Medicine 2026 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

Thought I'd start another one.

@SuperSue77 my kids went to the UCAS thing at Surrey. Both found it fun and several Unis were there who they were thinking of applying for so she could ask questions in person. There were also lots of free pens !

Depends. She might be able to get her name down for events that may help her apply (eg interview training for med students), alert her to programs for widening access students if she is one, expose her to a course or apprenticeship she has never considered before but turns out is her dream so medicine is never heard about again, or get her more familiar with what she values in a university choice. Or it could be a very boring day full of very generic information saved only by enjoying her time with her friends out of school and a selection of freebies available.

Congrats to your YP @Hi2025 and good luck to yours @Thefatbutteredpig!

DD is now focused on prep for her two interviews for next week - both MMIs - but first one is online. We've finally caved and paid for one last minute mock MMI with someone who was recommended by a friend. Hopefully they will give DD some good last minute feedback. It's been a while since the free mock MMIs she's done in November.

Looking forward to travelling to Sheffield next week, and being off work.

Thanks for the feedback. Did your kids find they had medicine specific answers? I'm worried it will be full of generic admissions people who won't have the answers. We found a bit of that on the open days we visited, but at least there we could go to the medical section to ask.

Thanks - I'm not sure all her friends will be going as another medic wanabee has already msged her saying she won't be going! DD doesn't qualify for any WP criteria (she nearly does as she is at a non-selective state school, but is ruled out by its good GCSE and A level results). I'll get her to have a think about it.

Is it far away? Could she go for half a day instead? I would have thought that a couple of hours would be sufficient unless there are specific talks she wants to attend (and would expect a timetable of those would be advertised in advance).

She has done three interviews and imperial next week.

@SuperSue77 my DD went to a couple of these fairs with school. Tbh they were useless for her for med, she talked to any unis represented that did med but they could only give information which was readily available on their websites as they weren't med students.

She didn't have the choice not to go though, it was compulsory so she just enjoyed the day out of school 😁. Don't think it had any negative impact on her med prep time. I think if school had let her refuse to go she would have!

Thanks for sharing your view, this is how it feels to me and DD - I mentioned the idea of it being a fun day out with school friends and she told me if she wants to have fun with friends she'll go to the cinema or Thorpe Park! The main thing she is worried about is if she doesn't go how it will be marked attendance-wise, as although attendance isn't such an issue for sixth form, she had a 100% record through primary and secondary and doesn't want to spoil that! But she will need to have days (hopefully!) next year for interviews so she can't hang onto that forever.

As an aspiring medic she should recognise school attendance records as the discriminatory nonsense they are. They celebrate lack of disability, lack of caring responsibilities and the privilege of supportive families. But if it concerns her then she should go.

Hi @SuperSue77 - my son did go to a couple of those, and actually if anything, we went ourselves to one of those UK university fairs in London (like at the Excel). It was more to hit all the institutions at one go. So, we went to the stalls of those places which had medical schools and were of interest to him. Of course, one can say all the relevant info that was gathered could have been gathered via the internet, and yes, that was true...but it was also helpful to see what other things are on offer - there was one stall for example that was set up by the NHS and we did some 'quiz' and got a tote bag and got to speak to one of the research scientists people on the stall. When they heard we were interested in med, they went on to talk about how some of their staff contributed to some of the breakthroughs in medicine... eg through gene sequencing etc.

I really wouldn't say no to such things. Obviously you know your own child, but I don't see the problem in widening their eyes to other opportunities. Afterall, they are only 16/17 - things can change via exposure and it's better to find out now than 3 years down the road.

ahhh that's making me abit FOMO now... I hope we're doing the right thing. He seems to have things under control!! Our Sheffield sessions won't overlap will they? Ours is on Tues.

@MyGreyBiscuit your son has already done one interview, right? DD wasn't necessarily asking for the paid mock, but then she thought why not... as it's been a while since her Nov London mocks.

Unfortunately no overlap, DDs Sheffield int is on Friday.

Hi @inae yeah he did 1, and it was the asynchronous St George's one... ! Is her Imperial one first then? (was it Imperial?...can't keep track!).

No, it's Exeter. She didn't apply to Imperial.

ah yes... all the best!

DD had HYMS interview today, she felt it went well and was much less stern than Leeds!

Fantastic!! that's always good to hear!

Good to hear. Dn interviewing end of Jan for 6y course. Also found Leeds hardgoing

Good that your DD found HYMS better than Leeds @Curlyshabtree . Fingers crossed for an offer, don't they have a good interview to offer rate at HY? I'm sure I remember reading that at some point, which was why I wanted DD to apply but she picked one with the opposite at Liverpool 😆.

DD has just left for her final mock today, bio, she has been so tired all week as they moved one exam from last week to this to try and make things easier for her with her interviews. DD didn't want to delay too much so has ended up doing 4 this week. I keep reminding her how relieved she'll be by 10.30am and she can slow down a bit (before her next interviews in 2 weeks). Apparently yesterday's chem paper was awful but I guess it is all good practice for the real thing and gives plenty of time to focus on any areas that need it once the papers are given back (trying to remain positive 😂).

Feels like the interviews are really ramping up now, still a long wait for most offers though!

Happy Fri-yay everyone!! Just wondering why my son's school doesn't have mocks till after Feb half term! I guess everyone's different...! What are people's plans this weekend? Mine are to get him ready for our roadtrip and his interviews!! Eek!

They may want to ensure they have finish covering the curriculum before the mocks so they can examine them on it. Though that does leave less time to address gaps identified by the time they have been marked.

Thanks @2025parent - I think they are continuously having tests and stuff - we had our parents evening in early December and they had a string of test results on their spreadsheets so I'm guessing they are on top of things.

DS is off to do Chemistry prelim this morning, maths was thankfully pushed back to next week as clashed with St A interview this week.
Seeing online that some people are being offered St A places already, they said that DS probably wouldn't hear for a couple of weeks so not sure if this is a bad sign.

Year 13 is an infinite series of tests :) DD's school has 2 sets of full mocks, Nov and Feb, which I find completely unnecessary.

Southampton started to send invites again; they just invited GEM students for the 4th of Feb. I hope DD gets the next day available for school leavers, which is the 5th of Feb and that doesn't clash with her mocks.

If year 13 doesn't build resilience for these kids, I don't what does...