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.

I am sure you know that Apparently, putting "I'm a Cambridge medical student" at the start of his emails seemed to make all the difference!! would be equally valid if you removed Cambridge from the sentence - in fact many hospitals would prefer medical students with more hands on experience.

Depends what the 'work experience' being pursued is, perhaps?

If applying for a position on the HCA bank, I suppose one advantage it might confer is that they could deduce that you would have lovely long vacations in which to offer availability for shifts?

@MarchingFrogs lots of medical students work as HCAs during term time as well as holidays. Because they need the money.
It's great experience too.
Hospitals don't care one jot where students go to Uni. Nor do deaneries for F1 positions (all done Uni blind). They just want people !

Yes, of course, I appreciate that dd shouldn't get too invested in any single option, whether it's Cambridge or anywhere else tbh. Medicine is way too competitive to be confident of getting in anywhere. She is pretty level headed, I think, and said the other day that if she doesn't get into a place, then it obviously isn't right for her. We'll have to see what happens. I'll suggest that she looks at St Andrews, but I think it would be too rural for her liking!

And yes, point taken that Cambridge probably doesn't open any additional doors for work experience than any other institution would - was just repeating what the student has said yesterday.

Working as an HCA sounds like a great idea, and we met a few students at different institutions who seemed to be doing that.

Good morning !
Which medical schools should we apply if the work experience is not a strong aspect of the application?
This may be hard to believe but after about 4 months, my son's application with care home and hospital voluntary work have only just been finalised. Tons of paperwork and red tape later we thought now he could start but no. There have been further delays due to covid lately and now one of them says fire training in a week's time and the other cannot due an induction for another 2 weeks due to staffing issues. So slow ! All surgeries and hospitals say no as well. We are clearly too late. We should have started 2 years ago. Perhaps he should be back to his cafe job. I am sure they would be quicker to recruit.

Have a good week everyone !

@Cratos avoid Keele and maybe Lancaster. Other than that, those pesky entrance exams carry more weight.

@mumsneedwine thank you very much.

@Cratos Sunderland also use R&R form Keele use. It is worth knowing that the key thing is to get the experience before the interviews, most don't use PS for shortlisting any more. Some of the ones which use PS for shortlisting are Cardiff, St Andrews, UCL.

I assume he has done (or plans to do) the BSMS and ObserveGP online work exp.

@Monkey2001 thank you. That is good news. I think he should get some experience before the interviews.
He also managed to get A*AA as predictions which is good.

@Cratos avoid Exeter. Weirdly need A star predictions to get an interview even though they offer AAA. Unless they change it next year.

@mumsneedwine thank you for your warning about Exeter.

Please don't pay anyone for advice ! We offer it free here. Reported post. But nice of him to prove the point that people will come after your money once you mention medicine.

I reported it too @mumsneedwine . Good to see it was taken down quickly. Couldn't agree more. Absolutely no need to pay for anything at all.

Worth paying for Medify or Medentry, but probably nothing else.

I missed the post. Was it on our thread here?

Which do you think is more realistic?

I don't know which is better. Both my DSs got great scores with Medify, but I think DS2 will try Medentry this year for variety.

Daughter just got Medify. She seems to like it. Better than the book she was using before as i) it's on the computer like the actual test and ii) seems to have better quality control on the questions.

I just thought I'd pop into this thread as someone currently on the Medicine 2022 thread! Here are a few things I wish DD and I knew this time last year....

1. SJT is quite important. DD rather ignored it thinking that so long as she avoided a band 4, she'd be ok. She got a band 2 and it actually cost her an interview at one of the med schools she applied to (Edinburgh.... SJT band 1 required for all non WP English applicants).

2. High UCAT scores don't automatically translate to a high probability of offers. There are lots of applicants who scored over 3000 in the UCAT who didn't get any offers.

3. It seems that re-applicants typically do much better second time around. Many this year went from 0 offers last year to 3-4 this year. (Quite sensibly the med schools really value their commitment to medicine and the experience they acquire in their gap year). As others have said, it really is best to look at medicine applications as a 2 year process.

