Medicine 2024 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

New thread. Hope the offers keep flowing in

Well done to @ipredictariot5 DD on the offer.

@Notcontent If it helps, I gave a student with 9.1 BMAT who has just got an interview at UCL

Fantastic news @ipredictariot5 - well done to your daughter 🥳

Did had her first interview this afternoon and got her last invite to interview tonight. I think there are a few dc waiting on southampton so they have started. Just the option of the first two interview days given. There's a gap after these before they start again in Feb so might still be a bit of a wait but they have started!

My dd had an invite for Southampton today as well! She has had one interview already in Dec and now 3 over 3 weeks…
At least all done before Feb but with mocks this week and interviews from next week it feels never ending!

Yay groundhogday2021 dd!
My dd had one today, the next 3 are 3 days on the trot. At least she'll be in the zone!

Thanks @mumsneedwine it’s very odd as she should have an invitation - nothing more to be done except wait!

Wow one after the other is impressive @speedyhedgehog ! At least all done and out of the way in one go I suppose!

Any dc done the Plymouth or Nottingham interview?
DD has made a silly decision of booking them back-to-back which has left her very stressed about the format
Also anybody heard from Bristol with a UCAT below 3000 but above 2900?
First post here very nervous to enter the group.

@Haleofalife we are doing Plymouth next week it is online, not sure about Nottingham. Good luck for your DD .
look at this website, at the end there is doc that have all information.

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/about-us/university-structure/faculties/health/interview-candidate-information

Hi @haleofalife and welcome. My dd's interviews have fallen back to back as well. Nottingham is online and the last one. I know they have emailed whatever they want candidates to know about the format and that is all they will get. The interviews themselves aren't that long its the traveling to the in person ones that will be tiring. But at least they'll get into the interview zone and in a few days it'll be all done and dusted. Good luck!

@Haleofalife Bristol still seems to be over 3000. Which is nuts !!! But there are still interviews to come.

@mumsneedwine It's insane they have a very high threshold for interview.

DD has said they have started breaking the 2.9k barrier starting with 2990 so we will see. It's looking like a March interview in my own opinion for those with a non 3000 score.

@speedyhedgehog Thanks for the slight reassurance! Good luck for your dd!

@Ib1234567 Thanks for that link, DD hasn't shared that particular website / document with me with mocks and interviews happening at once she forgot.

FWIW @Haleofalife my DD also ended up with several interviews bunched together last year and I was quietly concerned that it might be too concentrated. She got offers from them all and she said with hindsight she thought it had been a good thing to have had them bunched as she got in the zone and stayed there for the duration rather than having to switch in and out of interview mode, particularly with mocks running in parallel.

Still waiting on SGUL here…

Yes like @opponox dd my eldest dd had 3 in a week, all in person and got offers from all of them. They weren't as tight as the dd applying now but only 2 are in person so I think she'll be ok. I predict she'll be asking for a day off on the Thursday after all the chasing around the country! The second one is where her brother is attending so she can spend time with him then back up here for her last one on Wednesday afternoon. I think at least 2 are online for your dd? I think they'll be ok. Keeping everything crossed for all of them x

Good luck for the interviews to come and huge congratulations to those with the Scottish offers already in.

@Tripadvice just realised that SGUL you're waiting for is the last one. It must feel like forever, I'll be hoping and praying your dd gets an interview invite from them soon.

Hi @Notcontent sorry hear the online interview didn’t go too well.

DS has an online one with BSMS tomorrow.

if you have any tips you could pass on that would be great 😅

@Mumofboys2006 i think it was ok, just a bit disconcerting as different to in-person. As they keep firing off questions until time runs out, I assume it does not matter if they can’t finish!

I don’t know why unis are still doing them online tbh….

@Mumofboys2006 a quick tip for online interviews from when ds did his all online a couple of years ago is to try out a zoom meeting between you and your ds first to check lighting, eye line and camera angle. Ds refused to believe it would be helpful but when I recorded him on zoom he realised he looked as if he was looking down at the keyboard rather than making 'eye contact' with the camera.
Second tip if the IT goes pear shape dont panic, they're very used to IT malfunctions by now and will probably be impressed if the candidate handles it calmly. Have the appropriate phone number to hand in case of mid interview crisis. The wifi dropped for the first 10 minutes of one of ds's but they decided they'd seen enough of him to give the benefit of the doubt and make an offer anyway.
With my 2 ds there seemed to be virtually no correlation with how well or bady they felt their interview had gone with whether they subsequently resulted in offers so do'em and forget'em.
Good luck all!

I don’t know why unis are still doing them online tbh….

Because travelling to interviews is a big financial strain for many students.

Because travelling to interviews is a bigger distraction from A-Level studies than doing them online at home/school.

Because they don't have physical space to do face-to-face interviews in (this was already becoming an issue before the pandemic).

Because clinicians find it harder to do interviews if they have to factor in travel time as well as interview time.

I would generally say face-to-face is a better experience but it's not always practical, and it does make life difficult for students who don't have access to money to pay for transport and potentially for overnight stays.