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

Thank you @withiceplease. That is very helpful. DD and DS do have different characters. She found 11+ and CATS really straightforward but UCAT is a different beast. Maybe a good strategy could to get the book now and then Medify subscription later. How far ahead did you get Medify?

Thank you @coffeeandbiscuittime. I'm so sorry to hear that your DD missed it by a whisker. I hope she has other good options.

@opoponax I'm pretty sure she started looking at the book and figuring out how to approach them around January but only half an hour at a time and not daily. Started working for it properly after her exams finished in June which is when we got medify. She got a better result on the day than she ever got on the practice tests by some margin.

@Juniper74 I think you should wait until the offers come through before asking to defer at this stage. Most med schools are fine with it, but I know St Andrews don't make deferred offers and don't know if there are others. If she asks to defer now she won't know whether it had an impact on whether she got an offer, and they can't take an offer away because you ask to defer, they will probably say you have wait until they have more info about acceptances.

@opoponax yes, I think Newcastle cut off is 2850 for normal applicants and 2760 Partners. Sheffield was 2780. For DS1 I got the 1250 question book and suggested that he should do a few questions now and then over a few months to get a feel for which bits might be a problem, then he had a month of Medify leading up to the exam. As I had given the book to school by the time DS2 decided he wanted to apply, I got him a Mensa book to practice AR questions - we would do them together after dinner and his GF liked them too, then he just went for 6 weeks of Medify, starting very gently - an hour or so every few days, ramping up to doing 2-3 hours a day for the last week or two. He quite enjoyed the prep, but was disappointed with his 3020 because he was getting higher scores on Medify. One of the things which people don't do enough prep on and could be worth tackling early if you have a keenie beanie wanting to work is SJT. For some like Birmingham post interview and Nottingham and Edinburgh a band 1 makes all the difference, but most people focus on the other UCAT sections. This year non contextuals at Birmingham seem to have needed the full 8 points they can get, so UCAT in the Birmingham top decile (2910 for 2021 entry). The scoring algorithm may change again - if you look at the stats they published, just about every non-contextual interviewee for 2021 start got an offer!

@opoponax hello! I can't believe you are about to have round 2! Has DD got an idea of where she might like to go? I hope DS is loving Newcastle!

I think my DD may be similar to yours and she definitely wanted to prepare quite far in advance. From what I can remember she started in the March or April - and had Medify from that point on. She then also had Medentry for the last month leading up to her test.

So she had mocks and mini mocks from two different sources which I think helped, also the official mocks on the UCAT website but I think she left those until closer to the test.

She had the book but didn't use it a great deal. She did make sure she saved enough mocks and mini mocks to do in the 4 weeks leading up to the test. In fact for those 4 weeks she did little else!! She was definitely ready when the time came and the prep did pay off thankfully.

Some people mention peaking too soon etc but DD didn't find this. She definitely improved so much over time. Especially in certain areas.

I think when she first started preparing it was mostly over the weekend and closer to the time she spent a lot more time on it.

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much to all of you. It's so nice to see these names popping up again too. Hope DD is loving Sheffield too @LaLaFlottes. I can't believe I am about to have round 2 either! DD does sound similar to your DD. She wants to be on it early. TBH I'm not sure how normal DS's prep was. He took it seriously and really focused for the month before using both Medify and Medentry but he started off with really high scores initially before practicing and if anything went down a bit in the prep period. I think DD should go with her gut and chart her own course.

DD just wrote off July last year from a social perspective and buried herself in UCAT prep from a standing start. Used Medify mostly and did 2-4 hours a day of study. She was very disciplined. Things went a bit Pete Tong when she failed her driving test and got dumped by her boyfriend on the same day (2 weeks before her UCAT), but actually I think that made her (even) more driven with hindsight - even if she was a bit tearful about it at the time

It's very much a case of horses for courses. DD wanted to bury herself in July to have August free to party. She also wanted to sit the UCAT early as she'd heard that the early sitters typically do better!

Another thing I'd mention @opoponax - virtually all the high fliers I know seem to have applied to Newcastle this year. Many preferring it over Oxbridge due to the course content/structure and vibe!

