Medicine 2023 Entry

[opoponax]

Hi all,

I don't think there is a Medicine 2023 Entry thread yet, so it might be an idea to get one started.

Anyone out there with DC applying or reapplying for Medicine 2023, please join a friendly thread for mutual support and useful advice from those who understand the UK Medical School application process.

So impressive. A proud mum moment coming up! My dd wants to intercalate but that gives the additional qualification without having to spend an additional year doing it. We discussed that at the open day. It’s very clever

....... whereas St Andrews have 4 months off each summer for the first 3 years. DS1 has a shock coming when he gets to year 4!

Hi,
I am so glad that this thread us up. My daughter is in year 12 and she wants to do medicine. I wanted to know whether giving her private UCAT coaching is worth it. The advice we recieved from school is its just money eater and doesn't contribute anything. They said its the time we spend on preparing for UCAT that matters. Can anyone help/advice on this please?

@FTripps she just needs Medify (or people also say Medentry is good). We did about 3 weeks of Medify, starting lightly, but building up, some people recommend 4-6 weeks. Book an early UCAT date and as it gets close to the date, if the Medify mocks are not looking good, she could think about a tutor then. You can defer the UCAT if you need extra time to prepare.

I wouldn't waste money on UCAT coaching. Same for interview coaching. Real danger of sounding too rehearsed which is not what they want at all.

The advice we recieved from school is its just money eater and doesn't contribute anything.

As soon as anyone knows you're applying for medicine (or dentistry, or anything at Oxbridge) there will be a massive queue of people offering to take money off you. Most of them are shysters. Some are well-intentioned but offering something that isn't especially valuable, or offering something that someone else (Medical Schools Council, UCAT, Cambridge Assessment) provides for free

The UCAT preparation courses tell you stuff you should be able to work out for yourself (if you can't you will never get a good score anyway): they just get you there a bit quicker and with a bit less effort on your part. The main thing with UCAT is that it's so unfamiliar. You need to allow plenty of time to work out what you're going to be asked to do. Students absolutely mustn't approach it in the same way as they approached GCSEs. It doesn't test knowledge and you can't revise for it. However, you definitely can prepare for it. Also, if you don't know an answer - or would take too long to work it out - you should guess, as you'll get a certain proportion correct by chance. Spending 2 minutes on one question is a bad idea if doing so will mean you don't have time to work out answers to four other questions. No school exams have this kind of time-pressure.

@Niceperson
@opoponax
@Pepermintea
@mumsneedwine
Thank you for telling me about Campus universities. Very much appreciated.

@mumsneedwine congratulations to your DD. You all must be very happy.

@Cratos happy, and v relieved. 4th year is hard !

Thanks @Monkey2001 .
Will try medify 👌

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne
Great suggestions. Thank you! I think I made up my mind now and will ask her to practise as much as possible. 🙂

Hi All, some of you already have children at University and I wondered what your opinion is for the reasonable travelling distance/time between University and home? Should we be looking at any unis that are further than 3 hours? Even 3 hours seems long at the moment. How often do they come back home?

@Cratos with DS we've had to apply to the ones he's had a reasonable chance of getting in to. Whilst a huge distance isn't ideal. I'd rather him have secured a place, even if that means greater

Sorry, posted too soon.

Meant to add greater travel time.

@PritiPatelsMaker thank your for your message. I understand what you mean. We might target better after the UCAT exams. We are trying to go to some open days but it is difficult to visit even half of them at the moment. There are so many schools. It will be a challenge to choose 4.

@Cratos DS1 chose St Andrews, which is 8 hours away so we do not see him between holidays! It would be nice if it was 3 hours.

@Monkey2001 does your son like St Andrews? It's top of my DD choices. I worried it would be too small and very elitist.

@Cratos DD is at Sheffield which is about 3.5 hours from us.
She came home once in term one and two and then the holidays.
It’s far enough that she feels like she has moved away which is what she wanted!

@itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant DD had an offer for StAndrews - she chose Sheffield instead because she preferred the course structure there, but she wasn’t put off by the size or potential “elite”. She has a friend there studying Physics who is very happy and loves it and reports that there is plenty to do and she’s found a nice bunch of friends. The only downside she’s found is securing accommodation after halls but they do allow a second year in halls if need be so it’s all fine.

We might target better after the UCAT exams.

DS doesn't have stellar GCSEs but do ok in his UCAT which opened up more options for him. He secured 3 interviews out of 4 but unfortunately hasn't had an offer for this year although he's still on the waiting list for Sheffield.

If he ends up applying again this year, which looks likely, I think he'll need a lot more interview practice.

PiritiPatelsMaker it is amazing that he got 3 interviews. His application must be very strong. I hope you will hear some good news soon. I was just looking at a book yesterday about medical school applications and I was in a state of panic afterwards since he doesn't have enough time to do more to impress the schools.

@LaFlottes thank you for the comment. One of my friends daughters come almost every weekend so I was wondering.

@Cratos I have one 2.5-3 hours away and one 1.5. Neither come home much in term time - having too much fun 😂. We go and see them once a term with the dogs.
Because they've both been there during covid we've been v grateful they were no further away, due to last minute dashes between lockdowns. FaceTime calls most days though so I never get a chance to really miss them.
It's nice to know they are near enough to get to in a day. But it does come down to where you are most likely to get in for medicine.
@PritiPatelsMaker 3 interviews shows his application is very strong. In a normal year he'd have probably got at least one offer. 🤞🤞 for Sheffield.

@mumsneedwine yes I think our boys may not be interested in visiting us that much either unless they need something. But perhaps they will miss some of their friends from the area.

@Cratos my DDs friends were all at Uni too so they visited them sometimes. Doing medicine and only having 6 weeks holiday a year it doesn't really factor in anymore.

@itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant DS loves St Andrews. He was unlucky to start in 2020, so didn't have the opportunity to establish big friendship groups, but he loves the course and the town. The small community suits him, when you want through town you are constantly seeing friendly faces. He may wish there were not so many Americans, and dropped his choral scholarship because the choir was full of extremely posh people (when you fill forms in there is a great range of options available for "title" including highness, he had a marquis in his hall this year, there was a Rolls-Royce next to my Skoda at pick-up), but he "found his tribe". There are a lot of very clever people studying all sorts of things, it feels like Cambridge by the Sea! The course is heavily academic, he has worked much harder than he did for A levels. He had offers from Sheffield and Leicester and has no regrets about his choice (even though his GF is in Sheffield!).

@PritiPatelsMaker an extra years maturity makes loads of difference for boys. I hope he gets good news on results day from Sheffield, but he will probably do better at interview next year anyway. I was discussing interviews with a consultant who used to do then and he said that because boys puberty comes later than girls, there are loads of neural connections that happen in the years after puberty and the performance difference is a physiological thing! DS1 felt that his interviews in 2020 were worse than his interviews in 2019, but he got 3 offers in 2020.