Too early for a Medicine 2027 thread?

[SuperSue77]

Just wondered if there was any interest in a medicine 2027 thread for those of us with YP going into year 12 who plan to apply for medicine? I've seen one or two lurking previously and will try to tag if I can find their user names. Just conscious that I am always posting on the 2026 thread, yet DD is a year behind them and so my comments aren't so relevant.

Please come and join me here if you are interested.

My daughter is aspiring to medical school despite no chemistry a level. She’s taking biology, psychology and English lit a levels so we’ll be applying strategically to uni’s not specifying chemistry.
@mumsneedwinewould love a copy of your magnificent spreadsheet! Will DM you if I can figure out how (new to posting!)
Current faves are Manchester, Newcastle, Keele, Lancaster and Plymouth…open days booked in. We’re south west so a lot of miles/£££ in the coming months!
Good luck all!

@medmum26 will send it over once get the DM. The Unis that don't need Chemistry are in yellow on the spreadsheet.

Hi All. Everyone is very quiet. How are your YPs doing with the Mocks? My DD has just finished her Mock exams last week. Results will be given after half term.

Ours is mid June. Hoping to focus on UCAT once mocks are over

DD's 'mocks' were in April, which was good as it meant she can focus on UCAT now, not that she has done much yet. School told them that they will use the higher of their FFTs and mocks for UCAS predictions (FFTs come from some system that predicts likely A level results based on various data about the individual and GCSE results) so mock results were not so important - or so we thought.

DD now says that the older sister of her friend (in yr 13) told her that school told them this same thing, but then used their mock results! DD is now worried as I think hers came out at AAB, whereas her FFTs are 3 A stars. Personally, I think school will take a view based on more holistic information, not just the mocks, and I suspect what DD's friend's sister has said has some context that she is not being told. We have parents evening when we get back after half-term, so hopefully we'll find out more then.

DD has a careers week when she gets back after half term. They need to have a draft personal statement written by the end of it! It'll just be a first draft at this stage, but useful to focus the mind and perhaps spot areas that need some work. She'll be registering with UCAT tomorrow evening! I think UCAS registration will be done during the careers week as I think school has to provide them with a code? Not really sure how it all works yet.

Sorry this is short notice but seeing your post has prompted me: apparently Hull York's Medicafe are running a webinar on UCAT this afternoon from 5-5.45pm. I think you need to register online? They also appear to be running some future sessions on the interview process and life as a Medic.

Hope that helps someone!

SuperSue77, yes correct. Your DD's school needs to provide you with a buzzword for UCAS registration. This is a code to link the UCAS application to the school so they can add predicted grades and references. My DD's school has done the registration last week and we have started to fill in some of the sections.

AmbitiousHalibut thanks for the info on the Hull York sessions. I will check it out.

My DD has her Mocks the first week back after half term. They've been told they will mark taking into consideration all of the latest test results.

The little group of prospective med students at her school missed games yesterday to all do their UCAT registration together, they were very excited.

The day the test booking goes live. they will just be arriving to Barcelona Airport. Us parents have their log in details and are left with the responsibility of booking and getting one of the dates they want. Mine is hoping she is at a point of travel that she can access her phone to FaceTime me whilst I do it 😂

That is nice! DD and I did her registration last night after I got back from work. She wasn't that bothered! In terms of when booking goes live, DD is due in a biology lesson. I emailed the biology teacher and head of 'competitive applications' to let them know and suggest they might want to make special arrangements for those who need to book, but I haven't heard back - to be fair I don't need to, just hope any students wanting to book at that time are able to.

I have already agreed with DD that I'll book it for her, given it's my credit card that will be entered for the payment! And I'll be driving her to which ever test centre has a place. DD will only just have turned 17 so she won't be driving by then. Though we have managed to book her into the test centre we hope she'll sit the UCAT at for her driving theory, she takes it a few days after her 17th birthday so that she could do it before UCAT!

We just got her mocks report today, 3 x A, so hopefully they will feel confident enough to go with the 3 x A star predictions - I really hope to as otherwise Exeter may be off the table and that was one we both really liked and which I think would really suit DD.

@Zokaluse73 I can't remember what A levels your DD is sitting, is one Spanish? Or is there another reason for going to Barcelona? How many are in the prospective med students at her school? DD has about 10 of them plus a dentist, but I'm not sure if all of them are 100% sure. It is an increase on previous years. In their year 13 group, I have heard of 2 with med offers, one at UEA and one at Exeter, both med schools DD wants to apply to. Not sure if any of the others have offers, though the dentist in year 13 didn't get any and plans to reapply next year. I think their UCAT was too low, and I believe dentists applications need even higher scores than the medicine on account of their being less places to apply for.

DD is very sure she doesn't want to do dentistry and will not be putting it down as a fifth option, despite suggestions to do so by a popular medicine application adviser (we follow them on Insta).

Don't put dentistry unless want to be a dentist ! It's not the same career at all. V strange advice 😂. If want to be a doctor then put anything down as you won't go anyway, you'll try again. 2 reasons to put a 5th:

1. it's nice to get an offer this side of Xmas in something
2. if medicine goes into ucas extra (it has twice before) then you need to have declined all 5 offers to apply for a place

If want a specific day or place then book UCAT as early as can (eg when it opens). You'll always get a slot somewhere, but somewhere might be 400 miles away in September !

