would have been higher except that they score English Literature (DS got his only 7 in English Literature, the rest were higher), and they are also scoring contextually (and the state school where he did his GCSEs is not on the contextual list, and the contextual points are quite rigid, polar scores and the "right" kind of state school). Both of those factors made him feel, well kind of not wanted, I guess. He might still have made an interview, but he would be borderline, so he decided to apply where he would have a better chance of an interview. Earlier on in the piece he was much more enthusiastic about Birmingham.

DD is applying to Nottingham, Lincoln, HYMS and Keele.

Nottingham, Sheffield, Birmingham and St Andrews for ds - UCAS gone in today (even though mocks are this week and results not out until next week 🙄- luckily he has the grades needed for those choices but other students are having to put their applications in regardless which is ridiculous!). Slightly concerned that college UCAS person recalled all the applications that were submitted today as she thought she had to add the UCAT scores herself which doesn't exactly fill us with confidence and suspect he won't get a debrief of what's in his reference so fingers crossed it's all ok.....

DD has applied to Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol and Nottingham. She would have quite liked Leeds too but decided not to do the Bmat.

Sleepless night question - would anyone have an idea what may happen if a DC has decided to take the BMAT but is ill/has Covid/in isolation on the test date?

My positive-thinking mind tells me not to worry, but my practical- thinking mind tells me that my DD shouldn't jeopardise two choices! We are in an area with very high numbers of infections.

UCAS form has to be by Wednesday! Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

Millylovespuddles - we were thinking exactly the same re BMAT as we are also in a v high rate area re lack of contingency plans if college was shut or if DS had to isolate etc on the day. He's decided too risky and cancelled his BMAT entry yesterday..

Milly - that is one of the reasons we isn't doing the bmat and none of his school cohort are either. He's happy with his ucat and doesn't want to risk a place on his application for a bmat uni in case he doesn't do well or isn't able to sit the exam. I would have liked him to sit the bmat to be honest but it's his decision.

Ds is thinking of keele, Lincoln, Leicester and Liverpool but still undecided. Liverpool have completely changed their scoring criteria this year so it's a risky choice. Also not much info on Lincoln so that might be removed.

Perhaps the BMAT universities will have fewer than normal numbers of applicants this year because of the logistical issues (or at least less from high covid19 risk areas). Will be interesting to see the stats when they come out!

@Millylovespuddles the short answer is that the BMAT say on their website:

"Unable to access a test centre due to Covid-19?
For candidates who are unable to access a test centre due to Covid-19 restrictions, we can offer a remote proctored test service. This means you can take the test on a laptop or computer in your preferred location. For the full criteria and how to apply, please read our Support Site article. "

That is, there is an online proctored test that means it can be taken at home. Whether they have the resources to do as many as they will need, is not clear, and how they would deal with someone being, say, feverish, I don't know, but that seems to be the approach.

DD was comparing the admission to application rates and Bristol seems low.

Now wondering why Bristol is so popular.

Any ideas ?