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 - Sheffield is the only one (of DS's choices anyway) that tells you the timeline on their website. That is why we ended up looking at student room to see what happened last year. Of course, what has happened in previous years may not be reflected this year, with all the Covid issues. The dates for Offers that Sheffield have put on their website is much later than they have normally offered (and of course the whole interview structure is different, they usually do MMIs). And somehow I can't believe that Covid will result in any part of the process being earlier than previous years, only later.

Wouldn't it be great if all unis had some kind of timeline, even an approximate one. It seems the most sensible thing as they must get so many phone calls from those wanting to know what's happening.

I'm still gently reminding ds about his rr form and checking UCAS for any emails. I don't think he bothers to check and with his rr form landing in his spam folder in worried he'll miss something. He seems completely unbothered by it all, except for my gentle reminders. Those are winding him up!

Good luck to everyone here, you definitely need nerves of steel and be in it for the long run.

@LaLaFlottes - from trawling student room - Sheffield tend to be random within the band they accept (at some point they post the UCAT cut off on their website, and then you know who they have invited to interview and who they haven't) - but during the window that they give interview offers, it is random. Some people with very high UCATs last year got on the equivalent of the 16th, and some quite low ones, relatively speaking, but above the cut off, got a few days before (nobody got on the equivalent of the 12th, it was the last few of days of the window).
Bristol do in batches by UCAT, highest first. I can't quite remember, but it was something like 2900 before Xmas last year, but they went lower than that after Xmas.
Nottingham also seemed to send out somewhat randomly over a few days, although while it sort of seemed like they did those who scored higher slightly earlier, there was no definite consistency. And then last year, they had problems with yahoo accounts, so there were people on student room who scored quite highly who hadn't got an offer of interview, and they ended up phoning and discovered simply that the emails hadn't got through (all this is from skimming the TSR thread).
Depending what your choices it seems to completely differ.

@Powergower Just has to comment on how much I recognise the dynamic of mother fretting about missed emails or selfie et deadlines while son remains chilled. I get get “relax - it’s not so deep” and “my a levels and university application isn’t a spectator sport you know”.
(A visitor from general application thread - can’t resist browsing the medic thread because I was a Med student myself a very very long time ago)

@bimkom thank you for the info. That’s really useful. It’s strange that it’s so random in the interview allocation but it’s good to know that’s the case as knowing how random it is will cause less stress if an interview invite isn’t received at the same time as someone else! There are quite a lot of Sheffield applicants at DD’s college.

@Powergower it would be so good if there was a date that each uni gave so that everyone just knew that’s when they would find out. I think Oxford do this, and I think it’s 12th Jan next year (DD not applied but a friend was telling her). It’s a nice early decision and you know the date you’ll find out. Wish they all did this!!

I will do some trawling of the student room to see what happened last year for her other choices - although as you say it may be different this year.

One of the current anxieties is whether DD’s UCAT score will be sent to the universities - I almost wish it was something we had to do ourselves! I know it’s irrational but I wish they was a way to know if had arrived safely!

I'm not sure if it is good or bad that my DS takes the opposite approach to Powergower's. He was the one who started trawling TSR, and then decided to "delegate" to me - on the grounds that he didn't have time, and i did! It is true actually, that for probably the first time in our lives, he is busier and working harder than I am (I am at home, and with the economy as it is, no work to be had. Luckily we can survive on DH's salary, especially as no holidays etc in the offing). But he is definitely more stressed than I am about it. Part of the reason I was happy to do the TSR trawl was to stop him worrying. The fact that I have been able to say - there is no point even thinking about Liverpool or Bristol until after Xmas, or Nottingham until December has made it easier I think. And Sheffield apparently send you the questions they ask at interview, although not until a week or so before, apparently. This was to stop him fretting about prep for interviews, and get him to have something of a half term, and focus more on studying for the tests immediately after half term. I keep telling him that as we have applied for deferred places, ie for 2022 entry, it is definitely a two year process, but that he doesn't want to have to resit A levels, so those should take priority. But he is fretting. He and a friend have apparently arranged to interview each other today, via Zoom - but I confess that sounds like the blind leading the blind to me.

“Isn’t a spectator sport” Brilliant. I can tell that’s what my DD wants to say to me sometimes but she’s too nice.

I also asked if she was going to say the word “like” 50 times a sentence in her interviews as she does when she’s talking to us, and she very confidently said she can “switch on the clever”

Revenge and MaddieElla: "Isn’t a spectator sport”. That is good. I've had a lot of eye rolling and tuts. Revenge - any advice on how best to support without stressing ds out?

Binkom - I do wish ds would read the tsr more, it's great for finding out about the unis and the timelines. Ds doesn't like being on there for some reason and only goes on if he needs to.

I do have a feeling that it will be a 2 year process for ds and he'd be fine with that. He's not enjoying year 13 at all.

It's encouraging to hear that other people's dcs with Sheffield as a choice haven't heard anything yet about selection/interviews.

