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.

If DD gets a place this year, it will genuinely be down to the generosity of the posters on this thread: we didn’t have a clue about anything - least of all about applying strategically. Consequently, I haven’t had any advice to offer, being a complete noob and also with DH and I not having even gone through UCAS ourselves as we’re not from UK. I’ve shared with DD the advice from here about viewing it as a 2-year process but so far she’s having none of it…time will tell I suppose. DD has shared some of what we’ve gleaned here with others in her Medicine group who were about to make big mistakes applying to places they probably wouldn’t even get an interview for. She’s kind like that, she wouldn’t want to see even her direct competitors at a disadvantage. She says there is lots of stuff online about interview prep; our DCs are all vastly different so some might benefit from courses and some might perform better unrehearsed - yes, they are all broadly in competition but that still leaves plenty of scope for kindness to others and there’s a huge amount of that on here.

Best of luck to all and a million thanks for all the generous advice xx

@Peachy2005 trickle down economics might not work. But trickle down knowledge does 😊. Your DD shows all those qualities that make a good Dr. And her mum is definitely not a noob 😂.

Thanks mumsneedwine 😍 I feel like a total newbie… I blissfully and ignorantly thought DD could apply anywhere and have a good chance…before I joined this thread 😂

Thank you!

@kk10 I don't know if it is still running - but when DS did it (two years ago now), he somehow found a Discord server with a bunch of medical hopefuls on it, and they interviewed each other (obsessively!). He found it immensely helpful! He said they gave him very useful tips, and being on the other side, ie role playing as interviewer, really helped give him a sense of what not to say! He was also quite proud of the number of his "interviewees" who got into Cambridge medicine - he took it as a personal compliment and reckoned that he did better than any of the fancy private schools! And the role play that he ended up getting at Nottingham interview (where he now is) was not that far off one of those he had done with one of his colleagues from Discord, on which he had got positive feedback, which really helped with the confidence, so he would really strongly recommend that Discord server, if it still exists.
BTW one of the things that DS is loving about Nottingham (where he has just started), is that the people on his course are really collaborative rather than competitive. He says that there are stories about other medical schools where the students see everything as a competition, and won't really help one another, which he finds ridiculous and to the detriment of one's learning. And while he wasn't going for Cambridge, there were others going for the universities he had applied to on the Discord server, but he thinks that it just made everybody on the server better interviewees than those who were not (there was least one hat trick at a Cambridge college, from very different backgrounds, on the Discord server, so a bunch who ended up going to the same college kne each other each other from Discord before they got in).

@Bimkom thank you. I think you or someone else here did mention Discord to me before. I have asked my DS to look into it

@Bimkom glad he's enjoying Notts. My DD is doing some teaching this week - they might meet. She's the one who looks about 12 and gets left and right muddled up 😂

Ah @mumsneedwine your DD sounds lovely. Great that all is going well for your DS at Notts @Bimkom. I hope you don't mind me having tagged you when someone mentioned Discord. I remembered that your DS had a really positive time not there. Totally agree re collaborative trumping competitive. DS said that is one of the things that he really likes about Newcastle too. Not sure how that would play out in seminar case groups if they were working for themselves rather than together.

• 'on there' not 'not there'!

Does anyone have any advice for the Roles & Responsibilities form? DD just received hers from Sunderland. She has lots of volunteering experience and will need to edit quite heavily, I just want to make sure she doesn't leave out any of the really important stuff.
She thinks this will be her one shot this year as section 2 of BMAT was so awful!

There were a couple of people on TSR who had had offers from R&R unis (Sunderland / Keele) who said that they believed (I don't think anyone can know for sure as it's never published as far as I know) that they were looking for what you'd learnt from the experience rather than just a list of what experience they had. One also suggested the relevance to the community was important.

@DTJ she needs to think about what she learned and how this relates to the skills needed to be a vet. I think there's a bit of a guide on the Sunderland website (not at home as visiting the kids).

@DTJ my DC have no experience of applying to Keele or Sunderland, but Keele provide this guidance, which may be similar to Sunderland.
www.keele.ac.uk/media/k-web/k-study/coursepages/undergraduate/R&R%20Guidance%20Notes-1.pdf

DS got a place at Keele and I think the key to this was showing reflection on his experience. I think it also helped that some his volunteering showed prolonged commitment and he was still volunteering when he was interviewed.

@DTJ 😂 let's try the skills she needs to be a doctor. Was with my vet DD. So look at the GMC competencies and tailor your learning towards those. The Keele document is v helpful.

