Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 4

[opoponax]

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

I will tell her to look out for him :-)

Do you think students applying to medicine would achieve higher A level grades if they didn't have to do the extras such as Ucat, Bmat, work experience and interviews ? They all took a lot of time. I might be saying something a bit silly or stating the obvious. I am seeing that some of his friends did better than him but they were not performing better than him in the past at secondary school. I am trying to judge what is a realistic aim for my younger DS as well at the moment.

Do you think students applying to medicine would achieve higher A level grades if they didn't have to do the extras such as Ucat, Bmat, work experience and interviews

I think that some see that as the challenge of medicine, that you need to be able to juggle lots of different things to prove yourself. Dd got little support at school (which is why this forum, TSR etc have been invaluable) because 'if you want to study medicine you should be able to figure it out for yourselves'.

I imagine that Oxbridge applications are similar - multiple demands on your time as well as A levels. I suppose the only benefit is that they have had to be focused and on top if things throughout both years rather than a sprint to catch after yr12 mocks.

I imagine that is partly why people are often successful second time around. It is a brutal process and whether they got their places or not they have all made amazing achievements.

Yes. They'd do better if not applying for medicine. Interviews for us tend to always fall during mocks, and I'm sure the stress builds as they wait for offers. Anyone who gets in has done amazingly !
And JVT may have not been quite as helpful as Notts students would have liked. But he was one of DDs friends tutor and apparently the train and football analogies were legendary.

Hi all

Congrats on all the successes and commiserations to anyone who didn’t get their place 😢

Did anyone else get an accommodation offer from Newcastle that had to be accepted within 2 hours yesterday? DD was in shock because she just happened to get a bit of free WiFi in a department store on hols during the 2 hour window but she could easily have missed out on it even if she had been at home!! She got her first accomm preference but I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t seen the email right then.

Exciting times anyway 😊

Thanks for the stethoscope recommendations..

We’ve ordered a girly pink one!

@Peachy2005 yes, we also got the Newcastle accom email yesterday. I didn't realise it was only open for 2 hours but DD was quite flustered "need to do this RIGHT NOW"! She also got her first choice (Park View) so she is over the moon. Hasn't ordered a single thing yet as she didn't want to jinx results day so next week is going to be busy.

Sounds just like DD yesterday, it was an absolute panic. We were wondering if we had read it wrong in the rush and it might not have been only 2 hours to reply same day…next day would make more sense! What if someone was working and couldn’t access email?! She got Park View too and is delighted. We haven’t ordered anything yet, actually I’m lying I secretly bought 2 pans a while back “just in case” 😂 Next thing I’m hoping is to hear is something about booking their moving-in day - we have to book a ferry so that requires a bit of advance planning. Sounds like a mountain of forms and paperwork lies ahead but it’s so wonderful for them.

Very sadly, nobody else from DDs school who had Med offers got their grades so she’s torn between feeling really badly for them but excited for herself. Most of the others are repeating but one has decided to do Chemical Engineering!

DD got Portland green - trying to accept from a festival in Devon is challenging!

DD had Park View last year and it was brilliant! She is currently moving into her Year 2 house and realising how well designed (and plentiful!) her PV storage was!

If you have potential, new (or older) Med students in the UK (or anywhere else!) then please feel free to join our friendly Parent group.
Please answer the questions and tick the boxes to join!
www.facebook.com/groups/ukmedschoolparents

Hi Ladies,
just wanted to say hello and let you know my ds got aaa at a levels but was not offered a place at any uni. He couldn’t face clearing and has decided to have a year out. The stress and disappointment of the last year has had a knock on effect and he’s now not really sure if he wants to do medicine. It just seems like such a slog. I think a year out working will do him the world of good and he seam excited about making some money.
Good luck to all the kids whatever they end up doing.

That should say a star a star a at a level!

Those are great grades @MerchSwyddEfrog you must be really proud and with those grades he could do anything. I was thinking about your son the other day. So pleased the A levels went well for him. Is he planning to apply this year anyway or has he got another course in mind? At least whatever he decides to do the offers should be unconditional so less of a scramble at the end.

Thank you @HostessTrolley . I will come back when we have questions. Still just celebrating the news of getting into med school. :-)

@medParent ita an exciting time!

Daughter is already in week 6 of year 5, and on her third two week placement, having had two weeks each of infectious diseases, dermatology and oncology - 5th year starts early!

That is early @HostessTrolley! My DD starts year 5 next Tuesday!

Does anyone know the story with Freshers wristbands…what are they needed for? Thanks!

Is that Newcastle @Peachy2005? If so, they buy Freshers wristbands and it gives them access to lots of Freshers events (and drinks I believe!)

Whoops, sorry @opoponax . Yes it’s Newcastle; I think she decided against the wristband for now. She didn’t fancy the daytime events much and thought it was expensive for effectively 3 nights out - and she doesn’t drink (yet)! Freshers week where they don’t yet know anybody (to have their back on a night out) is a bit worrisome from a mum’s point of view 😳I’m sure we all have the same anxieties 😜 Moving in day is next Thursday …can’t believe it’s so soon…

Sorry to ask on here but struggling to know what to do - what tech do your med student children have? DD has an old laptop that is quite slow and wanting to get something faster / more efficient for her. Is it better to wait until she gets there (does uni give advice on this sort of thing?) or should we get her sorted asap? Any advice gratefully received.

My son is at Newcastle. He has an apple mac which he uses daily.

i did get an email through from apple with deals for students / free headphone things

My son, who is now in second year med, went into first year using his macbook that he had used for school. Quite quickly he realised that an ipad with a pencil would be more useful for taking notes in lectures. So he got that for Christmas, and has been using it since, he really likes it.

DD got a free laptop because she is dyslexic, but quickly realised that an iPad with pencil worked better, allowing you to annotate slides etc.

She also did not need the printer provided through DSA.