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Original poster

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

999 replies

notmedicmum · 10/12/2020 15:43

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??

OP posts:
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11
FanSpamTastic · 10/08/2021 22:20

Thank you - Leicester is on her list, due to go visit on an open day!

mumsneedwine · 10/08/2021 22:37

@speedyhedgehog correct ! Sheffield now 5 grade 7s (maths, Eng Lang and a science).

Solarlantern · 11/08/2021 09:24

Hello all, my DS is applying again after an unsuccessful first cycle (effectively caught on the hop by the increase in ucat cut offs for his preferred choices last year which all seemed quite do-able until they increased so much!). He's already done his UCAT and happy with score and received his A level results yesterday (also happy thank goodness!). College are being supportive of his next application and have offered him a volunteer mentor role in a fledgling medsoc for new students to give him more experience, plus he has various clinical volunteering roles in the pipeline after they were all put on hold last year, so keeping busy although he's of course a bit fed up all his pals doing non medical courses are off to uni! One thing he really feels the need to brush up on is MMI practice- does anyone know yet if they will be face to face or online? If anyone has any suggestions for good interview practice courses or groups that would be great (his college last year were not helpful with this but of course with remote learning I'm sure they had enough on their plates just getting through the course). Thanks and onwards and upwards!

Monkey2001 · 11/08/2021 11:04

Welcome @Solarlantern. DS1 was a successful gap year applicant, well done to him for grades and UCAT.

Only ones I know

Confirmed on-line - Oxbridge, Manchester
Hopefully F2F - Newcastle

Don't know of any others who have made final decision.

Monkey2001 · 11/08/2021 13:27

St Andrews also on line 2022

Solarlantern · 11/08/2021 14:39

Thanks @Monkey2001 - Newcastle is currently one of his possibles so that is really useful- he applied to St Andrews this year bit I think given the squeeze on RUK places he's going to be avoiding any unis in Scotland this year (plus anywhere where the scoring criteria is a bit opaque!).

Monkey2001 · 11/08/2021 15:06

@Solarlantern the opaque scoring at St Andrews is a bit frustrating, but I think a band 1 SJT can go a long way. DS1 is at St Andrews after a gap year application (he had offers from St A, Sheffield and Leicester).

GANFYD · 11/08/2021 20:23

@Monkey2001

Welcome *@Solarlantern*. DS1 was a successful gap year applicant, well done to him for grades and UCAT.

Only ones I know

Confirmed on-line - Oxbridge, Manchester
Hopefully F2F - Newcastle

Don't know of any others who have made final decision.

Birmingham are on line
Monkey2001 · 12/08/2021 15:39

DS has UCAT tomorrow and is SO done with the preparation! He is going to the gym now rather than baking brownies like @SandyBayley DD, but same reason!

SandyBayley · 12/08/2021 16:10

Best of luck to your DS @Monkey2001. It gets to the point where it just needs to be over!

We've had another lovely day today with DS2. A great set of GCSE results. He is somewhat of a dark horse but in a very good way 😊 Not an aspiring medic though.

KingscoteStaff · 12/08/2021 17:17

Good luck to your boy tomorrow Monkey. I am on the beach in Aldeburgh watching my aspiring medic cavort in the (really quite cold) waves with a group of chums.

speedyhedgehog · 12/08/2021 19:09

Good luck tomorrow monkey's ds!

Monkey2001 · 12/08/2021 20:21

Thanks all.

Well done Sandy's DS. My DS2 wasn't an aspiring medic when he got his GCSE results, you never know.....

MidLifeCrisis007 · 12/08/2021 20:54

Best of luck to your DS tomorrow @Monkey2001.

We are just back from holiday and DD is heading off to Boardmasters at first light! I wish I had her stamina! But after a busy July working towards her UCAT, I think she thoroughly deserves some fun time now! It won't be long before they're all back at school again!

SandyBayley · 12/08/2021 21:03

@MidLifeCrisis007 - Boardmasters looks slightly bonkers. Every teenager in SW London appears to be there apart from mine! But we're heading to Croatia at first light...