UEA applicants - I see they are running a session about their interviews, although it might be after the interview for people with high UCATs if they follow last years timetable! www.uea.ac.uk/events/view?id=419fa6a4-0b10-48d2-b101-fc5a9a6fc1bf

Quick question re the Manchester questionnaire: in the “Why Manchester?” part:- Is it more why the city or why the university/med school they want you to talk about, does anyone know?

Thanks so much!

I'd say it can be both. The answer needs to show some understanding of what it would be like to study at Manchester Uni and how this suits so considering things like teaching style will be important but it could also cover things like how hobbies could be pursued.

Yes I agree both/all. Ds had questions about why this course (including any advantages and disadvantages of a course), what do you know about this uni and what do you know about this city. I think it was a question type that probably came up in some version or other for every interview.
Worth prepping 🙂

Sorry I was talking about interviews not the forms. Ignore that!

Hi all I’ve been trying to keep up with this thread. Soo invaluable! I hope there’s one next yr for 2024 entry!
Ds applying next year so entry 2024.
I’m still slightly confused about the strategic approach. Ds has excellent GCSE results and is having a look around Christ’s college open day tomorrow. Does anyone have experience with oxbridge and medicine? We know it’s less hands on at the beginning and he’s fine with that. He doesn’t want London and has been volunteering at a dementia home since August. He’ll likely be predicted 2 a*s and 1 a… I mean - what else can they want for an interview opportunity?! 😅
For me oxbridge seems like this unreachable strange place but he likes the sound of it….
so he’d put two bmat choices and two ukat choices to keep it open? Is this what you mean by strategy @GANFYD
apologies in advice if this is stating the obvious!
tia also!

You can not apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same year so he would have to decide between the two. Applying strategically means to look at all his statistics and apply to the place where he is most likely to get an interview and then get offered a place. It is also about understanding that all medical schools are equal so although some might be more popular, and hence harder to get a place, the qualification is the same and the NHS will not consider where he studied in deciding whether to offer a job.

If he does well on the ucat then he might just put one BMAT choice (his favourite of Oxford and Cambridge), using his good ucat score to maximise his chances of an offer elsewhere with three ucat choices. If he does badly on the ucat he might want more bmat choices because he knows he is less likely to get an interview on the basis of his ucat so might as well risk the bmat (assuming the exam and results are still after the deadline). That would be the strategic application.

We found at this stage going to a range of open days useful so going into the ucat dd had an understanding of the sort of course and place she wanted to apply to.

Some places he will stand a better chance with 3A* predicted, some places will consider the GCSE grades, others prioritise widening participation more. As Keele put it, they are all fishing in slightly different pools for slightly different candidates.

Applying strategically means considering the likelihood of interview offers. So say last year (assuming no contextual flags), you needed 3 A stars predicted for an interview at Exeter so if he applied to Exeter it would have been a rejection pre interview. You don't know when applying exactly where the cut off will be so it probably would have been worth a shot with only 2 A stars predicted, but if he had a high ucat, there would be safer places to apply.

@Ihavethisthingwithcolour most students applying will have similar stats. So Unis rely more on UCAT and BMAT results to select for interview (as @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor has perfectly put, every Uni does it slightly differently).
So looking at how a Uni selects and how this fits your stats is what we mean by applying strategically. No point applying to Newcastle if UCAT is less than 2,800, even if you've got 100 9s and 15 A stars. No point applying to Nottingham unless have a SJT 1 and a good verbal score. And so on.
It's a bit of a 'game' that you need to play. Many students fall into the trap of thinking they choose the Uni. Not for medicine. The Uni chooses you.

@Ihavethisthingwithcolour sorry forgot to talk about Oxbridge. They are no more competitive than other Unis (& in some cases less so). Cambs interview loads so less likely to get an offer after interview. Oxford look more at GCSEs (you need about 90% top grades). Both have fantastic outreach programmes and both are v helpful with advice if interested in going there - might be too late but ask about their summer schools. Course style not for everyone but if you like what they offer then have a go. But make sure you are applying because you like the course, not the Uni. It makes no difference where you go as a doctor (ducks as a certain poster might read this and come and have a go again 🫣).

Early entry UCAS data out and looks very encouraging. Applications are down more than I expected (number of people taking UCAT was a bit lower this year, so expected a drop), so cut offs might not be so brutal this year!

www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-releases/2023-cycle-applicant-figures-15-october-deadline