Medicine 2022 entry - How difficult is it really? *title edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[notmedicmum]

I couldn't find a thread for 2022 entrants to medicine - maybe I didn't look hard enough! DD is in Year 12 and has wanted to do medicine since Year 10. It's only this year that we realise the enormity of actually getting a place. Not only do you have to have brilliant grades, you must also have done work experience, volunteered (both difficult in the current situation), got excellent BMAT/UCAT scores. Oh, and you also must have cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money for charity or climbed Kilimanjaro or won the Nobel Peace prize or found a cure for cancer (joking about the last two). How competitive is it REALLY? I'm not sure about the value of the last apart from being used as a selection tool as the unis get so many qualified applicants - and showing enterprise and drive. Apparently this sort of thing is even more important this year as getting work experience is very hard this year. How does climbing a mountain make you a better doctor anyway? And what can normal students do to improve their chances of success??

All very quiet here. Anybody doing the open days at Manchester and Newcastle this week? I have not worked out how to book sessions in the Newcastle one, but Manchester medicine talk is on Saturday.

Hello everyone, I've been lurking for a while and have been following your great advice.

DS is planning on applying strategically. A PP said not to look at past information as it often changes but now I can't find the link to the current info on how to apply strategically. Can anyone help?

What are his GCSE results like? He can't really choose until he has UCAT, but GCSEs and A level choices may have already narrowed his options.

What are his GCSE results like? He can't really choose until he has UCAT, but GCSEs and A level choices may have already narrowed his options.

He got a range of GCSE results between 7 and 9 so not all 9s like some.

He's doing Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A'Level, unfortunately we aren't going to get expected grades until next month.

@BunnyRuddington the key is to go to each of the medical school websites and see how they select for interview. We did it as a spreadsheet last year. Liverpool I saw when I just checked recently haven't decided yet how they are going to do it this coming year, but some of the others have, like Nottingham (and it is completely different to last year). Note that there are minimums, which you have to clear, but most people do that. The key is the selection for interview part, ie what scores you need (last year Nottingham scored out of 56, this year it looks more like out of 180). Put how they do it into the spreadsheet. Some it is purely UCAT or BMAT, others it is a combination of that and predicted grades, or that and GCSEs. Then when you have your various components and you have a sense of your score, come back to it and work out which ones you are most likely to get an interview from. There are people on TSR who can also give some fantastic specific advice (although like this year, next year it is going to be difficult to extrapolate from previous years). But if you only get an average UCAT, then applying for somewhere like Bristol that only goes on UCAT and only took for interview those who got the top 10% UCAT is pointless (assuming they are doing it the same way this year).

Some put a lot of weight on experience (Keele I think is one of them, others can chip in).

But somewhere on each of the medical school's websites (and you may have to dig), they will set out what criteria they use to select for interview. Remember they will only select for interview a percentage of those who apply, so you want to be one of those whom they do, or your application doesn't get off first base.

Just chipping in that Newcastle is also very UCAT heavy (similar threshold to Bristol this year (think Newcastle was 2810 and Bristol 2830) and Exeter required exceptionally high UCAT (top 3% this year at 3040 for candidates with predicted grades). Worth noting that Exeter also required 3 A star A level predictions to secure an interview this year, whilst Bristol and Newcastle required AAA. Sheffield also required AAA and a UCAT score of 2740 for an interview this year. Agree with Bimkom that it will be much easier to think about strategic application after the UCAT is done.

@BunnyRuddington you probably need to avoid Oxford, Cardiff, Leeds, Edinburgh and Liverpool as those as those are the most GCSE heavy. As others have said, the rest is on the UCAT/BMAT, with the exception of some that with A level predictions - Exeter, Barts, Edinburgh, Aberdeen.

We are aiming for 13th August UCAT. Anybody else got a date in mind?

@Monkey2001 it will be interesting to see if what you say remains true regarding those medical schools that have traditionally been GCSE heavy. Nottingham was in the past, but isn't for this coming year it is a maximum of 32 points on GCSEs and a whopping 120 on UCAT (with a very heavy weighting for the situational judgement), for a total maximum point score of 152 (I think I said 180 above, which is wrong). Liverpool I believe wasn't always so GCSE heavy, but it was this last year. It may change again. I think that the fact that most people putting GCSEs forward will be putting CAGs forward will/is altering the thinking for what to weigh - it may be that more universities than usual are UCAT heavy.

@bimkom - yes, it seems sensible for the universities to rely more on UCAT as it is the only truly objective exam as some schools were more generous than others and the people who left revision to the last minute lost out in 2020. It is unfortunate for the people who do not do well in the UCAT though; UCAT also mattered more than usual last year and it looks like it might be even worse this year!

the people who left revision to the last minute lost out in 2020.

I think that was DS' fall down. Seems like a really tough lesson to learn.

I posted this in the Y12 thread, but those not on that thread will be interested to know that Manchester have decided to do interviews on line again for 2022. I expect it will mean that the form they require applicants to complete may be more important than it was in previous years.

