Medicine 2021 - Part 4

[MaddieElla]

Fingers crossed for those final offers coming in!

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

Lots of us go for the anatomy colouring book. I also got moulds to make a chocolate doctor kit!

I wasn't gonna but I am now. 🤣

@Sunbelievable I've still got the plastic one DS asked for when he was four along with a tiny white coat in our loft !

He did also ask for a fireman outfit at same time so I don't think there was anything auspicious about it.

What amused me when DC's little was that the ELC doctors kit had glasses in it as obviously all doctors wore glasses 🤔
I'm not buying anything at all until grades in her hands
But I never unwrapped a single romper until they were born so that's just me

Interested Lurker here. We bought DS a playmobil doctor figure for Christmas and he is year 5 at UEA. He loves it and hopes to have it on his desk if he gets to be a paediatrician 🤣

The syringe highlighters and plaster stick-it notes from Amazon are fun also!

Doctor shaped USB stick (useful when panicking you've lost your dissertation 😳).

Oh this is fun! :

https://www.scandiborn.co.uk/products/kids-concept-doctors-case-in-mustard-yellow?variant=12613094342727&currency=GBP&utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=google+shopping&adGroupId=42930779642&device=m&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI19vDu-Xw7wIVjZftCh2lagzyEAQYAyABEgL7ePDDBwE

I am looking for a female doctor figurine as well. Smaller than a barbie, Googling for female playmobile now. Or Lego?

I am not going to give her anything until results day, but I am going to plan 😁

She had the colouring book from someone for her birthday or Christmas last year. That's fab.

Highlighters? Am going to search.

Having just searched for anatomy colouring book, I am getting several different versions, which one would you recommend?

@bimkom

Having just searched for anatomy colouring book, I am getting several different versions, which one would you recommend?

We got this one, thought it looked too cheap, but it is good. httpss://www.amazon.co.uk/Human-Anatomy-Colouring-Book-Margaret/dp/0486241386

Hi all. Somehow this thread has passed me by! My DD applied for medicine this year and failed to get any interviews. She had good GCSE grades which were 1 A, 7 As and 2Bs but not exceptional with all A.
Sorry about bold🙄
She then had AAAA in AS last year. She had a relatively poor UCAT of 2340, but had SJT of group 2.
We knew it was a risk applying but were tactical in the applications.
She's currently holding an offer of AAA for biomed in Manchester but really wants to do medicine. We'll support her to do graduate entry after biomed if necessary.
She is likely to get higher than AAA for her A levels so I'm thinking we can try adjustment. I know there aren't usually places, but this year has been very different. I know there have been far fewer offers being given at some unis.
I thought it best to target the unis she applied to first, plus St. George's as they've often had clearing places. At the moment she doesn't want to lose the biomed offer and enter clearing in case she ends up with nothing.
Does anyone have any advice? Thank you.

She's been amazing throughout this entire process and has taken the rejection on the chin. It's making her more determined to get there. It's been very stressful waiting so long for all the rejections. I know she would make a good doctor. She has the hard working mentality plus is caring and empathetic. Her GCSE grades let her down- her results for year 11 were much better than year 10

Welcome Willow

I think you'll find that most will recommend taking a gap year and applying with grades in hand. It sounds like you have your head screwed on about applying strategically, and the chances are she will have get a higher UKAT and valuable gap year experience to draw on. She has very good grades and knows how to focus in her Alevel exams.

I'm sure there will be others with useful advice, especially those who have been in the same situation.

@willowsmumsy Sheffield would be one if she can get her UCAT up to about 2,700 (they need 7 7s and then don't look at GCSEs again). Plymouth, Brighton, UEA, Anglia Ruskin, Kent, Sunderland, Liverpool also worth a look (I haven't looked at next years entry stuff yet - it changes so need to update every year).
UCAT/BMAT are so important and good ones will open many doors. Reapplying much much easier than graduate medicine. Lots reapply so she won't be alone. Once exams out of the way try getting a job as an HCA at local hospital trust (they will train you) as it's amazing experience- better than any amount of shadowing.

@willowsmumsy welcome! I agree that applying next year after a year out would be something to think about if there's nothing in clearing this year.

How would your DD find BMAT do you think? A small minority seem to prefer it to UCAT (my DD was one!), and so scored much higher relatively.

Leeds would be a good BMAT one to pick as if your DD makes it to interview, they discount everything that came before and just offer based on interview. Did your DD get interviews? How would she be in those?

Hi Willow and sorry to hear your DD has had a tough time this year. Apparently it is significantly more difficult to get into graduate entry medicine than undergraduate. I don't know if your DD has been on TSR but there is quite a lot on there about that subject. A gap year, getting her UCAT score up and strengthening her application with maybe some experience as a healthcare assistant or similar would seem to be really good way forward, especially as it looks like she is going to have good A level grades in hand.

She's clearly able so I would think she can get her UCAT score up with say a month to really focus on it. That would really open up options and strengthen her application next time. Did she use Medify for her prep this year? My DS found that to be really good. Have you found the 2022 medicine thread too? It might be useful for you to follow that one too. There are uplifting posts about one year's disappointment being turned round into three offers the following year and there are also useful links to virtual work experience on that thread.

