Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

Very helpful post and you sound like an amazing, balanced and supportive mother!

ps We couldn’t make the Leeds open day today for various reasons but would be very interested in any feedback or intel you might be happy to share on here?

@MyGreyBiscuit I saw that post too and couldn't understand the purpose of adding it, other than trolling.
Some of you may remember my first post late July when DD made the unexpected decision to apply for medicine. Both myself and DH are doctors and have been for over 20 years. She has heard the trials and tribulations over the dinner table forever, plus spent time on hospital wards with us at weekends when we were both working, been part of flu clinic since primary school, observed the pandemic through medic eyes, the lack of funding, difficulty recruiting in primary care and so on and so on. We have never tried to encourage or discourage her from doing medicine, she is her own person and has her own path to follow. Yet when she made the decision all I saw was how incredible my career has been and how lucky she (hopefully) will be to experience the same. And she is going into this with her eyes wide open.
Yes we've moved a lot but not only has this enhanced our learning, we have friends all over the UK. As juniors doctors the hours were insane but the camaraderie amongst the team carried us through it all, with the nurses and porters being our best allies. Exams happened but groups studied together, we were all chasing the final qualification one hurdle at a time.
And medical school was THE best.
So for everyone supporting their YP chasing this dream, I can wholeheartedly say, for me, the positives trump any downsides, every day of the week.

Hi @bluefineliner, thanks for responding and all the best at the Leeds Open day. Be safe in the blustery weather!!

and @Peanuts79 - thank you for speaking up as someone in the system!

we never thought DS would want to go into medicine. If anything we thought his experiences would put him off (he’s had superb experiences but just the thought of I guess more needles etc might put him off) but somehow it hasn’t. It’s kudos to his consultant and team that they’ve given him such a good experience as a patient.

and just to say, as a parent of course we will help him (and his sibling) get to where he wants to go to, within our means. We don’t have medics in our family, and neither do we work in the healthcare world. However we tried through acquaintances, colleagues, church groups and friends to get him whatever work experience he can get. His friends got them through parents who work in hospitals - good for them. He got his first volunteer role at a charity shop because he wanted to - his referee came from some one who he did some previous volunteer work with. He got that first role through me because I volunteered with that group.

anyway hope everyone’s got a good day ahead and I won’t be engaging with that post for sure!!

My DD is an ST1. Loves her job, loved foundation years (mostly - not so much the grumpy cardiology consultant who screamed in her face at 2am, but he was taken care of v swiftly by the 'matron' 😂). Got into training straight from F2 as did some of her friends. Many haven't and some are now having to work outside medicine as no jobs. But everyone hopeful things will change soon.
She would not wanted to have done anything else, even with the hours, pay (yes, many of her friends earn 3x her salary now). Wishes she didn't have to move every 6 months (who thinks that's a good idea ??). But seems to get more job satisfaction than anyone I know.

Leeds open day today. Was very impressed

They were very cagey re scoring but did say grades 9 and 8 were scored differently

DN has applied and Leeds have already been in contact with a contextual form which has been completed and returned.

Admissions advised this means he has passed the academic screening ( they have already starting scoring applications whilst waiting for the ucat results) and they have confirmed via email he meets the WP conditions.

Fingers crossed :)

We've just got back from Leeds too, again very wet! Very impressed with the facilities, the medical building has been refurbished 2 years ago and you can tell, the cafes on two floors were like M&S cafes, but much nicer!

Yes we learned they score 8 and 9 differently and we also got to speak to the admissions director who confirmed this. We told them about DDs gcses and that she'd already applied, they asked her UCAT and said she was in a very strong position for interview and they'd look out for her in January, which was nice 😀.

DD has had forms from all unis asking about contextual eligibility apparently.

Overall Leeds was impressive, the placement sites are good and varied, clinical skills facilities excellent and students seem very happy there. The city itself feels vey safe but it's not far from me so I am biased.

Pleased to see the positive Leeds feedback as it's one of DS's choices. Anyone visiting Newcastle today?

Really helpful but am now concerned that they score 8s and 9s differently! First time I’ve heard this confirmed. Haven’t submitted UCAS yet and this might change things (she has 3x9 and 7x8s). Do you mind sharing your DD’s GCSEs & Ucat score? Thank you so much

We were at Leeds too!! Very friendly atmosphere, quite a zany talk from the head of the medical school who went a bit off topic - but he was great! Enjoyed the clinical skills suite and lovely campus.
Also surprised to discover that 8s and 9s are scored differently. Goes against everything we’ve been told so far! However also told that predicted As and A-stars are equally valued.

@PurryGrowls yes I was a bit confused by the mention of A levels when selecting for interview but clarified with the admissions person who confirmed only thing scored is GCSEs and UCAT and that last years cut off was around 2550 (I think). Zany is a good way of describing the Head of the medical school, he did make me laugh and seemed to really care about the students and course.

@Vista123 DD has 10 grade 9s and one grade 8 (maths) and her ucat is 2180 B2. I'm not sure there will be much difference between 8 and 9s really though, I think Leeds has always been recommended as an 8/9 GCSE uni so your YPs results fit with that.

