Which med schools are best?

[FindingMoMo]

I know there is no such thing as a best med school but which campus based University is best for a bright and sociable student, providing an excellent education in science, public health, practical medicine and creating doctors with excellent communication skills?

UEA, Nottingham, Birmingham are campus based - for a start. But all medical schools will give those skills so it comes down to where you are most likely to get an interview. What year is your DS in ? UCAT score will count for a lot, some use GCSEs and some ask for extra forms. There's a 2024 thread if you fancy joining ?

Whichever one you get into, basically. They choose their students. Not th forget way round. Which Med schools you put on your ucas form will be dictated by how well you perform in UKAT and/or BMAT.

This.

You need to be able to get into one first.

Though unless your child is planning on emigrating for decent working conditions, why are you encouraging them to do medicine?

Doctor in our family only got one offer, out of 5 applications - so that is where he went! He seems a very good doctor to me - well on the ball!

Thank you, where did he go @Quisquam ?

I'v been lurking on previous threads @mumsneedwine they are informative. Dc is in year 9 and convinced this is the only thing they want to do, we'll see.

Applying strategically based on what criteria a student fulfils makes sense, just wanted to see if there are some schools that are perceived by students as better than others. Ideally a 'progressive' place.

I know@Reugny , I am worried that they'd emigrate and generally am trying to steer in a slightly different direction, science, public health or allied health professions and law.

I've had 3 good friends including a very good one emigrate in the last 8 years. Others including relations who I'm not so close to have really cut down their working hours. I was worried about some of them until they said they have cut their hours.

@FindingMoMo go to some porn days as each Uni teaches in a slightly different way, but they will all cover the same stuff (GMC mandates it). Courses change all the time so bit too early to specify just yet.
But if he's interested in public health then Van Tam is a professor at Nottingham (& some students personal tutor).
For now, get best GCSEs, then some volunteering and some work experience if possible. Then ace the UCAT (BMAT going in 2025).

@FindingMoMo OPEN days 😂😂😂 whoops

Keep a completely open mind. Even with three x starred A predictions, the students don't get to choose. They are chosen. If they are lucky. Many with these grades and loads of relevant work experience, get four rejections. Of course, your DC is still very young, and a change of government and radical increase in the number of places available may make your question a relevant one once again.
But at the moment, it really isn't.

Your DS needs to focus on getting great GCSEs and then great A-levels, and making sure that he really does want this. So working with children, or elderly people is good now - just to see whether he really does enjoy working with the public and can communicate well.

We had a round robin one Christmas from friends who said their son was having great difficult 'choosing' between Oxford and Cambridge.
The next year's round robin said that he had 'chosen' Exeter.
We still laugh about it years later. The universities choose the students, not the other way around.

@Mybonnielad particularly as you can only apply to either Oxford, or Cambridge. Not both.

And once you graduate it really doesn’t matter. No one cares where you got your medical degree from except as an ice breaker in an interview/first day of your first job.

Another one with a doctor in family. He went to Cambridge and is doing very well. He's a consultant now - they say university doesn't really matter once you become a doctor but actually it does. You get a post nominal suffix of 'cantab' so people (employers and patients) notice. Of course it's not just that, he is a hard worker and loves his job.

Just to add: it is true that it's not just the uni, it's what you do after graduating.

There are different jobs and roles once they are consultants, eg head of audit, team meetings, head of department, being involved in patients pathways... contributions to medical journals, training other docs in a certain field, teaching junior docs, giving talks to local GPs, international conferences, panels in NICE, publishing papers, private work.. the list is endless. What they choose to do is entirely for them to decide.

Get a map think how far you would be happy to travel from
home - look at the info online and whittle it down to your favourites on your form - then see who you get offers from as soon as you get offers from some rejections from others may occur - chances are this lottery procedure with exam stress chucked in will get you to the right place!!!

BS.

@mumsneedwine 😅Glad you mean open days!

Then ace the UCAT (BMAT going in 2025).
I had no idea, is this definitely happening? Very interesting, is it a popular development with prospective students?

Will definitely focus on GCSEs as the first step but not all unis will look at GCSEs, right?

I mean that BMAT will be phased out.

There is no point choosing courses until you have a UCAT score. Going to open days can help - but you have to tailor applications closely in line with the applicant's profile. There a lots of sources of advice on how to do this, eg www.medicmind.co.uk/medicine-ucas-guide/where-can-i-apply-with-my-ucat-score/

It's completely different from any other subject. The usual rules, "ooh, do I fancy a campus?" just don't apply to Medicine.

Students who may love the idea of a southern campus end up in a northern city, as getting more than one offer these days is very, very unusual (unless an applicant is eligible for a contextual offer).

@FindingMoMo definitely going

www.admissionstesting.org/news/view/reforms-to-cambridge-assessment-admissions-testing-from-2024/

@FindingMoMo and Unis use GCSEs in different ways. So some, eg Sheffield, you just need to get their minimum (7 7s) and then it doesn't matter anymore. For others they score them eg Notts, and combine with UCAT. Cardiff select using GCSEs as first shift. It's v complicated (see attached spreadsheet for last year)

@Lemonsole applying for medicine is competitive but non-contextual DC do still get multiple offers. It is the case every year on the MN medicine threads. In a scenario where a DC gets 4 interviews, it often results in 0 or 3/ 4 offers. It can be a bit polarised as a DC's interview strengths generally transfer across their interviews. Also if you do very well in the UCAT, you still have quite a lot of choice between campus and city, academic or integrated etc.

Of course one offer is all you need and many doctors on here say all medicine degrees are equal.

It still remains true, though, that there's little point in getting excited until there is a UCAT score.
And some unis reach out to contextual offer students for their foundation or access to medicine courses.

Its certain that Cambridge assessment are not going to run BMAT (or other admissions tests) in future. What is not clear is whether another company will (most likely Pearson) will take them on in some form.

It is odd and polarised as mentioned by PP. DD’s boyfriend got all his offers for medical school (is now at Oxford) whereas his schoolfriend who seemed equally good got none. No idea why.