Medicine 2025 entry -part 3

[HGC2]

Will try to add old threads, maybe good for us to give an update of where our DCs are at

DD got her 1st proper offer today from Liverpool, she came out of the interview demoralised and has insisted it was her worst.
She has one deferred offer from SGUL for 2026 and on the waiting list for this year.
She is also waitlisted in her other 2, including Notts which is (was) her first choice. She didn’t use her 5th option, because she was prepared to take a gap year
Now to decide what to do… For now she is celebrating

Ah that's brilliant @Justlikingit. A well deserved celebration!

Fantastic news! Liverpool is so vibrant and fun. Perhaps go to the offer holder day to see what she thinks. There’s still time to decide anyway and I expect as people start to firm their choices, people on waitlists may start to get offers.

That's brilliant @Justlikingit
So pleased for you. Big decisions ahead

Hi all
Could I ask for pros and cons please
exeter
vs
leeds
vs
QMUL

offer holder days haven’t helped much as all brilliant
Forth offer ( safety) discounted.
there is a lot of indecision here - any experiences / opinions good or bad very welcome

Oops Fourth !!

@Niceday203 my daughter is at Exeter. Everything is walkable, no transport costs involved with shopping or eating out. It is a small town, with the possibility of long walks surrounded by countryside (which is a plus if you’re into that sort of thing, she is). She is off to Truro in Cornwall for 2nd and 3rd year (all med students have to spend 2 years there. It can be years 2 and 3 or 3 and 4, it’s basically a lottery. Again that’s a pro or con depending on personal preferences). She’s currently training to be a HCA, this again was offered to a quarter of the students. Again, a lottery. They seem to have done a sterling job welcoming the students during freshers week.

A con is the amount of travel she has to do to get home. We live in Spain so it’s a treck to get to the airport. She has mates in London, so again, the time and expense of visiting is a hassle. She also had an offer at QMUL but having grown up in big cities all her life I think a smaller town appealed. The beach isn’t too far, just a short train or bus ride.

She has made loads of friends and is loving it, but honestly she is quite social so she’d have done that anywhere. I hear Exeter has a reputation for privileged private school kids and can be perceived as snobby. She hasn’t found that, but she kind of fits the brief so perhaps she doesn’t see it. That said, no one has ever asked her what school she went to.

Thank you - super helpful. I think they are offering the HCA thing to all now and Y1&2 will be in Exeter for all - following feedback from students.
It seemed really friendly- also a long trek for us.

Quick update - still waiting on Leicester, offers at Lincoln and Plymouth. Went to Lincoln offer holder day yesterday and daughter really loved it! It’s so small and nurturing and halls about a 5 min walk from the brand new beautiful med school. So after thinking Lincoln was a last choice, think it might now be her favourite. And bonus you get the notts degree at the end of it, which includes the 3 year degree after 3rd year and a research project.

weird thing though - of the c 60 offer holders there only 4 were boys. Is it really this skewed or just an odd offer holder day? Dd not worried as she is at a boys school for 6th form so can’t wait to make some girl friends and I did expect more girls than boys but not to this extent!

Yay! Congratulations to her!

weird thing though - of the c 60 offer holders there only 4 were boys. Is it really this skewed or just an odd offer holder day?

This is fairly typical. A large majority of applicants are female and, while UCAT slightly favours boys, most other parts of the selection process (GCSEs, interviews, just being sufficiently organised...) tend to favour girls when you're looking at a group who are mostly 17-18 years old. At most medical schools the student population is close to 70% female. Furthermore, we generally see very few boys turning up for activities that run at weekends: we see this with careers events, WP activities, etc., as well as open/visit days.

Well done to @JustlikingitDD!
DS is likely to firm Cardiff but was going to attend Birmingham’s offer holder day yesterday but they have changed it to a virtual one in April which is a bit disappointing.

Thank you so much everyone for the well wishes. DD is actually getting really excited and feels she’ll be happy in Liverpool and she has been doing a fair bit of research and found she knows a few people there and they are all happy. Also one of her really good friends from school also has an offer for medicine from Liverpool, her first offer too, after 2 rejection and one waitlist.
She is relieved this bit is over and can now really focus on the upcoming exams. Definitely a boost of her motivation levels.
I know I’ve ‘said’ this before, but we wouldn’t have got this far without all the support and advice on here. I’m grateful and a tad more emotional as it’s Mother’s Day.

