Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

Keele maybe worth looking at.

Does she qualify contextually for any of the 6 year programmes?

here they are Test Statistics 2025 | UCAT Consortium

what was her UCAT score, remind us?

UCAT 2180 band 1
AAA*A (although likely to drop the 4th subject - Physics)
999888665
plenty of wex
noncontextual

Current short list: UCL, Exeter (86 pts), Sheffield, Southampton or Leicester (82 pts/96)

I think Sheffield and Southampton are safe? Really not sure about the rest. She is very keen on UCL, but now it looks riskier (and not my fav due to cost of living...)

Also on her longer list: QMUL, SGUL, BSMS.

She dropped Newcastle and Leeds from her shortlist, as there is too much risk with her GCSEs.

Argh, the A stars were formatted by Mumsnet. It's 3 A*s and 1 A.

great thanks. I think with her 3A stars, and the UCAT score, she will get an interview with Exeter, Sheffield, and Southampton.

We are overlapping with you on Sheffield and Southampton. Will also put QMUL and SGUL. I'm surprised at the high deciles...but hoping with what everyone says, it'll drop. How can there be still 21000 people taking UCAT?!?

Thanks @MyGreyBiscuit There's a Sheffield medicine talk happening right now (started at 5pm), perhaps your DD is interested? We are booked for open day on the 18th of Oct at Sheffield but there will only be biomed/biological sciences that day. We missed the medicine open day.

The high deciles might be the effect of dropping AR, increasing time allocated to other sections etc. It looks like the QR section means increased the most (also in ANZ UCAT).

You are right to say doctors get there through very many different routes. I see that amongst my PhD students as well as my colleagues. I have to say a year or two ago I did not think I'd be inducting myself in this world of UCAT and deciles. All the best in your decision-making.

Sorry for the multitude of messages. Is Exeter using the official UCAT deciles, or are they calculating their own based on their own cohort of applicants?

Do you have a link?!

Keele is a no because of her GCSEs. Plymouth is still a possibility.

I don't know much about the 6 year programmes. Will explore, thanks.

I don't think they have an issue with the UCAT although it has to be high enough..they seem more keen on the predicted A levels being 3A stars or close enough. Last year we knew someone who got 2700 and had an interview. She's there now.

My daughter did her test today - 2130 band 2.

That’s in the 7th decile right now - but I’m assuming it will probably end up in the 8th? @mumsneedwine

What a roller coaster it all is! Very pleased though as she was averaging 1950 on Medify and really pulled things together today.

@MyGreyBiscuit I'm sorry, but my DD registered on their online open day website, and I don't have a link. She just texted me, though, to say it's over and that she didn't learn anything new—everything discussed is in their admission policy.

Congrats @PurryGrowls must be a relief!

Normally early October. Deciles out today will drop

No problem. thanks for letting us know anyway. Sheffield was one of our first talks we attended after GCSEs. I wonder if they said anything about the UCAT cut-offs.

I need to go listen to GCSE talk for my younger child now. And I have a report to finish for my Deputy VC. It's going to be a long night.

well done!! you must be so relieved!!! go celebrate!

Today's interims. Excited use a grid that gives points for UCAT and predicted grades.

Hi @mumsneedwine I sure hope so! My concern is that there's 42000 applicants (that's at least 5000 more than last year). A rather silly question if I may...
with more students taking the test, does that push up the deciles or will it all still settle into the usual bell curve? I mean, I'm having this visual of 21000 students taking UCAT over the next 9 days or so, and all of them scoring 2400 and above! I mean, in that scenario, that means the deciles will go up even more right?
I think posters like @MiceandFrogs and @Michaelah might be able to help?!

Might Dundee be an option? I know a couple of students there who love it and accommodation once out of halls is a lot cheaper.

Lots of those UCAT sitters are now dentists. It's become much more popular. No one knows what will happen but final Deciles have always been lower so 🤞🤞

Dentistry requires UCAT too so a big chunk of those 40,000 or so won’t be applying for medicine.

In theory there could be a rush of high achievers sitting UCAT in the next few days (I doubt the interim results are completely up to date, they probably don’t include the last couple days at least). But normally those sitting UCAT late score on average slightly lower pushing the deciles down. They will still be in a bell curve but with a lower mean to the current mean.

Apparently there were about 10,000 dentistry applicants last year.