Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 2

[opoponax]

Anyone out there with DC applying or reapplying for Medicine 2023, please join a friendly thread for mutual support and useful advice.

Not for dd but for younger friends, is there anywhere other than QMUL that currently looks at points from doing 4 A levels, AS levels, music exams, DofE etc? I know that some places give lower offers with an EPQ. Some schools are still pushing the four A levels 'looks' better approach.

Hi @Cratos and @Monkey2001

Just popping on to answer the Sheffield question but see that @Haffdonga has already given lots more info than I can offer 😊

However DD also said that there is free accommodation but it’s not used that much as most places are commutable and they all keep their Sheffield accommodation.

Good luck everyone and hope the interview invites start coming in very soon.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor QUB want A*AA or AAA plus A in AS. Manchester on "holistic route" might accept a lower UCAT with impressive academics. I think 3 A levels with an EPQ is great as it gives you options if one of the A levels didn't go well on the day and also teaches very useful skills and gives them something to talk about at some interviews.

I can't remember whether anyone else has ended up applying to UEA, but they have issued a really good FOI response with lots of data. For last year, these were the success rates for various UCATs. I think there were also some marginal candidates with high UCATs who would have got offers but withdrew from waiting list as some with lower interview scores got offers, probably later in the cycle.

Analysis of 2022 start Admissions Data, Home Applicants

Interviews
UCAT 3000+ - 91% success, 48 candidates
2800-2890 - 86% success, 174 candidates
2700-2790 - 69% success,174 candidates
<2620 - 18% success 24 candidates

5 applicants did not do the UCAT
34 people with UCAT 2620+ got no interview, presumably because they did not pass initial academic screening

www.uea.ac.uk/web/about/university-information/statutory-legal-policies/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/-/asset_publisher/MzkqxGGjjxNc/content/foi_22-254-a100-admissions-ucat-scores-interviews-and-offers?_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_MzkqxGGjjxNc_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uea.ac.uk%3A443%2Fweb%2Fabout%2Funiversity-information%2Fstatutory-legal-policies%2Ffreedom-of-information%2Fdisclosure-log%3Fp_p_id%3Dcom_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_MzkqxGGjjxNc%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_MzkqxGGjjxNc_cur%3D0%26p_r_p_resetCur%3Dtrue%26_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_MzkqxGGjjxNc_assetEntryId%3D7912318

That is weird, it lost one line of my data:
2620-2690 - 36% success, 207 candidates.

@mumsneedwine might want to conclude from this that if you have applicants with UCATs in the 2600 range, it may be better to apply to other places as they are at a disadvantage before they start.

@Monkey2001 unfortunately anywhere with a 2600 UCAT is risky now. I think Plymouth might go up again.
I suppose because half your post interview score at UEA is UCAT it makes sense that higher ones succeed. Wish every Uni gave those stats freely though as so helpful.

Thank you very much for your messages@LaFlottes and
@Haffdonga. Very helpful.

And a 36% success rate is still better than Liverpool, Edge Hill or Plymouth last year, I think, which are other choices with a 2600s UCAT!
Awful year to be giving advice, as I am really not sure which way things are going to go. If they interview more, there is no reason cut offs will not drop quite a bit, but we do not know interview numbers last year v this year in detail. If they quite liked the waiting list approach, they may not interview many more at all.....
Why can't they just say!

@GANFYD at one stage I considered using a dart board with Uni names on. It seemed as useful as the info we currently have. It's frustrating not knowing if they are going to revert to 'normal' or keep last years model. I suspect they're not saying as they might not know yet 🤷‍♀️

I think UCAT cut offs will be fairly stable this year, except at the ones which had a big decrease in interviews last year (Exeter and maybe Lincoln) so their cut offs should fall, but not really expecting any to go up significantly. The increase in top 3 decile UCAT scores this year is offset by the decrease in the number of people who took the UCAT.

@GANFYD UEA cut off was definitely 2620, so my spreadsheet was slightly over cautious.

That is what I have been working on, but most places seemed to interview a reasonable number fewer applicants (for those I have data on), so if they go back up, cut offs may drop a bit..... Who knows?!
I am suspicios UEA use subsection minimum or scoring based on what a few applicants have told me, but 2620 did generally seem to be the cut on TSR threads

I have lost any faith in them having the faintest idea what is going on, generally. Someone has just posted that Barts announced at Open Day today that they are completely changing their scoring system 1 WEEK before UCAS deadline, when lots of people have already submitted, and the website still shows exactly the same selection process.

That's alarming...do you have any more info?

Barts/QMUL is one of ds's choices, so it would be good to know if they're changing their approach before she puts her UCAS form in. Not that she is open to being very strategic about her applications in any case, but at least it's best to know how they will approach it!!

That should have said dd's choices... don't have a ds!

Bad on Barts! I have always suspected that UCAS tariff gave another advantage to the wealthy whilst it included music etc (although it would have suited DS extremely well!)

..... so I don't really think it is a good way to score, but changing like this is unacceptable.

What are they actually changing it to?

Do they do any medical school interviews during school holidays at all ? We are trying to plan our holidays but it is not easy. Some schools are still deciding if the interviews will be online or face to face as well.

I hope not!! We are planning to be overseas!

That is great, thank you.

I've just found the posts about QMUL admissions on TSR. Very weird to change it so late in the admissions cycle and even weirder that they haven't updated their website.

Very unfair to make this change so late in the cycle, but from a purely selfish perspective, for dd (UCAT 3080 and ucas tariff of around 186), it will be a positive change.

DD has just informed me that, Actually, she has 194 ucas points. So hopefully enough either way, with a good ucat score.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves I think the much bigger question is whether your DC wants to go to a medical school that is prepared to treat candidates like that.

Yes, fair point. It's very surprising because it seems to go contrary to the whole ethos that they projected at the open day that she attended last year, which was what made her love it in the first place.

I think UCL/Imperial budged QMUL off the top spot, but obviously, we don't know yet how the BMAT is going to go, and QMUL was definitely her favourite out of the UCAT options. We'll have to see if she changes her mind as a result of this, but don't think any of the other ones that we visited even came close in her mind.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves can I just ask that you advise DD not to have a favourite. It can be so hard if they set their dreams on one place - you only need one offer !
Unis changing selection criteria after end of September are sooooooo annoying !