Medicine 2026 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

Thought I'd start another one.

Thank you!

DS finally submitted his UCAS form last night. Does anyone know when the unis starts to respond usually? End of November? Good luck everyone!

DD had an acknowledgement email from Exeter, pretty much the same day. No emails from others yet.

@carpedaim earliest will be mid November. But most won't be until end of year or early next year. It's a long few months ahead I'm afraid.

These dates are when interviews were offered at these unis in 2023 but might be helpful -

Exeter - 14.11.23
Sheffield - 16.11.23
HYMS - 17.11.23
UEA - 21.11.23
Oxford - 28.11.23
Leeds - 05.12.23
Cardiff - 06.12.23
Nottingham - 12.12.23
Newcastle - 19.12.23 - I think this was the 2nd batch

Thank you!

I can add Manchester 18/11 to the above list. (DD applied in 2024 for 2025.)
Other dates were similar to those given above, apart from Newcastle which was 20/11 for an early December interview date.
Good luck to them all - I think the bit where the form is in and there's nothing to do but wait (and listen to other people getting very quick offers) can be quite tough.

Liverpool interview invites generally come out on 2nd Friday of January - interviews end Jan to end March. Patience is required!

Hi, just checking in on the new thread!

Everything has gone quiet at ours for now with the application in. DD is revising her A level bits but is starting the interview prep this weekend too. So far found loads of resources online but it is a bit overwhelming at just how much there is to consider. I have offered to help her make a plan so it can seem more manageable over the coming weeks.

Her school have recommended a day course at one of the local hospitals that is for preparing them for medicine interviews so she signed up. It is mid Nov so she needs to get a lot of reading done before then. I am grateful she has the opportunity to do practice MMIs though.

I can see a lot of expensive tutoring advertised for interview prep, is anyone doing this? I know it shouldn't be required but it is easy for YP to feel this is necessary to succeed. I can feel a lot of discussions on medical ethics coming on in the next month for me with DD 😁.

How is everyone else's interview prep going/starting?

There is a free ethics tutorial run by MedicHut on Wednesday evening 7-8pm, might be worth signing up for?

https://medichut.com/medical-ethics-webinar/

Not sure if this link will work but you can google it too.

I attended the 4 free UCAT sessions they ran earlier in the year and thought they were really useful.

Thanks so much @SuperSue77 ! She's all signed up. Great timing as she's just been going through ethics questions today.

My DD is doing mocks this week, as her school does 2 sets of mocks in year 13, now and after February haf term. Timing is terrible as the summer was spent on UCAT prep, then September on personal statement and course research, so she has not done much revision. Now she's supposed to get started with interview prep, but instead has 2 weeks of mocks, then will go straight into heavy interview prep.

On a positive note, we've just booked a week of Christmas skiing abroad with the extended family. So, DD is looking forward to seeing her cousins, and I'm already dreaming about the spa and gluhwine.😀

I hope all your children have their applications in now and can stop stressing about their choices.

@inae Christmas skiing sounds fab! Nice distraction for you all in the coming weeks.

@N0Tfunny It is a lovely idea that my DD would stop stressing once application is in but it is now interview stress instead, just swapping one for the other. I have resigned both her and me to a year of heightened stress pretty much constantly. I'm just trying to get DD to focus on the next thing and not any further ahead as she only really has control over certain things (like interviews and A level results!).

It doesn't help that she is learning to drive at the same time so we trying to take her practicing as much as possible. Luckily she likes driving and is very keen to pass her test so we'll keep plodding on with it.

To add to this list, can’t remember exact dates but Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen were all November with interviews stating late November, DD had 3 interviews in one week all in December!

Will we ever stop stressing? :) DD is less stressed than I am. To be fair, this quality will help her as a doctor.

Good luck with the driving test @bluefineliner DD won't even start practicing before the interviews are over.

You’re going to have to stop stressing! You’re meant to support. What are you going to be like when 5years of med school hits. It’s hard….. Medicine is hard. If you can’t manage the first hurdle then it’s not for you. Cos getting in is the easy bit.
I’ve it’s the vocation that’s meant to be then it’s great……. But if it’s not….. if it’s the wrong candidates for any reason, then it’s awful

Actually, getting in is the hardest bit. Once there, they'll do all they can to keep you.

Try not to stress. It's a long, slightly bumpy road ahead until August so pace yourselves. And drink 🍷

And it's not a 'vocation'. It's a job. That stick is used to keep the pay down. 'You must dedicate your life to medicine and expect little monetary reward' is a load of old rubbish ! Yes. Enjoy your job, but you need a life too. And decent pay.

I would add some context to this - many universities, including those listed by HGC2 do interviews in batches. So whilst HGC2 DC was called to interview before Christmas, rUK and international students for these universities were not called until after Christmas (these are considered as separate groups not in competition with Scottish students). Offers can also go out in batches - with a few before Christmas when admin staff have a lull in interviews, then more quite a bit later as unis close for Christmas and might be into the next batch of interviews when they return. Then more after later interviews…

Basically, what I am saying is don’t panic if you aren’t in the first wave.

Sorry, invites did come out in batches, my warning is only that things can move quickly and not to leave it too long before starting interview prep!

Yes, universities get sent candidate ucat scores in early November and interviews can come out very quickly after that. You also want to respond quite quickly to the interview offer as the slots fill up quickly so if you leave it to the next day there might not be much choice left.

Some don't give you a choice. It's that day or not at all. But schools pretty good at working this round mocks etc.

Nothing going to happen for at least 3 weeks so sit back and try and enjoy half term.

bmjgroup.com/around-1-in-5-uk-medical-students-considers-dropping-out-study-sug/

It is disingenuous to suggest that getting in is the easiest bit.
Medicine is hard. It’s a really great extremely rewarding career.
It is not just a job!!