Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

The important bit is not quantity of work experience, but that he has reflected on it. A few days is plenty to be able to talk about what he learnt from it. A long list of placements just shows you have contacts which won’t impress them. At the end of the day, the importance of work experience is in understanding what it is you are getting yourself into. The NHS admin role and being a carer would help towards this too.

Any experience in any field where any transferable skill can be used is helpful. My daughter coaches a team and this was useful in a lot of questions as she could talk about delivering disappointing messages, managing families expectation and communicating in general.

His experience as a carer will give him lots to talk about.

Really interested in all the wise advice here but slightly alarmed by all the 9s at GCSE. My son has one 9, two 8s and seven 7s so his GCSEs are a lot lower than a lot of applicants. He's state educated and predicted two A stars and A at A level He's just done the UCAT and scored 2420 with situational judgement 3.

He's now considering Bristol, Cambridge, Imperial but just wondering if this is a bit over ambitious as he does not have top GCSEs

@everydirection his GCSEs are great, and that is an amazing UCAT, which matters most at this stage. Most don't care as long as have their minimum GCSE requirements which is approx 7 7s (often lower). Just make sure he likes the course styles as those 3 teach in very different ways !

@mumsneedwine that is so helpful thankyou. Imperial is based on the fact he would get a large bursary (but I suspect outweighed by the cost of London) Cambridge weirdly also has very cheap accomodation and we would also get a bursary there and Bristol just because of the obsession with UCAT there and high offer ratio after interview. But worry about the cost of accomodation there.We need to do some more research! Been overly obsessing about the cost of it all and not focussing on the actual course

@everydirection most Unis gave bursaries available so have a look. Bristol are v generous and you're right, Cambs is cheaper !
But course is important too and he can work during the summers if money is too tight.

@mumsneedwine DD just sat the UCAT and got 1850, SJ 2 and her GCSEs are 888777666. She's done far better at sixth form college than secondary and got AAA in her Y12 mocks so will be predicted A*s. No contextual. She hated the UCAT so is currently saying she doesn't want to spend next summer doing the UCAT again (and frankly I'd not want to go through this summer again as she got increasingly frustrated with it).

I'm thinking she doesn't have much hope now for medicine next year because neither GCSEs or UCAT are great. Does she still have a chance or is it hopeless?

@JaninaDuszejko she v much still has a chance. When the interim deciles come out we'll have a better idea of what her score means and we can shortlist. But look at Keele and UCLAN for now. Also Plymouth and Liverpool might be good - we just don't know until mid Sept what a 'good' score will be. But I've seen a lot of 1850 !

@MyGreyBiscuit wow what a fab score for your DS! well done to him and agree with mumsneedwine, what a lovely place to be atm.

@JaninaDuszejko you echo exactly how my DD feels about UCAT too and well done to your DD on getting through it.

We have just arrived back from a week abroad and DD did have to spend a few hours each day in the room practicing because her exam is in a week! To be fair to her DD did persist, albeit it a bit miserably and did have a big wobble after one mini mock went badly (in contrast to most of the others she had done) so she fixated that this is how she will do on the day. Since then she's kept going and realised her average scores are ok.

Although is wasn't the ideal way to spend a holiday (for any of us) it gave us the opportunity to really talk about different unis and research them more. It also gave a chance to tentatively discuss the 'what ifs' of getting different UCAT scores and the reality of this. DD is a perfectionist who hasn't encountered much failure in her academic world so far so I am trying to prepare her for a less than desired result if it happens. However this is sometimes perceived that I don't believe she can do it so I am treading a fine line for the next week 😂. She is so capable of this but nerves may impact on the day too.

She will spend the next week in full 'lock in' mode and we will hope for the best! I too will be relieved when this part is over, even though I know it is only a step in the process, it is incredibly stressful watching DD doubt her abilities.

Thanks @bluefineliner ! And all the best to your daughter as well. He definitely was peaked out by the time he sat the test - he didn’t do any mocks on the actual day (we chose the afternoon because it’s impossible to wake up so early like now (!!) during holidays). We also went away for a week in the UK and he did spent a couple of hours each day on his phone (hopefully on UCAT and not on a game!).

Thanks @mumsneedwine , DD was talking about Keele, Lancaster and Liverpool already so she's more on the ball than me. Plus Sunderland because we're in the NE and she's already had a school trip there.

Im not an expert, but as far as I can tell, the 5 Scottish medical schools seem to care less about high GCSEs - most seem to need 7 in English and science subjects, but not a string of 9s.

But they do require AAA at A levels and a usually higher UCAT score.

Just mentioning this in case it helps someone.

I know there’s someone here with a spreadsheet so please correct me if I’m wrong.

