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!

In todays medic mentor conference, is the awards scheme worth signing up for?

@HGC2 So your DC is doing well as volunteering is really good , it shows commitment . keep volunteering and try to write down any volunteering , work experience , online course or anything she does ( like keeping CV or worddoc with all her stuff with dates and where ).
About the spreadsheet and strategically applying don't bother with them now as she needs to have predicted grades and UCAT results before looking where to apply.

what helped me the most is going to my local medical univ websites and reading what they need.

As Scottish look at the univ near you and go to open days.

For me medicmentor award scheme was not worth it as my DC didn't engage with it , also what they want sometimes are too much and not necessary..
what is important is grades /UCAT/preparation for interview . If you apply strategically and you prepare for the interview then you will get in .

Just wondering what level of work experience others have done. Assume most of us are Year 12 parents?
Mine has done 1 week medical shadowing in a hospital and she started volunteering once a week with a charity that tutors young people in disadvantaged areas. Unfortunately the charity has lost its funding, so she will have done 3 months by the time she finishes. She needs to find another volunteering opportunity as she is doing DofE, so I was going to suggest something care related. She is also doing a widening participation programme which gives her access to webinars. I don't think that would count as experience, but it could be something to write on personal statement? I had a look on TSR and some people had huge amounts of volunteering and work experience. Mine has not yet had a job. She did try for summer and Christmas jobs, but there are v few jobs around here and she has just ended up concentrating on study instead.

It doesn't necessarily have to be care or medical though @ColouringPencils

Does she do a sport at all? Could she do some voluntary work through that? Like if she swims, is there a disabled swimming club nearby?

No, she doesn't do sport unfortunately. I had already thought that about my son - who luckily shows no interest in Medicine! - but through his sport at 14 is able to coach under 10s etc. It seems really well set up to give people volunteering opportunities.

@ColouringPencils anything she can do at school - help with reading or numeracy with younger students, librarian, sorts clubs. V few Unis need anything specific (avoid Keele and Sunderland). But it's good to see something to know what you're letting yourself in for - some GPs will give work experience. But if nothing else do this MOOC.

bsmsoutreach.thinkific.com/courses/VWE

Care home work is great too and getting jobs is usually very easy as they need staff. HCA in hospitals too.

It's a tough job so knowing the reality is what Unis want.

@ColouringPencils if she's eligible for WP things then look at any possible future uni choices as lots run free summer schools. Some even guarantee interviews if do them.

My DS had a volunteer role in the local Hospice which involved washing up, tea making and general duties but also got the chance to go round with the nurses and doctors to see end of life care in real terms. He also had some great talks with patients. One of the male patients said how nice it was to have a chap to talk to about football. He used this experience to talk about resilience and different aspects of medicine/care in his PS and interviews.

Hi @ColouringPencils , fairly similar level of work experience here.
DD has done 3 days of hospital shadowing. She is volunteering once a week at our local hospital (little cottage-hospital type place; she helps with lunch and chats to the elderly patients). She's done the MOOC suggested by mumsneedwine, and is trying to organise some GP shadowing.
Otherwise, she has a job in a takeaway a couple of nights a week, so plenty of dealing with the general public.
I'm not sure she's going to manage any summer school type stuff. Quite a lot planned for this summer already (holidays, festivals etc, not application-related).

@maybemedmum she has enough ! Her summer should be about fun !

@mumsneedwine Sunderland is one of the places she is contextual for, which is a shame as they seem to need a lot of experience. She is only WP based on postcode, so I think it only applies to a few universities, but we are also in the North East and Sunderland seems to have a role to recruit from this area. We are going to go to their open day to find out more anyway.

@sluj and @maybemedmum your DCs volunteering roles in hospice/cottage hospital are what I think mine should be looking for. Were these advertised or did they just write to the manager? We have been looking for similar but can't see any advertised near us, so I think she needs to before proactive. We are in walking distance of several privately owned care homes, as well as a hospital, so she should probably start there.

I should have said, I don't think she is eligible for the summer schools I have looked at, which required you to meet two criteria, where she only met one. I should probably look more widely though, I only looked at our nearest unis.

I mean, she should look, not me! It is easy to get drawn in though...

@ColouringPencils Newcastle Partners ? If she's eligible for their scheme she gets a BBB offer ! It has quite a wide remit, not just for locals but carers etc.

Sunderland might change their entry requirements for next year so don't rule it out yet.

Apply to any summer schools anyway. Students do get on them with one flag.

