Medicine 2021 - Part 3

[SATSmadness]

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

@Card1gan wonderful news to hear of DD's offer and her first choice too - fabulous!

@emummy congratulations to DD - nice to have a choice and of course no worrying about exams for you which must be really nice!!

It's funny how quickly the relief of an offer turns straight into worry about grades. It's just one thing after another isn't it!

Congrats to those with offers! Sorry to hear your news SATS, fingers crossed for an offer.

Ds has an offer from keele. He was fairly certain he'd chosen his firm but is now considering keele. It's so difficult to decide as he's not visited any uni so he's just looking online for info. Keele is ranked high and I think that's what is swaying him. I wondered if anyone here knew anyone studying there or had any info about the medical school?

Ooooh congratulations @Powergower that's good news. I know nothing about Keele so can't help but it's exciting for DS isn't it?

Where else does he have an offer for? So nice for him to have choices! Are there any virtual offer holder days coming up?

@Powergower all I know about Keele is that they are top for "preparedness at F1". I think it is very much a campus, but if I were you I would be driving round the places to see them after 12th April when tourism is allowed. Well done to your DS!

@Powergower congratulations!
Dd has chosen Glasgow, so getting organised with funding and accommodation

Pleased to hear news @emummy @Powergower @Card1gan 😊🎉
It's good to hear that things are gradually progressing esp I think I'm going to be one of the last waiting here!

As DD away at school so can't do weekends I managed to get to the places before lockdown and in the Easter break when it went a bit easier. The other uni city she knew anyway. Travel will be possible from 12 April I think? At least if shops open, you can have a day in a place with access to a toilet? It sounds ridiculous but that is a limiting factor!

My niece went to Keele (did maths). She had a great time. I thought it would be too quiet for her, she’s a town type, and Keele is a little isolated, but it all worked out perfectly.

@Powergower my DD is a second year at Keele and loves it. It seems like they have smaller year groups than other schools and they are very supportive. She loves the fact Keele is a big campus uni.

I still look at this thread as DD2 is thinking of applying so could be repeating this again and it’s so useful for information. I remember the stress and excitement of waiting for and receiving offers. Good luck to all DCs, I’d like to say the stress and waiting ends when they start but there is the continuous assessments and waiting for those results that keep us all on our toes!

Thank you all for the info. Ds has offers from Sunderland, keele and Liverpool. He wanted to firm Sunderland, they give free accommodation in year 1, free travel and all the medics are housed together which he liked the idea of. It's also has a beach. It's a new medical school but they follow the same curriculum as keele.

tbh none of the virtual open days have been great. I didn't realise we could drive to the unis after April 12th! That gives him a bit more time to decide once he's visited campus. His first choice was always Liverpool but he's completely changed his mind. He didn't enjoy the interview and I think that put him off.

My stepson has just been offered St Andrews too, so he’s got his first and second choices. He was originally thinking of stay at St Andrews but seems to be leaning towards London now.

Wow, free accommodation is a big pro isn't it. That's thousands saved. And a beach would be a selling point for me.

Keele is one of DD's options. It's quite niche in its campus/nightclub life I think. Would suit DD as she isn't a party animal but some people don't like that side of it. Beautiful campus apparently. It was the only Uni we didn't visit as we didn't realise she would stand a good chance of interview until after Covid started.

If DD hadn't got an offer for her preferred choice (which is closer to home) she would choose Keele I think, although it's a trek for us. It does feature higher up the league tables than some of the really popular Unis, and produces excellent doctors at F1 stage, as Monkey says.

@Powergower
Is DS a school leaver? According to TSR, no Liverpool school leaver offers until the end of March so a bit confused here

Are Liverpool usually this late sending offers? Or is it just this year?

I suppose it's good they tell you when to expect a decision, even though it's later. So many Unis don't specify and you could be waiting from November to April in limbo.

