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.

@Cratos All the unis dd is interested in are a fair distance from us and with the shorter holidays in later years for medics, I am mentally planning for the odd weekend to rent a cottage and visit her rather than vice versa.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor yes this may be expensive but it is nice to turn it into short breaks. Well deserved!

Good evening all, I was just looking at Nottingham and Lincoln Medicine Schools. Lincoln is run by Nottingham so their entry criterias are same if I am not missing anything. If you are interested in both of them, would you put both of them on UCAS form ? Are they likely to send students to each other at all ? This may be a stupid question🙄.

@Cratos yes, put both on UCAS form as they run separately. They don't send students to each other. Lincoln Hospital is no longer used by Notts for training students.

When Lincoln opened (2019 entry) some people who applied to Nottingham but missed the Nottingham cut off got offers for Lincoln, but I don't think that has happened since. The cut offs are still lower at Lincoln, both for getting an interview and getting an offer. If shortlisted by both they only have 1 interview. They can then get offers for both or just Lincoln.

@mumsneedwine
@Monkey2001
thank you very much it is really good to know

Hi Everybody,
I was just looking at Sheffield's Admission Policy document and it states that "The Situational Judgement Test component of the UCAT is considered as a virtual 9th station in the MMI."
What does this mean exactly? Thank you

@Cratos each of the 8 MMI stations are marked out of 5. You are also given points for SJT - 5 for a 1, 4 for a 2 etc. So final score is out of 45, those with highest score who did not score 1 or 2 at any station get offers

Very helpful thread.

DD has visited a lot of open days and her top choices are definitely becoming much clearer now. She is therefore starting to think about one or two more "strategic" choices in case she doesn't get in to her preferred courses.

Obviously, it will be easier to identify good strategic options when she has a UCAT score. She has booked the test for mid August and has started doing some practice. She is also planning on doing BMAT later in the year.

Her predicted grades for A level are likely to be good enough for anywhere that she wants to apply, but what I was wondering was where we might be able to find a list of unis that still use GCSE grades when deciding who to invite to interview. Do these places still exist, or is it all pretty much about predicted grades at A-level and UCAT/BMAT scores now? Thanks!

Lots use GCSEs - need all 8/9 at Edinburgh, Cardiff, Oxford, Leeds, if non contextual at Birmingham. Nottingham, Leicester, Aston, Lincoln, QUB all score GCSEs. Once you have UCAT score we can help you work out which ones look good for interview.

Thank you. She has straight 9s at GCSE, so it seems a shame not to apply to at least one school that might look at them, given that the whole process is so competitive. She has already ruled out some of the institutions on your list but is still considering a few, so it is helpful to know that the GCSE scores would be taken into account. Of course, I know it's hard to make any decisions before the UCAT scores are known. It's likely that at least one of her four choices will be a BMAT institution, which feels quite risky given that we won't know how she's going to do at that stage!

@Monkey2001 thank you for your message. So this is not another interview station to measure Situational Judgement skills. But during the MMI interview, they take out the Situational Judgement scores from UCAT and score it as part of the MMI ?

@Anothernamechangeplease my son in the same situation. He has very good GCSE s and we were thinking about applying to universities that use GCSE scores. He also wants to apply to 1 BMAT university but he might change his mind. There was a very helpful document I saw a little while ago called Guidance for strategic choices to secure interviews for non Contextual applicants (for UCAT universities) that belong to year 2021. Perhaps this may help you too but admission criterias may chance so we need to be careful when using it. We should still check the latest info on university websites.

I expect most of the applicants for 2023 will have very high GCSEs as 2021 is the most inflated year. Just means that people who drop points for GCSEs need to be careful. UCAT/BMAT will be more important than ever. Cardiff will be a lottery - avoid unless Welsh!

Yes, fair point.

Can you explain the warning about Cardiff a bit more? Don't think dd is really considering it any more anyway but would be good to understand why you're saying to avoid it.

@Cratos, thanks, will have a look for that document but treat it with caution!!

@Anothernamechangeplease Cardiff give preference to Welsh candidates. It's been v hard to get into if not Welsh the last few years. There will be safer options.

Agree about lots of high GCSEs. UCAT/BMAT is going to be the decider at most places.

Cardiff shortlist on GCSEs then screen PS. Nobody knows how they select, people with 27 points and a strong PS have been rejected so it is a risky choice for anyone who has other good options. If you have great GCSEs and very weak UCAT it may be a risk worth taking. They prioritise Welsh applicants.

And Monkeys beautiful spreadsheet is a fantastic guide to selection criteria at each Uni. Don't have it to hand (& it's subject to change) but if anyone has a copy to post you might find it helpful.
My own spreadsheet is pages long !

@Monkey2001
@mumsneedwine

thanks for the warning about Cardiff. They don't say they prioritise Welsh students on their website and we wouldn't know this. It was one of the universities we were looking at.

I have been seeing some information online about application numbers per school and applicants per interview etc. I am not sure how useful this information is considering things can change in the future. Also some schools may interview more candidates than others or they may have tougher academic requirements etc. How much should we be using this information? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Didn't realise that Welsh candidates were prioritised at Cardiff. Fair enough! Are Scottish candidates prioritised by Scottish universities, does anyone know?

DD seems disinclined to be too strategic in her choices at the moment in any case - she just wants to apply to the places that she loves, perhaps with just one "strategic" option on the list. She knows that this is somewhat risky, but she has had quite strong gut reactions to different universities at the various open days that she has attended, and she now has a much better idea about what she actually wants. I guess she's thinking that she could take a gap year and reapply if she doesn't get anything, but I hope she won't regret not taking a more strategic approach.

We have 2 more open days to attend. Cambridge tomorrow, though I think that she has all but ruled that out now because she isn't keen on their medicine course. And UCL next week. Then there are a couple more where we couldn't make it to the open days that she is still thinking about. There is so much for them to consider!!

Off to Cambridge tomorrow....which feels like double the difficulty.... but DS2 has his heart set on applying....
He has straight 9 GCSEs and got his predicted grades on Tues of 3 A stars and an A (which may go up once the current Yr13 music A level grades are out). So now it all comes down to UCAT. Booked 1st Sept (to allow practice over summer he is too busy at school at the mo to start)...
Once we have that he can decide if he wants to risk BMAT.
Went to UEA on Sat last week and that would seem a decent 'easier' option to get to interview and he liked it. Birmingham still top of the list tho....

@Anothernamechangeplease all places should be strategic, or else they will be a waste I'm afraid. No point loving a Uni where your stats won't get you that interview - they are not flexible. When have UCAT score let us know and we can tell you if an interview or not. It's a v tough game.

@Anothernamechangeplease and yes, Scottish Unis mostly favour Scottish applicants. Especially Edinburgh.

Thanks @mumsneedwine. Obviously, I understand that they need to have the stats to stand a chance - no point in applying otherwise. But beyond that, it's hard to know how much they should think about strategy and how much they should apply to the places that they love. DD's favourite option at the moment is a BMAT institution, so she won't even know whether her BMAT score will be good enough when she applies. UCAT will obviously be more straightforward and she will see how she does on that before deciding to apply.

Might encourage her to rule out Edinburgh on the basis of what you've said. She was very keen on that initially but is much less sold on it now anyway.