4. There a few UCAT tests each year - so your DC could be sitting next to someone doing a different test. IIRC there are 4 tests in any test cycle. And all are properly standardised to ensure comparable levels of difficulty. For any geeks who are interested in how they achieve this, in any given year a number of questions appear in a UCAT test that are not scored - but rather they are test questions for the following cohort. Based on the correct answers to the test questions, Pearson can work out the level of difficulty for each question. Then UCAT tests are compiled to ensure they all have the comparable level of difficulty..... not rocket science, but reassuring to know that all the tests are broadly similar.

5. Some of the Medify mocks are much easier than others. Expect your DC to do better in some than others! This is not the case with the real things (see point 4!).

6. People who sit the UCAT tests earlier in the test cycle tend to do better. This is not because they have easier tests though (see point 4!).

7. If applying from England, avoid applying to more than one Scottish med school unless a WP applicant. It is getting increasingly hard to get a coveted RUK place without any contextual flags. (ie for Edinburgh you need perfect academics, UCAT of >3000 and SJT band 1 to be considered for an interview).

8. The process is very stressful and runs over many months. Hopefully things will be a bit easier for 2023 applicants as the med schools should be able to go back to over offering - meaning more offers will be given and sooner. But don't be surprised if your DC are still sitting on no offers by February 2023 - while their friends are booking accommodation at their firmed choices!

@MidLifeCrisis007 - excellent post.

In hindsight I think the whole application process is just like a hurdle race. Every-time you get over a hurdle you need to focus on the next one and not dwell on what's already happened.

DD was a bit disappointed not to get a stellar UCAT (2880) score but she did get a Band 1 and did very well in BMAT.

I'd really advise taking advice on here and TSR based on facts rather than hopes! DD wouldn't have even got an interview at Edinburgh but did get offers from Oxford, Leeds and Newcastle and an interview at Bristol.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experience here. Very much appreciated. I learnt so much from this thread. I am grateful.

Thank you for the wealth of advice on this thread. As a complete newbie can I ask what SJT is please? Ahh googled and think situational judgment test. Is this part of the UCAt or a separate thing to be booked?

Feeling very out of depth and rushed in this as have mainly let DD get on with things on her own up until about a month ago.

Yes, @BungledBundle , SJT is situational judgement test.

There are two of them. The first is part of UCAT: it doesn't have to be booked separately.

The second they have to sit in the final year at medical school and it accounts for 50% (currently) of their ranking score for allocation of foundation jobs. That one they have to book themselves and sit by a certain date. It's done in the same test centres as UCAT.

Thank you, @NoNotHimTheOtherOne , that's very helpful (and a relief that's not something we've missed).

we are very restricted as to where we can apply this year because of predicted grades. But if she aces the exams and hasn’t gotten any offers this year dd is wondering about applying next year again. QUB seems to say that you can’t apply with your grades in hand to them if it is your second time of applying for medicine if you didn’t apply to them first tkme. No point applying to them this time as dd will be screened out with her predicted grades. My question is how will QUB know that she is applying for medicine for the second time? Do they simply ask the question at some point? Otherwise is there a different way universities can find out who applied where and when? Obviously we would not want to hide it, that is not what I am suggesting. I am just upset that she can’t apply there even if she gets the grades if she doesn’t waste a slot this time…..

@Thethingswedoforlove I don't know how they know that you previously applied for Medicine, but assume that the UCAS data shows it is a second application. It is such a peculiar rule! I would say you should push really hard for AAA predictions if there is a chance she might get AAA. The 2023 cohort are unlucky in that the grade inflation is supposed to end and grades go back to 2019 levels, but 2 of the principles in the UCAS guidance are:

in the best interests of applicants
aspirational but achievable

www.ucas.com/advisers/managing-applications/predicted-grades-what-you-need-know-entry-year

I would be challenging the school if there is reasonable evidence that she could get AAA. If she is very unlikely to get AAA you need to think about alternatives to medicine unless she eligible for contextual anywhere? When is she doing UCAT?