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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Medicine - 2024 Entry

1000 replies

LaMereDuChat · 24/12/2022 13:48

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 😬?

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mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 17:27

@Groundhogday2021 not sure what 'aiming high' means 😊. UCAT Unis are her safest option, so if wants south then Bristol, Southampton, UEA(as said, UCAT is half the selection score after interview), Plymouth maybe. Need to score Notts if keen on that as needs finer details.
Manchester one of the few PBL heavy courses left.

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 17:29

@Groundhogday2021 interview styles can change but most are now MMIs. Southampton have panel and group stuff.

opoponax · 20/09/2023 17:30

Would avoid Birmingham and Cardiff without perfect GCSEs. Wouldn't get hung up on interview style as a factor for choosing. They just need to prepare for the different interview styles when the time comes.

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 17:41

About Cardiff unless Welsh. If Welsh you need all 9s normally.
Birmingham can score on their on line calculator, worth a shot of over 8.1.
But I do think if your UCAT is bonkers high then don't waste it. Apply to unis that interview the highest scores.

Groundhogday2021 · 20/09/2023 17:48

Thanks so much @mumsneedwine and @opoponax

I think school were saying don’t go safe with all 4 choices. If she did want to add a London one, would Kings work? It’s all so confusing esp as not all 9s at GCSE.
She is not too keen on the idea of PBL but I guess they all do it in some shape or form now!

NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 20/09/2023 17:48

Sorry for length. Please feel free to ignore...

You need two plan Bs and at least two plan Cs.

Plan B(i) - What do I do if I have no medicine offers but get the required grades? This is almost a no-brainer: you do UCAT again and reapply more strategically. If that seems like too awful a prospect, change direction because you ain't got the guts for medicine (degree or career).

Plan B(ii) - What do I do if I don't get the grades, regardless of whether I have any offers? There's a very large number of students in this position this year, but there's always a fair number. Anyone who assumes this can't possibly happen to them is both naïve and arrogant. This situation is more difficult because resitting A-Levels can be complicated, quite a lot of medical schools won't accept applications if you're resitting A-Levels, and those who will might be the ones you have no chance of getting an interview at because of UCAT requirements. If resitting isn't a realistic prospect - e.g. because you're just too far away from the required grades - you might have to consider doing another degree, which might mean taking up a UCAS 5th-choice or an alternative course offered by your original firm-choice institution.

If you do another degree, you must acknowledge the following two points.

(a) The chance of being able to transfer to medicine from another course is, for all practical purposes, zero. Most medical schools won't accept transfers from anywhere, not even from another medicine course. Some say they will accept transfers from other courses in their university, but the numbers they allow to do this will be tiny; they are also unpredictable (might be 5 one year and 0 the next). The exception is Clinical Sciences at Bradford, which has formal arrangements with local medical schools for a transfer process, but far more students apply for these transfers than the number of places available.

(b) Applying for medicine as a graduate is at least as competitive as applying as a school-leaver, and university careers services will provide much less support than your sixth form did. You also have to submit the application yourself, get someone to agree to be a referee and then actually make them write the reference. I've had quite a few applications from graduates that we've rejected because they didn't get a reference submitted on time. Some academics are unreliable and will often refuse to do stuff if they don't think it's important, so getting them (i.e. us) to write references that they don't feel are useful for students who they might not know very well isn't an easy task. (We had one graduate applicant whose reference stated that the referee had no way of knowing whether the student was a latter-day Mother Teresa or an axe-murderer.) Anyway, the point is that there is no guarantee your graduate application for medicine will succeed, so your first degree must be of value to you in its own right. Don't choose a degree just because you feel it will sound good to a medicine admissions tutor: make sure its something you can use if medicine doesn't come off. Some medical schools will only accept certain first degrees. The most obvious is Cardiff, which has designated feeder degrees for its graduate-entry programme, but some others will say the first degree has to be science or medicine-related science. Others will accept any first degree as long as certain A-Level and/or aptitude test requirements are met. You need to do this research before you start the first degree, not at the start of your final year.

