Medicine 2021 - Part 3

[SATSmadness]

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

@mumsneedwine I'm laughing at the fancy dress outfit too. Friend ordered a skeleton and I think he will like it. It will be good for the 18th birthday photos and to dress up for Hallowe'en!

@opoponax @MaddieElla the skeleton will be v poplar as most don't have one (they are expensive). And I'd hold off with the stethoscope as lots get a discount voucher when start. DD said her friend has Grey's Anatomy and it has only ever been used as a door stop (apparently it can withstand the heavy hall fire doors). She didn't know it was anything but a tv show until she went to med school 😂

Neither did I until I read this thread.

Me neither! If I hear Grey's Anatomy, I just think of McDreamy!!

@ mumsneedwine I sent friend the link to the skeleton that Monkey posted and it wasn't too £ but some of the life-sized ones are £££££. @maddieElla me neither!

McSteamy for me

@MaddieElla I might have to watch an episode later!!

@SATSmadness I wonder how the posters on the 'other path' thread would fare waiting for even one offer..... they don't know how lucky they are!
(And if any of you are reading, please don't take offence!)

yes @Millylovespuddles just one offer would be bliss for DD at this point in time especially as she's now back at school and having teachers express surprise and offer commiserations re Cambridge.

She said she didn't feel like sharing with them the fact that as yet she has no offers at all.

Today was another "no news is good news" day as far as Uni offers/rejections goes.

DD is taking comfort that only 1 out of 7 applicants in her year has one offer....

@Millylovespuddles

So out of 7 x 4 = 28 medicine applications, there's just 1 single person holding 1 solitary offer by this point ?

@SATSmadness yup....

There have been a few caught out by the ucat spike. I know that two of them only had 1 interview, so the stats aren't great....

Yep same at my DDs school @Millylovespuddles

She is the only one so far out of around 8 I think. I'm sure that will change but there seems to be an offer abyss for now.

Not quite so stark at DS's school, but of the 6 trying (so 6x4 =24) there have been four offers, with one person having two. An a couple of them with only one interview, because of the UCAT spike.

I don't know how many offers overall to date in DS's school but in his close friendship group there are 6 DC applying and 7 offers to date. Of these a number (including DS) waiting to hear from ones who haven't started offers yet.

DD is one of 10 Medicine applicants from her school (state secondary). They've all received a minimum of 1 interview, most have had 2 or 3, and 2 candidates achieved 4 interviews. So far, only 2 students have received offers, and one of these students has two offers. That makes it 3 offers from 40.

Many places haven't started sending out offers yet so they just have to wait and see what happens. It's tough for them when all their friends are discussing accommodation etc but it's just the beginning of a tough route so they may as well get used to it!

I've got a real skeleton in a box upstairs and I loathe it. I've only looked at it twice since I met DH 29 years ago. The height of the person looks about 4'6"

It seems disrespectful to put it in the bin. I don't know if DD would actually use it

I had a half skeleton in first year, but it belonged to the university so we gave it back at the end of the year. In 2nd year we just got the skull. It was a bit unpleasant! Maybe a university would take it @WithIcePlease if you want rid?

@WithIcePlease I am sure a medical student would like to have it, maybe keep it for a while in case your DC wants it. Could you offer it to your local medical school? Definitely not something you would put on eBay for respect reasons.

@WithIcePlease we would happily take it off your hands!

On gifts, DDs grandparents bought her a (brightly coloured) stethoscope for Christmas. I offered her a (manufactured) skeleton but she said that first it was not needed, and second there was no space in her small student room.

I am surprised at medical students not reading books. DD is dyslexic and not a natural reader but is happy to read around medical topics that interest her. And certainly on placement and living in hospital accommodation there were others very happy to borrow what she had finished reading. When non essential shops are open we will have a browse in the Welcome Institute bookshop to pick up reading for next year.

Another possible expense is conferences. They are fun in that you get a chance to go deeper into areas of interest, and meet others from different places and at different stages in their careers. But they can be expensive, and sometimes you have to join the Royal College or whatever in order to attend. Or subscriptions to journals, though following key people on Twitter is also a good way of keeping up. Perhaps they could set aside a fund to enable enrichment activities.

@Needmoresleep my DSs both do their reading on line. I encourage them to read books as better for their eyes, but they are very digital.

Perhaps. However I did mention placement....

Six months living in the grotty bit of a market town, where the alternative distractions are the gym or yellow sticker time at Morrisons, and the wifi is hopeless. Books come into their own!

Mine are iPad readers. We bought my MiL a kindle years ago and loaded it up with books. But told her she'd have to be careful putting any more on as it would get heavier 😂