Medicine - 2024 Entry

[LaMereDuChat]

Just thought I'd start a thread for anyone else who feels like me... Dd has just announced that she'd really like to apply for medicine. It seems pretty much impossible to get into and I'm dreading the process as the odds are stacked against her - private schooled, grades a bit iffy as she's chosen a language as an A-Level and it's hard, though she loves it. Anyone want to join the pity party 😬?

Wise words @mumsneedwine ! Thank you.

Interim stats are out now

9th is same as interim last year so hoping this is good news for my daughter 🤞🏻

They usually cone down about 69 points when final ones are released. So v similar to last year.

Band 1s are up by quite a lot. I wonder if that will make nottingham cut offs go up a lot this year.

That will come down too I expect

Scores are out on ucas website

@Bananaandmarmite as @Thefatbutteredpig said you need to look at each one of them and see which one your child qualify. we are applying to foundation this year , we found that we can't apply for some as we don't qualify . They are more competitive than other courses as they have less places .

Give me a shout if you apply to any of the ones my dd applied to

So how do we interpret interim scores as a complete rookie? Does it mean that the cut off scores for last year for unis about the same so go off that info ?

@ipredictariot5 no one really knows. All it shows is the score distribution is similar to last year, so maybe cut offs will be similar. However it all depends on who applies where. The cut offs are determined by who applies, so top 700 ish will be interviewed. Could mean cut off goes up if lots with high UCAT have applied, or go down if more with lower ones.
Hope that makes sense !

So as long as you aren’t wildly off the cut offs from previous years apply and keep fingers crossed ?

@ipredictariot5 that's the plan 😊. It's not an exact science, but all you can do is apply where you are most likely to get an interview.

Am going slightly crazy trying to work it all out - so ucat 2720 SJ1 pred AAA plus an EPQ. A levels are Maths Chem PE so quite a few ruled out as no Biol. GCSE 3 x9 5 x 8 1x7 good work experience and I think would do well at interview ( I am an interviewer for a med school ..) but need to get interview!
no contextual points
currently Liverpool and Manchester ( we are in NW and wants to be within striking distance ) would love to apply to Glasgow but seems unlikely, of others QUB/( lots of family there) Keele/Sunderland and if really pushed Lincoln ?
any thoughts/ advice welcome

Leeds? I’m sure they take chem/maths combo. They are using ucat this year so bit unsure how the cutoff will work.

Lancaster also fine - but ii’s BMAT

Further afield KMMS / Leics/ Plymouth/ UEA don't require biology.

I sympathise with @ipredictariot5 - am clearly spending my evening in a similar way.
Would be v grateful of a reality check. DS scored 2720 SJ2, which is a bit tantalising as seem to be just under for lots of places, whilst still being apparently decent. GCSEs good (seven 9s, five 8s, one of them eng lang) so was hoping to focus on schools that score those. No context/wp

In the end, I reckon that Aton, Belfast, Plymouth, SGUL, Liverpool and if feeling lucky Leicester (assuming that changing their scoring of 9s flips him over the cut off) are the only options (I see @ipredictariot5 above thought Manchester with same UCAT OK, but surely last year's cut off was higher?). Can anyone spot any we have missed? Am wondering if the end of TAGs could ease the UCAT cutoffs for the ones that count gcses.....

The fly in the ointment is that I think they all except Aston and LIverpool (and the latter has such low offer stats) need an Astar, which is annoying.

@ipredictariot5 I don't think QUB would be a good option - I don't think you'd have enough points as it really needs perfect, or near perfect, GCSEs. She'd get 5/6 for UCAT, but they score 9 GCSEs and she'd lose 7 of the 36 points on offer for her 7 and 8s, so she'd get a total of 34 points (out of 42) - the cut off this year was 38. Also from their entry requirements, its A*AA with an A in the EPQ but reads as though you need an AS in Biology if you're not doing A level Biology??

Leeds isn't clear on how they're scoring for interviews, but my understanding is that its always been quite GCSE heavy (again needing almost perfect scores) and I think it will be a relatively high UCAT as its a very popular uni.

I think for Nottingham / Lincoln, you need Chemistry & Biology. For Manchester, I think the standard UCAT cut off was 2750 this year, so looks a bit risky.

Can I just jump in and ask about Manchester: DS has 2790 UCAT SJ band 2.
gcses all 9s bar 1x8 and AAA predicted - I don’t know why we thought his UCAT was too low…? Sounds like it isn’t….?

Sorry that should say 2A stars and 1 A predicted 🙄

Hi @ipredictariot5 , have you had a look at ARU? I know location is not NW, but they don't require biology, (as long as you have chem and one on other science, "to include Chemistry or Biology; and one of either Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics, plus one other. A Level. I think a UCAT score of 2720 would get an interview. Full disclosure, my son is a med student there and I have been very impressed with this new med school, it doesn't get mentioned much on this forum.

Think we're left with Liverpool, ARU, KMMS, Sunderland and St Georges; possilby Cardiff or Leeds as the wildcard. Again, it's the curse of 2720 (SJT3, though none of them care) :)

Also - just looked at the numbers taking the UCAT - seems madness that they will have half as many people again taking the test in the next 14 days... I suppose they know how many bookings they have, but do most people really leave it to the last minute?

Plymouth? UEA? Maybe Hull/York / Edge Hill

Lancaster Bmat?

Lots do leave it till last 2w in Sept. bear in mind, there are scores there from would be dentists.

The deciles will drop 40-60 odd points at the end of Sept.

That’s a great list @LaMereDuChat and still has options even within those 7, all of which would be brilliant. Best of luck to your DC in choosing - they’ve done really well to get such a good UCAT. My DD’s UCAT is lower and she’s really happy now with how her potential 3 choices are shaping up (she’s doing BMAT for 4th) - she was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t apply to Sheffield but has got over it now!!
@Thefatbutteredpig I may be wrong but I have a feeling the cut off for UEA will go up this year. It seems like such a no-brainer for a high UCAT person given that they put 50% of your score to the offer decision. Great option to help de stress an interview

@LaMereDuChat I was shocked too that there are still so many to do the UCAT!