Oh yes, I think she is eligible for Partners, but I thought that was the summer after applying, if you get offered a place? I might have misunderstood

On volunteering, good experience includes working with the elderly, disabled or children. See if any relevant groups use your local leisure centre. DD ended up helping a swimming group for local disabled swimmers. It was really useful: one to one; helping people in with hoists; and supporting people through anxiety. She was then able to nominate the group as a school charity and set up a pathway for volunteers of new would-be medics from her school.

Alternatively try local care homes and sheltered housing. DD worked as a cleaner/kitchen porter/"waitress" through one summer. The latter involved helping people with their food. On cleaning she was allocated easy flats where residents did their own cleaning but enjoyed having a young person visit once a week. They made her tea! For some bizarre reason the deputy manager insisted she had to volunteer, but the other cleaners protested on her behalf, so she ended up with a load of back pay.

Also perhaps look to see if Phab has anything running in your area.

@ColouringPencils Need to apply in Sept of year 13 with a deadline same as UCAS. It's a fantastic programme and gives lots of support in the whole application process.

www.ncl.ac.uk/partners/how-to-apply/eligibility/

@mumsneedwine - that's reassuring! She definitely needs a break - and is sensibly determined to get one!
@ColouringPencils DD just got in touch with the hospital manager (I think) directly. She has found generally with the NHS that the difficulty has been with tracking down contact details for people - once that bit is done, they have generally been responsive and helpful. (Hoping this is also going to be the case with GPs!!) It took a while to organise - there was an interview, some online training etc - but it wasn't difficult.
And I know what you mean about getting drawn in - definitely a balance to be struck for our own sanity (and possibly theirs!!)

My name has a reason (my own DD is now an F1).

look at further Universities as there summer schools sometimes are virtual but they give guarantee interviews. we regretted this year that we were not aware of that , it is very hard for DC to look at every school and the process are very hard without support from Adult .

also for contextual check what means for schools as we were surprised to find we are contextual for Nottingham but not for others as they use different postcode tool.

Hi All, my daughter volunteered as a Young Leader with our local Scouts and Beavers troupe for 12 months; she has been a St. John’s Ambulance Cadet for over 12 months; she did a Work Experience placement at a local hospital, shadowing a Consultant Psychiatrist for a week (daughter wants to be a psychiatrist), and she has another Work Experience stint booked in the summer with a local Mental Health Trust.

She has applied for a Summer School programme via the Sutton Trust (you can only apply for one with them) which we haven’t heard back about yet (I think May is when they come back to people) and she has also attended a Cambridge webinar series over February and will be spending a night overnight on campus in Cambridge at the end of this month to finish that off.

She will be applying to the Partners programme at Newcastle University next year; not necessarily for the lower grades, but in hopes there may be a lower UCAT requirement, as this is where her main anxieties lie at the minute as Newcastle have a relatively high UCAT threshold (even with the changes they brought in this year). Other options will be determined once she has been given her predicted grades and her UCAT score.

Hope this helps; it’s literally been like having another part time job supporting this for the past year and a half; I don’t know how any child can do this without significant hands-on support from their parents, it’s so hard! Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

Newcastle are changing their admissions next year to include GCSEs so should make them less UCAT heavy. But Partners will definitely lower the requirements.

You don't need lots of work experience, Unis are well aware how hard it is to get. At open days talk to the staff as they'll let you know what they w looking for. It's a hurdle race.
GCSEs
A Level predicted grades
UCAT (probably the biggest decider)
Interviews
Offers
Results Day !

Is there a list online of what the different medical schools look for, or do you have to go through each website?

We went to an open day at Sunderland this weekend and they said once you meet their threshold for UCAT (top 8 deciles) they don't look at it again. They also don't score you on GCSEs as long as you have over the threshold. Work experience is their big thing, and you are scored on how long you have done it, as well as the number of hours, and of course, how you can reflect on them. They don't count medical shadowing as work experience, they want it to be work (paid or voluntary) where you have interacted with members of the public and held some responsibility eg working in a shop.

I don't think this would be a good option for my DD, even though we are contextual for them, as she doesn't have loads of work experience. Wondering where to look at for high academic grades. Or is it just the case that everyone has high grades, so they don't really count? She is also doing 4 A levels, if anywhere likes that? I think someone told me Liverpool gives you points for things like Duke of Edinburgh and music exams, dies anyone know?

@ColouringPencils there is no easy way of finding the info. Except our handy little spreadsheet (this one is out of date as things have changed at a few) but it's a good place to start. I'll update it as soon as I can for 2025.

Lots are like Sunderland and only need to pass the threshold. Then it's down to the UCAT.