Those are the reason why my DD is planning to put down a fifth, but the plan is very much to take a gap year and reapply if no medicine offers. I think the 'strange advice' is based on the idea that if you get an interview for dentistry it's extra interview experience - but I don't think it would be useful experience if you have no passion in dentistry! Also, I think also based on candidates who want either a medicine or a dentist place, and not bothered which, but I find this really odd as I see them as two very different careers!

@SuperSue77 Only exception might be if they want to be a Maxofacial surgeon as they need both degrees ! But getting a dentistry place is much harder than medicine - if want extra interview practice then nursing application would give better odds of a 'practice' interview.

Hi all my dd has announced she wants to apply for medicine. She’s a 7-9 GCSE’er rather than straight 9’s so I’ve worked out she’d have to do very well in UCAT to have any chance. I’m unsure about it personally she said previously she was going to do Pharmacy which seems a lot more straightforward with more than one potential employer at the end.

She’s got some shadowing lined up for over the summer and yeah we’re going on holiday 🤣🤣. Oh and she has a Saturday job teaching swimming that largely rules out all the open days.

Tbf she needs good mock results too that she is currently waiting for.

@Satisfiedwithanappleher GCSEs are more than good enough. Just avoid the few that score them. UCAT is v important and needs prep so time it around holiday so she gets max time to prepare. Strategic applying works once you get the score. And as long as get predicted AAA she's be fine - some Unis don't even look at predicted grades (a few score them !).
Good luck

I think I’m also worried about the training places/ unemployment issues as they sounds hugely difficult/ stressful. But then it would be 8 years time minimum so surely they will have sorted it by then my rational brain says.

It's not quite as bad as it seems now, as UKGrad priority has changed things a lot. Consultant jobs are scarce though but this will hopefully change as we need so many more.

My DD is an ST1, loves her job, hours are v long, they are not treated well, but she comes in smiling and gets the job done. Things are changing - her rotations now move every 12 months not 6 ! And she's worked with some v lovely people over the years.

And it's a v portable job that can take you anywhere in the world.

That’s really reassuring, thank you

@Satisfiedwithanapple hello! So far sounds as though your DD is in a good enough position to apply for medicine. The swimming job is likely to hold her in good stead as it shows so many qualities that a doctor needs, teaching, responsibility, communication, leadership, interacting with a range of people.
The shadowing will also be important but there is also online work experience available (BSMS and ObserveGP) which can give her the information she'll need to demonstrate she understands what being a doctor entails.

As mumsneedwine explained, she'll need to get started on UCAT practice, Medify is a paid for online service that is generally considered the best question bank for practice, but there is also Medentry.

Some people will say no need to do open days, just sit UCAT and then consider which are the best med schools to apply to strategically (i.e. those you are most likely to get an interview with based on UCAT/GCSEs/predicted grades etc). If you then get interviews/offers you can check out the med schools at that stage or at offer holder days.

My DD (also a 7-9 GCSEer, but also got a 6 in Eng Lang which is a pain as it is one they always score if it's a GCSE scoring med school) and I went to have a look at a few that met her preferences (not too far from home, not London, integrated courses, campus based) and so she has a short list of favourites, just need to see if the UCAT score will support them!

She has started on UCAT practice and atm is using medistudents which is free. I’ll see how she gets on for a few weeks then maybe pay for a different one over the summer. We have one 6 too but it’s PE and she took 9 GCSEs so that doesn’t really make any difference to anything luckily.

We went and just had a look round Manchester and the uni area yesterday, I went to Manchester so that was a trip back in time. She has some weird study week at the end of June and there’s an open day at Newcastle on the Friday so I think we’ll do that one at least just for a bit of a feel of what studying medicine would be like. I’ve also never been to Newcastle so it will be interesting as it’s meant to be a great city and we’ll need to stop over so it’ll be fun. The north at least at face value seems to have higher offer percentages but agree not much point in really deciding till you’ve done UCAT.

I went to Manchester too! 1995-98. It was my insurance as Nottingham was my firm but I missed the grades :-( I had to arrange last minute accommodation so ended up in halls out in Didsbury, which was a bit of a trek from the main campus, but it was fun to experience a big city for the first time.

I love the uni visits, though pretty sure I went by myself back in the day. I have memories of going into the Serpent Bar when visiting Manchester and ordering a pint! I'd have only been 17, but times were different back then!

I was there 95-98 too 🙂

A good idea to ask if the prospective medics can have time out to book.

I'm nervous booking it for her as she's only given me 3 dates!!

Well done on your DD's mocks and good luck with the predictions for UCAS.
My DD is 3 down with 3 to go - the school did a cruel Biology paper 1 as every single one that sat it said it was weird & they just did what they could but that they were shocked as usually all A-A* girls. The teacher writes their papers so they're hoping the next one tomorrow isn't as bad.

It's activities week at school and she did do GCSE Spanish so it's good for them to go to another Spanish city to make sure they're all staying on top of their skills.

There are 6 this year I think - I'll check with my DD when she comes down from revision.

Mine is also not putting down a fifth choice and the suggestion to put down dentistry is crazy!

There are actually only 4 this year wanting to apply to medicine and that includes my DD.

I'd appreciate any insight/advice about whether it's worth considering applying to Scottish medical schools as an English student. My son's interested in Edinburgh but we see that the majority of places are reserved for Scottish students. Would it be wise to count it out - or is it worth trying for? He has all A GCSEs. Doing mocks now but aiming for A/A predictions. @mumsneedwine Obviously, need to see how UCAT goes but would be interested to hear your thoughts about Edinburgh medical school.

Meant all A star GCSEs and aiming for A star predictions for A levels.