Thank you. That makes sense. Hopefully it works out for her (and everyone else on here)

General questions re: halls. DS still waiting to hear if any offers, however, he's applied to the city we live in and we live quite close to the hospital and not far from Uni itself (short cycle ride).
If he gets an offer I'd always presumed he'd want to go into halls for the 'uni experience' but the rooms aren't great. If he paid for better accommodation he'd be traveling further and even the better rooms aren't fantastic; plus it's more debt.

He doesn't drink and whilst sociable doesn't want to particularly be stuck in a 'party' flat/noisy block with the amount of work medics have etc.
I'm also looking at the debt involved for accommodation over multiple years and the savings to be made.
I didn't go to Uni myself so from a purely monetary point of view think it's sensible to consider staying home: a large bedroom, a quiet study space, healthy meals, and all free. Plus he could join medsoc and take part in any organised events etc. He also wouldn't have the private housing expense/issues of subsequent years.
A number of other students he knows who are local and a year above are studying medicine and commuting from home and I wondered if this is a common occurrence? I was thinking it might happen a lot in London etc given very high accommodation costs?
I don't want him to miss out and have said he might want to get a room even if he doesn't use it every day/night.
Just wondered if others have any knowledge/experience of same?

We live in Bristol and 2 of DS1's friends went to university here and moved out at great cost! DS2 hasn't applied to Bristol and I don't know what he would choose, but he also doesn't drink. I think it may not be so uncommon, one of his best friends who is also applying for medicine doesn't drink either. At the open day he was asking about the quiet accommodation as he thinks he can look for social things when he wants them, but doesn't want them forced on him.

I think that living at home you would miss out on a big part of university life. Lots of people meet the people they share with in later years in halls and those are often your friends for life. Having said that, DS1's GF has not stayed in touch with any of her first year flatmates. I think I would only encourage him to stay at home if he was in London.

Maybe try it for the first year for the experience? He can always move back home if he wants to for subsequent years or choose to house share with other students Most universities only guarantee accommodation for the first year nowadays.

Do all med students tend to congregate in the same halls? I know this tends to happen in London purely for practicality of travel, but what about other Universities?

Not in Newcastle. They mix them up in the first year so lots of socialising with both medics and non-medics.

@KingscoteStaff not in Sheffield, I think they are spread out across the student villages. However from what I remember they do try and make sure each medical student has another med student in their flat so they are not the only one. Seems to work really well!

@KingscoteStaff not at Notts or Bristol. Med students all over the place at both.

It does seem to work well @LaLaFlottes. DS has chosen to share a house with a mix of medic and non-medic friends next year. He says there is no pressure to socialise more than you want to and his flatmates are considerate about others' early starts.

I’m sorry to say I dropped completely off the last thread, life has been…. hard work is the best way I can think of describing it.

DD has Birmingham interview this week. Still waiting on Keele.

Hi @BabbleBee. Hope all is a bit better now. Good luck for Birmingham.

Good luck for Birmingham @BabbleBee - sorry to hear things have been difficult.

Good luck @BabbleBee DD and welcome back.

@opoponax @HoneyMobster @Monkey2001 Thanks for the good wishes, I wasn’t expecting that! If you could sort my dilemma out as well as you give advice for our future doctors that’d be great thanks

DS has his interview for Liverpool next week and received an interview for Leicester yesterday. That will be early next month. He’s still waiting to hear from Kings.

@Hendo14 must be a relief if they have taken this long to get back to him! Is he a gap year applicant? Leicester seemed to be saving the achieved grades for last!

DD only received Southampton interview invite last week. She’s already had interviews with Liverpool and Plymouth. I think we will know outcomes on all three by the end of March, or at least, by Easter, which will be a relief as then she can focus on A levels.

Over on the Y13 people are frustrated that they are still waiting for a couple of offers and accommodation is opening at some. I sigh and think poor medics, not only is it ridiculously competitive at all medical schools, but there is also such a long wait. Last year some were waiting until the end of May!

@Monkey2001 it's why I get so cross with all the Oxbridge stuff. It's one Uni. They will still get 4 other offers. The poor medics woof just like one !