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.

My DS s Bristol interview was cancelled and rescheduled due to strikes. It is now on the 22nd of February. I don't about the latest strike dates.

FYI

UCU Strike Dates

February & March

Wednesday 1 February

Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February

Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 February

Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 February

Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 March

Thursday 16 and Friday 17 March

Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March

@wijjjy DD's Leeds interview was postponed by 12 days due to strikes. She got about a week's notice of the change of date (albeit it's online anyway).

My ds got rejected from Plymouth, he’s gutted. Still waiting for Southampton interview invite but looking less likely now. Fingers crossed he has some good news from Cardiff and Liverpool. He felt the Cardiff interview went the best and Liverpool the worst but you never know.

I assume we’d have had some notice by now if DD’s Manchester interview this Friday was likely to be postponed…has anyone doing Manchester interviews been affected? Tx

@MerchSwyddEfrog
Best of luck for your DS with Cardiff and Liverpool x What is the UCAT cut off for Plymouth do you know ?

More generally the strikes don’t lend themselves to early decisions for offers etc, do they? But I’m not speaking out against them AT ALL. Just thinking of our poor dcs eagerly awaiting their fates.

Unfortunately lecturers do not need to give notice that they are striking, so it might not be known until the day, however I imagine that the faculty have a fair idea from previous strike days who usually stirkes and some will have either given notice of the intention to strike or not to strike. Some lecturers who are not striking may work to rule and not cover striking colleagues. None of which helps our dc and as @Thethingswedoforlove says it may delay results. It is probably worth looking on tsr at the Manchester page around the 1st Feb to see whether there are any reports then of interviews being affected.

Thanks very much @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor I should have thought of that! I see no mention of any cancellations or postponements on TSR in past few weeks so now assuming it should be all fine xx

@MerchSwyddEfrog sorry to hear about Plymouth. My ds was rejected too. Score was 90 which was way under the interview threshold. Do you know what score your dc had? I’m trying not to panic but being so way off the mark is a worry. However, Plymouth was his only virtual interview (which he disliked) and he feels his other interviews went better. He’s waiting for outcomes from Sheffield, Southampton and APU and also physician associate undergraduate course at Reading for 5th choice. The waiting is so stressful!

Wait is killing me. I wish universities instead of sending offers in batches just do it to all in one go 😔

2680 - The world has gone crazy!

@GladysGeorgina my ds scored 97 at interview so not great either. The score needed for a place was 113. It was his first interview though so hopefully his other interviews will have gone better.

@HAMROGUE i don’t know what the ucat cut off was. My ds was rejected after interview.

Such a hard time waiting.
I have just come off a call from a friend whose DD is doing midwifery - her DD's best friend has just dropped out.
Friend's son dropped out of Medicine and another from paramedic course.
Other friends kids have dropped out of Uni generally - not sure if this is normal or whether it is a post covid issue.
DD2 was saying, that there is immense pressure from school and society ( in our area at least) to go to Uni- if you don't then you have failed ( not my view at all).
I just hope that through all the hoops these kids have had to go through to get a place -they then enjoy Uni and hopefully the NHS will be in a better place in 5 years time!( if I lose hope I have nothing)
With regards to the apprenticeships - we can't support clinically the students / junior doctors - how do they propose we support the apprenticeship. Hospitals will say they can as they will get finance for it but it will just put more pressure on the clinical staff and I fear impact their training.
This could be my perception as I have fairly high standards/expectations at work which leads to a feeling of failure if I don't feel that Colleagues/Patients have been supported properly.
Sorry this message sounds depressing - it is just hard watching and waiting, whilst working in a service that is on its knees.
Anyway on that depressing note - lets hope we hear good news for all our kids - as everyone says they only need one offer.

I do worry about my DS going into all this and can only hope things do improve for all NHS staff.
I too think the apprenticeship route is deeply concerning.
Anyway DS is currently at his last interview (Exeter on line) and is looking forward to forgetting about it for a bit and focusing on mocks and school!

@coffeeandbiscuittime I think it will take years for the effects of Covid to wash through! Depending on which year the nedic who dropped out was, I have heard (from someone who teaches on the Plymouth course) that there were people getting places who would not have got the grades if they had sat exams and didn't have the academic ability to thrive on a tough course. There are always some who drop out because they can't pass the exams. With a DS who started in 2020, I would also say that it was so hard socially and his cohort still don't have the friendships you usually get in a Medicine cohort. That makes a hard course harder.

Hopefully the 2023 cohort will have a more normal experience with the bonus of more flexible learning developed during Covid times.

As always @Monkey2001 the voice of reason.
Yes I think the effects of COVID on the under 24's are with us for many years to come.
I think watching DD for the second year - although I truly believe the year out has done her wonders -waiting is hard.
I suppose having been an avid supporter and believer in the NHS throughout my career I am struggling with seeing how demoralised the younger staff are. I just hope that those coming through the system now get the same satisfaction out of their career as I have ( for the majority of mine).
Its just been a tough week - I will endeavour to be more cheerful on my next post.

Last interview done yesterday - road trip to Southampton. I sat on a bench in the sun for a couple of hours waiting for her and did absolutely none of the marking I’d taken along. Interview seemed to go fine- she met some nice applicants in the group section. We then went for a good lunch at a little Vietnamese place round the corner, which as we live in a rural backwater was HUGELY exciting . We had a chat on the way home about whether the interviewers feel the weight of all the work the candidates have done to get there and how life changing their decisions are, or if they can’t really think like that. Also the sliding doors nature of who you end up in a group task with and who you end up interviewed by. She has her driving test resit tomorrow and I really hope she passes that and can relax a bit.

DS had last interview yest too.
It does feel in some ways like a bitnof a lottery.
Sheffield and Birmingham said offers by end Feb. Exeter said May!!!!! That's a big difference....

May?? That’s seems… unnecessarily late?

Yup if he gets offers elsewhere that may be a deciding factor. What will they be doing until May!

May? From what I know Exeter was sending a letter saying the result of the interviews will be sent at the end of March.

That's what the guy who chatted to them on zoom before the MMI said.... May.... maybe DS misheard.

Last year pretty much all the unis other than Oxbridge had a waiting list going until May. For lots of them the application was effectively on hold until they had responses from the first batches of offers.

I imagine that will slow everything up, because potentially a few students holding an offer for place A but wanting really to go to place B, and vice versa. What happens if they only hold one place but still on a waiting list for others? Do they just not get an insurance place? I know that most places are AAA offers anyway, but I imagine some are more flexible than others on that.