Open days

[dizzygirl1]

Dd is year 11 but set on Medicine, we're looking at 6th form open days but would like to attend some uni open days too.
Would that be frowned upon?
She wants to make sure she's picking the right A levels, extra curricular activities and volunteering. Medicine is so difficult to get into she doesn't want to miss any opportunities.

No, it's not frowned upon.

I spent a lot of time talking to a year-10 and her mum at a recent open day.

But you can find out about the right A-Levels at www.medschools.ac.uk/studying-medicine/making-an-application/entry-requirements. Best thing is to download the PDF.

We're doing a lot of the background work and looking at that site @NoNotHimTheOtherOne (I will check we have the pdf) but it's more the talks in the uni and understanding current students and how they've got to where they are.
I'm glad it's not frowned upon, I wasn't sure if I was going to be told off on the day!

That's a great idea to talk to the students. They get hired to help out on the day, often lead on any taster activities. They each considered at least 3 other universities for medicine. The Uni-place they got may not have been their first choice, so will be frank about what they wanted, & do or don't like. You can ask them pretty much anything "Is everyone super competitive with each other?" was one question I heard asked to a student. The answer was "Some people are, but I just let them get on with it, I only need my work to be good enough not better than theirs." For work experience I've had candidates talk about caring for a sibling or a grandparent, working in customer service, serving tea at the care home...

You need to register to attend so Keep in mind that you'll get marketing emails & letters afterwards. Also, after you hear one one "our department is amazing!" talk you start to feel like you heard them all. Some details in the admission procedures can change from year to year.

Although the "our department is amazing" talks can get repetitive, it's worth listening out for why their department is amazing. Different medical schools might have a different emphasis, e.g. research opportunities vs preparedness for clinical practice vs extent of early clinical exposure vs likely rankings in the MLA, etc.

@dizzygirl1 pop on over to Higher Education and have a read of the Medicine threads. Lots of useful info.
To keep all options open you'll need Chemistry, Biology and then anything else you fancy as a 3rd. An EPQ can get a lower offer at some places. However for Newcastle you can have A levels in any subjects you like !
For work experience it's good to have some (so you know what you're getting into). Volunteering is helpful as it shows commitment, time management and resilience. It does not need to be in a medical or care area though.
Every Uni selects for interview using different criteria (it's a bit of a game). But most will use UCAT or BMAT results to shortlist. This is sat the summer after year 12/Oct of year 13. Do not look at the minimum grades required (everyone has those). Delve deeper and look at selection for interview criteria.
For now I'd say get the best GCSEs you can as they count in some places (others just need you to reach a threshold of say 7 7s, and then they don't matter anymore).
Anything else we can help with, please just ask away. I'm a teacher who helps medics at my school (& mother of a 5th year 😊).

@dizzygirl1 and definitely ask the students at the open days any questions you want. They'll all have different experiences, but all want to help others get there (they are paid to be there but it is optional !).