Medicine 2025 entry - part 2

[HGC2]

Not sure how to link old thread, can anyone help me do this?

Onto UCAT and personal statements now - good luck everyone!

Hi All, What is our best guess on UCAT thresholds this year?

DD deciding between Liverpool and Plymouth for the final of her 4 UCAS choices (shes putting pharmacology at Bristol I think as her 5th). From @mumsneedwine I think the cut off for Liverpool was 2580 last year and Plymouth much lower.

DD thinks are the average UCAT (as announced so far) is 2582 that Liverpool UCAS cut off is likely to go up. Any thoughts?

@mumsneedwine finally some good news for my DD after missing her a level grades this year - UCAT 2970 and SJ2 - up 200 points from last year
I think Newcastle and Sheffield will be OK to apply for now ? GCSE 999888885 Chem Maths resitting from B and already got A in PE and EPQ A star
so pleased for her as she has been so down with all her friends going off to uni last week

@ipredictariot5 Well done to your DD - that's a great UCAT, and brilliant strength of character to get her head in the game to get that sort of score after the massive disappointments of the summer. I hope it's given her a boost.

My daughter did her GCSEs in a selective School (paid). I was told that this will go against her for KMMS.
is that correct .

thanks for reading and responding 🙌🏼

Well done to your daughter and good luck. She has so many choices 🥰

That's great news! She could even apply to Bristol - they accept resits.

Hi @PSHE , my understanding is that it won't count against her, as such, other than the school is perhaps more likely to have a higher grade average across the board. There's info about it here:
https://kmms.ac.uk/entry-requirements-2023/
But I'm no expert!

Congrats. And I assume your daughter had at least on conditional offer last application cycle? If so I'm sure that interview experience will be really helpful this time so in a very good position. I applied to Sheffield aswell so any questions I can try my best in case your daughter didn't have an interview there last year.

I am so pleased for your dd @ipredictariot5 🎉 She smashed that UCAT! Most people never want to see that test ever again so she did really well to focus and improve on last year’s score. 😊
Is she keen to apply to the same med schools as before?

@ipredictariot5 awesome news !!!! Yes, Newcastle and Sheffield should be fine. Lots of choices 😊. So happy for her

She got 4 interviews and three offers so it was a real shocker when she missed the grades

Ahh okay, sorry to hear that. I know a lot of people that missed the grades but actually a lot this year did still get accepted onto the course they wanted even then. However for medicine that is always very unlikely - I was surprised med was in clearing at multiple unis this year but I'm sure now having the experience she does she stands a great chance this time.

Also hope the resits go okay

Cardiff are very pro Welsh applications

each year they reject many great applicants with all grade 9s

I would second Plymouth. Dd interviewed there. Lovely place

Only thing I would say is that Lpool do interview alot and have a low interview to offer rate

Have you looked at KMMS/ UEA

Also Aston only have 110 places, up to 40% of their places are reserved for contextual / WP places which means you dc is competing for one of their min 66 places.

‘In keeping with our vision of being a socially inclusive medical school, we aim to offer up to 40 per cent of our UK places to students who meet specified widening participation criteria. Full details of the widening participation criteria can be found’

Great news and what a cracking score. We can help with Newcastle if she applies there. Good Luck

KMMS look specifically at attainment 8 vs school’s attainment 8. but they don’t publish the differential cut off needed or even if it’s ranked like that… we’re applying as it’s our local med school and Dd has a medical condition even though Dd is at a grammar with above average attainment 8 (as will most applicants from Kent as we’re in a true grammar system in the county).

If it’s a private school I’m not sure if attainment 8 scores are published so I may be wrong but they may require an additional test?

I was wrong, it says for independent schools they contextualise against ‘the results publicised by the school’ - guess this may yield a disadvantage if the school publicises only the best results ?

And some independent schools will have a lower average GCSE score than some grammar schools. It is worth calculating your average score and considering how much higher it is than the school average. It is harder to be substantially above average in a grammar school hence why it is harder to be selected for interview for KMMS.

As I understood it from the open day if a student's average score for GCSEs was 8.5 but they were in a school where the average score was 7.5 (e.g. a grammar school), they would be ranked lower for interview than a student (for whom everything else was the same) who scored 7.5 in a school with an average GCSE score of 5.5 (e.g. a non grammar school).

You can compare your GCSE score with the school at which it was sat here https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/find-a-school-in-england

I feel like this system is really silly tbh. You could go to a really well resourced independent and be at an advantage compared to a child from a state school in large classes who hadn't had a science teacher for two years just because the latter was selective.

Some of the performance at gcse is down to the education recieved but a lot is down to the ability of the individual students which will be higher in a selective school.

How does QMUL score for interviews..Website mentions predicted or actual grades. Is this GCSE , A level or both. DS is worried as he only got 6 for Eng and Eng lit at GCSE.. 9 for all 3 sciences, maths and Computer science. Rest 8s. Predicted a level 3 A*, UCAT 3010 STJ band 1. Ruled out Birmingham due to the 2 English scores. Will GCSE Eng matter for QMUL?

Yes and especially silly as it’s in Kent where there’s a grammar system so pretty much all children sit 11 plus - and some of the granmars are less well resourced and financed than the high schools. DD’s average at her grammar was only 64 though …

That is great news @ipredictariot5 ! Hopefully she’s chuffed with her UCAT score and it has lifted her spirits. My DD also had 3 offers and missed her grades and it was tough for her watching friends head off to uni. Wishing you DD lots of luck with her choices and re-sits. 😀

Evening all, looking for any thoughts on, or experience of, the universities my DD is deliberating between.

After re-sitting her A-level she now has AAA in maths, chemistry and biology and a UCAT score of 3060. However lots of calls, emails and research have confirmed that quite a lot of med schools won’t accept an application because of her original grades or needing A star in a re-sit. HOWEVER, still some great places to apply to and she is currently focussed on these:

BSMS (favourite)
Southampton
Bristol
Plymouth (we’re visiting on Saturday)
Sheffield

BSMS and Southampton are definitely on the form, and leaning towards Bristol as the 3rd.

Want to be sensible and maximise interview opportunities - any thoughts on the safest options or the courses/interviews/accommodation would be great.

Many thanks.

It is frustrating but important to remember that all the schools select slightly differently so some people will get opportunities there who wouldn't get offers elsewhere. If that is the school you love though it is still worth putting it down if your other applications are likely to result in an interview.

I wasn’t sure about the AAA either if you are a resit candidate - most want an A star - my research was that Sheffield and HYMS are OK