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.

@Africa2go anything over 2800 is v good. 2600 leaves options. 2400 limited but few maybe possible this year.

@Africa2go for some Unis, yes. For others it's more complicated. If you let me know stats can have a look.

She may not thank me for putting her actual score on but mid 2700s, band 1.

Am I understanding that correctly - that you wouldn't be offered an interview unless you were essentially in the top 10% of UCAT scores?

I think it is more that for most unis they plan to offer say 700 interviews so it really depends what the UCAT score is of the applicant who is 700th when ranked. Although knowing the decile will help with that and you can look at historic data no one will actually know until all the applications are in. Some places like Keele have other admission criteria and just use a low baseline UCAT, so as long as you are above the second decile they then use the rnr form to rank. Mid 2700 will give a fair number of options.

Well done to your DD, @Africa2go .

My DD says she's struggling on verbal reasoning in particular and is scraping the minimum to be considered in some mocks. Her test is in a couple of weeks. If she gets less than 2400, I presume there is no point applying for medicine?

Her academics have been very good. (We are in Scotland so she did national 5s and Higher results will be out in a week or so.) She says the timing is what she finds very difficult on the test. She consistently gets band 1 for SJ.

@Africa2go - Yes, some medical schools select for interview purely on aptitude test scores. Consequently, only people with very high scores apply to them and the thresholds end up being very high. Newcastle, which has no other requirements apart from predicted A-Level grades of AAA (doesn't look at GCSEs or personal statements, or specify A-Level subjects) will naturally have an extremely high UCAT threshold. Bristol does have some GCSE requirements but is very popular with applicants both from selective schools (because of institutional reputation) and from relatively disadvantaged schools (because of reduced-grade offers), and consequently ends up with larger numbers of applicants and an even higher threshold.

As I stated upthread, every medical school receives applications from far more people than it can interview: 12-15 applications per place is typical. They have to filter out, on average, about a half to two-thirds of these to get a realistic number to interview. Medical schools that don't filter on UCAT scores will use something else. So for some places you must have perfect GCSE grades, for others you must have very high predicted A-Level grades; others will look at autobiographical statements. There are often separate thresholds for mainstream and defined widening-participation populations of applicants for whichever selection tool is being used. Some combine selection tools (e.g. GCSE grades and UCAT score). It's very important to look at the details of how each medical school you're interested in selects for interview.

@Africa2go that's a great score. Sheffield is a good choice, also Nottingham if has strong GCSEs, UEA, Kent, Plymouth, possibly Southampton, Liverpool. Loads of options, especially with SJT 1. Only ones it probably rules out are Bristol & Newcastle, but won't know until final quantiles are out.
Narrow down choices looking at previous UCAT cut offs (I'd look at2019-2021 as this year has been weird). Look at course type and where placements are (& I'd find out if accommodation and transport is funded as we never thought to as that and it's saved us a fortune !).

2nd full mock on Medify today and DS2 got 2940 but band 3 SJT because he ran out of stamina and basically 'gave up' on SJT section. he got a band 2 the last time.
It seems very hard to last the whole exam.
In that score tho some sections were still v low. Abstract Reasoning was coming out as one of those low ones. He just can't see the patterns. He has managed to improve his DM score tho by using a book. He doesn't find videos that helpful but the book we got seems to be helping a bit.
On the other side VR and QR v high.
It's so tough for these kids...wish he'd picked something easier!!!

Hi sorry, I've done quite a bit of research (obviously not enough!) and understand the brutal competitiveness of applications and we've looked together (with my DD) at unis and (superficially) at their entry requirements. I'd looked at the UCAT test statistics and the generic information about what constitutes a good score, but had presumed that even more the unis that offered interviews based on UCAT score alone, if you were in the top 10-20%/centiles, you''d be likely to get an interview. I suppose until we knew her score (and I didn't want her to feel any more pressure than was necessary), there wasn't much point in analysing the position. I'm just slightly taken aback by those cut off points for Newcastle and Bristol.

@Africa2go - Again, it comes down to the fact if everyone knows a medical school selects on UCAT score alone, nobody with any sense is going to apply there unless they have a very high score. If they get 2,000 applicants with UCAT scores in the top 20% but can only interview 1,000, those 1,000 are all going to have scores in the top 10%.

