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....

@TORICA

Did your DC's CAGs prevent them getting a place for medicine, are they reapplying this year ?

DD's school had a few pupils sitting their A Levels this autumn, precisely because of this. Apparently it doesn't count as re-sitting. There's one boy who missed out on a law place due to his CAGs being lower than he believed he would have achieved had he been able to sit the exams ( I know his mum). He's been studying like crazy and we're all so hoping it pays off for him.

I hope I am not posing an insensitive question here but I have no real idea whether my DD should apply for dentistry or set her sights lower. This is not intended to be a stealth boast but equally I need some realistic advice. Is a child with GCSEs of 999888777 and three A at A level predicted and, let’s say an average Ukcat score going to get in or not? Likely, unlikely, not a chance, reasonable chance,,,, I have no idea at all. I want to encourage her but I also want to be realistic... thank you to anyone who can help me...

Hi @ClarasZoo having been through the process once for medicine and then last year for vet medicine and acquiring knowledge along the way I would say in a normal year then highly likely to get at least one offer with a very realistic chance.

This year I think there has been such an increase in applicants it is looking much more competitive than previous years. My DS is at Exeter and was in the 2018 cohort and 760 UCAT is just such a high requirement to what was needed back then.

@Lovecatsanddogs

Hi *@ClarasZoo* having been through the process once for medicine and then last year for vet medicine and acquiring knowledge along the way I would say in a normal year then highly likely to get at least one offer with a very realistic chance.

This year I think there has been such an increase in applicants it is looking much more competitive than previous years. My DS is at Exeter and was in the 2018 cohort and 760 UCAT is just such a high requirement to what was needed back then.

Thank you that is very helpful. It’s clearly more difficult this year but DD will be doing next year so I just need to have a reality check on the whole process... of course mumsnet does have quite a lot of very high achieving children and that can skew perception...

What is Ukcat 760 out of? Is that top 50%? Top 10%??!!

Hi @claraszoo

Have a look here. The figures change every year though.

www.ucat.ac.uk/ucat/results/test-statistics/

Did has an interview! It’s at Aberdeen, so she’s delighted. And also today got a temporary job as a receptionist at a GP practice, so it’s been a good day.
Well done to those with interviews so far, keeping my fingers crossed for all our DCs.

@emummy brilliant news! Huge congrats to your DD on both counts!
Hope you are having a little celebration tonight

But I am confused why some posters talking about score of 760 when that table has 2870 etc...

Hi @ClarasZoo

Divide by four!

Emummy - fantastic! So happy for you!

And everyone else with interview offers so far....
Still waiting here, but no rejections yet, so trying to go for the 'no news is good news' approach. Isn't it horrible.

Hi @TORICA I'm really sorry to hear about your DC's situation. I know there were winners and losers in last year's cohort too. Some schools fared much better than others in the CAGs and some DC really lost out. Wishing your DC luck this time round.

@ClarasZoo for the UCAT it's in 4 sections - the four scores make up the total out of 3600. Some people seem to refer to that number and others divide their total score by 4 to get an average and refer to it as that!

To give some insight into what happened at Exeter today, the cut off was 3040 which is basically the top 3% of UCAT scores, which is incredibly high. Maybe about 1,200 out of 34,000 applicants will have scored in that region!

@emummy big congrats. Have heard Aberdeen is fab.

Interview at Sunderland here. Wasn't expecting that as they'd said they might not mark work experience forms with the same weight as previous years. Work begins now on interview prep and trying to work out how the online interviews will work.

Well done to all who have interviews. For those waiting, hang tight. This is a very unusual year for students and unis. I'm just astounded at some of the cut offs and think it unfairly penalises those with very very good, but not amazing, ucat scores. Also, no matter what anyone says this years yr 13 are paying the price of the cags debacle. More applicants, fewer places, higher cutoffs, new interview procedures...... and all the while not even knowing if they'll be sitting exams or not and trying to make up 6 months of missed a level teaching.

[quote LaLaFlottes]@ClarasZoo for the UCAT it's in 4 sections - the four scores make up the total out of 3600. Some people seem to refer to that number and others divide their total score by 4 to get an average and refer to it as that!

To give some insight into what happened at Exeter today, the cut off was 3040 which is basically the top 3% of UCAT scores, which is incredibly high. Maybe about 1,200 out of 34,000 applicants will have scored in that region![/quote]
So 97% of people who want to be doctors and applied to Exeter are not even being interviewed???!!!

Fantastic news @Powergower. It is so uplifting to hear about interview offers amidst all this chaos. I agree that this year's Y13 seem to be being penalised from all angles this year and it is sad and unfair. The only upside is that if they can keep their cool through this, they will get through pretty much anything.

@Powergower
I agree completely

@ClarasZoo - basically it means that for applicants that applied to Exeter, with predicted A levels, if they did not score in the top 3% for UCAT they were turned down, even before interview. So if they did not score 3040 or more (which is top 3%) they didn't make the cut.

@Powergower absolutely brilliant news!!

@Powergower I agree. But as horrible as we're all feeling about this year it's so lovely to see interviews coming through. Good luck for Sunderland!

I remember us talking about the work experience aspect and I'm hoping DD is as lucky as your DS and gets an interview from Keele.

Hello everyone. Just popping in to offer some experience if it is needed. I was on the 2020 version of this thread. My DD is currently in her first year at Exeter studying medicine.

Having been through the utter hell of applications last year I’m happy to answer any questions you may have (tag me in to be sure I see it).
I also just wanted to tell you all to keep going and that there is an end to all the application, interview, offer process x

[quote LaLaFlottes]@ClarasZoo - basically it means that for applicants that applied to Exeter, with predicted A levels, if they did not score in the top 3% for UCAT they were turned down, even before interview. So if they did not score 3040 or more (which is top 3%) they didn't make the cut.

@Powergower absolutely brilliant news!![/quote]
Thank you for explaining that. Surely there is a flaw in our training in this country. We need more doctors. Why don’t they make more places?!

@ClarasZoo Because it's more expensive to fund 5 years of training than it is to recruit doctors from abroad. There is also no guarantee that home-trained doctors will specialise in areas where there is need; it's more efficient to fill those gaps with foreign doctors.

Emummy 👍👍👍 so pleased to hear dd has an interview!

Thanks for all the good wishes, pretty happy house tonight. Hoping more interviews come through & of course, offers!
If they don’t, well, DD is on a gap year; she’s working, saving money, volunteering online, using the time. And although it was very disappointing not to get in this year, it’s been ok. We hope she gets in this time, and maybe the university experience will be a bit more normal next October! It’s very difficult this year, so much uncertainty and all the CAGs and some people being allowed to retake exams - not an option in Scotland. It’s tough for them and for us; good luck to us all!