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

DD knows the speciality she wants so is thinking of putting an unpopular deanery fairly high on her list on the assumption that if she does not get London, which is super competitive, she has a good chance of getting experience in the specialisation she wants.

Might be a stupid question but how does she know which Deaneries are unpopular?

Have been here a while, just had to name change as my old account didn't seem to be working.

@PritiPatelsMaker look at p32 of this report - jchui.github.io/fpas-calc/data/2020%20Recruitment%20Stats%20and%20Facts%20Report_FINAL.pdf

You will see that Northern Ireland and Wales are not so popular - some of the people placed there had them as 20th/19th choice. Most popular is NW London - 692 applications for 233 places, they filled all places from first choice applicants.

Thanks @Monkey2001

This 3 minute 25 second clip is well worth watching.

Thanks for trying Jeremy.

twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt/status/1518899625457074177

Any updates from anyone ?

School friend waiting for Lancaster who haven't started issuing offers yet.

Still no update from Newcastle

DS got an offer from KCL yesterday, worth the tortuous wait, so all decisions now received (finally!).
He ended up with 2 offers - KCL & Southampton. Although KCL ask is higher A*AA he’s thinking of firming Southampton, who are asking for AAA, as he seems to prefer going to a Uni which may be a little more tightly-knit/supportive (he has recently developed epilepsy so needs to know support close by, although it is being managed, but early days). They’ve also been brilliant and offered catered accommodation which is a big plus for him.
Also not sure he wants to accrue / can afford the extra costs of living in London now it’s a definite offer.
However, I don’t know if he can insure a uni (KCL) with a higher ask than his firm (Southampton) - does anyone know?

Yes I think you can insure the uni with the higher offer. But if he meets the grades for his firm, I believe thats where he will go.

Well done on two great offers

DDs school always advised using a second offer as insurance even if required grades are higher. You never know, especially as he will have mitigating circumstances, and it costs nothing. That said Southampton sounds the better option. If he is undecided it is worth looking at placement options and linked accommodation. My understanding is that the Kings ones can be quite far flung and include quite long commutes.

@Angharad01 DD has firmed her Southampton offer and we are going to the offer holders day on 7th May. Maybe our DC will meet if your DS decides to go there 😀
Southampton is a great place (I went there a long time ago!).

@Angharad01 Congratulations!! Yes, you can have Insurance grades higher than Firm and if he were to get A*AB you don't know which is more likely to be flexible on results day. Sounds like he is being very sensible.

Any updates from anyone ?

DS is still on the waiting list for Sheffield with no idea offers. It's awful.

We are still waiting for Newcastle

Hope you get some good news soon @kackle

We are thinking positively about gap years whilst keeping fingers crossed for Newcastle. I so wish they would be more transparent so we knew where we stood! Good luck @PritiPatelsMaker

KCL offer earlier this week for DS..now just needs to decide between there and Newcastle once he's had a chance to look around KCL (although they don't seem to be doing any medicine specific open days in person). He's still not heard either way after his fourth choice interview so is assuming he's on a waiting list- planning on withdrawing from there so he can firm an offer and get on and book accommodation somewhere.

No offers her although one waitlist
Still waiting to hear from UEA although I note some have received offers. My nerves are shredded!

@Solarlantern is he tending towards Newcastle of KCL? I am wondering whether KCL have put a lot of applicants off be offering so late and may end up with a lot of people withdrawing. There was 1 year (2019?) that they ended up making offers to about 90% of the people they interviewed, which may have been reaction to their poor admin!

Obviously we want all applicants to choose the best course for them, but @kackle and I are hoping that lots of Newcastle offer holders decide it is not the place for them!

We have a UEA offer which we plan on releasing if Newcastle come through for us.

Just waiting to hear from KCL now.

Thanks all for kind advice re firm/insuring - @notmedicmum your name somes me up also, I'm also notunimum so it's all been a bit of steep learning curve as both me & hubby went into work after A levels.

I really like how supportive southampton have been and think it's a better fit for him as, while excellent, I don't think it'll be uber-competitive and with his current condition think a more relaxed/holistic environment might be a better fit. However, today he came home from school and advised one of his friends got a KCL offer also so there's a bit of a pull factor that way.

I can't believe how competitive it's been this year: some of the brightest and nicest people in his year have got no offers and are so stressed and just before A levels start.... Mind you as they're so exceptionally bright they seem to have applied to all the top/hardest unis - and I think may have slightly underestimated the importance of the interview (& the competition when you're going for the most prestigious) and that academics often don't matter once you've made it that far.
My takeaway is to apply tactically and that that DS is better at panel interviews than MMI (needs a bit of time to warm up i think :-)) - he also has a great deal of patience/resillience (thankyou KCL for making us wait sooo long).
NB - to anyone thinking of applying next year Southampton also use the PS extensively at interview and he really enjoyed talking through that - he didn't have the fanciest PS but everything on it he knew well. They then progressed to other medicine related questions but the questions tended to start on what he knew from PS so I think that was a positive as he felt more grounded and less anxious/fear of unknown during the interview itself (and it was panel :-))

Well as of a couple of hours ago ds has received his 4th offer from Bristol. He had all but given up hope on Bristol which was originally his first choice and had decided to firm Newcastle. Now he has a big decision!

@Monkey2001 he is undecided but quite keen on the idea of studying in London - I think as you say the general lack of organisation at KCL is a bit off-putting though. Even the offer holders/accommodation info seems a bit vague! Newcastle seemed so much more organised and approachable (not to mention cheaper living costs). His decision though...

That’s great news @Haffdonga - even if it does make things a bit more complicated!

Great news!

please let us know if he does decline Newcastle. Both I and @Monkey2001 are holding on for a Newcastle place for our Dc from the waitlist

That's fantastic Haff. What a lovely problem to have!