@mumsneedwine - At's risky to assume that medical schools that have funded travel in the past will do so in the future. The allocation of NHS funding for clinical placements is being substantially reorganised this year and some medical schools will have much less money to pay for placements, so additional expenses like funding travel might have to be cut to allow placement capacity to be maintained.

@Africa2go UCATs this year are v high as less interviews were given out. But they are 2 of the Unis with the highest scores needed and unless close to 2900 it's not worth trying (however, a caveat, a few years ago Newcastle shot down to 2650 as people were put off with the v high score and so less applied, bringing the UCAT down. It's not an exact science !).
With your DDs score she should find 4 she likes where she will virtually guarantee herself an interview, and that's the next hurdle. The mantra is 'you only need one offer'.

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. At least its done!!

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne good point ! However DD has had free hospital accommodation for every placement which has been fantastic and I doubt they'll get rid of that. NHS pay travel costs in 5th year.

Just something to ask as I know some Unis provide no help at all and it's v costly.

@mumsneedwine I've just found a page with Newcastle's thresholds and it looks as though there's been a big jump in the last couple of yrs - so their levels are 2580 (2018), 2720 (2019), 2730 (2020) then 2820 (2021) and 2850 (2022).

@Africa2go the low one in 2018 was the anomaly (& I believe is the Partners/contextual score). Because Newcastle use UCAT alone people with high UCATs apply there, pushing up the score. Same with Bristol. Mid 2700s would be a big risk I'm afraid, and others Unis would be better. But if it's a dream destination (Google Newcastle medicine student satisfaction score !) then could take a punt. But it is v v unlikely.

Thank you again - it isn't necessarily one of her choices, she's been quite relaxed about options, its more my surprise than hers. She's just glad its out of the way and pleased that its a decent score and she got the SJ1.

Out of interest therefore, is the "usual" position therefore for the likes of Newcastle and Bristol that you are generally expected to be firmly within that 9th centile to have a good chance of getting an interview?

@Africa2go to be 'safe', yes. Because other Unis offer different scores so are a safer choice. It's all about getting an interview now.
SJT counts at several Unis (at Sheffield she'll get full marks at one of the 7 MMI stations !). Notts score it too. And many more are bringing it into their scoring system so she's done really well.

@Africa2go that is a good main score and a very good SJT, which she should try to make the most of. St Andrews is an interesting one with a high SJT as they don't say how they use it but I think it is heavily weighted. I would say Sheffield is risky as cut off was 2780 this year, definitely not worth applying to Bristol, Newcastle or Edinburgh. I would avoid Cardiff (because they are random if you are not Welsh) and Liverpool (because they had terrible interviews and poor offer to interview rate). If VR was good, Nottingham and Lincoln could be good options, it depends on how many band 1s are awarded this year. QUB, Birmingham if contextual, UEA, ARU, Plymouth all safe if full marks for GCSEs.

Another reason for cut offs rising is the increase in the number of applicants - 50% increase from 2018 to 2022. So there are 50% more people in the top 10% - the top 20% in 2022 was equivalent to the top 30% in 2018.

I am afraid the cut offs could go up again in 2023 because so many applicants get full points for TAGs in 2021.

@Lottsbiffandsmudge are you willing to say which book at all? That section seems brutal to me!

Can someone explain whether QUB looks at predicted a levels as a filter for interview? It doesn’t appear to be so in that blog @Monkey2001 but it might be that it is a pre requisite and so not listed for scoring purposes. I can’t quite tell…..

Kaplan Score Higher on the UCAT

Thank you @Lottsbiffandsmudge

@Thethingswedoforlove no, as long as you have AAA they don't use A levels again. Unless it changes this year. I think some Unis will change their selection criteria due to TAGs. Some schools got a little bit 9 heavy !!!

Sorry for all the messages in the last few days! @Monkey2001 you posted a spreadsheet back in January (at the start of this thread) with details of where would be "safe", "fairly safe" and "might be risky" to apply to depending on UCAT score (for last year). Is that just based on published cut offs?

Lots of posters seem to be very knowledgeable (thank goodness ) about the reality of applications / actual cut offs rather than "no fixed cut off" / what unis really value compared to what they say on their websites. Is it just a case of going through as many forums as possible (here, the Student Room etc) to get a feel for it all?

@mumsneedwine thank you