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!

UCAT scores change every year, depending on who applies. They seem to be lower this year than last 2. Thankfully.

@ElaineC77 they do vary depending on how many apply and how well they do as others have said

Sorry, when I said not reduced and not negotiable I meant for widening participation programmes etc.. the scores are always only based on how well the entire cohort do each year, relative to each other, and scored by the universities depending on which percentile they fall in. I haven’t come across a medical school yet that accepts lower UCAT specifically as part of a widening participation programme (but this might just be because my daughter hasn’t considered any of those ones yet).

&@ElaineC77 lots do have lower UCAT scores for WP.

Ah ok, could you point me in their direction? I haven’t seen any that reduce UCAT requirement for WP but it would be good to let my daughter know about them.

@ElaineC77 it's a long list ! Just on way home but I'll send details in morning. Been a long day !

Fabulous, thank you! 🤩

@ElaineC77 have a look at Newcastle Partners as a start.

We attended the open day at Newcastle last month and they’re really generous at reducing the A-Level grade requirement but I asked them and they don’t make allowances for UCAT. Their thresholds are really high usually too :-(

@ElaineC77 not sure who you spoke to but they are wrong

Sorry I should correct that! I asked one of the current medical students who was leading the Clinical Skills Lab section of the open day and they said that the UCAT requirement is never reduced below the national average to get into Newcastle! So they might not have had the most accurate info!

Ah yes that makes sense. 2700 is still really high and higher than national average but, yes, it’s slightly lower than the normal Newcastle threshold.

@ElaineC77 Exeter score for home applicants vs WP

@ElaineC77 and 2700 is pretty much what you'll need for 80% of Unis. Not many need less these days.

@ElaineC77 Sheffield you just need to get minimum of 2460 to get an interview if qualify for their WP criteria.

@ElaineC77 and several give extra points when scoring for WP (Keele, Birmingham, Hull York, Kent)

Thanks! I’ll do a bit of researching tomorrow 😊

Newcastle is changing selection criteria for next year( 60% ucat , 40% GCSE) . So it is better to check in the summer again when universities publish their criteria for next year.

I haven’t come across a medical school yet that accepts lower UCAT specifically as part of a widening participation programme (but this might just be because my daughter hasn’t considered any of those ones yet).

Manchester have done this for a long time: https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/medicine/apply/data/. I'm not sure exactly what they're doing this year, but I've not heard that it's different in this respect.

2700 is still really high and higher than national average

If UCAT is the primary selection criterion, you would expect the cut-off to be higher than the national average: medical schools are unlikely to interview as many as 50% of their applicants. Also, if the medical school is known to be UCAT-heavy in selection, very few people with below-average scores will apply there (unless they've been poorly advised), so the average score of their applicants will be much higher than the national average.

@Ib1234567 is that on their website already - for 2025 admissions ? Not seen it so be v interested.
Unfortunately most Unis need an above 'average' UCAT. Even ones that combine scores with GCSEs need about 2600 to realistically get an offer. Unfortunately it's an important 2.5 hour exam !

It is in their youtube channel s
start time 38.11

Yes UCAT is very important but maybe next year Universities will look at GCSE/predicted grades more as UCAT level is getting higher and higher , Also GCSEs went back to normal last year . Let see ! maybe wishful thinking !

So 100 points, 60 UCAT, 40 GCSE

@Ib1234567 thank you. I don't do you tube 😊

We went to the Newcastle open day. The person who spoke said one of the reasons they are changing entry criteria this year is that there is too much fluctuation by basing selection so much on UCAT scoring. If they get a lot of entries one year, that forces their UCAT numbers really high, which then puts people off the following year, and applications go down again because people think they can't get in. They are trying to level it out.

@ColouringPencils thanks for information.