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.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor thank you very much for the information you provided. My DS s school wants them to complete their application before the end of September but perhaps they would allow them some extra time. It would be good to see the school before applying.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor do you have any idea how kmms establishes whether an applicant’s GCSEs are above average for their school given for 2020 and 2021 state schools havent published their results? Do Unis get the schools results anyway? We are actively considering kmms but not sure how good dds results are given it is a superselective grammar school. (They were v good).

@Thethingswedoforlove not exactly but I imagine they will extrapolate from the years which they do have data for - 2019, 2022. They say they have an admissions enquiry session every Wednesday lunchtime on Instagram. Probably worth asking them what they did last year because the school leavers then had TAGs.

This not sure how good dds results are given it is a superselective grammar school is why dd has ruled it out, there are safer options for her, especially with TAGs but for someone who did their GCSEs at an average or below average comp it could be a good choice.

Yes @Cratos I would ask the school, end of Sept will be an internal deadline, he could have everything ready except his final choices.

Thanks @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor my dds predicted grades effectively rule out all but four med schools so there def aren’t safer options for her. But I guess I still don’t want her to waste an application there if she doesn’t stand a good chance! I firmly believe she will achieve at least aaa or I wouldn’t be encouraging an application- the school has been strange in its predictions.

Has she tried going back to the school and effectively begging? Or is there an option to sit exams in Sept? Do they know she wants to study medicine and the grades she needs? Even if she can get AAB it might broaden her options for say HYMS.

Thanks @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor we are 99.9% confident the answer is no to to changing. They refuse to run exams in Sep and because such a sig proportion of the year apply for medicine or oxbridge the deadline into school for ucas is 15 Sep. I will speak to her tutor on her first day back. But it’s pretty futile. They got 50 kids into medicine this year (out of a cohort of 240) so they appear to know what they are doing. They have been particularly harsh with the kids who didn’t go through GCSEs there. It’s all a bit messed up. So yes they know she wants to do medicine. They know the impact. They won’t budge. Hence looking carefully at those four.

But we’ve checked against 2019 results and hers are significantly better than that year’s average. So perhaps it’s not crazy to apply. Do they give any credit to being local (ish) do you think?

They have been particularly harsh with the kids who didn’t go through GCSEs there. I think it is contextualised against the school she did her GCSEs at, so that might be relevant if she moved for sixth form but you would need to check with KMMS. They do prioritise some local schools but only certain ones, and that is for offer grades. They had a clear emphasis on widening participation. This is just what I remember from the open day so probably best to check with them.

I would though post on the student room because @GANFYD and co might have more suggestions of places to apply. Or @mumsneedwine might know.

Ultimately many students don't get in the first year for various reasons, as long as she smashes yr13 she can apply next year with achieved grades.

Thanks @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor yes we made the comparison against the school she sat her GCSEs at. Both schools are super selective grammar schools. And totally aware of the two year thing. I suspect it will definitely apply to her. But worth giving it a go this year…:all the best to your dd. It’s just kmms rhaf seems so impenetrable !

Hi @justjuggling Just in case you don't know, last year Southampton's cut off for interview was a UCAT score of 2750. My son had a score of 2740, (and also predicted three A stars) and got interviews at St George's and ARU, but didn't get an interview at Exeter or Southampton. Thought this might help your daughter when she is deciding where to apply.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor Kings are not in my good books after last year, where they didn't even bother responding to applicants and just let UCAS mass reject them in May.
But, they do look at the application 'holistically' and GCSEs are rated against the school average - they'll use the statistics available on DoE site I assume. It's not clear cut if you'll get an interview there as they use their own scoring system. So I'd love it, have fantastic GCSEs in your school and a great UCAT (over 2,800 got an interview at our school last year), then have a go.

Thank you @CharlieSJ, that is really helpful. Think she’s going to put UEA and Plymouth for her UCAT choices. UEA looks like it would really suit her so will keep my fingers crossed!

My dd is panicking about what log in etc info she needs to do her ucat. Does anyone know if she needs her ucat number and if so how she takes that in when yoh can’t take bits of paper etc?

Dd took a print of her booking email and provisional licence. They had lockers where she could put things once inside.