@1VY me 😊. All the Scottish Unis use a mixture of UCAT and academic stuff in different ways. Some also use PS. So research your stats against their selection criteria, not admissions as it's now trying to maximise those interviews.

Hi everyone. So my DD sat her UCAT this week just gone and scored 1940, SJT B3.

The 1940 was realistic based on her mock scores. She was hoping she might jump up a hundred or two on the day based on others' anecdotes but that was not meant to be.

She knows she shouldn't get set on unis before UCAT but she was really keen on Sheffield. They rank solely on UCAT for interview and based on last year's cutoffs it looks like she'll be borderline. She's still planning on picking Sheffield as one of her four but that's now her aspirational choice.

The big blow is that Manchester was also on her shortlist but they only accept bands 1 and 2 (although the website says they may review how they use UCAT for 2026 entry, but I doubt their approach to SJT will change as SJT hasn'tcm changed). The B3 was a bit of a shock as she was getting lots of B1s and B2s in practice.

Personally I'm not too upset about Manchester being off the table as it seems quite low contact (for Medicine) in the early years and I don't think that would be the best thing for my DD as I can see her getting distracted by temptations of uni life!!

The challenge now is where to pick for her other choices. Sheffield and Dundee are likely to make the cut. Scotland risky as we are English. She will probably pick Liverpool as they also score GCSEs and she will score highly there. I've pointed out Leicester to consider but she really doesn't want to go to the English Midlands (I'm from Birmingham and she doesn't like it there and has tarred Leicester with the same brush). She'd like to put Aberdeen but two Scottish unis is not recommended by her school.

@JaninaDuszejko we are also NE England with similar UCAT score 😀. But my DD didn't rate Keele, and she hasn't got Biology so can't consider Lancaster unfortunately. She also doesn't fancy Sunderland (or Newcastle). I went to the Keele open day and thought it was a fantastic medical school by the way.

@rockstuckhardplace still lots if options. UEA will be close. Exeter if have 3 A star predictions. HYMS. Belfast if gave great GCSEs.

But until we see the interims this is all guesswork. I've noticed many ucats are under 2000 so scores might be lower than I thought. We will know better mid Sept.

Morning! Taking a break from planting and gardening!

Will the numbers and deciles come out in mid September? DS seems to think it’s end of September which won’t work since school wants their applications in by then! I think the few of them hoping for medicine will be lobbying school to extend for a week but it’s all cutting it fine.

also @rockstuckhardplace I was going to suggest HYMS if that’s an option for you in the NE? And why not Sunderland? We have friends kids who are there (and we live in the SE!).

Mid Sept. Usually around 15th

@rockstuckhardplace well done to your DD on getting through UCAT, there will be plenty of places she can apply to with that result. They do all seem to have their own (sometimes confusing) reasons for wanting or not wanting a certain uni don't they!

I too am noticing just under 2000 scores more and more, it will be interesting to see if the deciles reflect this when they are released because it does feel like we are all a bit in the dark for now even with the UCAT score in hand.

Does anyone know much about Leeds (other than the usual bits I can gather online) it is our nearest uni and DD would love to apply if UCAT goes ok. We are going to the open day on 4 Oct but probably a bit late as UCAS forms will have to be in to school by then. It looks like they weight GCSEs and consider predicted A level grades and UCAT to select for interview. Any guesses at what UCAT will be needed?

We went to Sheffield open day and were told UCAT minimum would be 1800 this year.

Thank you. I think my DS will ok for all the Scottish Unis ( his first choices ) as he has 2290 UCAT , SJ B1 , which I think will be about 9th decile. Academically he’s predicted a 1st, so barring any disasters he should meet the minimum of 2:1.

So As long as his PS and reference are ok, I’m hoping he will get 4 interviews.

I was thinking of the mums here saying that their child doesn’t have great GCSEs but are predicted good grades for their A levels. So many of our kids do a lot of growing up between 16 and 18 and can go from not brilliant GCSEs to excellent A levels grades.

@1VY rules are slightly different for graduates do do check carefully. Some still need certain A level grades. But his stars are great. Is he applying for the 5 year or GEM ?

Has anyone seen the ANZ ucat means and medians? I think they are 1920/1040 (or the other way round.

Sorry. It’s the other way round. Mean 1941 and median 1920.

Could I ask a UCAT question- you get your score the same day you do it? Maybe it comes up on the screen straight away?
How then do you know where that result places you? How do you know what decile you're in since the exam sits for weeks and you don't know how everyone is going to do in the future?
Sorry I might have missed this explanation thank you for spelling it out for me 🫣

You get a piece of paper with your result on as you leave the centre where you sit it. Mid September the interim deciles are available via UCAT then the final ones early October