@MaddieElla
I think from what I recall from TSR they are always towards the end of March

Yes, I was surprised to hear your DS has an offer from Liverpool @powergower. Nobody on TSR or any of DS's contacts have yet, except for one person who is saying they have, but others on TSR think they are a troll, and got in contact with the university who apparently claim no offers have been sent out out. We certainly haven't heard anything, although that means nothing, everybody heard about Sheffield before we did.

Funnily enough, DS decided to go for Liverpool after the virtual open day, which really impressed him (maybe it was partly because it was just after the Bristol shambolic one). He felt it was really thought through and organised and generally impressive. And while the interview was really short, he said that actually it covered more ground than any of the others, it was the one intervew where he actually got a chance to mention all of his life experiences and volunteering and work experience and why he wanted to do medicine. He found it super intense, and maybe he wasn't what they were looking for, but he felt he covered more ground in that 20 minutes than the others in double the time. He was more exhausted after that one than any of the others, I certainly found.

My DD has been happy with Keele. She was eligible for campus accommodation for the first two years, I don't know if that is still the case. From the 3rd year onwards I would say it has been very useful to have a car. Either the 4th or 5th year had to be based at Shrewsbury. Finals are taken at the end of 4th year, so 5th year was a preparation for FY1.

Not sure if this helps but we visited Liverpool several times as DD did a days workshop there, had an interview (in crypt of cathedral which was freezing) and also went to open day. I love Liverpool. Had never been and totally fell in love. What a city, friendly, pretty, buzzing, fantastic shopping and so much stuff going on, and did I mention friendly ! The Medical school is right next door to the massive new hospital, although I don't know if that has opened yet.
She liked the course which had patient contact from 2nd year.

False alarm on Liverpool ds just messaged me from school. UCAS track was incorrect as it had ds down as a dentistry applicant for some odd reason and was asking him to confirm fee status. Another incorrect email from UCAS today too reminding him that the deadline for applications was close! Followed quickly by a message saying the email was sent incorrectly. Good job ds has others offers otherwise he'd be totally gutted. What is going on!

Keele is definitely in the running. Hopefully we can get down there in April.

@Honeyroar that's great news! Congratulations to your Stepson. He must be very pleased to have his two top options to choose from!
Very exciting.

@Powergower I hope you manage to get to Keele - that would be good wouldn’t it!

We would love to get to St Andrews for DD to have a look round but I don’t think it’s likely to be honest.

@LaLaFlottes has your dd made a decision yet? St Andrews is absolutely beautiful. It'll be a great place to visit after Easter, I hope you get the chance to visit before any firming. I wonder if some unis might organise real open days for offer holders once restrictions lift.

@Powergower she hasn’t decided yet but she does have a virtual applicant day to attend tomorrow for UEA and Sheffield and then St Andrews have one the following weekend. So she’ll go to those and see how she feels afterwards.

She has been to St Andrews but it was a very long time ago! We’d love to get back but with mocks and assessments to revise for it might be a bit tricky. We will see though! I’d love a little break and a trip - it’s been a long time!

Is DS leaning more one way or the other between Sunderland and Keele?

I went to St Andrews with DD1 and it was not my cup of tea at all. Luckily then she decided against it. I did spend a few hours on looking at the logistics of getting her stuff there and back. There are specific companies who will transport boxes but I was concerned about delivery to halls etc, waiting to take delivery etc as I could not see how she could get all her stuff there on a plane or train and not a drive I would undertake myself. My sister and husband used to drive with nephews stuff and put him a n the plane as car so full. The visit itself cost me a fortune 😳

@WithIcePlease St Andrews definitely has logistical implications

Luckily we do have a lot of family close by as DH is Scottish so that would help and we are up there quite a lot (normally) anyway visiting everyone.

We love the place, but I can see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of the right place to study. DD is still very keen on it, she was allocated to the English route so she would have 3 years there and then 3 in London or Manchester. I just know that last time she was there she wasn’t thinking along the lines of being a student there!