Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

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

@rockstuckhardplace im a doubly qualified medic. I have four children, I discouraged them all from doing medicine. Three listened one did not!!
Honestly, it has to be a passion, in your bones….. else it will wreck you….,,, it may be too much anyway…, if you really care that is.
So many now seem to be interested in the kudos…..
unfortunately that just leads to disappointment and resentment

The reality is not Grays Anatomy!!

Fingers crossed for results day @miceandfrogs!

May I ask you what might sound like some weird questions? If you've read earlier posts, you might have seen that DD and I went to Dundee open day and DD really liked it. We are English and live just south of the border and so the Scottish medical schools are closer to us than most English ones. It's quite common here for kids to go to Scottish unis (not necessarily for medicine, but generally) but DD's school doesn't produce a huge number of med students so I don't have a lot to go on.

School have advised to apply for no more than one Scottish medical school due to the understandable prioritisation of Scottish students. DD doesn't have Biology, which rules Glasgow out. She doesn't like the sound of St Andrews, and looking at the stats for Edinburgh she would only have a chance of getting one of the very few RUK places if she had an exceptional UCAT, which I'm assuming won't be the case. She's therefore considering Dundee and Aberdeen.

As mentioned above, she really liked Dundee. Everyone was really friendly and we felt very welcome. However I also felt very English!! I think we were the only non-Scots there. I'm embarrassed to write that I hadn't heard of Nat 5 or crash highers before that day, and had to google Scottish school years to try and work out if DD would be in the same school year as the other students there or not.

Am I right in thinking that you need Advanced Highers for medical school, so no-one is starting age 17? I think you have to be 18 anyway for med school due to the clinical element?

What I really wanted to ask, or get a feel for, is whether DD is going to feel a bit odd at a Scottish medical school being English! I am aware that could sound really stupid. I know there are plenty of English people living in Scotland and vice versa. And I know that there will also be a reasonable number of international students on the course. But DD could fall between that gap.

I'd already clocked from the Dundee open day that all the Scots are basically choosing four of the five Scottish medical schools, so I'm guessing medicine will be more Scottish than maybe other subjects. I also feel that Dundee and Aberdeen might be less popular with RUK and internationals compared to Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews.

Anyway, am I being silly in having these thoughts?

I should really find some parents of English kids at med school in Scotland to talk to!

@rockstuckhardplace Dundee is quite popular with English students. However it will be full of Scots as it’s free for them. They will be 18. I’ve sent a few there and they’ve all loved it.

There will be some Scottish students starting medicine age 17 - the school year cut off is end of February rather than August so there may be some who turn 18 in the autumn/winter of first year. For other subjects they can also go to uni after S5 (my DS did) which is the equivalent of yr 12 I think? So a good enough smattering of 17 year olds for the student unions to check age!

In terms of prioritising Scottish students - there will be Scottish places, rUK places and international places. There are a lot fewer rUK places but you are only competing against other rUK applicants. My DD loved Dundee but chose Edinburgh. Friends kids have studied medicine there too and loved it. After first year in halls, private accommodation is also a lot cheaper than most cities. I haven’t heard any concerns about ‘Englishness’.

My DD didn’t apply to St Andrews - she didn’t want to do 3+3 and was very sceptical about their community based degree. The community based medical degree has yet to produce any graduates and until it does I would be cautious - apparently it has ‘raised a few eyebrows’ amongst the medical community.

Hi everyone, I'm glad I've found you. DS is in y12, and is hoping to apply for medicine. Has registered for UCAT and it's head down till then.

We've done a few university visits across the end of Y11 and Y12 - Cambridge (just because), Sheffield (my/DH alma mater), Imperial, UCL, Brighton/Sussex, City St George's, QMUL - we live in the SE.

I have spreadsheet too - and my goodness, it's a bit of a slog!!

Anyway, here to share wine and biscuits.

:)

@MyGreyBiscuit take it one step at a time. Rule out any now that GCSEs don’t match, then after UCAT result choose 4 where most likely to get an interview. If have all A star predictions then Exeter worth a look, if have all 9 GCSEs then Belfast, Notts etc,. But it’s all a bit of a slog !

Thanks so much!! yes we've done that, and we've also limited our geography - for various medical reasons...which unfortunately means London/SE which is mega bucks in terms of accoms. But we shall see. Will be hanging out here for a while!

@MyGreyBiscuit depending on UCAT, Southampton, Bristol, Brunel, KMMS, Exeter, UEA all possibles. London is v expensive !

Hello @MyGreyBiscuit 🙂

DS is wondering about Oxbridge too. Did your DS like what he saw of Cambridge?

Hi @RM26 ! He did like it, as did I - but we went to see it at the end of Y11, before we knew much about the whole application process for medicine. And when we found out more about different teaching methods etc, he realised that he'd prefer the problem-based learning style of other places. We've still not discounted it (plus it seems to be a 'cheaper' option compared to others!!. We have a family friend's son who's currently 4th year, and has intercalated etc. Seems to enjoy it. But the friend's son is definitely talking about practising as a physician, as opposed to heading towards research labs.

Thanks @mumsneedwine ! We did actually check out KMMS - forgot to list that!! it's actually our local. Looking at costs of accoms we'd actually be seriously considering that but I'm not sure about the application process - reading other threads it seems like many say it's opaque, which was also our view. So I wouldn't want to necessarily waste an app if that makes sense.

