Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 3

[opoponax]

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

Anyone still on hold for an interview invite for Bristol? UCAT 2930?

@Stillonhold yes us! UCAT 2920. I think we will be borderline and might miss out. Lowest interview I've seen was 2960 I think.

More Liverpool interviews came out at around 3 today. There “should” be 1 more batch next week.

Also waiting for Bristol with 2920 B1…

To encourage those waiting for Bristol interview invitations, I have heard from someone who knows someone who knows ... that all (or virtually all) Bristol applicants are going to be invited to interview this year.

I must stress this is hearsay and probably BS but there's some reason to believe that there may be an element of truth in it. True or not, last year's Bristol interviews came out in batches later than the other unis ds applied to. His interview and subsequent offer also came later so there's plenty of time for those waiting to hear yet. If they're not going to interview you you'd get a rejection much sooner.

Thanks for replying. Seems like still on hold means still in the running for Bristol interviews. Hopefully we will all hear by the end of January 🤞

Yay! Interviews for Brighton and Leeds. Rejection from Aston, but still a big phew as she really love the idea of Leeds or Brighton. But a problem: she can't remember her BMAT essay .... She did Q3 - if anyone could DM me a rough idea of the subject of the question which might trigger her memory? Fingers crossed ...

Congratulations on the interview, must be a relief after the long wait! You could look at the student room BMAT thread - it is usually discussed there. www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7211426

gardensandchocolate · Today 10:25
"Congratulations on the interview, must be a relief after the long wait! You could look at the student room BMAT thread - it is usually discussed there. www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7211426"

Thank you so much for helping @Monkey2001 TSR have deleted all references to the actual questions in line with guidelines ... which is why I wondered if someone might just DM me the subject matter, not the actual question as I don't think we're allowed to do that ... Eeek ...

@gardensandchocolate I don't know why TSR are restricting discussion now. I think it is usually a couple of weeks embargo on discussion. May be worth looking at reddit. In a quick search I found this, which is a little helpful if she chose the first question:

Section 3: Essays were extremely interesting and accessible. Question 1 was a blessing if you asked the right questions including "what is freedom", "what are the different types of freedom (financial, physical, emotional, social, etc.), "learning may lead to understanding but not freedom", etc. Question 2 was your standard scientific question, nothing much to comment on as I did not give it too much thought. Question 3 was accessible but at the same time restrictive. Most students are bound to talk about the exact same thing. It would be extremely difficult to get a high essay score with that question.

www.reddit.com/r/BMATexam/comments/y8x8z9/bmatmedics_2022_bmat_analysis/

@Monkey2001 You are amazing! Thank you so much, I'd not thought of reddit!

i think I probably shouldn’t have read the thread in active about junior doctors hours, dear god

@Cathpot
Which thread was that please? I've googled too and can't see it

Did anyone watch Maternal on ITV? Should probably be required viewing for anyone in Medicine wanting to “have it all”…bit depressing!!

I no longer work in healthcare or the NHS (Specialist Nurse) as it was too stressful after having my children. I did have guilt regarding this during the pandemic so I came back to work in the NHS to contribute. Unfortunately, it was just too stressful to stay on and my other job pays much more and is also more flexible. I am really struggling with my DC’s choice to study medicine. However, it is DC’s choice and I have reassured DC that if DC decides it’s not for them at any stage they can change degrees or that there are loads of other things they can do with a medicine degree. The NHS needs to sort out the pay structure and I am hoping this will improve in the next 5 years!

@wwyd2021medicine
I don’t know how to link to threads but it’s in the work section and called something like ‘question for junior doctors I’ve just read this will hurt’

I heartily do not recommend it

@Stillonhold
I also hope it will have miraculously improved in 5 years if DD gets in. Or that she can find some corner of medicine that is less stressful. It’s the shift and sleep pattern that worries me. DH has a job that regularly means missing a full nights sleep and I am very aware of the health consequences of long term sleep deprivation.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/4722254-questions-for-doctors-ive-just-read-this-will-hurt

