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....

Hello Ladies,
DD sat the UKAT in sept and hasn’t scored as high as she expected.
With the predicted grades of AAA, which medical school can she put on her forms as we have only this weekend.
She has had to review all her UKAT choices again.
I don’t know what advise to give her, so I am hoping I can get some on this forum.

Quick question. What are her GCSEs like?

She had 13 subjects, As in 9 including Bio and chem; Bs in two subjects and distinctions in the AS level courses in environmental science and psychology.So she went on to Alevels studying bio, chem and psychology

I also suggest you message or @ the knowledgeable GANFYD.

My own knowledge is limited, but suggest a look at SGUL, Its in a greenish and interesting London suburb so accommodation is cheaper. Many people are put off by the fact it only offers degrees in various health services, which means competition is lower. People we have known have liked it and describing it as friendly.

@Mischi44 Is she planning to sit the BMAT too? That would allow her to apply to Leeds

She wants to become a doctor, she is upset. We haven’t been able to get her a work experience due to Covid
She did one last year for a week and also had a part time job...
Does she need to look for work experience for next year admissions- something else to add to her portfolio?

@Decorhate; yes she will do the bmat

Is Leeds good, not that any is bad but I don’t know Leeds too well.
We are south east. I told her to consider Brighton and St George’s ( but St George’s equally asking for high UCAT scores...

@Mischi44 I think it’s always wise to view it as a 2 year process. Are her GCSEs all As rather than A* ? Being honest, most medical schools now will rank applicant by GCSEs & whichever assessment test when deciding who to call to interview. Everyone will be predicted at least 3 As for A Levels so that won’t help.

If she had no luck this year, my advice would be for her to work her socks off to get the best A Levels, get work experience next summer, resit the UKCAT & reapply.

Yes Leeds is great. My Dd is in her final year there. Easy to get to by train from the London area. The other good thing about them is they often give out last minute places after results day to those that perform well at A Levels.

St George’s is also a good recommendation.

I have so much sympathy for anyone going through this process (parents as well as kids). Was thinking yesterday about the open day we went to at Kings where Dd was in tears when they said her GCSEs would not be good enough.

Another option is a foundation year which I know means an extra year - Bradford does one & then students can transfer to Leeds (or I think Bradford may be opening its own medical school too).

Thanks so much.
Her As where varied, yes I think some were A*s.
I will tell her to consider Leeds and SGUL in her application.
It is not the end of the world, yes.
She might even want to consider working, then resitting and redoing theUCAT if she gets to that stage.
But for now we is plodding on.
Bless her!

Have a look at the links below @Mischi44
www.themedicportal.com/blog/where-to-apply-with-a-low-ucat-score-2021-entry/
www.themedicportal.com/blog/where-to-apply-with-an-average-ucat-score-2021-entry/

Ahh yes, my friend’s son had a poor UKCAT score but was interviewed by both Liverpool and Plymouth. (But not St George’s.)

We know a couple of London DC who put Belfast down as a fourth option, because the applicant acceptance ratio is very favourable, and apparently are having a great time.

Actually he was interviewed by SGUL as well, but it was his first and went badly.

I agree with treating it as a two year process. Indeed for everyone.

@Mischi44 try posting on The Student Room - Which Medical School Should I Apply to megathread.
You post all stats including GCSE, UCAT, predicted grades, work experience and the experts make recommendations.

@Mischi44
UCAT

Some of the foundation courses are really only open to widening access candidates I think so be careful with those. I think the Bradford one is now affiliated with Sheffield medical school and there has to be WA criteria met. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can confirm??

Also, don't be disheartened with what you think is a low ucat score. It's probably not as bad as you think and you'll still have a shot with a lot of unis. Definitely a good idea to see this as a 2 year process.

Yes, all Foundations Courses are now WP, rather than the ones for those with the "wrong A levels", that need similar/higher stats to standard entry, anyway

Thanks for clarifying ganfyd. I hope your ds got his statement done?

Ds is not 100% happy with his but it's with school now for references so he can't change the for. Still waiting for school to confirm final predicted grades here but everything crossed for submission this week.

Did everyone have paragraphs in their PS?

DD had to take a couple of things out because she was adamant she wanted to have proper paragraphs. Think she settled on 4. She's left in everything that is relevant as to why she wants to study medicine, hasn't bothered with DofE, NCS etc and she's also taken out the senior prefect and subject leader parts as she says that's just listing stuff and that information is in her teacher references anyway.

I have let her get on with it.

@MaddieElla my DS didn't have paragraphs as he said it was taking up too many characters for him. He just spaced it so that the last sentence of what would have been a paragraph was mostly finishing near the centre of the page so there was an illusion of some separation. Likewise he left out D of E, prefect etc. as there were other things he though more relevant. I just left him to
get on with it too.

No paras here either, ds just didn't have the space. His school don't disclose references so he wanted to include as much about himself as possible. To be honest I think he spent longer on tweaking it just before submission than the did drafting it. He said it was really hard not to become too descriptive without linking it back to medicine.

That's exactly it. Mine also spent more time tweaking than writing the thing.

I don't think it's common for the teachers to disclose the references, but it did help her know how to lead on from them and what not to include.

I'm not sure how medical schools use the references anyway? A lot of them only read the PS as a red flag alerter but I've never actually heard any anyone from admissions explain if they read the references.

Rogue "any" there, sorry.