Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

It is surprising how high the requirements are when you start calculating some of them isn't it! Although DDs UCAT is good, broken down it was nowhere near enough even with perfect GCSEs. Lucky they have other options to consider.

How can that be?!! You’ve got all 9? And your ucat is top decile isn’t it?!

Sorry, @MyGreyBiscuit - that message was directed at @bluefineliner !

@MyGreyBiscuit I think it is just how her sectional scores fell, you need 800 to 900 for full 10 marks on a section and DD only got this in one section. DD also got 700 in VR and the next band up (scoring 2 more marks) was 701 upwards 😂so double that and you lose another 4 marks. I think she'd have needed more consistently high individual section marks. I am also extrapolating from last years cut off (it was around 80% ish) so it is a bit of guess work, but certainly far to risky an option for DD.

And yes I think her UCAT may just scrape in the 9th decile unless they go up a lot from last year.

DS has similar UCAT as your daughter I think 2240…? I’ve assumed that to be the top decile… even by maths standards!

yes I guess that’s why we have to be strategic. I’m trying to be strategic this afternoon… and failing!

You should be OK for Birmingham with a UCAT of 2180. That's likely to be top decile for Birmimgham getting the full 4 marks and then full marks for GCSEs of 4, giving a total of 8. Last year's non-contextual cutt off for interview was 7.3 I think. @mumsneedwine may know

We're considering it depending on deciles. My DDs score is either 7.3 or 7.7 with a UCAT of 2150 B2 non contextual

No idea how to edit!

You would actual get 4.5 for gcses as long as the core ones are an 8 or 9. Bring total score to 8.5 which is a safe score for interview

Thanks @notsoperfect33 yes DD would get 4.5 for GCSEs. From what I understand Birmingham decide their own deciles once UCAT ones are released so she may be 9th or 10th. I found some info that said the average UCAT that got an offer last year (non cont) was 2950, DDs score converts to 2940 so it might be tight. I'm really curious to see what the interim ones are now to see how people have scored in general this year.

It is still a possibility for now though.

Birmingham's GCSE scoring scheme is one of the strangest ones out there IMHO - as they include English Lit in their 'core' scoring, not only English Lang.

For example a grade 9 in Physics (categorized by them as "unspecified subject" even though you could argue it's more helpful to medicine than Eng Lit) only gets you 2 GCSE points, but with a 9 in English Lang and a 9 in English Lit you get 8 points :)

Just to say good luck to all applying this year. My DD applied 15 years ago, before I knew about Mumsnet. I'm sure I would have found it very useful. She got 3 offers, chose Barts and was very happy there and has so far had a very exciting and fulfilling career in medicine. Good things lie ahead, once this anxious period is over. All the best!

Does anyone know how Hull York calculates the GCSE points? For example how many points does 999888 get you?

"GCSE results (35 points) - Applications will be given an academic score based upon the best six achieved grades at GCSE for Medicine"

I think KMMS is just as strange/opaque. If anyone has any idea how big the gap needs to be for attainment 8 please let me know. From what I gather having read through the student room thread on KMMS, there were people who had very decent GCSEs grades and decent predicted and decent UCAT (last year’s high 2000s) and didn’t get interviews. I know it’s pretty much predicated on the attainment8 - would like some insights/confirmation please…

I found some info that said the average UCAT that got an offer last year (non cont) was 2950, DDs score converts to 2940 so it might be tight.

If 2950 was the average UCAT score then your DD should be doing fine on 2940, Presumably roughly half the offers went to those with UCAT score below 2950?

@MiceandFrogs yes you are correct. I think it just seems like a more risky choice when she was going to have Newcastle as her risk option, which although looking strong, needs the final deciles published before we know. She's worried about having 2 risky ones and not having gone through this before I'm not sure how cautious she should be.

@bluefineliner the change in scoring will change the whole profile so likely points needed will be much less than previous.

We’ve been looking at Hull York too and it’s not at all clear on their website how the GCSE points are allocated! Last year, the score was out of 30, so you’d assume 5 for a 9 and so on. But now it’s out of 35??
Also unclear how the UCAT score translates into points.

This is all they'll give you. How they score within each bit is a mystery unfortunately. They have slightly changed the weighting of each section this year so hard to compare to previous years ! They really don't make this easy.

Just doing a reality check / am I right int hi king that Nottingham have tweaked their system this year, such that GCSEs are more important than last year? I do wish they would all let things settle! And yes, why Hull has chosen a max GCSE score that isn’t divisible by 6 I simply can’t fatten either !

@Michaelah less points for SJT this year. Makes % for GCSE higher

Really confused with all this UCAT scoring. DD got 1990 and band 2 in SJT. Obviously no idea how this sits nationally until later this month….any ideas?
She got all 8s and 9s at GCSE and meets 3 contextual requirements. She’s predicted A star, A star and A.

Interesting post on instagram saying there will be “more support” for med students from September 2027. Talk of fees being paid, etc

I suspect that will make 2026 entry considerably less competitive 😊

Here

Not quite as exciting as it may seem, though a help:

“We’re calling on the Government to step up and ensure better financial support for students through all their years of study.

• Ensure both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for full SFE maintenance loan provision for all years of study.
• Improve access to funding via the NHS Bursary, including improving the claims process, and exploring new sources of funding….

https://www.bma.org.uk/our-campaigns/medical-student-campaigns/funding/fixing-funding-for-medical-students-from-england

That BMA announcement is so misleading 🙄

According to this , it looks like 1990 will be just above the 7th decile. So with good grades that gives her lots of options for where to apply. Well done to her!