DD did look up her percentile on UCAT and based on that she worked out that there'd be just over a thousand others at the same level or higher chasing med school places given that this seems to be a bulge year for medicine applications. Let's hope they've not all picked the same places to apply.

I realise that a high UCAT score is no guarantee of an offer. There's the whole interview hurdle in the way.

She's been taking things a lot easier this week than she intended to when they broke up for half-term last Friday. I'm not sure how committed she is to the BMAT process especially as it's just for one Uni.

I wonder whether Sheffield medical school is reading this thread! Email came out this morning saying they aim to send out all offers (and rejections) on Monday 16th November. As DS pointed out to me, the 14th and the 15th are Saturday and Sunday, so would be somewhat unlikely to be sending out offers then (but I guess you never know).

One of the things that occurred to me was that, due to there only being one BMAT, and all the issues surrounding it, it might turn out that BMAT universities actually have lower numbers of applicants than usual. I didn't want to say anything to DS, though, because he was adamant he did not want the stress of doing the BMAT at this point in the year (which I totally understood), and that basically he preferred UCAT universities anyway. But the reality of not having an August option is likely steering away candidates who might otherwise have taken it, so those who are might (perhaps) have better odds from their BMAT choices.

@SATSmadness I was the same hoping that the applications are really spread out over the different universities. If there is a 20% increase in general that might mean some with a 30% increase and some with just a small increase depending on where people choose.

Agree about UCAT - it’s a huge hurdle to get over but then by no means a given even with a great score. When DD did well, she did turn her attention to UEA, as they use the UCAT for 50% of the post interview score. Also there was a lot of praise for this Uni on the 2020 thread on here. She hadn’t considered it too much beforehand as she didn’t want to get too taken with it before knowing her UCAT score. We had a little trip there in the summer and it was so nice so it made it on to the list.

@bimkom I wondered that about BMAT but judging by my DD’s friends and people at her 6th form, everyone seems to be sitting it! DD didn’t want to once she was happy with her UCAT. I wonder if stats are available from BMAT for this year vs last year as they must know how many are registered.

Loving the phrase “not a spectator sport” that’s so funny!

@MaddieElla I should check if DD is going to start a lot of sentences with “I’m not going to lie, but......”

@bimkom I also have more time currently to trawl the student room - although DD takes more of an eye rolling attitude to this! She seems relaxed and calm and happy to just take it as it comes. Whereas I am probably not as occupied with work as I would normally be so am probably spending too much time thinking about her application!

Sheffield saying they "aim to send out all offers (and rejections) on Monday 16th November" doesn't leave much time for interviews between now and then..........

Website states they had 2600 applications for 306 places last year and that there are 301 places available this year (excluding Graduate and widening access places).

I think it’s interview offers and interview rejections on the 16th @SATSmadness

I wonder how many applicants they interview and how many offers they make?

I think I need a new hobby for the next few months to stop me obsessing any suggestions??

That is great going for Sheffield. Well done to them for being upfront and timely in their communication.

I asked the bmat questions a few months ago as none of ds friends were sitting it this year so I wondered if the bmat unis would be less inundated with applications. The consensus on this thread at the time was that lots and lots of students down south were doing the bmat so the applications would not drop. I still think those applying to bmat unis stand a slightly better chance than the ukcat only applicants. It'll be really interesting to see the stats on bmat applications.

"I'm not going to lie but" I wish they were all as clear as Sheffield; that clarity is great and at least you know what to expect and when.

@Powergower we are in the South East and many of DD's friends are sitting BMAT but they are keen on London Unis so I think it's popular in this neck of the woods maybe? Although I know of one applicant sitting it because she has always wanted to go to Brighton.

I suppose for Oxford it won't have affected anything as they only accept the later BMAT anyway. Maybe applicants who are not particularly happy with their UCAT score will have decided to still sit it too and apply to two of each? I know some are more set on where they want to go whereas DD would be happy to have a place anywhere!! We do know one person sitting BMAT because she is desperately keen on Brighton.

Like you say, stats will be interesting.

@MaddieElla {grin] absolutely! It's good to manage expectations.

Let's hope some of the other Unis start to give out some similar info too.

@LaLaFlottes the Sheffield website says that in 2020 they received more than 2,600 applications for 306 places (Undergrad Medicine - 273 UK and 18 International; Grad Entry Medicine - 15). In the virtual open day session we scribbled down that they held 1200-1300 interviews (all courses) and made 700-800 offers.

Sheffield have always been amazing with their openness and communication. They also give the interview questions in advance. They stick to the dates and are very transparent with their process all the way through. The famous Julian is wonderful 😊

@opoponax thanks so much for that info - good to know

@mumsneedwine they do seem to be very good. Secretly it would be my favorite place for DD to go but I've not said that to her.

@LaLaFlottes & mine. She decided to go to Nottingham instead. Which is fantastic. But I had a very soft spot for Julian 😊

@mumsneedwine it sounds like Julian made a great impression

I hope everyone's DC are ok - especially those sitting BMAT on Wednesday.

DD and I had a campus tour at Leicester on Saturday which was really interesting - although we got absolutely soaked! We were shown round by a lovely 4th year student.