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!

@islaoo she's got lots of options ! Should get 4 interviews if applies carefully. It's a v good UCAT (my lowest with offers this year was 2540).

Do look at Notts elite athlete programme. It's amazing !

I thought the same too about Sheffield @Optimum19 - their website says the cutoff score of 2440 was the same as the threshold UCAT score. I’m sure someone with a UCAT of around 2500 on TSR got an interview there last year.

It's the 3rd column you need to look at.

4th !!! It's come down after the various adjustments, so 2640 (that'll be contextual with one if their schemes).

Scrap that. Out and not paying attention. I had students rejected either UCAt of 2700. Lowest I know of last year was 2780. I imagine the 2440 is due to their contextual programmes.

The Notts athlete programme is great. My son had a medicine interview 2y ago under the athlete guaranteed interview

Thanks! I’m not sure she’s elite enough! She competes regionally not nationally - but will double check.
mumneedswine - I read your comment to DD and she’s feeling much more positive today so thank you. You’re so lovely for providing all this help - your students are very lucky to have you!

😂 my Sheffield advice last night was due to gin. I need to stay away from MN when out.

I'm contacting Sheffield on Tuesday to find out why their website is giving that cut off as it seems misleading. But I want to check as things can happen later in the cycle - it's most likely WP students though.

I'm starting med school this year having just done A levels as long as you have a plan from early on its manageable but there is quite a lot to juggle. Volunteering needs to be long term ideally so think care home but really anything you do can be beneficial as long as you can say what you learn from it. Same applies with work experience. UCAT is another big thing. I'd say get medify or medentry and revise 6 weeks before.

What is the minimum UCAT and are there others with this option as my DD has a lot of high level sporting achievements

@SoTiredNeedHoliday think it's 2400 but if email them and ask if eligible and if so what do they need. Only one I know of that's guarantees an interview.

So - you need to email the sports dept. They then come back to you to ask for evidence of achievements and make a decision if its a sport they are interested in.

They then email admissions to flag your application and you are fast tracked to interview.

Ds was interviewed by Notts but rejected.

Newcastle offer a grade drop for talented sportsmen/ woman. We didnt persue this but its definitely was in their admissions policy. Ds ended up here and loves it. Their partners contextual criteria is very broad and its a BBB offer.

Edinburgh too but wd advise to steer clear if not got a super high >3000 ish ucat plus a band one. Ds interviewed here too.

Last one was UEA - its a little gem of a place. Worth considering ( especially if decent ucat as the ucat score / sjt contributes to 50% of interview score) My dd has just completed y1 at uea and couldnt be happier.

Newcastle athletes

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/applications-offers/decisions/

Notts - fast track to interview about 3/4 down the page

www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/study-with-us/undergraduate/undergraduate-medicine/undergraduate-selection-process.aspx

They need to separate out the figures for WP students.

Edinburgh too but wd advise to steer clear if not got a super high >3000 ish ucat

My cousin’s DD (rUK) is starting there is a couple of weeks. Had a UCAT of 2900 (not WP)

I got an offer with 3K band 1 unfortunately I was also WP though so it doesn't give any useful info. Assuming that it is the same as last year though they favour Band 1 with it having a 'station' at interview. Basically you get extra points at interview if you got Band 1

Hi, really looking for some advice. My DD scored 2640 B2 in the UCAT but she is not contextual, nor an elite sportsperson nor Scottish/Welsh!

She has good GCSE’s 99999999987 and predicted A Levels of A star (Chem) , A star (Physics), A (Bio), A (Maths). Also has a lot of work experience and volunteering. Where would you recommend applying? She’s very downhearted as she knows her options are limited. Also she’s read that the scores on websites are usually for contextual. Are there any safe or reasonable options?

@mumneedswine
you’ve created a fantastic spreadsheet which is a great starting place. Are the UCAT scores mentioned contextual? If so, do you have a non WP version please? She would really like to consider Leeds, Liverpool, Keele, QUB, and maybe Aberdeen/Dundee (RUK) if possible. Are any of these options reasonable? She appreciates she’s very close to (or below?) the cutoffs of so many! Really appreciate any advice

The GCSEs are good so apply to places that will favour those. Unfortunately leeds only started using UCAT this year. I am starting med there this September and got 3k band 1 for reference but it's anyones guess as to what the cutoff is and I was also contextual. I know of someone with around 2700 B3 UCAT that got an interview at Liverpool but it would still be risky. If you look online there will be a lot of info about which universities have lower cutoffs. I'd say have 2 minimum that you are almost guaranteed to be interviewed at and then can be a little more ambitious with your other 2.

@Midnight001

UCAT cut offs are not contextual (v few offer lower cut offs - mostly lower offers & some extra points for selection). Newcastle do have lower cut off for Partners.

Leeds will be an unknown, although UCATs were high this year.
Liverpool a good choice, as is Plymouth.
Belfast good too as fab GCSEs.
Keele a maybe if fantastic work experience and some luck (they were inundated this year and were still deciding on interviewing in May)
Scottish Unis worth a go as they use GCSEs but be aware quotas make them more difficult if not Scottish.

Think Edinburgh ended up at about 2,900 this year.

I am pretty sure Leeds did lower the cutoff this year for WP because I heard people at interview say they got scores as low as 2600

There is a chance, now all Unis are UCAT, that thresholds might come down a bit. Combined with lower number of applicants . Total guess work by me but if close to previous cut off might be worth a punt.

Thank you, that’s really helpful. We’ll have a look at your suggestions & the spreadsheet! Through interest, do you know approximately what the lowest UCAT was for Leeds this year? Also, would Cardiff be a reasonable choice even though she’s not Welsh? Or is it best to avoid?

What are people’s thoughts on the newer medical schools? Thanks

@Midnight001 Cardiff seems to be taking about 10 English students a year (my gestimate), all with perfect GCSEs. So, it's possible, but very competitive.

Don't know lowest Leeds cut off yet and hard to know how they are exactly using all the different data (I am trying to find out !).

And I think the new medical schools are great. Small, but have state of the art new facilities and all have been led by older Unis to get established. They are in less prestigious places (which puts some people off) but they give great training and opportunities can be more as less students on wards (my ex students have told me this). Some have quite narrow criteria though so do check if you are eligible.

I would definitely go for a new medical school. The year groups are huge in the older schools Manchester about 350 now and hospitals struggle to accommodate them all and quality of teaching can be poor (I know as am doctor who has med students - obviously my teaching is great 😀 - but we get sent too many in too big groups and NHS is so busy it’s hard to find time to teach) newer ones can have year groups <100 and the areas are v invested in them - there are often Doctor shortages so huge amount of effort put into quality teaching. Selection wise it can be weighted to local students with contextual data as evidence is if they train locally they will stay to work locally. However that only covers a proportion of places and people out of area can apply but worth going to open day GMC are inspecting Year to Year so it all has to be excellent standards
students enjoy being students wherever they are. As a med student in Newcastle I was placed in Sunderland and Middlesborough a lot and had a great time.
its all the same degree and it does not matter at all where you study.
Keele was a new medical student once and it produced excellent students right from the start

I see Anglia Ruskin (based in Chelmsford) gives additional weighting to those from Essex. Also lower UCAT but hasn’t been mentioned on this thread.