Medicine 2022 entry

[Monkey2001]

Support thread for aspiring medics.

We want all our DCs to succeed, whatever their school type. We share knowledge to help them to achieve their goals, celebrate success and support if things don't go well.

As we press the "send and pay" buttons on UCAS, we wish all our DC the best of luck in this tough year with so much uncertainty.

@sydenhamhiller that other stuff doesn't affect getting interviews at most places, but will mean he has plenty to talk about at the interviews he has, so should have a great chance of turning interviews into offers. Hope the other 3 give him interviews.

@monkey2001 I know, just feeling cross. Have got a grip now. ;o)

@Monkey2001 it seems a bit strange if Exeter have got themselves into a position of narrowing down their interview pool so far that 90% of those they interview get offers. Surely, as in every cohort, there will be a number of candidates who look great on paper but don't necessarily have the other attributes to make a good doctor. They could be missing great all round candidates with slightly lower UCATs
. Could they end up in clearing this year with this approach?

@opoponax Exeter do not plan to make offers to 90% of interviewees, they always make a number of offers and have a reserve list.

Last year, with their tier system, all achieved 3xA and WP with good predictions got interviews whatever their UCAT. Tier 2 (achieved 2xAA or predicted b3xA*) needed 3040 for an interview. Lots of the people they interviewed with low UCATs didn't get interviews elsewhere so all firmed the Exeter offers. This year they are only interviewing people with high UCATs, who are more likely to get interviews and therefore offers elsewhere. So when lots of people don't "firm" them they will have to work their way through the reserve list and may end up in Clearing. One year KCL had this (2018 or 2019) and ended up with something like 95% offer to interview rate.

Thanks for explaining @Monkey2001. It will be really interesting to see how it all pans out.

Exeter have very few places left this year. I have heard 40. They had so many deferrals from last year. I hope they have more spaces now (some might have dropped out). Think offer ratio might be same as normal. Hope I'm v v wrong.

Good luck to all DCs who have imminent interviews. Hope they are the first of many for all our DC who have worked so hard.

@Monkey2001 thanks for your post re: interview timings up thread. Will have to get DC practicing asap! I thought that we might have more time….

Good luck to all BMATers for tomorrow.

DD is missing her first period at school so she can receive her BMAT at home. I have no idea what I'm looking for though to gauge for Leeds and Oxford applications. Any advice?

@SandyBayley I assume you are familiar with the Oxford page which tells you how the score is calculated and the scores for previous years? Obviously there are loads of candidates with full marks for GCSEs this year, so it will be at the high end. I would have thought something like 6,6,4A but I know Cambridge better than Oxford.

Good luck to her and the other BMAT people, hope for lots of good news in the morning.

Thanks @Monkey2001 - I'm guessing cut offs could be higher than usual because if so many high GCSE results. And then there's the question of what on earth they do for those candidates who had a less than ideal BMAT sitting...,

Best of luck to all expectant BMATers this morning!

Wishing all the BMAT DC the best of luck this morning

Amy BMAT news 🤞🤞

Good news I think. Definitely strong enough for a Leeds interview. Possible for an Oxford interview judging on the scores needed for interview last year (the complicated formula thing). I think it depends on how much she 'loses' for securing her GCSEs at a high performing school. More waiting..

DD doesn’t want to know until she returns from school at 2.30!

Sandy if she's done averagely or above on her BMAT she'll get an Oxford interview with those GCSEs. They don't discount straight top grades so much that that could make a difference. In the days when you could calculate your discount, DS (with maximum discount) calculated his 12A to equate to 10A. If she had a wobbly BMAT then maybe cause for nerves but the BMAT would need to be in the 4s and low 5s and it doesn't sound as though that's the case at all.

DS just emailed his scores:
6.6 for section 1
5.7 for section 2
4.5A for section 3
It’s good - but he’s at a grammar, so he’ll ‘lose’ points. Is it good enough for an interview at Leeds? 🤞

You can look at the BMAT score distributions for this year. Those scores put him very near the top of the cohort so he should be fine for an interview at Leeds. Good luck.

That’s good to know @goodbyestranger DD annoyed that she didn’t do as well as she wanted to in S2 of BMAT (did average to slightly better than average)but about 25% of those who were interviewed had similar total score or less last year as calculated using the formula that Oxford use. Fingers crossed she gets an interview. She’s at an average comp and she was one of those who had technical issues but couldn’t retake the following week. BMAT was probably good enough for everywhere but Oxford . I think S2 was harder than usual judging by comments on TSR.

Yes fingers crossed for an Oxford interview notmedicmum. I remember in DS1's year a number of the BMATers at school dipped in Section 2 (5.5 type of thing) but got interviews and some then got offers. I haven't followed what happened with the BMAT after the initial mess: will your DD get some form of special circumstances applied? I hope so/ she should.

And as far as I recall Section 2 was particularly vile in his year. It seems notorious each year for being particularly vile.

@goodbyestranger, yes, the school told us that CAAT were going to send a special circumstances note with her BMAT info when it is sent off to the universities she applied to. Whether Oxford will take any notice of it - who knows? DD was the only one in her school doing BMAT for medicine.

My DD is refusing to look at her BMAT result on the basis that either Cambridge will give her an interview or not, and knowing her scores won’t help knowing which it is. I’m torn between admiration at her guts and insatiable curiosity!