Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

Starting a new thread for parents of prospective medical students looking to start in 2026.

@Sarah1235 2000 will be a good score this year ! Again we'll need to see the interim deciles in a few weeks to see the effect of stopping DM section but as long as apply strategically it should get you 4 interviews.

1875 is approx equivalent to 2500, which was the lowest score we got an offer for last year (non contextual).
2265 is nearer the Bristol/Imperial cut off.

BUT DM was sometimes quite a high scoring section so might mean overall numbers are lower this year. They do like to keep us on our toes !

@mumsneedwine That is very interesting and a relief to hear that an average result will hopefully still give an interview. May I ask at which uni this this offer was?

@alwaysontherunmum Keele & Plymouth. V slightly higher got UEA, Liverpool, ARU, Lancaster and strangely Glasgow.

Hi all…starting to panic seeing all these posts on social media with 2000+ scores and GCSEs all 9s.

my son’s GCSEs were 999887776. English 7. Sciences and maths all 8/9. predicted 2A stars and 1 A (maths bio and chem). epq should be an A/A*

currently the mocks on medify and ucat are trending at 2000/2150.

my question is are his GCSEs ‘too low’?!! We live in the south. Hoping for St George’s, maybe Brighton/Sussex, KMMS, Queen Mary, Southampton and thereabouts. Sheffield…?

help!

@MyGreyBiscuit no ! His GCSEs are more than enough. Most look at 7 7s and then couldn't care less. With that UCAT all his choices seem sensible (QML do use points system so worth checking how he looks on that). KMMS have a big contextual element (but no way of working it out). Others it's all UCAT. Sheffield would be ok too with that score. Many others too.

You know you hear about those 4 A star students, all 9s, who never get into medicine ? It's because it's not all about grades.

I love you @mumsneedwine !!!! 😅 it’s so scary reading all these posts. Someone else said there’s trolling too (I don’t get why people would lie and say they got 3A stars for example if they hadn’t. I mean any advice shared would be tailored to those grades rather than actual..). Anyway.

he just tried medentry as well (just a freebie) as he’s been using medify and he scored 2000. Just another few days to go. Eek!! 😧

one of his good friends did it recently and scored 2200 B1 and I think has complete 8/9 GCSEs. The pressure is on!

@MyGreyBiscuit do the practice papers on UCAT site too. In timed conditions just to get used to it.

Tip : make sure pen works before the admin person walks away.

Yes he’s been doing a mock every day or most days for the last 10 days to 2 weeks. And then spending time on the individual sections. All timed. So I know not to disturb him after breakfast, and he texts me a number when he comes downstairs. And great tip!!! (You mean the pen for the white board thing?)

Hi all, DD got her GCSE results today and got a surprise English language result at a 6. Equally surprising was English literature at an 8 (she was predicted 6 in lit and 8 in lang) - am I right in thinking that unis will take the English lit result in place of the language? @mumsneedwine might be well placed to answer this.

We are going for a remark as she was 2 pts off a 7 and school were confident she might go up.
Currently she’s got 99998888776 so hoping this isn’t going to rule out too many options (she’s not interested in Oxbridge) am thinking Nottingham might be harder now which is a shame as I think DD is quite keen on that one - though we’re still off to look at it mid-Sept.

The same here. DD got her GCSE results today and equally got surprise English results. She got 7 and 7 for both English Lit and English language (her predicted grades were 9s). English lit is 2 marks away from 8 so we are going to ask a remark. She currently has 9999999977. @mumsneedwinewould the 7s rule out GCSE heavy unis such as Nottingham or Birmingham?

No, 7 would be ok for Notts. As long as score well in VR and SJT. Although things might change so no one really knows at the moment. They are both great results are more than enough to do medicine. Congratulations 🥂

Some will take Lit over Lang but varies. 6 is fine though

Those are amazing results! I keep reading about so many people who did worse in English than expected - it’s probably because it is relevant to us, so you are more likely to notice it and skip over info about people doing less well on other subjects. Good luck with your remark!

@Peachy80 results are as amazing and good enough for all Unis - most countries top 8 and would only lose a point or 2 for a 7 in Eng. There have been some weird Eng results this year !

Hi! So… child did the UCAT today, and received 2240 B2!! We are over the moon. The B2 was a slight surprise as most of his mocks were B1, but I think most places kinda place 1-2 in the same category… I hope?

the final picture looks like this:
UCAT 2240 B2
Predicted Astar Astar A
GCSEs 999887776 (english lang 7)

Any suggestions as to where to consider? Not Scotland (too far - we are in the SE).

Many thanks!

I’m just delurking to say Hi to everyone.

My DS is applying as a graduate but not for the graduate entry courses, just the regular A100 courses. This is because we are in Scotland and the only GE course here is exclusively for those who wants to work in general practice and he wants to keep his options open.

He’s just done his UCAT and got what is hopefully a good enough score to get interviews at his chosen universities. 🤞🏼

Id be pleased to hear from @HGC2 with any tips on how to get 4 offers ! Congrats to your DC - hope the AH grades were good news.

@MyGreyBiscuit there's a fantastic score ! Once deciles come out we'll have a better uses just how good, but gif now if just avoid any that score GCSes. South ? Exeter, Southampton, Imperial, UEA, maybe Bristol then Sheffield etc further north. Really anywhere that just uses UCAT should be fine.

Well done

Thank you @mumsneedwine ! I hope the B2 is still ok.

We’re going to have a slow think about universities now. Don’t know much about Southampton but I think that might go on the long list. BSMS seemed really kind and nice - the dean was really lovely. Sheffield - I’m biased as both DH and I are alumni… lol! (Not medics though).

Happy to help. She did work hard on her personal statement, volunteered in the local hospital and found a GP to shadow which helped. Once she submitted her application she used the book below to practice for interviews.
Medical School Interviews (2nd Edition). Over 150 Questions Analysed. Includes Multiple-Mini-Interviews (MMI) - A Practical Guide to Help You Get That Place at Medical School.: Amazon.co.uk: Picard, Olivier, Lee, George: 9781905812059: Books

Feel free to message me with any questions you might have.

@MyGreyBiscuitB2 is fine. A few count it (Notts) but most don't. At Sheffield it's an MMI station so he'd score 5/7 for that. Brighton is great too - he has lots of choices.

Try and think about campus vs City, where placements are (some you have to move to other towns for a year or 2), cost, distance and ease of getting home, style of course. Make a long list and then can pick 4 when knows a more accurate decile. It's a nice place to be 😊

Thanks so much @mumsneedwine. Will do. Heading into first work meeting of the day!

Hi again, just looking at some of our long list and there are couple on there which say they now look at SJT. He’s got a 2. Will this be super risky?

@MyGreyBiscuit no ! Only Notts score it substantially so avoid there. As long as don't have a 4 most don't care.

Thank you, I’ll tell him to buy that book.

Ds has had summer jobs as a carer and working in admin for the NHS.

However he only has a few days experience of shadowing clinical staff, and it took months of begging and pleading with everyone he knows to get even this. So I’m relieved to see other posters saying that this is NOT essential.

@1VY he needs to think about what he has learned from all his experience. So not 'I worked with a doctor' but I Learned that the NHS needs teamwork and u saw this when ...

Interviews will ask about when needed resilience, patience, quick thinking, teamwork etc. So have a few examples up your sleeve.

And know why want to be a doctor ! And why you've chosen that Uni - would still love someone to just say 'because my UCAT score fit'