Medicine 2025 entry

[HGC2]

Inspired and slightly terrified reading the 2023 entry threads and how much prep has to go into a medicine application!

DC wants to do medicine, probably in Scotland as a Scottish student, doing well at school but this doesn't seem to be enough! School has little / no experience of applications for medicine as a not fantastic state school!

Can anyone advise what work experience / volunteering they will need (currently volunteering at sports club with hope of job)
what are the spreadsheets that people talk about?
How do you strategically apply?

I have one child at uni and they just applied and got a place, this seems like a whole other level!

Merging

DD just asked for a keyboard and mouse to practice ( I think it makes sense).
she has a MacBook, so the ones I’ve seen are wireless ( not to pricy at about £20). I’m assuming this is okay, even though she’ll probably be using a wired one for the actual exam, it’s just the practice that matters, right?
( probably over thinking things).

@marmiteandhoney congratulations to your DD. Must be a big relief, getting it over and done with and such a high score too.
DD, only just started practicing last week and a bit. Hers is towards end of August. She’ll have a couple of long weekends off, and has work experience for a week too, in between

dc is end of august too, working on the theory that they can cancel if higher results are not as hoped

@mumsneedwine thank you - yes Cardiff is DS' top choice and he recently attended a summer school there.
We have the added stress of having done AS levels and he's waiting for these results. If he does poorly it will scupper his chances of good grades at A level.

DD did her UCAT on Friday and did amazing. Scored a good bit over 3000, but is annoyed because while it's higher than DS1 (who did the UKCAT in 2008), it's also a teeny bit lower than DS2 (2014).

Teenagers are never happy.

Haha that made me laugh @Meowzabubz . Mine would be the same. To be fair, I was always very competitive with my older brother too. The worst thing was he was not bothered and was not competing with me! Well done to your DD on her brilliant mark. Still time to beat both brothers in her A levels 😂

Could anyone help with what would be a good score for a first UCAT mock, with about 5 weeks still to go until the real thing?

@snakewillow i also wondered the same. With Medify mocks

I think dd improved by about 500 marks from start to finish with revision and targeted practice. Some mocks she found harder though and there were some fluctuations so it wasn't always steady upward progress. The initial progress was faster as she got used to the calculator, question style etc. She got her highest marks on the actual ucat but it was within about 100 marks of her average score just before the test and she had come close to that mark before. However on a different day, different questions, her mark could have been substantially lower. There is an element of randomness and luck in the test too.

Congratulations @Meowzabubz' DD. Sympathies on the inter-sibling competitiveness though. I have three kids with an 18-month age gap - competition here is fierce! (Luckily, I think DD will be the only medicine applicant and they'll all go in very different directions!)

@snakewillow, I don't know either, but would also be interested. DD is about halfway through the preparation time she's allocated it. She did a full, timed baseline mock on the UCAT website at the start and another one this weekend and score has improved by just over 200, which she thinks is consistent with the other practice she's doing. She's spending lots of her time focusing on her weakest areas (especially the shapes one - not sure what its actual name is!). SJT still bouncing around like mad too.

Can anyone point me in the direction of UCAT scores required for Glasgow? I can't find anything but am probably looking in the wrong places!

Here you go. Not really a cut off as scoring is not totally transparent, but uses academic results and UCAT. If not Scottish it's a long shot as quotas mean not many places for RUK.

UCAT is a weird beast. 500 improvement sounds about right after 4-6 weeks practice. Some do more. Some never improve. Lots get their best score on the real test.

SJT - go with your gut, patient safety always comes first and use the GMC competencies as your guideline.

Thanks all, he got 2400 on his first one with very little practice beforehand and is now panicking.

My DC is creeping up but not by anything like 500. Taking the test next week. Given progress to date I don’t think there would be any point in postponing. I will be relieved to have it done as he needs a rest from it all. If he doesn’t do as well as hoped then we will look to other unis. Or consider a different career. All the doctors in the family tell everyone not to enter the profession anyway…

My DD got 250 higher than she ever had in practice. Keep going !

Congrats to all with such fantastic scores already - brilliant start to the process and helps for keeping options open!
DD found that she benefited most from focusing on the areas where she was weakest - her first AR score was about 200 (!) and she ended up with something like 780 in the real thing. There’s a real knack to it and once you’ve got it, it apparently makes sense. And her actual UCAT was the highest score she ever got by at least 100! She does think there’s a good bit of luck involved on the day with it though, so wishing plenty of that to all who still have to sit it 🤞

@HGC2 my DD is also interested in Glasgow and went to the open day. She said they repeatedly said they do not have quotas for RUK applicants, which people kept asking about. But there is a table on their website that really suggests they do as the UCAT score is higher for RUK applicants. Sorry I can't copy the link as it is a download, but look for 'MBChB Admissions Data 2020 to 2023' on the Glasgow site.

@ColouringPencils they do have quotas. Google Scottish Health Service and they are very clear. I'll try and find them after dinner.

Explains it. So quotas not a specific number. But v much give preference to bring Scottish.

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/uploadedFiles/IntakeTargetssforMedicineeAY_2023-24.pdf

Thank you, I knew you had said they had quotas and the doc I mentioned on their website also strongly suggests quotas, so I felt it a bit disingenuous they kept saying they didn't! And people at the open day obviously felt the same as they kept asking g for clarity on that question.

@ColouringPencils v surprised they said it. I'm contacting them this week to clarify as it could be they know more than me about next year. Or someone has read the guidance incorrectly.

Thanks, my dd is a Scottish student so only a plying in Scotland, Glasgow still seems a challenge to get into! She also loved Dundee

There is info on Glasgow's website - clearly shows the split between Scottish / RUK offers. The 2023 intake is 240 Scottish students, 66 RUK students.