Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

It does feel like a bit of a game (but not a fun one!), even if DD gets a reasonable UCAT it is still a risk applying to those previously requiring high scores even taking top GCSEs into account. At least she's got a couple of months until any decisions have to be made regarding that.

I mentioned upthread about a peer of DDs getting no offers despite good application, well they have now been offered a place from one of their choices who previously rejected them! So great news but highlights how much things change even when you seem to have no other option.

@bluefinelinerits not over until results day. It’s a tough process which can be a bit soul destroying at times. But if apply strategically you can hopefully secure interviews and then it’s mostly down to you as a person. UCAT is far too important for me, but I’m not sure what would be better. At least everyone has a fair go at it.

Busy weekend for DS, with Birmingham open day on Friday and Manchester on Saturday. I think Newcastle is still his favourite so far.

Anyone going to Leicester open day on Saturday?

@RM26 I'll be interested to see what your DS thinks about Manchester, DD wasn't keen after our visit based mainly on how welcoming the uni was for med. It was incredibly busy and we couldn't accompany her on any tours/talks. Newcastle was the best so far but we are at Sheffield on Saturday too.

He loved Manchester and it could well end up being his first choice depending how UCAT goes. (I think Newcastle needs a higher score?)

I'm not sure what to think about PBL/TBL and whether it's a good option, but DS seems happy with the idea.

Checking in. DD1 doesn't have the greatest GCSEs for applying to medicine but has worked really hard in Y12 and has got good PG but will be needing a high UCAT score. She's done several open days at northern Universities and is very keen on my old Uni for her non-medical option which I'm happy about because it still feels like a positive choice.

@JaninaDuszejko you don’t need stellar GCSEs for most. Avoid the ones that score them, but for majority having 7 7s passes that hurdle and they don’t look at them again. A few need even less.

@mumsneedwine Yeah, we are looking at who requires what, already have a copy of your spreadsheet 😁. She made the decision to apply for medicine just a few months ago and so when she was doing her GCSEs wasn't as focused as she could have been about her weaker subjects so got a few 6s which would have been fine for anything but medicine. Feel a bit like we are playing catchup.

6s are fine at lots of places. Look at the GCSE column and rule out those that she doesn’t fulfil. Depends what 6 is in too - if option subjects no one will care !

We were at Manchester on Saturday too. DD really liked it, probably helped by the uncharacteristically gorgeous weather.

@RM26 DD found out that Manchester have moved away from PBL to TBL (sounds like PBL wasn't working out). That was a good thing for my DD as she didn't like the sound of PBL.

We also went to Dundee yesterday. The random Wednesday could've been because it's school hols already in Scotland. Dundee is on balance her favourite so far. She preferred the Manchester campus but was more impressed by the med school at Dundee.

I'm not sure how TBL differs from PBL though - do you know what's changed?

Not exactly. I'm leaving that kind of detail to my DD.

We've kept away from looking at Scottish unis thinking they favour Scottish students, is that correct or has it changed?

@bluefineliner it has changed. No direct quotas anymore

Fair enough! I was just interested by the fact your DD prefers the sound of TBL as I wasn't sure what's changed. Like I said, DS seems happy either way 🙂

From what Dundee said yesterday, they have 220 "Scottish Funding Council" places and then separate targets for overseas and RUK places.

Edinburgh's website refers to "Scotland fee rate" and "RUK /RoI" places.

I don't think that means Scottish students are favoured. But there are more places for them. And understandably more applicants! As they won't pay fees if going to a Scottish uni.

Thanks @rockstuckhardplace so Scottish unis may have less places available for RUK/RoI students rather than a Scottish student is more likely to get a place. Still feels like a more risky choice for DD than a uni with 300 places for example but we can worry about that when she knows UCAT.

DD has started prep for UCAT, just familiarisation and doesn't seem too put off yet which is good. I read the 1300 questions book and couldn't even understand what they were asking in some of them!

@bluefineliner unless live Scotland there are better options. And UCAT was designed by a sadist 😂

Are there any other med schools that have changed admissions policies? Like are KMMS still contextualising GCSE results and are ARU still favouring Essex and East of England students?

@SuperSue77 yes and yes.

Is anyone considering applying to Oxford or Cambridge? DS is very unsure whether he wants to or not.

DD is not interested in Oxford or Cambridge. I think they are both traditional format (ie three years of pre-clinical) and she doesn't fancy three years of purely academic study. Plus I don't think it's her vibe.

DDs school prompted her to consider Oxbridge some time ago and she was looking at biomed at Oxford for a while. I just don't think she had that confidence to try and felt she wouldn't fit in. I was quietly glad she decided that because the stress of applying would be high. She then surprised me deciding to apply for med so the stress of applications is still there.

After visiting 4 northern unis in the past 3 weeks we feel this is definitely more her environment and even at the med talks as DD noted the other applicants seemed more on her level.

We did Sheffield yesterday expecting it to be her favourite, but no. The med talk was excellent, informative and welcoming and the students were engaged and chatty. We couldn't see the clinical skills facilities though as they were being refurbished so we only got to see a common room in the med school. I think a lot of their facilities are distributed amongst other buildings and hospital sites so not ideal for an open day. The accommodation was ok but for DD seemed a long way from uni sites (it wasn't, it was a 20 min walk from med school and 30 mins from main uni campus) compared to Newcastle.

I think we are all a bit uni open day fatigued now but it has been valuable for DD to see different settings and learn about the courses and placements. So for now not knowing UCAT Newcastle is the favourite along with HYMS. We are still to see Leeds, Lancaster and Liverpool but will wait for UCAT results now.

Oh and Sheffield have 1800 for their minimum UCAT score this year but made it clear due to the changes this year they have no idea what the actual cut off will be, they list the scores and draw a line after the top 1100, who get invited to interview.

@bluefineliner My DD has just finished 1st year at Sheffield - the accommodation is a 20 min walk but she found it fine and loved living in Endcliffe - felt so safe and so many of them all together. We have just moved her to a new flat in Broomhill which is amazing.
She also got an offer from Newcastle but chose Sheffield as the long placement at Newcastle is 1 year and she could have ended up in Carlisle which she definitely didn’t want. I love Newcastle and wanted her to go there but she’s very happy at Sheffield - happy to answer any questions.