Thanks @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor . We have. Both those things ready to go….

Hi, trying to find out information about Leeds. I think @mumsneedwine mentioned that you need perfect GCSEs - the scoring seems to give the same scores for 8s as 9s. They score 9 GCSEs, my DD has 8 x 9s and 1 x 8. Even though she would (seemingly) get the full GCSE points, do you think she'd be disadvantaged by the 8? She'd get full points for the predictions, then it would be down to BMAT. As I understand it, the top 20% of applicants (by BMAT score) get 5 points, the next 20% get 4 points. Reading through the details, offers for interview only dropped one point - so (at least for last year) she'd need to be at least the top 40% of BMAT applicants (so if she scored full points for GCSEs / A levels, she'd get an interview if she scored 4 or 5 on the BMAT?)

I'm guessing that BMAT score might need to be 5 if more students have full 8s and 9s?

Just a note for parents of 2023 applicants. The Student Room (TSR) medical board which has been a great source of information and advice for years seems to be falling apart with the main volunteers withdrawing their memberships and requesting posts to be deleted.

It may be worth googling 'ecolier' - a consultant neurologist - to see he s/he continues to offer advice on other forums.

Thank you @jayritchie . Any idea why this is happening?

@Thethingswedoforlove - not sure - I looked at a thread as I was going to point a friend with a daughter applying to medicine in that direction.

From a quick read a lot of the volunteers (not the medical ones in particular) have concerned about safeguarding. Seems to have been an issue when volunteers stayed in hotels at company events.

Yes I saw the messages and such a shame because I have learnt so much but totally respect the volunteer's judgement. Ecolier said he was on reddit and @GANFYD lurks and sometimes posts here. The niffty table is by @Monkey2001 so we should still get access to that and hopefully some of the other documents such as Lovebear's interview ratios are saved elsewhere.

@GANFYD please pass on our appreciation and thanks to everyone. I just lurk there so can't post but have really appreciated everyone's understanding and trying to address some of the inequalities between schools.

I have learnt so much here and I am very grateful for all the volunteers 🙏🏼 Thank you so much. You are offering an amazing support. I am not very good at finding my way in TSR and it looks difficult to use. I will move to reddit to follow the conversations.

Could I ask for some more advice please. We are going around in circles trying to decide which 4 DD should put down on UCAS. I thought it would be easy to choose once she had her UCAT score (she got 2570 B2). She had settled on Keele & Sunderland, sitting BMAT and adding BSMS & Lancaster.
Now Keele are asking for A star AA and she only has AAA predicted, she came to me in a panic wondering of she should change it. Is it ridiculous to put Plymouth or Liverpool down when she was below last years cut off? With less deferrals this year maybe the cut off will come down a little??? I think I read somewhere that Plymouth publish an estimated cut off quite early but college want her completed form by Sept 15th.
If we are really gambling maybe KMMS? We are in South East at non-selective school and DD did well compared to school average.
Each time I think she's decided, it seems that something else changes. She is fully prepared for a gap year so I suppose I should just relax a little, just want to give her the best shot at even one interview.

Now Keele are asking for A star AA and she only has AAA predicted, she came to me in a panic wondering of she should change it.

Bear in mind that (a) Keele doesn't look at predicted grades and (b) quite a lot of applicants qualify for reduced offers (see www.keele.ac.uk/alternativeoffers/). There are other medical schools with A*AA headline offers that make lots of reduced-grade offers, so it's always worth looking at the details before you panic about the headlines. I suspect they're setting a higher standard offer to try to restrict demand after getting burned by the number of applications for 2022 entry.

As others will tell you, two BMAT choices is always a bit of a gamble.

@DTJ do you know that your DD can put the application in with one choice by 15th Sep and add the others later (by 15th October) so that the school can do their bits. I don't know whether there are any good FOIs to help see what the lowest UCAT for KMMS was, but I don't think anyone really understand their schooling system. I think cut offs well go up again, so would avoid Plymouth and Liverpool.

Which BMAT ones are you thinking about? Lancaster is the least risky. Leeds is risky without perfect GCSEs. BSMS may be good.

Also worth checking whether she meets WP anywhere.