Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 2

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

And in other news, Newcastle are doing in person MMI interviews for home students.

Absolutely the same feedback from DD

Glad to hear it's not just DS! He said he could do the questions but there just wasn't the time as it was calculation heavy. He has been getting around 20/27 in mocks and his rough guesstimate is 15 this time....

exactly the same said my DC. section 2 was not like in any previous papers. it will be interesting to see the distribution of final scores.

Well done to those that sat the BMAT, sounds hard! Does anyone know when they release the UCAT scores to the unis? It feels like as soon as you get over one hurdle another starts…roll on interview season 😂….assuming we get an interview 😅

Universities get the UCAT scores early November, so invitations start around the middle of November.

To confirm S2 of BMAT was HARD !! I am guessing that 17 might get you a 6. But that is a wild guess 😂.

DD has a bunch of friends who sat BMAT and said it was hard too.

Hi, I have a slightly complicated query which I hope somebody can advise on.

DD received a supplemental online form on Saturday for her 5th choice (bio-med at Edinburgh) to determine her residency and fee status. In the course of filling this out with her, we were horrified to discover some errors on her UCAS form (submitted on Mon 10/10 and ended up having to phone UCAS on Saturday to have these changed. DD called UCAS again today and was told the changes had been made and would show up as changed for the Unis (but not all visibly changed from her side) and the lady also advised her to email the various universities to flag the changes in case any incorrect info had been entered by them.

Obviously her form should never have been sent off without us checking it: there was far too much emphasis on the 6th Form Team having triple-checked everything and getting the Personal Statement right eclipsed all other considerations. One of the things we were aghast at was that she had put down Mental Health as an issue in one section. She had anxiety and depression about 2 years ago, like many teens in the early pandemic. She had counselling/treatment with a psychologist and has never looked back! We don’t know what possessed her to put this in her application without running it past us but what’s done is done.

My question here is should she email the universities as advised by UCAS today or is it likely to draw attention to the fact that she had errors in her application (which may make her seem careless) and also draw attention to the mental health issue. Her draft wording for that email is as follows:

Subject: UCAS application change

Good afternoon,

My name is XXX, and I have applied for undergraduate medicine at your university through UCAS. There were errors regarding my application details which have since been resolved, but I wanted to ensure your admissions team was informed of these changes in case my application had already been reviewed or entered into a database with the incorrect details.

My UCAS ID number is XXX and the email on my application is XXX

The following changes were made: the date of my first entry to the UK has been corrected to 7/07/2015, passport details have been provided, and the 'more about you' section should no longer have 'mental health' as a selected field.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused, and greatly appreciate your time!
——————
Thanks Mums for any advice xx

I would not contact the universities unless it related to issues affecting shortlisting. If it is post offer admin, they will ask if things are not clear. No need to mention mental health, it would not make any difference as they would not discriminate against someone and interviewers do not see any of the application form at most places. I think they would ask you before deciding whether you were Home or International status if there was any doubt.

Same for dd too. And she was upset about section 2 so feels that she struggled a bit to focus on section 3 as well as she should have done. Anyhow, done now!

My DD said exactly the same. 1 & 3 absolutely fine but 2 much harder than practice/previous papers. Think we’re both just glad it’s done!

Mine doesn’t even want to talk about it… hopefully, things will settle down a bit in a couple of days but it’s certainly been a rollercoaster of a journey so far!

It has indeed @Victoria1083... hope your dc has done better than they think and that they can actually relax a bit now. They deserve it!

DD is still in that mode of feeling like she needs to be doing something!! Can't quite switch off yet.

Sorry to hear it was a tough Section 2. At least that view seems to be unanimous.

Thank you! Clearly the DC work so hard and the dedication to medicine is definitely there, so hopefully, it will all pay off. We’ll find soon enough…
hope your DD is feeling a bit better knowing that she wasn’t the only one who found Section 2 hard 🙂

DS doesn't want to do any interview course. He prefers YT for advice. Unfortunately he is in his gap year but school last year was of not much help anyways. Would a course make a huge difference? Any recommendations?