Monkey2001 · 13/08/2021 16:19

Almost late due to terrible wet Friday 13th traffic. Supposed to be there 15 minutes before start time but satnav said we would be late! After some nifty back routes we were there 5 mins before, not a great way to begin but he coped better than DS1 would have. Comfortable score for Newcastle and Manchester (phew!), Band 2 but band 1/2 equal for his only 2 options. Can now relax into the holidays!

LaLaFlottes · 13/08/2021 17:09

Great news @Monkey2001 Smile

SandyBayley · 13/08/2021 17:57

So pleased for @Monkey2001 mini 😊

MidLifeCrisis007 · 13/08/2021 18:10

You are a cool customer @Monkey2001... beating the Satnav at its own game!!! When DD did hers (8.00am on a Saturday morning) I saw WAZE said it would take 20 mins. So I left an hour.....

DD also got Band 2. I'm trying to piece together which med schools this is a disadvantage at....Nottingham, Birmingham.... any others?!

Monkey2001 · 13/08/2021 18:37

Ours was 15 mins away at 1:00, so I said we should leave by 12:15, but he came back for water, change of decision on shoes, suddenly it was 12:25 and then city centre was at a standstill. He was fine about it, I think it helped that he knew they were flexible because when he did his driving theory there, the test centre moved without telling test takers, so we had a stressful 7 mile journey from the old test centre to the new test centre, arriving after the booked start time and they were very relaxed about times.

I didn't mention that we were also down to 4 miles of range in the car when we arrived via our circuitous route!

Band 2 disadvantage - Nottingham is the big one, but Edinburgh also dodgy. St Andrews are opaque about it, but I think it might be quite a key factor. HYMS - SJT is 10% of post interview score. UEA use it post interview. Sheffield use it as a virtual station, but a 2 is fine, in the years DS1 applied it did not make the difference between an offer and rejection, but may be a bit riskier now. I don't know how much Birmingham use it.

MidLifeCrisis007 · 13/08/2021 19:32

Thanks. When I was driving DD to her driving test in Portsmouth last month the Brake Pad warning light came on en route! You can't take a test with any warning light illuminated so we made an SOS call to Kwikfit in Portsmouth and they ordered new pads in - the new pads arrived as we did an hour later, and they took 45 mins to fit. She made it to her test against all odd. But failed anyway!

DD was planning on applying to both Birmingham and Edinburgh, but will now only put Edinburgh if both are scoring Band 2 lower than Band 1. She got a very high UCAT score so hopefully she'll make the cut for interview at Edinburgh despite the Band 2.

Monkey2001 · 14/08/2021 08:56

MidLife top mum points for that prompt action! Sorry she didn't pass the test, but the stress prior to the test would not have helped. DS1 did test in instructor's car because I did not want to risk a "technical fail".

Re Edinburgh - we may see the thresholds drop this year because some of the "nearly perfect" people don't take the risk. That happened one year at Newcastle - there was a very high cut off and the following year it dropped right down because people around the cut off did not want to risk it when they could be confident of interviews elsewhere.

Original poster
notmedicmum · 15/08/2021 19:45

DD has UCAT exam tomorrow. Like @monkey2001 said, we are SO done with the whole thing! DD did one mock and the decided to watch Hamilton all afternoon.

We’ll see what marks she gets before finalising uni choices…..and then it will be on to the next hurdles of BMAT, personal statement and EPQ. Feels never ending. Was it really this bad when we went to university? I was much more blase about the whole thing 😀

OP posts:
SandyBayley · 15/08/2021 19:58

Best of luck @notmedicmum - I totally get the 'over it' feeling re UCAT. I don't think DD has plans to look at BMAT anytime soon though. Her PS is almost done and she has her choices nearly finalised so it feels like a lull for now. She might pick up a bit of GP work experience but she has hospital work experience under her belt so nit essential.

Monkey2001 · 15/08/2021 21:38

Good luck @notmedicmum DD. My DS said that is a very sensible thing to do the night before UCAT! He now seems to be mentoring friends as he was the first of his friendship group to do the test.

He hasn't managed to get any work experience, so will just have to make do with the virtual ones and a lot of musical and sporting experience. I will see if a GP friend changes her mind about shadowing, but post Covid I am not hopeful. I don't think the medical schools will expect people to have secured work experience this year.