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 😬?

My daughter is thinking of starting (and possibly completing) biomedical science and switching to medicine

If she starts it, she has to complete it. There are very few universities that allow transfers from biomedical science to medicine, even if you go back to the start of year 1. Most people who start another degree have to complete it and then apply for medicine as a second degree, either a dedicated 4-year graduate-entry programmes (extremely competitive) or a standard 5-year programme (no loans available for tuition fees for the first 4 years). And there is absolutely no guarantee they'll get into medicine at the second attempt, so the first degree has to be something they will find useful in its own right.

Anyone done any open days yet? We went to Exeter and loved it - although I bet everyone did with the lovely weather! What a nice place to be a student. Have Bristol next, then Oxford and Sheffield. Might take an unofficial walk around some of the London ones (Imperial and UCL) just to get a feel for them as the open days all clash with each other

It's the Great Exhibition Road Festival next weekend; some of the events seem to be at Imperial.

https://www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk/

That looks great @MarchingFrogs - thanks for sharing!

I might try thr lace-making, if I can get my act together to get there.

We’ve been to Newcastle and St Andrews so far - both great - next on the list is Dundee, Sheffield and Nottingham this summer then Liverpool in September - my DD wants to do the intergrated course

Notts have done this if anyone can't make the day. Nice look round with 2 students.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=RCYHvIcxijY

We went to Plymouth today - DS definitely wants to be by the sea. It was a great day and DS very much liked the University - aided no doubt by the complimentary Cornish pasties!

Hi all, I have been following all the medicine threads with interest.

DS1 wants to do medicine and he's already look at BSMS, Bristol and is off to Southampton this weekend.

We got our predictions today, which are A,A and A. Little bit disappointed because we were hoping for 3A*s. He's very ambitious about where he wants to go, i keep trying to keep it real...He's got all 9s at GCSE.

I hope that the A isn't going to be an issue - Maths is always his weakest.

Has everyone started UCAT prep? I feel like he's still in post-exam relax mode, and am feeling a bit nervous about that.

Anyway, sorry for waffle, hope for insight from others on predicted grades.

:)

Sorry, that should say Astar, Astar, and A...not sure what happened there...

@Mumofboys2006 his grades are fine 😊. No one will care as long as he is predicted more than AAA, or the ofd A star for a v few places. Exeter might be out but will depend on his UCAT. Everything will depend on that UCAT. GCSEs are good for Notts, Belfast, Bham, that score them.
6 weeks prep is the most anyone is recommended to do. Some do 4 and do well. It's better to do a sustained block rather than little bits over a longer time.
Or BMAT, but that's ages away.

@Mumofboys2006 and no one cares where you go to medical school, so there is no aiming high/low or in between. Look at his stats and find the places that he has the best chance of an interview. Unless his UCAT is over 2,900 Bristol is out - they don't care about grades as long as they pass the minimum threshold. Same for lots of places.

@mumsneedwine thank you that's really helpful.

He loved Bristol, so I will tell him about this. I really liked BSMS as am a Sussex grad myself 😅

I don't think we are thinking of Exeter tbh...will look at Birmingham...thanks for the heads up.

King's and UCL may be in the running. We are London based and are keen for DS to experience life outside the big smoke as that's all he's known.

If you look at this it should help you narrow choices. It's not mine, it's from the lovely Monkey, and it's a year old, but gives an idea of selection policies. There are many different versions ! Exeter now have a grid with both predicted grades and UCAT scored.

It's probably worth producing your own spreadsheet using Monkey2001's as a starting point. But I can see straight away that one has Sunderland using CASPer (it doesn't), Keele using R+R form (changing for 2024), Leeds not listed as a UCAT university, nothing about Manchester excluding SJT band 3, etc. There will always be a few medical schools making some changes year-to-year, and occasionally one or more will make a major change. Obviously, next year will see all the remaining BMAT schools making major changes.

Just wanted to make people aware, also, that final-year SJT has been withdrawn, and neither SJT (obviously) nor education performance measure (EPM, i.e. within-cohort ranking at end of penultimate year) will count towards FY post allocations from 2024: https://foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/foundation-programme-allocation-process-stakeholder-engagement-outcome/.

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne I'd not worry too much about F1 just yet. It will likely change a lot before yours get there (no one likes the version for 2024). SJT and EPM were not perfect but a complete randomiser is going to be interesting (& students don't like it as no incentive or reward for work hard).

Yes, things change every year. CASPAR being used by at least 2 next year, and Exeter have produced an amazingly complicated table. I think Monkey has done a 2023 spreadsheet, but again some Unis will be changing their selection procedure for 2024.

Dig down and find how they select for interview, not admissions criteria (everyone has those). Ask at open days.

And Cambridge say they are changing their course structure to include earlier patient contact. Finally 😊

Seems crazy that F1 allocation is random after all the hard work and focus on exams. Hope it changes again before my DC are through to that stage. Good that Cambridge are finally recognising early patient contact is a thing. DD really liked Cambridge but that was enough to put her off applying.

@opoponax I know. It's a bit mad. At least with EPM your work got you some benefit - although every Uni applied the rules differently so wasn't really fair. My DD loves the SJT, but only because she got a v good score 😂.
At some point they will surely have one standard exam for everyone.

Early practical experience is a big thing for DS.
should we discount Cambridge? Given his predicted?
Not thinking ahead to F1 yet tbh but probably should …
Thanks for sharing the spreadsheet @mumsneedwine

@Mumofboys2006 if he wants early patient contact then steer clear of Oxbridge. Lots offer it now so make it one of his shortlisting criteria.

And do not read about foundation training ! You will be begging your kids to go do something, anything else.
Hopefully these feisty junior doctors will succeed in their fight for fair pay and better training.

@Mumofboys the main criteria for both my DC was early clinical and away from London as that is home - similar situation to yours I believe. That helped quite a bit with their early shortlisting. They came up with some long lists based on what they had read about the courses and then focused solely on their UCAT prep and tried to keep open minds until they had their UCAT results and knew if they could apply to their top choices. It tends to all fall into place although DD had a bit of a dilemma with her fourth choice in the end as she couldn't decide between applying for RUK Edinburgh, Notts or Southampton. In the end she chose Notts.

Meant to say long lists based on what they learned about the courses and also most appealing locations to them.

Mine did the same. Shortlisted by type of course, early patient contact, full body dissection and campus Uni. Then when got UCAT applied to the 4 which gave her best chance of that interview. Ended up with 4 offers (pre covid).
Strategy works.