@kk10 most people don't do an interview course, mine didn't/won't and universities don't recommend it. There are loads of good resources on YT and "the book" linked earlier in this thread is what most people I know have used to prepare. If you have friends involved in recruitment you could is all then to do a practice on line interview to see how he comes across if any interviews are on line.

@kk10

As you are aware, medicine has a highly competitive application process due to demand for places hugely outstripping supply. Students in schools are competing against each other and by the same token, the students whose parents are posting on here are all in competition with one another.

I can't recall seeing anyone ever recommending or admitting to using an interview course on MN.

I do however know of applicants (at my kids school and the school I work at) who only disclosed their use of early entry subject/Oxbridge application support services once they had secured an offer.

2 possible reasons for keeping quiet about signing up for such services

A) to be kind, as the majority of applicants could not afford to spend that much money on it, particularly as it comes with no guarantees.
and/or
B) to not be so kind, as making a recommendation or letting others know that a student is getting this assistance might encourage others to do the same and then any potential competitive advantage is lost once others are availing themselves of similar services too.

I would say that the support provided by schools is highly variable so applicants are not on a level playing field in so many ways up to and including the interview stage. WP processes will not help a middle class student (who is lacking in confidence) at a school with reasonably good academic results but with poor UCAS early entry support.

I'd say consider what your ds's weakest area is. Is it the interview ? What can he access online, is it helping ? How much would the cost of some interview training be, what would the cost to the family be of your ds needing to take another gap year ? (medicine does need to be considered to be a 2 year process and I see that your ds is already on a gap year).

Interview courses won't magically give you the right answers or any confidence you lack but they can give you another opportunity to practice speaking in front of others and talking through your potential answers.
Ds1 (who applied last year as a postgrad and had plenty of public speaking confidence under his belt) booked himself on an online course and said he found it helpful. Because he didn't apply via the usual school route he hadn't had any specific med interview practice except with me and the book - fun times 😉. He said they gave a few useful tips but his main impression was it was useful to see others answering questions in ways he wouldn't have thought of and how it showed if they'd obviously done their homework.
The course probably just gave ds confidence to know he was on the right lines but it wouldn't be so helpful if you have equivalent practice opportunities elsewhere.

Hi, have hunted the posts for the link to the interview ‘book’ does anyone have the full name so I can find it?
thank you!

Cant link right now but it's called Medical School Interviews by Olivier Picard and George Lee

Students in schools are competing against each other and by the same token, the students whose parents are posting on here are all in competition with one another.

@stargate2020 I would just like to add that the spirit of this thread is genuinely friendly and supportive.@Monkey2001 and @mumsneedwine and other experts have far more to give on this thread than to take from it and they generously participate and offer information that does give posters and lurkers alike competitive advantage for their DCs on the back of their own hard work. Therefore it follows that when they say that these courses are not worth the money, these are genuine views and not intended to mislead in any way.

From an individual perspective, we have been through this process two years ago and my DS got four offers, applying without any contextual considerations. He didn't do an interview course. We offered it and I also asked what people thought on the 2021 medic thread - expert feedback was don't bother. DS decided himself that it had more potential to undermine his performance as he could risk coming over too scripted and he preferred to just think about themes himself. He knew he would have the opportunity to do a couple of dummy runs with teachers/non-medic family friends though. Of course, it is down to the individual to decide what they themselves want to do. Considerations such as how shy they feel about interviews, opportunities for mock interviews in their schools etc. are clearly valid and it is up to they themselves to decide if the courses are worth it given their individual circumstances.

@Pip4764 here you go

I am not a mum on this thread as mine is a 5th year. I'm just a teacher who helps my students and wants to make sure all students get a fair chance. No competition from me 😊.
Interview courses are not necessary and cost a fortune. It's better to ask friends, relatives, neighbours, to spend half an hour asking questions and practising having a conversation. Apply for some jobs, even just to get interview experience. I can guarantee not one of my students pays for anything, but they do all have jobs.