@RM26 we did Newcastle back in June and it was and still is DDs favourite.

Does any one have thoughts on Liverpool? The odds of an offer after interview are only 25% we've heard, so pretty low. But maybe ok to go for it as a wild card if we have safer options?

I saw that post on facebook too and found it pretty off. Yes there are lots of issues and our YP need to be aware of them (presumably they know as it's one of the current NHS issues they will have read up on ahead of interview) but some of our YP feel very motivated to pursue this vocation. My DD saw it and said "well it's not putting me off".

Not a last minute visit, as DD is still yr12 but we went to Exeter today. DD really liked it, preferred Nottingham but that might be too risky with her 6 in Eng lang. Just hoping Exeter don't change their method for selecting for interview as we think that is likely to be a good choice for her based on current criteria.

Good luck to everyone applying this year - scary but exciting!

DD has applied to Liverpool and we too had thoughts on the the lower interview to offer rate constantly referred to whenever Liverpool is mentioned.

We visited on a recent open day and their stats for 2025 were around 38% interview to offer rate (off the top of my head 1900 interviews and around 730 offers). We decided it was worth the risk as DD loved the uni and we got a really good feeling about the medical school, students and staff.

Probably the most useful league table for your DC 😂.

Has everyone submitted their UCAS yet? We are finally getting there! DD met with the head of science to review her PS and discuss her choices, all good. We had an insane weekend with back to back Exeter and Southampton open days. We have actually visited Exeter before, but DD wanted to go specifically to the med school talk. She liked both unis, which is really helpful, as she wasn't 100% sure about Southampton. It looks like the visit really helped fill the 4th slot.

It's UCL, Exeter, Sheffield, and Southampton now, with UCL being the highest risk. Hopefully this combo means 4 interviews and if it's only 3... at least she tried!

Newcastle, Leeds, and Leicester were in 4th slot - with various degrees of unknowns about them. Fingers crossed no more last minute changes for DD this coming week - she is known to do that 😂

Mocks revision & interview prep next :)) oh, and 5th choice selection of course.

Well looks like DD chose well on this front, 3 of her choices in the top 5 😂. She's not even a party animal either!

We did a similarly insane back to back @inae of Leeds & Southampton - exhausting!
Southampton was great, very friendly atmosphere and a lovely campus.
Meeting for UCAS send-off this week. Sheffield, Southampton, Lancaster definites - deciding between Cardiff, Leeds, QMUL. I’ll be glad when this bit is over 🤯

This may have been answered already but does it matter where you put your choices on your list? IE do some med schools expect to be put as first choice and will take against you if you put them 3rd or 4th on your list? DD about to submit Sheffield, HYMNS, Southampton but 4th choice would be Birmingham (which we're aware is seen as v good) or Liverpool and now we're having doubts about wisdom of putting either of those as 4th!

Doesnt matter which order you list. Universities cannot see who else you have chosen at this stage.

Ah thankyou @Thefatbutteredpig !

morning friends! I'm wondering... (even though we've pressed submit and school's all ready to submit it having checked it)... have any of you considered things like 'post interview offer rates' and the like? ergo, you might put x down because your ucat scores fit it, but then they might be rubbish at offering...? it's too many variables. I'm not sure I put in so much effort when we bought this house!

Only very recently (like over the weekend) - I feel like you need a degree in quatum applying or something to consider all the variables. DD's biology teacher who's overseeing the med applications basically said 'there are no guarantees no matter how much research and there are surprises every year so try not to get too stressed and caught up in the spreadsheets etc. Look at the course details, choose the ones you think look good for what you want, are within the bounds of YP's results (A, GCSE and UCAT) and that they think they can stomach for 5 years + and then go for it' - wise advice. I have of course failed to follow it and am now scouring stats like a crazy person.

yes @catty29 !! that's exactly it. I think no matter what I say now, we'll probably stick to what he's chosen - which was, to be fair, with care, through the spreadsheets, and other factors which we have prioritised. of course, sod's law, he bumped into a friend in the year above who is starting at Oxbridge, and said, 'why are you not going more aspirational - you can!!' (because DS got higher UCAT than Oxbridge bound friend!). grr...

We did look at post-interview offer rates, but only to ensure they are over 50%. There is enough risk with interview selection as is :)

According to the myucat PDF, DD has two choices with an offer rate of around 65-70% (Sheffield and Southampton) and two at 50-55% (Exeter and UCL). Offer rate means the number of offers out of the number of interviews (not out of the number of applicants).

This helped us drop Leeds completely; not only are they opaque with their interview selection, but their offer rate is also low at 40%.

Hi all. Wise words from you all & we did look at offer rates when comparing the final one or two. Thanks to some very timely and helpful GCSE information on this forum from those that went to the Leeds open day on Saturday, plus a lower offer rate (& overall number of places) we have chosen Manchester over Leeds as our 4th Uni. Wishing all your YP the very best of luck in the coming weeks and months of this torturous journey!