I am encouraging DS1 to do the MBPhD, which is an option at some, including St Andrews/Manchester. It means he would take 9 years to qualify, on top of his gap year, but would give him more options later as he could get involved in research. Also gives the govt an extra 3 years to move on from the current crisis. A friend who is a surgeon told us at the outset that one of the most frustrating things is that you have no control about where you live and work or the hours you work. His words were "You will always have a job, but it probably won't be what you want, where you want to be and the hours you want". Now we can add to that, you will not earn as much as a newly qualified solicitor until you are a consultant, aged at least mid -30s, with life/death responsibility all along the way and a loan of £150k. 😬

DS2 wants to be a GP which gives you much more control. He is also considering applying to the armed forces GP programme as he loves fitness and exercise stuff.

I had another chat with DS about the contents of various threads like the Junior Doctor one. To make sure he had fully grasped what it might be like. He is still keen. He says it's his vocation and expects it to be his life for the foreseeable (ie not have much other life outside medicine).
It's sad. I guess he needs to male the most of the first couple of years of uni when he will get hols etc and then buckle up for the ride.
Also hoping at least the pay improves in the next few years.

@Monkey2001 there are not many NQ solicitors earning anywhere near what a consultant gets paid!!!

A friend's DD is earning £70k in Nottingham and has friends at the same level nominally working in London for £100k, but actually still living in Nottingham as mostly remote. I am calling "newly qualified" after articles. She is 25 or 26. Consultants start on £88k at a minimum age of 32.

I am sure many lawyers and accountants earn more than £88k when they are mid 30s.

ST6-8 £58,398 8-10 years after graduation.

www.lawsociety.org.uk/career-advice/becoming-a-solicitor/how-much-do-solicitors-earn

@Monkey2001 Don't want to derail the thread but am always surprised by the misconception that lawyers generally earn well. Of course some do, but the Law Society minimum (upon qualification) is £23k in London and just over £21k in the regions. I don't think many firms in fact offer such a low salary, but high 20s / 30s are (or at least, were) much more the norm in the regions. From that law society link, the average salary for a salaried partner is £65k (maybe 8/10yrs PQE - so age 32/34 if you go "straight through"), £130k if you're an equity partner (most partners will be salaried partners to start with, some will progress to fixed share partners, some will eventually progress to equity partners). Those averages are of course pushed up by London earnings / earnings higher for corporate / niche specialities.

There has been a bit of a bun fight maybe in the last year or so resulting in NQ salaries going up (although London / Magic Circle / City firms have always been high) which your DD's friends seem to have benefitted from, but lots of solicitors, with more years of experience, will be on less than £70k, in some cases, far less.

The other point to remember is that training contracts are hard to come by. Can't find upto date stats, but for 2021/22, 21,650 students were accepted onto law degree courses. The same year, there were only 5,500 training contracts. For lots of law graduates therefore, there's no job / training contract waiting for them after graduation, they'll be working as paralegals earning maybe £15/20k to get a foot in the door, some for several years, before they start a TC.

@Africa2go that is interesting. I know that getting a training contract is a similar ordeal to getting into Medical School, but had not realised that our friend was such an outlier. I do, however, know several people in their mid-20s earning £60k+ who did not have AAA at A level.

There was an advert in Aldi today for deputy store managers - £12.70/h + £4/h extra when running the store. An FY2 is on £34,012 for a 40 h/week contract, which equates to £16.35/h. So they don't overtake an Aldi Assistant Manager running the store for at least 3 years after leaving medical school. They also probably have much more student debt that the Aldi AM, as well as having to pay for their exams and insurance.

I think the fact that junior doctors work 48 hours/week distorts comparisons with lots of jobs, as 48 hours at the initial rate of £14.12/hour is £35k (and according to that other thread they are actually working many more than 48 hours with no extra pay).

I think the working conditions are more of a driver for the mass exodus, but I don't hear enough commentators referring to hourly rates of pay.

Yes, it's insane isn't it that you can earn more as a supermarket manager than you can as a doctor. Have to say though, thats nothing new. In the early 90s when I graduated, one of our group of friends went to be a store manager at Aldi (on a graduate type track) and started on £30k - not sure how that compares to junior doctors' pay in 1994 but trainee solicitors were earning just over £10k at the time.