Medicine 2021 - Part 4

[MaddieElla]

Fingers crossed for those final offers coming in!

Hope no one minds me starting the new thread...

@LaLaFlottes it’s Opoponax here. Can only access an old MN account from my phone, hence different name. We got DS Playmobil doctor figure, anatomy colouring book, sticking plaster post-its and syringe highlighters. All from Amazon.

Exeter apparently offering £10k to defer plus free accommodation for first year!

Congratulations to everyone's children.
@FreekStar2, chemistry biology and psychology will be a good combination for medicine. As a doctor who's spent lots of time looking at admissions etc in the last year, your DD will need to be applying strategically to maximise her chance of interviews. That more or less (without really any caveats) means picking one of the Oxford/Cambridge/Imperial/UCL/Kings/
Leeds because they are the medical schools that don't make it absolutely crystal clear how they pick for interview. She's only losing the chance of one of those by picking psychology - and going very well at psychology will be much better than doing quite well at maths in terms of her getting an interview and then getting the results she needs in the end. Hope that makes sense.

Sorry - reading back that's not very clear.
What I was trying to say is applying to more than 1 of that list of 6 is very risky. Obviously she doesn't have to apply to any of them as there are plenty of other excellent and more predictable medical schools out there....

Ds also been offered 10k and choice of unis across the UK. He was so fixed on his first choice but is now thinking about another uni. Don't think he has long to decide.

@Powergower glad it all got sorted 😊. Would you mind telling me where he's been offered ? Trying to advise some of mine, for whom £10,000 is a ridiculous amount of money. They feel like they've won the lottery at moment but want them to make best choices as the courses are taught in such different ways.

UClan were on TSR saying they are accepting transfers from Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Lancaster, UCL.

Thank you for that advice @Chilldonaldchill, that's really helpful.

@mumsneedwine I think his list included Leeds, Leicester, kings college, Lancashire, keele and a few others. He's keen on list. 10k is huge but his firm uni already give free accommodation to forest years. Also, his main worry is not getting good accommodation if he transfers. It's also a complex process because you have to withdraw from firm uni and apply to new one. Your firm uni place is secure if your transfer doesn't go ahead.

I wonder if anyone is in the same situation and knows how they might choose who gets the option to transfer? Ds uni have emailed people asking them to stop ringing in to transfer as they've selected the students who have the option. Oh, the drama!! Was thinking I'd be sat drinking some wine by now!

Sorry for the sp mistakes! I'm not on the wine yet I promise.

@Powergower thanks so much. Few of mine taken the offer up as so much money but don't know if they will be chosen yet. Think lots have asked as you say !
What a day 😴

@mumsneedwine do you know if it's possible to transfer to a bmat uni if you've not done the bmat or vice versa with ucat?

We also have the option of a transfer and as far as I'm aware you can move to a bmat uni even if you've not sat the bmat. Does anyone know for sure?

@Powergower yes, as one of mine has now applied to Leeds and never say BMAT. It's been a v strange day !

@mumsneedwine My Dd has just finished at Leeds & was vv happy with the whole experience. If I can help with any details let me know.

Ah that's great! Ds is keen on a bmat uni and is going to apply I think. However his uni today said in a q&a you can't apply for transfer to ucat uni without ucat but then also said they're very new to transfers and are waiting for more info from the medical schools council.

BTW In normal times Leeds tended not to over-offer so usually took a few extra once results came out that they had not previously given offers to. So it’s not surprising they still have spaces today.

It is very surprising that Leeds have any places as they ditched SO MANY students post interview. It was a ridiculously tough process and Dd knows quite a few people who applied and didn't get an offer this year.

Perhaps they were clever in that way? They solely want a particularly student and are now looking to fill a proportion?

No Uni had spaces. But a few have said they can extra this year so are willing to take them from oversubscribed Unis who have no more space. It's trying to make sure everyone still gets meaningful clinical experience. Bit if a mess though.

As @Decorhate said, Leeds don't generally over-offer much and are often the second choice of Oxford applicants. In 2019 around a third did not get the grades but were allowed in. So perhaps not so surprising.

@opoponax @mumsneedwine
Thank you for the suggestions! I have been placing some fun Amazon orders!

A friend of DD was accepted at Manchester. Got an email to offer £10000 if he'd go elsewhere (KMMS, Lancaster were 2 of the choices), or take a deferral, but no cash incentive. Was told if not enough people took the offer, they would enforce deferrals - will know in the next couple of weeks. What a nightmare

We've also had a bit of a nightmare. Ds was asked to join the transfer/ deferral scheme by his uni. He looked through the unis, had a sleepless night and woke up having decided to try and transfer to a uni closer to home. Due to covid he felt it would be better for him to be a bit closer to home instead of 3 hours away. He registered his interest to then get an email from uni saying he was no longer eligible for the transfer scheme because they wanted to keep certain students. I don't know why they bothered emailing him in the first place, and when they did they wanted an answer by 9am the next morning after results day so it was all a bit crazy. He's fine now, happy with what was his first choice. Then last night he got another email saying if enough people don't join the scheme the uni will be asking more of them to defer! I think it's great the scheme exists to deal with any overflow, but the administration of the scheme is chaotic and stressful.

@Powergower that sounds very stressful, another big dollop of uncertainty in a year full of uncertainty!

@Powergower I hope DS hears soon that all is well and more people won’t be asked to defer.

It’s a shame to be left with a bit of uncertainty but hopefully enough people will go with the scheme