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....

Lala - the hyms student was saying that the unis had ample time and opportunity to make sure 2021 cohort were treated fairly, but instead the system this year is massively in favour of 2020 grades in hand/cag cohort.

Maddie good luck to your dd. It'll be great practice.

@SATSmadness the cut-off didn't include scores of 3100.

So > 3,100 then ?

Yes definitely.

What a nightmare this is for our kids. My dd has applied to Bristol but her ucat was not enough for this first batch. Thankfully she is really positive and still thinks she will receive an interview invite in one of the next batches. I hope she is right - think I am finding this more stressful than her!!

This is a stomach-churning torture, endured whilst trying to keep positive for DD. My DH is totally unbothered and wondering why I'm feeling a stressed.
Great to hear the good news posts though! Keeping fingers and toes crossed for them all.
🙏

What is the Bristol cut off mark then ?

@opoponax I think that fact that they are calm and positive (whilst we are nervous wrecks) shows they will make fantastic doctors. Let's hope they don't keep the other applicants waiting too much longer.

@satsmadness 3100=no interview 3120=interview. No-one mentioning any scores in between.

That's really high again for Bristol, although hopefully it's the first batch of a few

I hope universities can see the ones who have been building a portfolio of stuff to apply with over time rather than simply applying as they got A's in last years debacle. But then some have said that no WE looked at as not possible for many?
Id be looking for significant WE in candidates who did A levels last year as they had plenty of time post 16yo to do WE before pandemic.

@LaLaFlottes in a normal year I think it would be safe to predict more batches coming out but given that Exeter's cut off point yesterday is only around 80 lower than this batch of invites, I'm not feeling over-confident.

So 3100 UCAT score exactly wasn’t an interview today? Dd panicking something has gone wrong with her application
And someone on the student room apparently called up Bristol which confirmed interviews are still going out in batches

@opoponax I know what you mean - how many people do Bristol normally interview?
With a cut off above 3100 that's only around 650 people - and not all of them will have applied to Bristol - so you'd think there really should be more to come....but who knows in 2020!

@WithIcePlease you'd think. But no. DD is someone who has managed to get extensive work experience since year 9 and a job working frontline for the NHS during this pandemic. Admissions won't know this though as they shortlist purely on GCSEs and UCAT and won't look at her PS. The only advantage she has is Keele where her experience may give her an edge. But this year, with the huge increase in admissions, I'm less and less hopeful with each day. Especially when Unis are coming out with absolutely crazy cut offs.

Lots of experience and the knowledge that you have worked to prove that you would thrive in the medical field should be important, and it is at interview. But in the interests of fairness Unis don't take it into account. And with the massive interest in courses, they have the luxury of not needing to. They must lose a huge amount of potentially brilliant doctors this way, but they also have to make sure they recruit the most academically brilliant.

I feel for my DD (good GCSEs but not a high UCAT and excellent work exp) because it will be an uphill battle for her.

I have a lot of sympathy for last year’s year 13s as they had a lot of uncertainty, but the situation is also horrible for the current year 13s and very unfair for them. I can’t personally see much difference between predicted grades and the inflated grades of last summer, yet this year’s lot are disadvantaged

Absolutely bonkers to not rank work experience highly this year. Surely last years cag awardees will have done something of note pre March, and same for the current yr 13. To not award credit for long term volunteering/jobs is just ridiculous. Keele and Sunderland both said they wouldn't penalise people for less WE, ergo not crediting those who invested their time on WE portfolios. I think current yr 13s should prepare for this being a 2 year process, apply again with grades in hand. But then the cycle continues, the can is kicked further down the road so next year's cohort will have to compete with 2021 cohort who have grades in hand!

MaddieElla to be fair to the unis, disregarding work experience must be the fairest way to go. Indeed historically that aspect of an application has always been unfairly weighted in favour of applicants with connections. of course some applicants without connections managed to secure opportunities too, but overwhelmingly it was the well connected who got the best placements, and that was inherently unfair, and not a good predictor of who did and didn't have the most potential in terms of career.

I do this this year looks very tough indeed, but that's a separate issue.

opoponax thank you very much that’s put her at ease. So ridiculously high it’s crazy!

WithIcePlease extrapolating from our school, where a very large number of pupils have parents in the medical profession, there's been a shocking disparity in opportunities between those pupils and their peers who didn't have that advantage.

goodbyestrang although DD attends a large comprehensive, the proportion of parents in the medical profession and children wanting to follow them into it would appear to be very low.
However, the 2 applicants with such parents have acquired quite a bit of WE outside of the schemes run by the NHS and before Covid struck so I agree it is an uneven playing field in respect of work experience. Connections help tremendously. Some parents just have the connections (whether medical professionals themselves or not) and are, quite sensibly, prepared to use them for their offspring.

SATSmadness the point is about fairness to those without parents with connections to secure placements, rather than whether or not parents do what they can to help their kids.

The increase in applications/ cut off scores must be unnerving though, regardless of the smaller point about work experience. A very tough year.

SATS - I totally agree with you on the work experience opportunity. One of DD's peers has both parents who are senior consultants in our local hospital, and he was able to observe operations, clinics and consultations. DD registered as a volunteer just after her 16th birthday and finally, a year and a half later, got her induction course booked right before lockdown.... she has other work opportunities to reflect on, but I'm glad WE isn't going to be a big deal this year.
However, getting to the stage the personal statement is considered is another hurdle this year!