Medicine 2022 - Decision time!

[Monkey2001]

Support thread for aspiring medics.

We want all our DCs to succeed, whatever their school type. We share knowledge to help them to achieve their goals, celebrate success and support if things don't go well.

Lots of interviews now done, fingers crossed for lots of offers, but we know it is a tough year and that most applicants will have a bumpy ride. Best of luck everyone!

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/a4358647-Medicine-2022-entry?msgid=114590369#114590369

2023 applicant thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4459778-Medicine-2023-Entry

Reporting for duty!

I was just wondering whether anyone was aware that Exeter have a target ratio of WP school leavers :non WP school leavers of over 6 to 1? www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/818979/response/1955411/attach/html/4/FOI22%200002%20Response%20Letter.pdf.html

Shouldn't targets like this be published before students are invited to apply rather than after?

Dropping by to say hi 👋. DD has finished all her interviews. Now just got to sit back and wait and see if anything comes of it!

@MidLifeCrisis007 which bit did you think meant they had a target of 6:1 WP?

I think it was an unintended consequence of the shortlisting process last year. Band 1 was 3xA and all contextual, whatever their UCAT. Band 2 was 3xA predicted or 2xA*A achieved.

There were so many band 1s that only Band 2 with UCAT over 3040 were interviewed. It is different this year, a lot of disappointed contextual applicants didn't get interviews with low UCAT.

Sorry for ignorance, what is WP school leavers? I’ve googled the term and get nothing.

@MidLifeCrisis007 I saw that you posted something and removed it, so if that was bad news, I am sorry. I still think that your DD has a great chance of an offer from Exeter. I don't think they have realised that because they required a high UCAT this year there will be a much lower acceptance rate of their offers because many will be multiple offer holders.

WP is Widening Participation, school leavers are Y13s as opposed to graduates or gap year applicants.

There is a whole new language!

Right, thanks, so there is! Thanks!

So do you think their reference to 21/22 enrolments refers to the cohort that started last September? DD and I assumed that was the students who applied in Oct 21 for Sept 22 entry so the figures were targets not actuals. You have given my daughter a glimmer of hope @Monkey2001! Thank you.

She was in floods of tears earlier believing she didn't have a chance of getting an offer. So, actually it was because their points system favoured contextual students with top grades (and so many achieved that due to TAGS) that there were 6 times more WP students than non WP students last year?

It's just a shame that Exeter answered this question

How many places are available for 2022 entry for the following cohorts:
16. School Leavers without contextual offers
17. School leavers with contextual offers
18. Non direct GAMSAT applicants

With figures from the prior year....

Yes, 21/22 enrolments will be the ones who started in 2021, which is why they said there were 488 offers for 21/22.

Last year for Exeter, contextual applicants did not need top grades to be Band 1, only non-contextuals needed top grades . Band 1s did not need a good UCAT, I am not sure they even needed to be out of bottom 20%.

Non contextual Y13s only got an interview without 3040 AND top grades, so there were not many of them.

This year, people needed 100 points, then the UCAT cut off was applied, meaning loads of contextual applicants did not get interviews. The mix will be much more balanced this year.

You can read last years policy for yourself. AAB non-contextual predicted or achieved was band 1, I have not read through to check whether any UCAT threshold was applied to band 1, but I think not.

www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/undergraduatewebsite/documents/BMBS_Detailed_Admissions_Process_2021_entry_V11520.pdf

Thank you so much @Monkey2001 . DD much relieved to hear that.

Following

I remember Exeter being hugely stressful for non-contextual applicants last year. A few of DS's friends were reeling when rejected pre-interview with 3 A star A Level predictions and C3000 UCATs. It was worse because they were one of the first med schools to announce their UCAT threshold and it sent shockwaves - although if you looked closer at how they selected you could see how the CAGs effect was disproportionate with their selection model. At least they've tried to balance things more this year. I hope your DD is feeling less stressed about it now @MidLifeCrisis007. The shock of those confusing stats is probably the last thing she needed after their offer email mistake.

@MidLifeCrisis007 Hope your DD is grasping all hopeful signs!

3 down, 1 to go here.

We're in the same boat @FanSpamTastic. DS had his last one yesterday.

If it's any consolation to anyone last years policy cost Exeter a lot of money. Too many people got the grades so they ended up having to pay them £10,000 to defer, and free accommodation.
Hopefully this year is a lot fairer to all candidates.
Let's hope those offers start rolling in soon.

3 interviews done just the wait now- DD thinks she truly flunked them. She is getting herself mentally prepared for trying again next year ( with a little bit of hope she will still get an offer this year!)
At least if she doesn't succeed this year she knows what to expect next year.
( and maybe she will listen to mum - you never know😀).

DD still has 1.5 interviews to do. Bristol and the second half of her Leeds one.

It looks like there will be a lot of cut offs at the top end of expectations as invitations to interview come to an end. It may be good advice to anyone not yet doing A levels who wants to go to Birmingham to think carefully about applying to a school on the "list" for A levels as people with 2990 and all 8/9 at GCSE apart from a 7 in English Literature have been rejected! Non contextual people need to be very wary as the med schools flounder towards fair assessment!

What UCAT do you think would be safe for Birmingham 2023 @Monkey2001 with full GCSE marks but non contextual? My DD currently has it on her list but I am wary. Also, do you know where Newcastle ended up with its UCAT cut off? I think Bristol is currently around 2870 but maybe still moving a bit? Also with UCAT, would you (and others) say it is worth starting lightly now with the practice book as DD is champing at the bit to get to grips with it. DS advised her to do nothing until the month before and just hit Medify as it is an online exam and best to prepare at the right time and in that format. That worked for him but she likes to think ahead.

Does anyone have any experience of requesting deferral? DD is really regretting not applying for deferred entry. The info on Uni websites is fairly vague on applying for this mid application (apart from Sheffield) Guessing better to wait and see if she’s lucky enough to get an offer first? Anyone successfully done this? Thank you!

@opoponax
I remember reading lots of stories online about preparing for UCAT in 4-6 weeks. Personally I don't think that would suit everyone. Depending on personality, some may look at questions and panic as some are so opaque when first looked at and with only 4 weeks to go, it doesn't leave much time if wanting to practice different techniques (DD did at least 2 changes of technique for the verbal reasoning part).
I remember first looking at 13+ NVR and having no clue. After a short time, I got my eye in and they became almost formulaic. I didn't do any UCAT ones but I suspect it's the same. I wouldn't want to feel that I had left it too late and have panic driven practice but shorter preparation obviously suits some.

@opoponax myDD applies for Newcastle- didn't get an interview UCAT 2840 , we think the cut off was 2850.