Plan C - If medicine just isn't going to be an option, what are my alternatives? the answer to this will vary greatly among individuals. Some will want another professional role, so if medicine isn't possible they will do law, accountancy, etc. Others will want another patient-facing healthcare role and will look at pharmacy, physiotherapy, radiography, optometry, or any of the other 350 careers in healthcare. Bear in mind that some health professions require postgraduate qualifications and might be open to people with a range of bachelors' degrees, but some of the postgraduate courses only accept people whose first degree is also a health professions one (most commonly nursing). Other students will want to pursue something related to medical science. It's important to know something about your preferred alternative before you start out on the medicine trek, otherwise you will panic if something happens that makes medicine an unrealistic option. Remember: only about one third of people who apply for medicine get a place.

Health Careers

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 17:51

@Groundhogday2021 why not be safe ??? Weird advice - let's be risky for no reason. If she really loves somewhere then have a punt, but if she's no preference then get 4 interviews.
If she wants London then Kings is an option, but not safe. London is no better than anywhere else to become a doctor. No one cares where you get your degree.
But it's her choice. Getting 4 interviews allows for a couple to not go great. Getting 2 doesn't.

opoponax · 20/09/2023 18:31

@Groundhogday2021 just to add, Sheffield is a great option with a top UCAT as you are sure to get an interview and also if successful at interview a reduced offer of AAB if you score an A or above in EPQ. It is a lovely med school and they have no more PBL than other med schools (they all have it). They also have a really transparent and stress minimising application process. Last year DD was on track for all A stars and got them but it really took the pressure off at A Levels when she knew she could have one bad exam and still get Sheffield as her insurance, which she loved anyway. Only works if Sheffield is not considered too far north for your DD though.

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 18:54

@opoponax I live Sheffield 😊. Fab course, fab organisation and great city.

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 20/09/2023 20:26

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 18:54

@opoponax I live Sheffield 😊. Fab course, fab organisation and great city.

And the benefit of knowing the questions in advance for Sheffield and preparing for them will help with preparing for other interviews.

W0tnow · 21/09/2023 06:53

mumsneedwine · 20/09/2023 17:51

@Groundhogday2021 why not be safe ??? Weird advice - let's be risky for no reason. If she really loves somewhere then have a punt, but if she's no preference then get 4 interviews.
If she wants London then Kings is an option, but not safe. London is no better than anywhere else to become a doctor. No one cares where you get your degree.
But it's her choice. Getting 4 interviews allows for a couple to not go great. Getting 2 doesn't.

Why is Kings an option but ‘not safe’ with that UCAT?

Notcontent · 21/09/2023 09:11

I was wondering that too. My dd’s school said to her she should apply to kings with 2940, which probably is a bit risky…

mumsneedwine · 21/09/2023 10:15

@W0tnow because they score 50% GCSEs, so all 9s count as much as a fantastic UCAT.

mumsneedwine · 21/09/2023 10:18

Kings is probably ok with a v high UCAT, but it's not the safest option. If you have all 9s and a high UCAT then its good
Kings are not my favourite Uni I'm afraid as they never let students know they'd been rejected and just waited for UCAS to do it on 15th May. Was really mean. They were in clearing last year, so if you love the place then give it a go.

Groundhogday2021 · 21/09/2023 10:57

I’m not sure she will want London anyway as she is keen to move further away from home and we are in SW London.

She has narrowed her list down to Sheffield, Exeter, UEA, Southampton, Bristol, Leicester and Nottingham (we calculated her score there at 141 so hope we did it correctly!)

Booking onto open days at Exeter and Southampton but others are too late for application date. Do the unis let you visit outside of an open day at all?

It would be good to try to see Sheffield and UEA. She loved Leicester on the open day but worried that her score is only 59 for that so might be risky?

W0tnow · 21/09/2023 11:02

Thanks @mumsneedwine Yes I’d heard about their awful communication. My daughter has QMUL and SGUL and wants to put KCL and I’m gently trying to steer her away. But 🤷‍♀️ her choice I guess.

