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 😬?

Thanks @Sybill - it's easy to feel you're in no mans land scoring under 2800 as many people on here / TSR have scores of 2900+ with all avenues open. Mine is very happy with her lot as lots of the medics group at her school only scored around 2500. No way she'll do the BMAT though as she needs to concentrate on her A-level grades...

Bit scared of HYMS as SJT has a 15% weighting (she's band 3) and contextual is another 15% (we score nothing), so that's probably off the list. Likewise UEA may be dangerous as the SJT gets lumped in with the UCAT for scoring. Think the wildcard will be Cardiff - a friend's son is in the second year there and he has no contextuals / mostly 8s at GCSE. Given many people report high scorers being excluded there, it seems they look for somethng else completely random. Maybe it will be her!

I know exactly what you mean - my poor DD is surrounded by everyone getting over 3000!!
On Cardiff, there does seem to be something very specific that they’re after in the PS that seems to be the decider. Something about awareness of healthcare systems and education? It’s buried on their website (and on Bangor’s too) but I’ve actually got no idea what it means in practice. Might be worth a chat with your friends DS maybe?

Tagging @mumsneedwine in this.

Be careful with Cardiff if you aren’t Welsh

They are known for being opaque with their entry requirements and seem to be known for rejecting many RUK candidates.

mumsneedwine will probs have a more nuanced view of Cardiff.

@LaMereDuChat as a pp says, Welsh students get extra points (not sure how long thats been the case) but a few of my DD's friends applied to Cardiff and were all rejected (with good UCATs and GCSEs).

@LaMereDuChat Cardiff do give preference to Welsh students so many with perfect GCSEs and high UCATs don't get interviews if English. I'd think UEA would be a safer choice personally.
Sorry, busy days at work at moment as ours are getting their ucas in, but I'll keep checking back.

can i please ask about King’s - someone up thread mentioned they require strong GCSEs but on the website i only saw a 6 in English and maths required. Was I reading it wrong or is the requirement more of an unofficial one in that that is who is getting interviews? Also they say no threshold for UCAT - what does that mean? Just that they invite a top x people for interviews? I am probably not seeing things properly on there but it all feels a bit vague! Thank you so much

@stranger - that is the minimum requirements. So if you had a lower grade in english for example they would reject the application. However the minimum is nowhere near enough for an interview. I have an old scoring metric that was released as an foi I can try to upload a photo. I can't remember the mimimum you need or guarantee they still use this metric. My dd scored 125 on it and i don't think thats enough. Plus the admin is very disorganised and student satisfaction low.

I'm having a go i've never posted a photo before

And it worked! Remember its an old one, they may not score like this anymore but pretty sure its not on their website how they do score so it will give you an idea of how the minimum is not enough.
Birmingham does publish their scoring method - I Think it was 8.1? Needed for an interview last year. I know you need way more than the minimum gcse requirements to score that high. Hope that helps a little.

@Stranger3 agree with @speedyhedgehog - worth visiting the TSR kings thread. Very disorganised admin. They left a lot of people hanging after interview. Only got rejections through UCAS!

can anyone pls help with my Manchester query. Is it worth applying with DS’ scores? The spreadsheet would suggest not but wondering now…

I think Manchester publish last years scores their website.

https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/medicine/apply/data/

Over the last couple of years all university ucat requirements have gone up year on year. If it jumps by 40, he might just miss the cut off

Applying strategically will increase his chance of interview/ offer. UEA / Plymouth may be far safer options.

Thanks @Thefatbutteredpig - he has Birmingham and Bart’s on the list plus maybe SGUL and then BSMS for BMAT which we all really liked.

@mumofboys I guess it depends how much he likes it whether to take the chance? Its close and there will be safer options. My dd liked birmingham but I don't think she scores high enough and has safer choices. In the end its up to her though.

Same ucat here @LaMereDuChat . You aren't considering Aston or Plymouth? I thought they could be worth a look at our DCs' level. Or even a mad punt at Leicester? The KMMS contextualisation opacity I think rules that out for DC.

@speedyhedgehog - wow. That King’s scoring is sobering. Can’t see her making it if 125 was not enough! She got 6 A*s….(+2As and 2Bs…)
Imperial don’t publish the scoring either do they? Sorry, i dont mean to distract from people with more urgent queries as we are 2025 entry but where can I find the requirements if not on website - TSR?
@Mumofboys2006 thank you, i will head over to TSR but yes King’s sounds less appealing now :)

@stranger imperial is BMAT and none of mine have done that so I don't have any idea but i'm sure someone will. If you read the application threads on TSR this year for unis dc is interested in you will get useful info on where cut offs are etc. Although of course to make things complicated it varies a bit year on year and its not always clearcut where cutoffs are if a variety of things are scored. I saved that application scoring for KCL off a foi posted on TSR. But i don't know if thats whats they use now. Its definitely a real learning curve trying to figure out what is really needed to get an interview where.

@speedyhedgehog thank you very much. I honestly can’t believe how complicated it is!

Well DD just decided to put it in as we were going stir crazy. She’s gone Liverpool Manchester Sunderland and a no hope at Glasgow as she was desperate to apply
then 5th choice paramedic degree at Glasgow. Going to switch off for a couple of months now ! Good wishes to everyone and their DCs making these decisions and be back when the interview offers / rejections start rolling in !!

Gosh well done @ipredict dd! Is she the first on here to get her UCAS in?

KMMS contextualisation is all about where the GCSEs were taken. If the candidate's GCSE scores are substantially higher than the average for that school - in that year group it is definitely worth a punt. Not such a good option for applicants from grammar schools/ academically selective independent schools where even those with great GCSEs might not be much above the high average GCSE score.

I remember Keele saying that different medical schools fish from different pools, to get a wider range of applicants. KMMS fish from the average/ underperforming state school pool of applicants.

well done to your DD @ipredictariot5 it must be such a relief to press send and concentrate properly on A-levels. Looking forward to hopefully doing same by end of week here

@UCASstuffiskillingme (very apt user name :) ) Aston needs an A star and 40% of the places go to widening participation candidates, so that rules dd out. Leicester similarly needs an A* - three As will be a stretch thanks to her taking a langauge. We are too close to Plymouth for her to consider it, unfortunately. She wants to get as far away from south west seaside towns as possible.

@mumsneedwine thank you for your comments. I have passed them on to DD

Hi. Sounds like loads of good advice flying around today. If the angst be ones too much just send the form in. Too much over thinking won't help 😊

Wondering what to do about fifth non-medic choice. DS said not all unis accept non-medic personal statements? Is that right? He’s thinking biomedical science at the moment.