Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 4

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Anyone out there with DC applying or reapplying for Medicine 2023, please join a friendly thread for mutual support and useful advice.

Yes, it's the fact that you've had an extra years learning and are probably only doing 1. It's a fair enough requirement, but not to be retrospectively imposed on students who accepted an AAA offer in good faith. V v dodgy ground and I'd be challenging it if one of my pupils was involved.

Hi

My son has unexpectedly received an invite for Keele, rejections for all other applications and so he hasn't prepared at all. Can anyone advise if my understanding is correct and that the interview is online, consisting of two 15 min mmi's and that there isn't a maths test this year. Just trying to weigh up whether its worth preparing at this late stage or whether to focus on revision.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

I would have thought it was definitely worth preparing and giving best shot for the interview. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And it’s not like it won’t be possible to do some revision and some preparation simultaneously…

My daughter had an interview at Keele ( subsequently withdrawn application to firm another uni)

its two 15 min interviews, no maths test

Good Luck

Many thanks for your help

Hopeful646
This was us last year. 2 rejections, an offer from QUB and then a verrrrry long wait to hear from Leeds, DS’s first choice. He’s in his first year there now, has a GP placement and hospital placement already and is so so happy.

Have my fingers crossed for you, and everyone else on this thread, it was a lifeline last year.

Go for Bristol if this is where her heart is.

DS predicted (and got) 4 A stars for a level, did very well in his BMAT - but disappointingly in UKAT, despite lots and lots of prep. He’s at Leeds, his first choice and is LOVING it. All As so far. And he is absolutely loving it.

Not a boast - just to reassure you, as we <secretly, put on positive face to DS> felt rather panicked at his UKAT grades in the august before y13, and really worried about his exam technique/ ability, blah blah.

I think once they start, wherever they go, they are much of a muchness in terms of ability and she will be on an equal footing at the start of a new experience like everyone else.

Good luck and well done to her (and her support crew).

@sydenhamhiller thank you . Pleased to say my DS has an offer from Leeds , it's his only offer and he's really happy . Great to hear your DS is enjoying Leeds

Congrats to your DS @Hopeful646

Thrilled to bits here: DD just got an offer from Manchester. That’s all her offers done now. She’s so psyched to have choices, thanks to all of you for so much great advice 😍

Obviously Manchester has a dreadful reputation on the accommodation front and it’s probably the place I’d least like her to go for that reason.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice or has ever done an accommodation tour there. The impression I got when we were there for the interview (from the dentistry students doing the registration) was that the closest university accommodation is at least an hour’s walk away/25 mins bus ride. I may have picked that up wrong though. That made me think that private halls might be a better option but on first look, they seem very expensive.

Also wondering if uni halls are first come first served and if you have to firm before applying.

Thanks a million!

Manchester offer for dd as well. It will be her insurance option with Barts as her first choice.

Hooray! Great news, congratulations!

Many congrats to everyone on the recent crop of offers, especially those who've been waiting for their first one to come along.

I'm just dropping by to comment on Manchester accommodation after @Peachy2005 's comment
Obviously Manchester has a dreadful reputation on the accommodation front and it’s probably the place I’d least like her to go for that reason ,

Ds1's first degree was at Manchester and I'm quite surprised at this comment. While Manchester is definitely on the grungy side, the accommodation is relatively cheap, plentiful and the vast majority of students live in the same area. Ds lived in halls in Victoria Park which were approx a 10 minute walk from uni and there are others even closer, right on top of the campus. Admittedly the main 'student village' is in Fallowfield which is maybe a 40 minute walk in to uni but as an a former Manchester student myself can assure you that's not an hour away unless you are walking very very slowly! The main Oxford Road between halls and campus is a 24/7 student bus/bike route and rental houses for second years and beyond are easy to find and close. I suppose it's what you want when it comes to accommodation but I have to say, compared to ds's Bristol experience so far I'd say on accommodation Manchester would win hands down!

Congrats on the Manchester offers! I met with a friend today who has one DC at Manchester (non-med) and she said that it is fairly expensive for accommodation there compared to that of her other DC at Nottingham. I think she said it was about £10k per annum for her DC's house share for very standard room.

Sorry been off line, many congratulations to all the offers and those having a gap year, hopefully they will really enjoy it and it is something they will not get the chance of again x

Wow - I just don't recognise those prices at all. We must move in very different circles!! Ds was paying 450-ish a month plus bills for all his very standard grotty shared student houses in Manchester. I'm sure prices have gone up since then (pre covid) but in 2019 you would have been able to afford 2 years decent accommodation for ten grand in Manchester student areas.

@sydenhamhiller do you have any recommendations for accommodation please ?

Congratulations to the Manchester offer holders, they took their time, I think I saw somewhere that UCAS would be off line over the Easter weekend, maybe they were panicking about the number of people withdrawing because they did not want to wait any longer!

Re accom, I get the impression that Manchester has gone up a lot in recent times, as have a lot of places. I think it is difficult to find a nice central place for under £500/month + bills, and lots are over £600. Bristol is at least £150/month more in general.

Friend said her DD was paying £760/month including all bills so that is £9,120 for the year. I think they may have left it a bit late to secure something though as a couple of them were waiting to find out about placement locations.

We’ve firm Bristol gateway to Medicine this weekend and insured UEA.

For anyone on a waitlist for Plymouth, we have declined the place, hopefully it is offered to someone on the waitlist.

Can I get some insight as to what work / volunteer experience was undertaken by your kids as part of their medicine application? My daughter is in year 12 and has only just started talking about possibly applying and I’ve just in the last few days only become familiar with the terms BMAT and UCAT. She’s British but we live abroad and while she’s steadily learning Spanish, work experience in a health setting is going to be tricky to navigate as she’s far from fluent or even conversational.

There are various online "work experience" options that she could explore. Brighton and Sussex medical school do one. There are others too, but I can't remember who offers them.

There are some links here: https://www.medschools.ac.uk/studying-medicine/making-an-application/work-experience

She could volunteer to visit a care home - double win, she can practice her Spanish on people with plenty of time and get experience of spending time with unconnected elderly people. Otherwise any sort of public-facing job which involves interaction with the public works. In the UK you get a few people working in coffee shops with limited English.

Don't think it will be easy to get into Medicine from abroad (it is not easy from anywhere!) and check carefully with Medical schools which ones will treat her as a "Home" applicant unless you can afford international fees with no student loan. Being British may not be enough if you do not meet the residency requirements, and different medical schools apply the rules differently.

School organised some work experience for my dd at a local stroke care centre. We also wrote to a local gp surgery (but not the one we are registered with) and dd did a week there.

My dd spent a week shadowing in a care home (she emailed about 8 care home companies in our closest city and this one said yes), and also shadowed a cardiac consultant for 3 days at county hospital - they have a scheme you apply to for this but was unresponsive - was made possible really because the consultant's child is friend of our other child and he said if you have any problem with the scheme let me know. She used experiences and insights from both during interviews.