We missed Southampton - so we will check it out if his UCAT scores allow... (I don't even know what the admission criteria's like...). Exeter's abit far I think for us...although we have a friend local to us whose child has an offer with them (and some alumni from recent years who've been there so clearly it's a target school).

Thanks @mumsneedwine. In what capacity have you sent a few there? (Curious 😀)

@Randomactofkindness I’m a teacher who helps students into medicine. Not just at my own school now but at a growing consortium of WP type schools. Sort of become a rather large hobby ! It’s why my spreadsheet is so huge 😂.

Im also mum to an F2, soon to be CT1, so understand what it feels like as a parent.

sorry, was for @rockstuckhardplace

Thanks @MiceandFrogs. This certainly reassures me! I was wondering if Scots can do medicine after S5 and it sounds like the answer is no. Appreciate that some S6 leavers will still be 17. DD targeting deferred entry so would be another year older. I know multiple attempts is common in England (so fewer students starting med school straight out of school) but don't know if it's similar in Scotland.

Hi @mumsneedwine ! Would it be too cheeky to ask if you could share your mega spreadsheet please? I imagine it’s a lot more comprehensive than mine.

also, we just got DS’ predicted grades! They were better than what I’d expected with AAA. And probably an A if not A*
for EPQ. Really pleased. But I have a question about predicted grades…

If the predicted are quite high…doesn’t it make it more stressful and what happens if they don’t get their predicted grades? I mean, if student A gets predicted 3As, and student B gets predicted AAA…would the university then offer them both 3As, or would student be get offered AAA… which would mean B will have to work harder…and be more stressed?

does that make any sense? Many thanks for any insights…

@MyGreyBiscuit if you send me your email I’ll send you my spreadsheet. And don’t worry about predicted grades - they don’t care as long as have their minimum. Offers are standard so it will be AAA regardless, although EPQ will lower it to AAB for a few.

ive just tried to send you my
email but…I’m not sure why it appears as a bunch of gibberish! Please let me know if you see it or not via PM. Thanks so much.

Need to send it in parts over a few messages

Hi all. I'm glad I've found this thread as my daughter is planning to apply to medicine and she's in a 6th form with very few medicine applicants, traditionally. There is only one boy who is applying to Medicine in her year but he's a gifted student, with all 9s and A*s and international Olympiad awards. He doesn't have the same dilemmas as her :). We have no friends or acquaintances who work in healthcare. She's just received her predictions which are great IMHO but she's now considering dropping the 4th subject (Physics - which she really likes) as she's worried about her workload next year, and wants to maximize chances to get the grades required. Here's her profile, so far. The bolded grades are in Bio-Chem-Maths-Physics, in that order. The 5 is English Literature.

GCSEs: 998988665 & A in FSMQ Additional Maths
A-level predictions: 3 A stars and A
2+ years of volunteering experience (half of that is in an NHS hospital; she is also doing Gold DofE, and has already completed Silver)
2 weeks of 'formal' medical work experience in 2 different NHS hospitals
1 week selective summer school "Biology for Medicine"
comprehensive state school
no contextual factors

She's already registered for UCAT which she'll sit in the last week of August.

I have a few questions which I'm hoping to get answers to:
-- Provided that she gets a good score in UCAT (say 9th decile and band 1/2 SJT), is she seen as a strong applicant, or just average? School told her that she is strong, but they don't really have more than 1-2 med applicants each year.
-- Is she better off dropping Physics as she would then apply with 3 A*s? She was told she could drop it at the latest in the first 2 weeks of school and before she applies on UCAS. She's worried about workload in yr 13.
-- So far we identified a few unis she should NOT apply to, due to GCSEs grades (e.g., Manchester requires seven grades 7-9, Birmingham includes English Lit in scoring, Edinburgh asks for 7 in English Lang, etc.). Are there any unis she should definitiely consider, based on her profile? She's only visited some local unis as we are in London, and Oxford, as part of an outreach programme for state students. She has no plan to apply to Oxbridge though.

Apologies for the long message. Thanks.

Yes, drop physics. She will need three high grades. Or drop her weakest subject

Happy to send my spreadsheet which shows how each Uni selects for interview. She has great experience (although most will never read her PS but it’s useful at interview - reflect on what you learned, not what you saw), and it’s better to get 3 higher grades than 4 less good. But most need AAA and don’t care about the rest (few need an A star). She does not need to be in 9th decile - by definition, only 10% of applicants are. A few score SJT (Notts) so if get a 1 it’s helpful, and a few (eg Sheffield) use it as a station for MMIs.

As long as the 6s and 5 are not in Eng, Maths or Sciences she is still pretty much in with a shot everywhere. It’s mostly down to UCAT score. Lowest one that I know got an offer this year was in 5th decile, it’s all about strategy.

@inae if 3 A star predictions then Exeter worth looking at as they score using a grid with grades and UCAT.

Thanks a lot for the prompt responses! Yes, she is predicted 3A*s in Bio-Chem-Maths and A in Physics. It's Physics she is thinking about dropping, but she does like it so she's a bit conflicted on this.

@mumsneedwine GCSEs: English Lang 6, English Lit 5, Maths 8, and Bio-Chem-Physics 999. Rest of grades are above. We already ruled out some unis based on English...