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.

Thank you very much for your message. I was wondering about Xmas holidays and February half term. It has been good to learn that university timetables are different to college and secondary schools and interviews can happen pretty much anytime. If they are face to face we cannot be away either. So it might be best to understand if he will get an interview before any plans are made. Schools he applied / might apply to are Leicester, Liverpool, Bristol, Brighton and Sheffield.

DD has finally pressed send on her application. In the end she went for Cambridge, BSMS, UEA & Exeter. She was determined to go for places she really liked rather than a more strategic approach so I’m definitely viewing it as a two year process! Will be pleased when the BMAT is done.

@Cratos interviews:

Leicester, Bristol, Brighton - on line
Liverpool - TBA, but I suspect on line because they do so many
Sheffield - F2F, 2 sessions, 5 Dec - 9 Dec and 23 Jan - 27 Jan

So not much travel for your DS, and plan whatever you like for Christmas as long as you can access the internet in a quiet space.

@justjuggling, dd is the same, determined to only apply for places that she genuinely liked rather than taking a strategic approach.

It's interesting though, as they all like such different things. DD always planned to apply to Cambridge, but reached the decision that she didn't actually like the course quite late in the process. She also ruled out BSMS after the open day, despite loving Brighton as a city. And zero interest in Exeter or UEA! I guess it's a positive thing that they don't all want to go to the same ones!!

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves did your DD look at St Andrews? It feels a bit like Cambridge by the Sea! Course also has similarities.

She didn't really look at St Andrews in any detail, no...too rural, apparently. Though Cambridge by the sea sounds like my idea of heaven! I think it was a bit too far from home in the end as well. She had initially decided that she didn't want to apply for more than one Scottish one, and her heart was set on Edinburgh for a long while, alongside Cambridge as her top choice, but they both got completely blown out of the water when she visited the London ones that she didn't expect to like that much at all!

There is a part of me that was a little sad over Cambridge, though I'dnever let on to dd about that. I studied there myself and always felt that dd would really thrive in that environment, but in the end, she decided that it just wasn't for her. And fwiw, I think it was the right decision - she loves the city and the uni, but didn't warm to the faculty at all, and honestly, neither did I (though the director of studies in my old college was an absolute delight!).

The open days were immensely useful in the end in terms of helping her to clarify what she did and didn't want from a course/university. I went round to most of the open days with her, and I could see for myself that the London institutions were a much better fit for her personality. They just clicked somehow. As did Manchester, although not quite to the same extent.

@Monkey2001 thank you so much.

Narrowing it down was tricky and at least I haven’t been on my own trying to persuade DD to be more strategic! She didn’t get a brilliant UCAT result so was keen to put 2 BMAT options. She actually really liked ARU - the course, talking with the staff etc but just couldn’t see herself on such a small campus. It’s interesting to see the spread of choices and what appeals to individuals isn’t it.

@MidLifeCrisis007 I hope you don't mind me contacting you off forum but I was wondering whether you /your dd could answer a question about Exeter medical school? What are the summer holidays like in later years? Ideally we need dd to work a little to help towards later years funding. Some universities she is looking at have very short summer holidays other than the first year.

Ha, planned to PM because I imagine MidLifeCrisis isn't on here much but if anyone else knows that would be great too.

I have a question about Bristol Medical School. It seems very competitive. I saw somewhere that it has got a very high no of applicants per place (13.7).
Considering that their UCAT score is very high, how does it attract so many applicants? I would be interested in hearing your views.

@Cratos most Unis have a similar applicant number. Least is usually about 10 per place. Most people with a high UCAT will apply to Bristol and/or Newcastle.
@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor can't talk about Exeter specifically but most have long summers after 1st and 2nd years, and some after 3rd. But from 4th it's 46 week years so little time for a job. And at Exeter you'll be in Truro for 2 years at some point.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor medicine.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/medicalschool/documents/UEMS_BMBS_2022-23_Annual_Timetable_Yr1-5_-Amended_for_Feb_BoS_Approval_-AC_Jan_22(1)_(1).pdf

Thank you all, I know later years are not going to have much time for holidays/ working, especially later on, but it is one small part of the picture because if she can work a little and save between yr 2 and 3 then it will help for the bursary year. That timetable is really useful, might have to seek them out for some of the other options. I presume on that timetable that Ref/Def panel is only something to worry about if she is borderline in which case she will have more to worry about than picking up a few shifts of bank work.

DD has now chosen
Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and trying to decide between Sheffield and Nottingham.

She’s a bit put off by the description of 3rd year in Nottingham due to the BMedSci research project and the extra content they cram in to the overall medical course to get that qualification.

Neither place or course is really standing out as better than the other and she’s really stuck and wondering if she should consider somewhere else. Any thoughts? She has Ucat 3030, GCSE 5Astars and 4A, SJ Band 1

Thanks!

Forgot to add:
Verbal reasoning 740
Decision making 690
Quantative reasoning 850
Abstract reasoning 750

@Peachy2005 both pretty safe for interview. V similar courses, v similar cities. The BMedSci is 3 months extra work, but can be done on wards so useful experience. And you get 2 graduations 😊.
Distance from home ? Or toss a coin.

@Peachy2005 Nottingham interviews on line, Sheffield F2F if she feels she may perform better in one sort than the other. I think you are overseas, so on line might be easier. Can be seen as getting a "free degree" from Nottingham without taking an extra year. This no longer gives a benefit in allocation of F1/F2, but may still help with specialist training points.

@Monkey2001 DD found an article which suggests it won’t count for specialty training applications :
www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1762

@Peachy2005 it won't count for points but will still count in portfolio. This seems to be an expensive CV doctors have to do to get ST.

@mumsneedwine thank you

The portfolio is something doctors need for revalidation (www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/career-progression/revalidation/revalidation-for-doctors), not for specialist training applications.

Portfolio content has to include evidence within each of the four domains of Good Medical Practice. While people are likely to include additional undergraduate degrees in domain 1, having or not having one is never going to make a difference to your appraisal.

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne that's not what they are being told unfortunately. Because the number of training jobs is so small compared to the number of Foundation doctors they are told that everything in their portfolio will matter. Loads now planning on F3/4/5 so they don't have to bother, or have to move around for an ST job. It all seems totally nuts to me. We need doctors but we don't have enough positions for them to do the jobs they are needed for.

Morning

DS considering applying to Lincoln but what is the difference between Nottingham and Lincoln for medicine ? Anybody’s DC attending Lincoln this year ..interested to hear feedback x

@HAMROGUE I have a feeling Lincoln may not do full body dissection, but otherwise similar. All the new medical schools are still playing catch up on popularity.