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??

@Hopeful201 score doesn't sound impossible to get an offer. If you send me details I'll try and narrow down for you - might be later this week though as school back tomorrow. TSR will be quicker though 😊.

@speedyhedgehog fantastic score ! Would usually guarantee an interview at UCAT heavy places (as long as gave minimum requirements). SJT counting more this year so hopefully good too.

PS.things will be clearer once interim UCAT results come out (usually around 15th). Be warned though, these are higher than the final percentiles so don't be scared !!

Thanks mumsneedwine. I'm very relieved for him. He's mildly dyslexic and really struggled with VR particularly so I'm really pleased for him.

New to the thread, hoping someone can offer some advice and thoughts on the situation.

DD1 has had her heart set on medicine for as long as I can remember. She sat her UCAT today and scored 2420 - looking at some of the scores here that isn’t high? Her situational judgement was Band 2. GCSEs are 9,9,8, four 7s, two 6s and a 5 (language). Currently sitting Biology, Maths, Chemistry. Hasn’t had predicted grades yet but end of year exams were A in Biology and Cs in Maths / Chem. Maths teacher was not encouraging in her med application, told her to lower her expectations… importantly she has BSMS BrightMed behind her which should help. She’s currently thinking Keele, Hull York, St George’s (but unsure of location) and BSMS.

I have a disabled daughter, DD1 is registered as a young carer and the last couple of years have been a struggle - I am SO proud of DD1’s efforts over the last 18 months with everything that’s happened and I want to encourage her but I also want to be realistic in expectations.

@BabbleBee as a young carer, she will be contextual at lots of places, so yes, she has options. The main issue for her is the A level grades. Would she be willing to do a foundation year? That would open up lots of options.

[quote Monkey2001]@BabbleBee as a young carer, she will be contextual at lots of places, so yes, she has options. The main issue for her is the A level grades. Would she be willing to do a foundation year? That would open up lots of options.[/quote]
@Monkey2001 thank you for you reply. She isn’t keen on a foundation year, I think this means she won’t be able to have intercalated year. I’ve just been looking at the BrightMed / UKWPMed guidance on the Keele website and it seems that not only does this give her guaranteed interview, her A levels reduce to ABB. In this case she needs a strong personal statement and interview I assume?

Can do foundation year and intercalate. You still only pay for the first 4 years, NHS pays for next 3 years. I thought you were looking at ACC, if ABB is achievable there are plenty of contextual options.

We haven’t had predicted grades, only end of year exams which were ACC. We’ve had problems with the maths department at college, her predicted grades could well be ABB or even AAB, depending on what data college decide to use! It’s been a pain in the backside and hopefully will be resolved within the next few weeks. She’s on the competitive placement programme which runs EPQ and they’ve been nothing other than encouraging.

If ABB is aspirational, it may be worth applying to a couple with foundation year as it would be very disappointing to get ABB offers then not manage to get the grades.

@Monkey are you sure about being a young carer giving contextual "in a lot of places". If you don't have any other flags ie postcode, type of school etc), as far as I am aware, only St Andrews, who at least used to give a 10% uplift to the UCAT for this, took it into account. I am not sure about Keele. I don't believe it gives any contextual points for Birmingham, for example, despite the heavy weight they put on contexual points, or Bristol, or Nottingham, or Liverpool. It obviously helps on the personal statement as there is a lot to write about, but most of these places don't read the personal statement these days, and there is nowhere else to put it - you can try asking the school to put it in their reference but they may or may not think that is their responsibility. I agree it probably ought to be treated as a contexual point, but I don't think in practice is actually is very often.

@bimkom I am not an expert at all on widening access, but I have noticed it coming up. It allows access to Newcastle Partners, certainly in Scotland it qualifies people for medicine with a foundation year. Will do some research, but @mumsneedwine might know.

Hello all amazing posters ☺️ I need some advice .My dd is a Scottish applicant with 5 As at Highers and 3060 band 2 UCAT score .She wants to apply to Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh.Is that a sensible choice? Thank you @GANFYD ,@mumsneedwine @monkey2001 and all others for all the information that you share ...it really helps immensely ❤️

Some more info if needed - her subjects for National 5 were maths ,physics, biology, chemistry, english and geography and she got all As . For Highers it was maths ,physics, biology, chemistry, english . She has only done online GP, BSMS work experience .She volunteers with adults with learning disabilities and at a science center. Thank you for your time ❤️

@Grunty79 assuming she is doing the right AHs she should get an interview at any Scottish medical school. Scottish applicants do not need the perfect stats RUK need, and apart from the band 2 she has perfect stats anyway.

Thanks so much @Monkey2001 .She is doing Biology,Chemistry advanced Highers and crash higher music .What predicted grades do you think she needs to apply ?

@Grunty79 I don't know enough about Scottish qualifications to advise. In England you have to have 3 A levels, so I assume they expect 3 AHs, but I know crash highers are popular in Scotland. I suggest you check with the admissions people at the medical schools - it is easier for Scotland as you only have to check 5. I think as long as the UCAT score is good (and hers is excellent) that is the main stumbling block.

On TSR there are a lot of people commenting with band 3 SJT. This is my first year watching the threads but it seems a high proportion compared with numbers last year? Is it trickier to do well this year? (Or am I mistaken about the numbers?!)

@Chilldonaldchill at some point they publish the statistics for the UCAT (both provisional and then final) and there they give the figures as to how many have got the various bands in SJT. Last year I think there was a much higher proportion getting Band 1 than in the past (30%), so maybe they decided to make it harder this year. I also have noticed that there seem to be fewer Band 1s around - but because this is all anecdotal, we won't really know until we see the UCAT statistics.

Yes, it varies, don't know whether that is deliberate. 30% Band 1 last year, but here are the previous 4 years

Interesting. So since people with band 2 who are nervous about applying to unis like Nottingham which are scoring SJT separately might actually be ok there.

Some not since!

@Chilldonaldchill

Interesting. So since people with band 2 who are nervous about applying to unis like Nottingham which are scoring SJT separately might actually be ok there.

Possibly, the problem is, a very high UCAT and GCSEs will be needed to compensate for the 15 points dropped for a B2 v a B1. Somebody with 2410 UCAT B1 can score the same as someone with 2900 B2, if the scores fall right (or wrong!!), because of the wide bands scoring the same at UCAT. And if only 20% of a similar number of UCAT takers to last year get B1, that is still 6800 people

Sorry ! 2 v long INSET days so not had time to look on here. It'll eat tea and try and answer what I can 😊

@Grunty79

Thanks so much *@Monkey2001* .She is doing Biology,Chemistry advanced Highers and crash higher music .What predicted grades do you think she needs to apply ?

They range from BB at Edinburgh, BBB (generally) to AB+B, I think. Grades are actually about S5 qualifications for Scottish med schools, and Dundee made all offers unconditional before people sat their S6 exams a few years ago (though I wouldn't rely on that happening again)