Medicine 2022 - The final furlong

[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.

Offers are in for some, others on waiting lists, others doing their A levels and planning a gap year.

Best of luck everyone for great results on 18th August, we will be here to celebrate, commiserate, advise and generally support you for the last stage of the 2022 journey. 🍀

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4464984-Medicine-2022-Decision-time

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

What an exhausting week to end an exhausting 12 month + process ! Thank you to all the amazing people on here . DD off to Cardiff and without your help this Southampton history graduate Mum would have been no help to her at all !! It still hasn’t sunk in . Cannot thank you all enough for sharing your experience and similar concerns . One of you wonderful teachers talked about a Syrian refugee who had a place . I would so love to know if he got his grades ? Thank you hugely and the very best wishes to your incredibly dedicated young humans whether they are heading off to medical school , have the resilience to repeat the process or the wisdom and strength to set off on a new path 🥂 xx

@Justineatty 😊 that young man smashed it !!! Off to Oxford to become a doctor, with the intention to go back to Syria. Not going to lie, I cried a lot yesterday and hugged far too many students. Going to miss this year group as it feels like we've been through a lot together.

@mumsneedwine that's great news. You must be so proud of that young man and lots of others too I bet. DS is doing his little bit to help others. He has found some aspiring med students with very different backgrounds to his own and he has been helping them over the summer with their UCAT prep and is also showing them the ropes with how to strategically apply for med. He will help them prepare for their interviews when he is back at uni. So easy with Zoom. It is something he is passionate about and I suspect he will continue to do what he can in the future.

Lovely story! It is great to see you reaping the rewards of your hard work and dedication. Your school is very lucky to have you!

That is great news. So pleased to hear it.

Thank you note to this amazing thread, kept thinking of @Monkey2001 ,

DD confirmed BSMS with 3A*,already recommending this thread to the next batch

Thanks @Dagbonunion and very well done to your DD!

Congratulations to all those who have secured places this year, incredible achievements. I realise that everyone’s experiences are different and work experience and personal statements count for a lot but I wonder if we could get an overview of what was needed to secure a place? My DD always knew it was a stretch but she’s ticked off each challenge she’s been faced with and we couldn’t be more proud of what she’s achieved but it hasn’t resulted in a med place. In weighing up what to do in September it would be interesting to get an overview of what others are getting in with. For example in her GCSE’s she was TAG 7’s in Eng, Maths and 8s and 9’s but not straight 9’s so she’s wondering if even this will be a stumbling block if she was to apply again.

GCSE 7’s 8’s 9
UCAT 2630
SJ band 2
A A A (AEPQ)
rejected Hull York, St Andrews, Leeds
interview Liverpool, wait list. Rejected.

@jenthehen it is all about being strategic. Different medical schools assess in different ways.

Those were unfortunate choices.
St Andrews - RUK applicants need well over 2700
Leeds - you need perfect GCSEs, can slip 1 point if BMAT is very good
HYMS - has a calculation for shortlisting, depends on actual GCSE results
Liverpool have a terrible offer to interview ratio, so well done for getting to the waiting list, for 2021 entry only 25% of the people interviewed got offers, I suspect it was similar for 2022. Most offer around 2/3 of interviewees, Leeds is a bit lower.

She would have got interviews at Plymouth, ARU, UEA.

Come and join us on the 2023 entry thread and, if she is re-applying, when she has her UCAT score, if you share all her stats we can tell you where she is likely to get interviews. www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4459778-Medicine-2023-Entry?page=1

@jenthehen meant to say congratulations on great A level results, and at most med schools PS does not play any significant part in application. You may like to check the Keele R&R form and see whether she can bolster her experience for that in the next few months as Keele and Sunderland (who use similar form) are great options if the UCAT is not very good.

www.keele.ac.uk/media/keeleuniversity/fachealth/fachealthmed/pdfs/Roles%20&%20Responsibilities%20form%202016%20entry%20DRAFT.pdf

That’s useful information thanks @Monkey2001 it all depends on if she wants to reapply or take up her Natural Science offer at Bath and take a different career path for now.

