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!

DD was a swimmer, so lots of 6.00am starts, galas at weekends etc. She volunteered with a disability swimming group who used the local leisure centre. It was perfect, partly because it was limited to an hour a week, but also because it was one to one, using hoists, people with medical equipment like tubes, and people who could be outside their comfort zone. It was rewarding as the swim sessions and the social soft drink after were often the highlight of a house bound persons week. It was then easy to talk about link the learning from sharing her own love of sport with others.

DD was also able to sign up to help with a five day residential camp for disabled people. 24 hour support one-to-one. Again a huge learning experience. (And one which ignited her interest in biomedical engineering which she studied for her intercalation, as she felt there was scope to improvethe gagets used by guests.)

@Justlikingit this is Nottinghams process. So guarantees an interview as long as have 7 7s and a UCAT over 2470. But make sure you get it sorted beforehand as what counts as elite varies for each Uni. Notts has been sports Uni of the year many times over last few years.

@Needmoresleep snd @mumsneedwine
thank you both. This is why I like mumsnet. Very useful information. I know it’s way too early, but one of the ones DD likes is notts.
We’ll start to investigate
Also she is thinking of volunteering around her sports too, so looking into helping coach younger groups or something similar

Hi @mumsneedwine just wanted to clarify for Nottingham and elite sport did you mean 2740 or 2470? Just wondering if it’s a typo.
She’ll be aiming for higher ( obviously), but just didn’t want to get too excited, in case it’s a typo.
All fact finding at this stage

Competitive university sport and medicine can be a difficult mix. It's not just the training, but away matches all over the place. You need to be able to get on the coach pretty sharpish for a Wednesday afternoon match and it becomes near impossible after second year. There is a lot of group project work and inevitably peers will suggest meeting up on a Wednesday as they are free.

@Needmoresleep I hear you. It kind of mirrors her life now. Up and down the country at weekends. She plays with some university students now. I can imagine it getting increasingly difficult. But she loves it very much and it has instilled so much discipline in her. She’ll probably have tough decisions to make as time goes on. But for now enjoying her sport and it helps her relax as well.

I have a sporty DC in university as well, still plays, at county level though.
So we are kind of used to it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66431376

@Justlikingit I actually can't find a minimum required for next year, just not a 4 on SJT. Here's the criteria - have a v good read to see if I'm wrong (need to apply for elite sport before UCAS deadline, which I imagine is the same for other Unis with this as an option).

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

Elite bit explained here

www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/study-with-us/undergraduate/undergraduate-medicine/applying-to-medicine.aspx#Elite_athletes

I am not saying that combining medicine with elite sports training can't be done, but it is very difficult. Here is another example, this time a vet:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-4287748/Laura-Muir-balancing-track-career-veterinary-degree.html

DD played for a University second team in her first year with hopes of moving up to the first team in her second year. However there were problems in that a intense teaching load means that it was difficult to get to the coach in time. (The firsts were in a National league so it would have been even harder, and she got injured.) And other things. It turned out that team mates thought she was not sociable because she only attended pre-pres after a match, and skipped the various cider drinking challenges etc. She had a rural GP placement the following morning so had to leave her halls at 6.00am in order to get the bus into the city centre and then the once an hour bus in order to be at the GP for 9.00am. And that was before the pressure from peers to meet up on Wednesdays to complete projects. That said she enjoyed the chance to make friends with non medics, at least until they graduated (or rather Covid struck), and she started her clinical placements.

I think it must be so hard. But DD had 5 students in her year who were elite sports people, all competing at a national standard. She did say they were all super committed to studies and sport, although one did the medics musical in 4th year. And all still managed a social life. This was at Notts 😊.

Has your other DD come across many athletic vets at Bristol? DD knew one semi-pro sportswoman who represented her country at Bristol but she was not a medic. Even though DDs sport was doing really well, the University did not seem particularly interested and did not offer much in the way of incentives.

Nottingham, from everything you have said appears to be an exceptional medical school and certainly one that athletes should prioritise. They vary. DDs experience was, if anything, Imperial was even less sports orientated though the medic team she joined had a good time.