Great to hear of so many offers. For those still waiting, until it’s a no it’s still a maybe (& sometimes even after a no it can become a yes !).

Because so much of the noise around medicine has been negative lately, from me included, I thought it would be a positive to know that my own (rather lovely) DD has managed to get into speciality training with her first choice location. It can be done straight from F2 via the local comp.

Keeping everything crossed for the next few weeks. Heads down for those exams…

That’s great news @mumsneedwine!

Good to hear of the offers coming in, and fingers tightly crossed for those still waiting.

All decisions back here now. DC having a wobble - not re medicine as a course and not re vocation as doctor - but about NHS. We’ve had several really rough experiences of healthcare with family members over the last few years and particularly recently, and I think that and the general negative press is making them really challenge themselves as to whether training in the UK in the system as it currently is how they want to spend their twenties.

it’s tough - I absolutely get where they’re coming from but I think medicine is 100% the right career for them, they’ve been so focused for so long, and that they’d hugely regret turning away from it now.

Great news, @mumsneedwine . So pleased for her, and you!

Hope your DS clarifies things for himself with a bit of time, @CopingHagen . I think a wobble about something at this point is super common. (DD wobbling about what's been a definite first choice all along at the moment.) And his wobbles about the NHS definitely have substance. So hard for them. I think we have to believe it'll get better. At it's best, there is nothing like the NHS and training and working in it would/could truly be something to be proud of. But that isn't to dismiss what sound like very reasonable and justifiable concerns.

Oh wow, congratulations to your DD @mumsneedwine - that’s a fantastic achievement! Well done to her

Thanks everyone. Just shows it can be achieved without any connections.

If it’s any help my DD has navigated the NHS for the last 7 years and not found it half as bad as people told her. V supportive consultants and lots of helpful nurses have made for a good experience. Yes. It’s understaffed and there is stupid stuff and the IT is rubbish (who needs an S key). But don’t be put off as it’s still able to train wonderful staff.

Great to see more offers coming in and well done to your DD mumsneedwine!

We went to an open day and think she will decide on where she is firming this week, will be good to start making plans even though she still has the Advanced Highers to go!

That's great news @mumsneedwine You must be very proud of your DD

And maybe you're right on the 'no doesn't necessarily mean no' front - Liverpool rejection has changed to waitlisted - so still some (albeit slim) hope there. It actually give her a wee boost to know she wasn't way off the interview offer score.

Anyway good luck to all still waiting on offers. Maybe April will be sunny on all fronts.

@mumsneedwineThanks for sharing your DD great news and positivity

So pleased for your daughter @mumsneedwine . Congratulations!

Great to hear @mumsneedwine - congrats to your DD! I fluctuate between thinking it is absolutely the right career for my DD and I can see her doing it in the future - to be terrified about what I am supporting her to go into.

Can I pick your brains about KMMS? Do you know how they score applicants? I have asked this of them and just been pointed in the direction of their minimum requirements which don't actually answer the question.
What I have gathered, they have minimum GCSE and UCAT score requirements, pretty straightforward and not too challenging (UCAT was 2500 for this year I believe) - however, how they then actually rank applicants to determine how they interview is a complete mystery. I know they contextualise GCSE results, so they are adjusted compared to the school average - but is this all that is then used to rank the applicants? Or do they use an element of their UCAT score too? Or is UCAT just a minimum requirement? All rather opaque from my perspective. My daughter's school, whilst a state school, has a pretty high attainment 8 score (around 64) so even if my daughter got amazing GCSEs I get the impression KMMS would be a risk?

@SuperSue77we are not totally sure how KMSS use each part of the data as they contextualise heavily. But there is guidance in their website. I’m away at moment on a school trip but I’ll find the exact details I have at weekend when home

@SuperSue77 I think generally it is hard to get in from grammar schools, but it depends on how much better your child does compared to others in their school. If she has really high GCSEs it is still worth consideration but there might be safer options.