@willowsmumsy it is worth your DD looking at what ecolier posts on TSR (the student room), as he says if you want to be a doctor, don't ever apply to another degree with the intention to do graduate medicine. You need an even higher UCAT for graduate medicine than you do for undergraduate. For example, here are some of his posts:
*As I have said on another thread somewhere:
(3) However bad the competition is, it will still be nowhere near graduate entry medicine level. *
And of course, for GEM you'd need to perform better both at your UCAT and your interview.
And GANYFD says "No, even at interview, it is much more competitive. I think the best GEM interview to offer ratio is about 50%, and that is not far off the worst for A100. *
Ah here is his classic - *Never ever do a degree with the sole aim for graduate entry medicine because it'll take longer, cost more and (most importantly) will be much, much more competitive.
Just take a gap year and reapply to 2022 standard undergrad medicine. *

Thanks all. At the moment she just wants to go away, as she'll feel even more left behind if all her friends go away. I think she'll come around to reapplying. She's so frustrated at other kids in school with offers who are openly saying they don't really want to do medicine but thought they'd apply. She's been wanting this for a few years and so deserves it. She helped us out so much last year during Covid. My husband and I are both medics but didn't apply through usual means, plus the application process was rather different 25+years ago😂. DD made sure we were eating properly and took care of the house and her siblings. She home schooled our youngest who was then much further ahead than she'd have been if she'd been in school! It was a massive help to us as we were both front line. It was then that I really appreciated how much medicine was a fit for her.

@willowsmumsy I would echo the others, definitely more likely to be successful if she takes a gap year and re-applies, ideally with a higher UCAT. With 2340 UEA , Keele if she had good work experience, KMMS if she is went to a school where contextualising her results would help. Leeds is an interesting one as people without AS levels need almost perfect GCSEs, but if you have AAA at AS, full academic points are awarded and a fairly average BMAT score can get an interview.

If she is applying with achieved grades for 2020, Leicester becomes a good option as they interview all gap year applicants with UCAT above the bottom 30%.

Look at The Student Room - graduates applying for GEM courses need much higher UCAT scores, and if they apply for undergraduate medicine are not eligible for a loan for the fees.

They need to take time to absorb where they are, but the rational thing to do is to take a gap year, get a job, maybe as a HCA. You could point out to her that 2021 will still be a strange Covid year and the student experience will be better in 2022.

I am afraid she should not pin her hopes on Extra or Clearing as the medical schools are just as selective as there are so many excellent candidates without offers. St George's has a cut off of 2620 this year and it will be the same for Extra and Clearing.

Almost all the Biomed courses will be in Clearing.

One possible approach is to persuade her to do the UCAT and if she manages to get a more competitive score to re-apply and if she still feels there are not enough places where she will get an interview, to take the Biomed offer, but she has to accept that may mean a Biomed career as so many grads are not successful in getting a place. DS's GF changed from Biomed to nursing for that reason - she still wants to do post grad medicine, but working in nursing is much more appealing than working in Biomed. Nurses also get £5k pa bursary and oodles of clinical experience which helps them to impress at medicine interview.

@willowsmumsy - we are in the same boat. DD got 1 interview but was unsuccessful. She has 2 biomed offers (one med rejection was converted to biomed) but she is not planning to try clearing. Instead she is going to take a gap year and re-apply. She has not been well and is still recovering - she feels it would be better to properly recover and get some more work experience under her belt.

@FanSpamTastic my DD is coming around to the idea of taking a year out now. A good friend of hers is thinking of taking a year out to reapply for vet science if she doesn't get an offer where she really wants to go. If DD had someone she knows at home too she'd feel better. I think she's afraid of feeling a failure if she doesn't go away.
In my experience as a doctor I think it benefits students to have a year out too.
It's still a shite situation though!

It’s really tough @willowsmumsy. This happened to my add last year. She resat her UCAT, improved her score by more than 200. She had a job as a GP receptionist as well as her Saturday pharmacy job and with not being in school she had more time to prepare for interviews. She did telephone volunteering and some online courses from the OU and Harvard. This year she had 4 interviews and 3 offers, so she’s off to uni in September. She had a back up offer of pharmacy, but definitely glad she is not having to go down the graduate application route. It was really hard for her last year, still working hard in school but with no offers. And then having to resit UCAT, yuck! Good luck to your Dd, I would definitely agree with the others that a gap year and reapplying is a better route.

should my dd choose sheffield as firm or Leicester? anyone in similar position.

@ljmutti DD has been deciding where to firm and insure and was advised to look at course structure, things like intercalation opportunities, the location, ease of travel home etc.

Also - if one offer was to be taken away, which would she be most disappointed about! This was a good way for her to get an idea of her gut reaction.

Sheffield and Leicester are both excellent medical schools so there’s no wrong decision - if DD can’t decide based on the course she should perhaps just go with gut feeling.

Congratulations to her on the offers