I am confused as to how medical places end up in clearing, given the number of applications/interviews? Seems bonkers!

LaMereDuChat · 21/09/2023 11:08

Ouch - if considering Newcastle, there's a very unhappy post on the Student Room's 'where should I apply' megathread from a parent who says the course is very disappointing.

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Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 21/09/2023 11:21

@Groundhogday2021 we visited Sheffield in the October half term open day. It was already on the list and submitted by then, we had been to an earlier one but had not visited accomodation etc. All the guides had badges on saying what they studied so we found a few medics and asked more questions. Doesn't help you to narrow down your options but Sheffield particularly like to know why you want to study in Sheffield so it was useful from that perspective.

NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 21/09/2023 12:21

I am confused as to how medical places end up in clearing, given the number of applications/interviews? Seems bonkers!

We have to predict what proportion of applicants (a) will accept an offer from us, and (b) if they have an offer, will meet the conditions. The number of offers made is based on these predictions. The predictions are based on historical data from the previous few years. Because of all the Covid disruption then the over-rapid return to 2019 grade profiles, a few medical schools' predictions for (b) have been quite inaccurate in 2023. Add to this the increasing reliance on UCAT scores - which, as @mumsneedwine has often pointed out, leads to several medical schools all making offers to the same students - and the consequent change in (a). A medical school that gets both predictions wrong is likely to end up either in Clearing or in trouble for over-recruiting.

mumsneedwine · 21/09/2023 12:25

And the latter is very expensive. One Uni ended up having to offer £10,000 to students to defer, and free accommodation. And then there was the year they all played swapsies - one of my Notts students ended up at Leeds without ever taking BMAT 😂
Many Unis are now using waiting lists so they call people on results day or make offers in the week before results, when they know the grades but you don't. I always tell students to prepare to be flexible with plans.

Sybill · 21/09/2023 12:33

Brilliant result for your DD @Groundhogday2021 From a parent’s perspective, if I was in your position, I would definitely prioritise taking a look at UEA and Sheffield if you can. Doesn’t need to be open days if you can’t fit them in - we looked at UEA whilst on holiday, just to get a feel for the place, which was supplemented by online research/videos. Reason I pick those 2 in particular is that UEA is probably most likely statistically to convert to an offer (because of the cracking UCAT) and Sheffield because of how good it is. I honestly came away from the open day there knowing that any child of mine that went there would be supported and the med students were all so happy. It’s the only one we visited that my DD wanted to apply to and can’t because of her UCAT score and she was really disappointed (fine now though 😂) Got a similar vibe at QUB, which thankfully she can apply for!

Thefatbutteredpig · 21/09/2023 13:27

LaMereDuChat · 21/09/2023 11:08

Ouch - if considering Newcastle, there's a very unhappy post on the Student Room's 'where should I apply' megathread from a parent who says the course is very disappointing.

My DS is going into y2 at Newcastle and loves it. We have no complaints about the course at all.

Dropped DD at UEA med school at the weekend. We’ve been so impressed with UEA since she applied/ interviews/ offer holders day.

Its a lovely safe place where the school care about the kids and DD is loving it so far.

Its also a cracking ‘safe bet’ option for high Ucat scores as the ucat score contributes to 50% post interview score.

LaMereDuChat · 21/09/2023 15:29

@Thefatbutteredpig - phew, that's good to hear re: Newcastle as the other account sounded bad. As you were, everyone applying to Newcastle :)

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Thefatbutteredpig · 21/09/2023 15:39

LaMereDuChat · 21/09/2023 15:29

@Thefatbutteredpig - phew, that's good to hear re: Newcastle as the other account sounded bad. As you were, everyone applying to Newcastle :)

@opoponax has a dc in in son’s year and I think another who has just started at Newcastle.

My son loves it, cracking city too. :)

opoponax · 21/09/2023 16:24

Yes I think my DS started year before yours @Thefatbutteredpig. He started in 2021 and loves the med school and the city. And DD applied last year and chose Newcastle too. We haven’t had any issues at all with the course so far and DS and friends are definitely all finding it sufficiently challenging.

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