I’m glad we are looking into all this now. So much to take in. Thank you again @mumsneedwine
sounds like she might be eligible, pending UCAT, of course. Mustn’t put the horse before the cart…

inspiring read @Needmoresleep. I also know of a junior doctor, now in her 2nd year of speciality training who has just given up her sport at national level to focus on medical training, exams etc

@Needmoresleep I'm not sure the students would have called it outstanding for admin or pastoral care - they have changed a lot because of their feedback. Some v big mess ups over the years ! But the Uni does seem to be v good for sport.
DD does know one vet who sails for Britain and one who plays polo at a high level (says it all about Bristol 😂). I really don't know how they have the time - maybe do less socialising than mine 😊. Hope your DD has had a good first job. Mine is on nights which was apparently fun last night in the gale.

Wow!! I missed this earlier

@Justlikingit It might be worth having Exeter on the radar for sports, especially in the early years because the lectures are just recorded so there is more flexibility and self-directed time. Only about 10-12 hours they need to be in uni a week. @MidLifeCrisis007 might have more insight. No grade reduction though and unless contextual she would need high predicted grades.

Most courses seem quite open to having students after gap years so she could persue her sport for a year or two perhaps before committing to her degree.

Newcastle have switched to compulsory lecture attendance whilst in previous years there was more flexibility around recorded lectures. Maybe a consideration for your DC @Justlikingit.

And of course consider that all this information may change by the time your child starts.

I sense that Nottingham is the one to have top of the list if sport is your "thang"! Scholarships and preferential entry are certainly an incentive.

But as @Unexpecteddrivinginstructor says the standard of sport at Exeter is also exceptionally high and it's possible to train and compete at top level as the course has so few compulsory contact hours. DD loves the fact that lectures are recorded. As the medics all live together on the same campus in the first year, there's no shortage of contact time with your fellow medics though!

One of the most successful sportswomen of 2023 (a world champion in fact!) is a newly qualified Cambridge medic, proving that anything is possible as a med student if you don't value your sleep and social life! https://www.britishrowing.org/athlete/imogen-grant/

Just did want to add though - one of the things that really disappointed me about Notts (which is where DS is) was with this big focus on elite athletes, there is much less for ordinary, non atheletes who wouldn't mind trying new things and keeping fit.
Now part of this was a consequence of not going into catered halls on campus. DS wanted self catered (so went to Broadgate Park). But while the catered halls on campus apparently all threw in a first year sports membership, the non catered halls didn't.
And what I thought was pretty poor was: a) the only real option to enable him to do any sport was a £300 sports membership - which he felt, with everything he was doing, he couldn't justify - he just wasn't going to use it enough; and b) pretty much all the sports clubs require you to have sports membership as they use the sports centre facilities, and you couldn't join them without it. DS did try archery, as he was told, eronerously, that archery was the one club that didn't require a sports membership. But it turned out that was not the case, so while he enjoyed his one free trial, there was no question of him taking it further. And he didn't both to even try for any of the other sports or physical activity related clubs.
As a consequence, even though he does enjoy physical activity, he did no sport or work out or anything last year (except a little bit of running and biking around town) because there was this £300 hurdle. And of course from second year they tend not to live in halls, so unless you are either a particularly sporty or particularly rich medic, I imagine most will have dropped out of sport if they have every started.
As a consequence, one of the things we have been very carefullly doing when checking out universities for DD (not interested in medicine!), is asking this question - what sort of sport options are there for people who are not elite athletes but generally enjoy sport and physical activity and have not had a lot of options until now to try all that is out there? And how much is it going to cost? And I, certainly, was impressed by Bristol in particular at the open day - it seemed like there was a big push to involve ordinary students in sport and physical activities and certainly you could join sports society A or B (or A and B) without needing to pay anything like £300 for an all in sports membership. At Nottingham, I wonder if all the focus on the elite athletes might be great for them and those near the top of their game, but possibly in some ways detrimental to the less elite sport student.
On the other hand, something we hadn't properly checked out but turns out to be very good at Nottingham is drama. They have a fully student run theatre (I gather this is unusual) and there are lots of opportunities for students to throw themselves into drama if interested (DS acted in a play last year and assistant directed another, and has made a whole bunch of his non medic friends through the theatre). This year (second year) I get the impression he hasn't really had much time for it (known medic problem of course), but at least he got that last year, and one of the people he is sharing the house with this year is a non-medic who seems to spend most of her time in the theatre, so I don't think he can be too divorced from it.

