Medicine 2021 - Part 3

[SATSmadness]

Hoping for interviews and offers all round, now and well into next year !

@Owledge welcome back and hang in there - lots more interview invites to be sent

@WithIcePlease that's great news! So pleased to hear this.

@SATSmadness enjoy the takeaway tonight. It's definitely time for a nice treat Don't lose hope re Scottish Unis too. If they interview proportionately to the spaces they have for RUK then there's still hope.

Well we have finally had that Liverpool invitation to interview. Maybe the last, or close to the last batch I imagine (but it does seem pretty clear from TSR that it was alphabetical, so not surprising that we were at the end).
That makes 3/4 anyway, but of course, because of the Bristol rejection pre-interview, not 4/4.
Still the key thing is that one of them comes up trumps, that is what we are all hoping for.

@bimkom excellent news!!

@bimkom great news, why do they like to keep the applicants in agonising suspense??

good news there bimkom !

I'm so glad @bimkom that it finally arrived

Thanks All. @Millylovespuddles - in the case of Liverpool, however painful it has been, I think there is method to their madness, in that they seem to want to only give no more than a week or two's notice to all candidates, as they consistently have done this, while spreading the interviews out. If you want to do that, then those who will interview at the end will end up waiting. And I suppose, as always, alphabetical is seen as fair as any (although it does mean that those at the end always go last, and those at the front always go first, which can be good and bad. My kids have sometimes appreciated that when sat alphabetically, they get the back row, but dislike it in most other contexts). Once it became really clear (as people were putting their surname first letters with their stats in TSR) that it was so clearly alphabetical, it did become easier. I confess that a somebody whose maiden name isbang in the middle of the alphabet, I had no idea until marrying DH how often things are done alphabetically. One of DS's friends from primary school, whose father's surname was right at the end of the alphabet, on going to high school did what his older sister had done and hyphenated his surname with his mother's so as to get to be at the beginning. I think they may even have done it legally!

Hurray @bimkom! Good luck to him

@WithIcePlease I am a bit shocked you listened to your DD's interviews. I thought that was definitely not allowed. It wasn't at Lancaster and isn't at Leeds (the two my DD has had/coming up). My DD said she had to scan the room with her laptop before every section as well.

@GreyBow
I DID NOT listen to her interviews
She recounted them subsequently

I must admit I heard part of an answer ds was giving during an interview. I was going up to the loo and overheard. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, it didn't give him any advantage. All it did was make me feel like a snoop.

He gave me a lowdown of what he said later.

I have been upstairs on the other side of the house with the dog hoping the doorbell doesn't ring and set off the dog barking

@WithIcePlease I was the same with the dog! Sat upstairs holding my breath if I heard a van door in case it was a delivery for us

Apologies @WithIcePlease. That was not clear in your initial post.

All I got was "okay" when I asked my DD how her last interview was. She hasn't elaborated much. She's very hard on herself and her interview answers in general though, so I always assume she has done better than she thinks.

My running trainers got some use as I was too worried about the dog and the doorbell (spaniel, a big barker!) so I left 2 minutes before the interviews, checking there were no connectivity issues and took the dog on long runs. I was alert to my phone ringing in the first 5 minutes in case she had a problem but I definitely felt it was better to leave the house. I didn't want to put her off thinking I might hear her.

I've got the same feeling I had when we were waiting for interviews now. Not really relaxing between 9 and 7 in case she gets an email. And seeing the odd offer come through for her choices on TSR and hoping they are people with achieved grades.

Interestingly DD has said she isn't worrying about it. The exam fiasco is taking up all her fretting I think.

@MaddieElla I feel the same, mildly anxious!

DD has also said that while she just wants to know, A levels are her main concern now which is probably sensible really!

Well done to all the DC who have finished their interviews. We still have one to go next week.

Can't really tell how my DD's have gone so far. One was extremely quick which seems concerning but she said she managed to get in quite a bit. One she thought went well and one was weird. Just wish they didn't ha e to wait so long to find out.

@MaddieElla I am also the owner of a very barky spaniel so I have to take him out whenever she has an interview. My dh who works from home stays around for any IT issues. She did have to call one Uni as she couldn't get on. They were running 30 minutes late but didn't let them know. You can imagine the stress for my DD - was glad I was out and oblivious to it all!

Argh what a nightmare.

Talking about IT issues, for one of DD's interviews, I was hiding upstairs with the dog and she had logged on as required, 10 mins before. I sat, and I sat, and I waited and way past the time that her interview should have ended, there was no sign of movement from downstairs!

Eventually DD appeared and the Uni had some technical issues, so her interview had started 30 mins late - poor DD had been sat there on her own just waiting, trying to stay calm! Not the best start!

To be honest though, I'm just glad the IT issue was on their side rather than ours

Oh heck, I can just imagine her sat there anxiously waiting.

I have seen a lot of pre interview rejections on TSR for Nottingham Lincoln. Previously they interviewed everyone as they're a fairly new medical school, although it's a Nottingham degree. Hoping DD did enough in her interview as they're clearly oversubscribed.

@MaddieElla I think I read somewhere that the overall increase in medicine applications is over 20% this year so presumably even the newcomers such as Lincoln will be oversubscribed and able to be a little more selective in how many candidate they interview.

The interviewing must be a huge time commitment for any Uni.

@MaddieElla yes lots of anxious waiting! I think at first she could see all of the other applicants on her screen which must have been a bit weird for them all. At least they managed to fix the issue and didn't have to reschedule as she would have hated that!

Re Nottingham Lincoln - it sounds like they have maybe had more applicants this year, so are unable to interview everyone. Maybe it's good news for your DD as it's better that they are interviewing the right proportion of candidates for the offers they plan to make, rather than interviewing everyone this year which would have reduced the interview to offer ratio?

Here’s hoping.

Got to keep hoping

Exciting news here - Dd has an unconditional offer for Glasgow! She is absolutely delighted, she wasn’t feeling confident about that interview. We wait now to hear from Dundee, as she was quite tempted by their smaller numbers and possibly more supportive environment. But she’s definitely going to study medicine and I am super pleased for her. Not getting a place last year, having to resit UCAT, and finding useful employment hasn’t been easy and I’m proud of her for not giving up.
Keeping my fingers crossed for successful outcomes for everyone else.