Cardiff and Newcastle have not yet decided. Would be interesting to hear what others are doing and it may affect choices as some will think that on line interviews are more or less intimidating.

Before I trawl through the ever-changing websites AGAIN…

Has anyone seen any recent information about what predictions the different courses currently require in order to offer an interview?

DD has just received an A prediction for biology and is about to march into battle against the Bio dept to try to persuade them to lift it.

But (as long as she nails her UCAT) how much do the predictions influence?

The predictions need to be the offer grades for most medical schools. For example at Newcastle AAA is no different from 3 A, but obviously Cambridge want 2 A + A. I have a list of some of the ones which don't look at predictions, including Oxford, Cardiff, Aston, Nottingham, Lincoln.

Exception is Exeter - not worth applying unless widening participation without 3 A*s.

Should have said Edinburgh and Aberdeen also need good predictions. Don't apply to Edinburgh without perfect stats unless in Scotland.

Checking back in. For some reason this thread keeps hiding itself from me despite me fiddling with the watch and hide buttons.

DD has her predictions in and has been given 45 for IB. For those of you unfamiliar with IB that's a 'perfect' score, the bit which matters most though are the predictions in the Higher Level subjects (Biology, Chemistry and Maths) - she has 7,7,7. Absolutely delighted as she has worked really hard but of course they're just predictions and just another bit of the jigsaw.

She has 'UCAS week' next week when they devote the week to research on universities, PS etc. She also has a session on UCAT prep which will be interesting. I think once she's handed in her Extended Essay today (on biological weapons and anthrax) she'll start on UCAT prep.

Great predictions @sandybayley, the only problem is that her options have not been narrowed down by stats at all yet, which makes shortlisting choices tougher!

UCAT bookings open Monday, DS is going to try to get a slot on Friday 13th August. Will probably get a 2 month medify subscription next week, when his exams finish. The UCAT centre is the same as the driving theory centre, which is slightly concerning as 1 friend went to driving theory test to find that Pearson's had moved 5 miles away without telling candidates and they had 30 mins to get to new location or lose their test slot. Another friend arrived to be told the internet was down and she would have to re-book it!

Thanks @Monkey2001 - it's a nice situation to be in. I think DD is aiming for UCAT in w/c 2 August as we're due to go on holiday on 13 August. Of course the holiday may or may not happen but her thinking is that she'd like it done and dusted so she can have a relaxing month before school starts in September.

Another one aiming for UCAT in first week of August. Just had Parents’ Eve with both Chem teachers saying Oh she must apply for Chem she would do so well…

@mumneedswine and @sandybayley - Cardiff is not such a no brainer anymore even with all the nines. There were a lot of people with perfect scores that didn't get an interview at Cardiff this year, and I am not sure it was clear what they used as tiebreakers. If you really love it, obviously go for it, but don't necessarily regard it as a no brainer.
Also be really careful about using the entry criteria for 2021. Many universities have significantly changed for 2022. For example, Nottingham has changed from 2021 to 222 from being far more GCSE heavy to being far more UCAT heavy, so the advantage of stunning GCSEs has mostly disappeared there.

Just a note to say that last summer DD had a Medify subscription, but she also had one with Medentry for a shorter period of time. It was £45 and she did think it helped having the extra resources from a different provider.

There was quite a lot of talk of Medify being easier than the real UCAT last year I think - not sure how much truth there was in that, but she decided to cover her bases as best she could.

I seem to remember the mocks on the official UCAT website being hard, and I don’t think there was that many of them so maybe encourage DC to leave them until a bit later.

DD didn’t use the book that much I don’t think as she found it better to use the computer as it was more realistic, but I think the general consensus was that the questions in the book were pretty tricky.

Prepare for the highs and lows of mocks that go well and those that don’t - it’s not a nice test to prepare for. DD saw a lot of advice about not overdoing the prep in case you peak too soon, but she did do a lot of prep, she figured out how many mocks and mini mocks she had, and made a schedule!

Good luck all - and remember there are still options even if UCAT goes horribly. That’s actually in some ways the beauty of the differences in criteria from one Med School to the next, even though the research is a pain!!

I don't think Cardiff is on DD's list at the moment @bimkom . I'm not even sure there she has a list as such. Just some vague ideas of places she likes the look of. Oxford, Bristol and Birmingham and not London. Just can't get my head around narrowing stuff down until UCAT is known!

I agree @sandybayley, it is good to keep an open mind until after the UCAT. My DS was in similar position to your DD last year at this time. It was all wide open. I was wondering how he was going to decide where to apply to. It worked out though. He decided early on that, although had the right stats, he didn't want Oxbridge (course structure) and didn't want London either (home). Then he had an early website trawl and found himself really liking some UCAT-heavy med schools but it felt hypothetical until he had sat the UCAT. After he scored very highly in the UCAT, it felt real and he knew the ones he wanted to apply to. I suppose it was strategic in that he leveraged his UCAT but those were the ones he really wanted and he could have leveraged his other stats too. The only change from his initial thinking was that he swapped out his fourth choice Exeter for Manchester once he visited and realised he wanted to be in a bigger city (but still not London!)