@Bimkom has he not joined all the medic sports clubs ? I don't think you need the sports membership for those (DD did 3 during the years and never paid). And my DD joined a gym in Beeston that was much cheaper to keep fit.
He'll love the medics musical in year 4. No idea how they fit it in around placements all over the place (& in my DDs case, covid rules), but it's brilliant. Lecturers take part and songs are changed to be more Notts specific.
But it is a Uni that likes its sports. And a good choice if you are amazing.

Lots of things to look at when choosing. My other DD loves Bristol, although it's much more expensive.

When doing open days ask about placements as not all Unis provide accommodation or travel costs. For Exeter you will be in Truro for 1 or 2 years. For Newcastle you could be in Durham or another town I've forgotten the name of for a year or 2. This is a not an exclusive list !
Some provide free accommodation if on placement or pay for petrol of in travelling distance (many car shares go on).

I don't quite understand it, but it sounded like even those you needed a sports membership for. We went around and around about it for several months. I did offer to pay as a birthday/Xmas present (bit more than we would normally give, but I was just so upset at him not having the chance to work out at all) - but he said he really didn't feel, even if we were paying, that he could justify that amount given how little he was going to be able to use it. If there had been medic sports clubs I can't believe he wouldn't have known (he is pretty savvy, not like my DD who just won't notice or find out). The only investigation I did was into the actual sports membership itself, as I was so stunned by the idea that there were no cheaper options that I went and read their website quite carefully. But other than that, I am relying on what he was telling me. But I would really surprised if he missed something obvious like that.

He will really enjoy the medics musical, he didn't have time to sign up to the musical theatre club as well as the straight drama club, and said he preferred the straight drama (which was interesting, as he has a distinction at Grade 7 in LAMDA musical theatre, so I would have thought he would have gone for the latter). Drama/musical theatre has always been a bit of a passion that he has actively sort out even where it wasn't easily available (lots of ferrying him all over the place in earlier years). He used to work out regularly, and has enjoyed various sports as a bit of fun over the years, but it doesn't drive him like some of these other activities.
He is the opposite side to Beasden this year, but worth knowing there is a cheaper gym there if he ever ends up that side again.

@Bimkom DD was in medics cheer, netball and hockey and never joined the Uni sports club. Has friends who were in medics rugby, hockey and football - medics rugby match staff vs students seemed to involve a streaker every year 🫣.
He'll love medics musical. Loads of 4th years with no experience join in and they seem to have so much fun.
I can ask DD if there is a gym on Lenton side as she lived in Dunkirk for 3 years.

I am with you Bimkom. University sport is often either disappointing or expensive or both. DD not only had to pay for the gym membership, but also for a whole kit including blazer, and then for things like coach and referee fees.

Medic sport tends not to be particularly competitive, and also, for DD, the point of University was meeting people studying different subjects. During clinical years, when other friends have left, and particularly during F1 & F2, it can be quite hard to meet non medics so it is worth branching out in the first couple of years and joining non medic activities.

I would not say Bristol is any better. DDs sport was reasonably good and they ran some quite casual teams. Other sports were extremely competitive, with no space for those just wanting to give it a go. Others were very posh. DD tried real tennis, something she enjoyed playing at school, but did not last beyond the taster session. Some of the boys sports were definitely macho, and irritatingly boys sports teams had first dibs on training times, with the girls having to make do with the times they did not want. Whilst at school DD played a team sport to county level as well as getting to nationals in swimming (20 hours a week training all through her GCSE year, before matches/galas or school sport - madness!) and she quite often came across medical students from SGUL at her club, wanting a higher standard than their medic team. DS found that LSE football was very macho (rugby would have been worse) and selection, if you did not make the top three teams was largely based on drinking prowess, so he ended up playing in a non University casual league.

Lockdown came right in the middle of DDs time at Bristol. She had hoped to play proper University sport during her intercalation, but though she did a bit with the medics, matches were cancelled. Generally on placement they all seemed to join a gym as there was often not much else to do other than scoot round Asda looking for yellow labels, cook together and then go to the gym. Driving back to Bristol for training would have been a pain, but it did mean that they kept fit.