Could she use the UCAT to help her decide? If she can get over 2750 there are a good range of options, if it dips below 2600 she may be limited to Keele and Sunderland. Did she use Medify/Medentry to prepare for UCAT last year?

Yes she did use Medify and practised insanely hard so she’s aware that the score she achieved was probably pretty close to her max hence her reluctance to sit it again.

@jenthehen - my DD was in a similar boat to your dd last year. She had only one interview (Nottingham) and had no offers. She decided pretty early on (pre results) not to take her 5th alternative and to reapply. She had applied to Birmingham, Exeter, Nottingham and Kings. She did not really have any strategy first time and selected based on where she fancied going.

First time round she got Ucat of 2630 but she got 2990 second time round. I think improving the UCAT score was the key thing for her. She focused her second lot of applications on unis that selected for interview based on UCAT.

She had not managed to get any work experience due to Covid - so used her gap year to bump that up by volunteering at the vaccination clinic and also at the hospital.

She got interviews from Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle. This converted to offers from all apart from Newcastle - she was on their waiting list up until May - when she decided to firm Bristol.

Thanks @FanSpamTastic and huge congratulations to your daughter that’s a brilliant outcome. It so so hard guiding them without trying to make decisions for them. I hope your daughter had the most amazing time at Bristol.

@jenthehen with those A level results she is clearly bright enough to get a good UCAT score. I think mental state is REALLY important for admissions tests, maybe she was stressed by the intense preparation.

When DS1 did BMAT second time round he thought he did not have the grades for Cambridge, so it was unlikely to matter. He was very relaxed, went to a festival, came back and did a few past papers and got a top 0.5% score (having got a good but not excellent score previously when he did more work but thought he had less of a chance.

When DS2 did BMAT, we practiced a routine for the final week where he had breakfast, took the dog for a walk, did a mock at the time of the actual test for the few days leading up to the actual exam.

Can I ask @FanSpamTastic what A level grades she achieved?

She’s also got a job as a Doctor’s receptionist so she’s aware that this would limit her time to study for the UCAT …but she’s incredibly chilled at the same time!

@jenthehen - she got one A star and 2 As this was during Covid so TAG from a large state 6th form - and an A in EPQ. GCSE's were pre Covid - and she got 5 9s and rest 8s.

@jenthehen - if I recall correctly, somewhere like Birmingham tots up points for GCSEs but I don't think you got "more" for having a 9 over having a 7? So both ranked equally?

Your dd really needs to dig into the criteria used by each uni and then focus application on a best fit for her.

There is also some fantastic guidance on The Student Room by some very knowledgeable people there who can help answer questions about criteria used to rank applicants.

Thanks for that, they were great GCSE’s which will have helped.

@jenthehen DD had 8s 9s and 1 7 at GCSE, Predictions of Astar Astar A and EPQA, lots of online work experience (COVID) but nothing face to face and 2940 Band 2.

She applied VERY strategically and got offers from Bart’s, Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle and is off to Newcastle.

Her original (pre-mumsnet advice) choices were Nottingham Edinburgh or Exeter, and I don’t think she’d have got an interview at any of them!

For anyone unsure of what to do next - allow yourself to breathe. No decisions need to be made this weekend.
A good plan is to accept that 5th or clearing choice for now, retake UCAT and see how that goes. If it's stellar, try again. If it's not, then that might make any decision easier, unless want to try via BMAT. But there is no rush.

Results day is so hard for those with nothing as they want certainty like everyone around them seems to have.
If it's any help we got 2 more in on results day. One off a waiting list and one from HYMS after frantic calling (7 phones were trying to get through at once !).

@KingscoteStaff 😊😊🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

DD now has accommodation allocated and the first person she's found in her flat is also a medic! It's the nearest block to the Medical School, so maybe they've jammed them all in together?