Medicine 2026 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

Thought I'd start another one.

I'm not sure why you think it'll be a 'sure' way of getting accepted (although we did think that as well!! LOL!)...but anyway, he did end up getting a week-long work shadowing opportunity in Feb half term of Y12 at our local large hospital (and in the A&E department too). I'm sure if he got the GOSH internship, he would have learnt alot too.

Obviously, we've not had any interviews yet, but I think in hindsight, the work that he's done (volunteering, at school and outside) and the UCAT scores (and of course GCSES, and predicted A levels) are the key... having a healthcare internship would be great but I don't think it's the end of the world if it doesn't happen. At Sheffield's open day last year, the academic director said they don't look at the PS because so many PS are a result of connections with family members (ours wasn't - we don't have medics in our family) and also many of the applicants also have leadership roles in their schools (head boy/girl, prefects, leaders of XYZ, Scout leaders....etc). When I heard that, I was freaking out, but of course, a year on, indeed much of these words have come true!

'It's better to work the lunch shift at McDonalds than spend a week with daddy in surgery'. Words of an admissions tutor.

It's the skills you've shown. Resilience, patience, time management, interpersonal skills.

Know how the NHS works, the issues facing doctors (ignore Wes, he's an idiot - pay, job insecurity, unemployment, constant rotation), and you'll be fine.

Indeed - that's what I've realised. Don't get me wrong, DS still talks alot about his experience at A&E (as a patient funnily enough, as well as on the other side)...but his continuous experience is all the other stuff he's done and still does.

My comments are based on advice that I read on their website. It isn't there at the moment, it was in the section where you submit the application, and applications are not live at the moment, but I just looked through my emails and found the document, as I thought we might want to refer to it again.
The blurb says: 'We receive a high demand for places and cannot accommodate every request we receive. Places for work experience will be distributed between local schools with whom we have partnerships, candidates known to GOSH staff and applicants contacting us directly.'

So I'd have placed your son in the 'candidates known to GOSH staff' which I assumed would have a better chance. I found that section quite odd as you'd think they'd want to prioritise those without the connections, which is why I wondered if they meant patients rather than those who know the staff through personal relationships, but the only person I have ever come across who was successful is someone who mentioned it in a TSR thread - another med student was asking about electives there and they replied saying the'd done WEX there and recommended it, so it seemed genuine. I asked if they had any tips for success and they just said they knew a consultant there, and that was how they got in - it was back in 2017 though.

I'm glad your son got some WEX though - DD has a week lined up for Feb half term too, in our local hospital, but in their respiratory medicine team, as their trust doesn't allow under 18s in A&E or maternity or paeds. Her two preferences are A&E and paeds! Though after a story I read on TSR of a 16 yr old volunteering at a hospital in A&E, I think it's quite a good thing DD won't be in there. I took her along to her younger sibling's outpatient respiratory appt at St George's in the summer, and explained to the doctor we saw why she was there. The doctor then took quite a bit of time explaining everything she was doing and it was great - I learnt a lot more myself as a result. I'm trying to get her to come along to my smear test too - head end only! But she was less keen on that one! She's also got 2 days of virtual live WEX with Southampton University Hospital tomorrow and Wednesday, so maybe she's being a bit greedy chasing the GOSH one too. She's decided against putting her name in the hat for Head Girl they have to put themselbves forward for it in DD's school) - says it is a big time commitment and she wants to focus on getting the best grades instead.

Which med schools has your son applied to?

Hey @SuperSue77 - oh that’s interesting…maybe we should have placed his consultant’s name on there…but we didn’t and anyway, I think if we wanted first hand info, we can go direct to her. And things have worked out. I think there’s a sense that you don’t have to ‘repeat’ and do so many. Abit like going to so many open days. Perhaps because I work in a university as well, it’s abit like a banker going to visit other banks…!

He’s applied for City St George’s, Southampton, Sheffield and QM. We’ve just half term break so he’ll be back in school tomorrow and other than homework that’s been set by school, he’s done nothing much. I’m worrying now about interviews. He knows his stuff, but whether he can present what he knows in a manner that’s coherent and with eye contact….!!! Eek.

@MyGreyBiscuit We ended up with 2 med schools in common :) Queen Mary was also on my DD's long list, but she decided to take more risk and apply to UCL instead. I'm so nervous about that, I hope she does get an interview invite.

We didn't know about the GSOH visitor programme otherwise DD would've applied :)

DD also struggled to find in-person work experience, as we have no family/friends working in healthcare. However, she managed to find one 16+ wex placement in year 12, in one of our local hospitals. Then she found a patient-facing weekly volunteering role in a local NHS outpatient clinic. She had to create a CV and was interviewed for that one, which was a good experience.

Then she waited to turn 17 (she's summer born) and applied for a 2nd wex placement in the same NHS trust. They prioritized first time applicants though, so she was placed at the bottom of the pile. They ended up giving her a term-time surgery placement this coming December, and her headteacher authorised the absence. She's over the moon now, as she really wanted surgery wex. Hopefully there will be no clash with interviews :)

Ohhh @inae remind me which schools your daughter’s applied to?!!so cool to have the surgery experience! I think we are done with that side of things as he’ll continue with his hospice and charity shop stuff, and other things to do with school leadership. Although his young person that he was tutoring for a while has now been put forward by school for a scholarship in that subject so his mum is over the moon. We can use that as an example of something…not sure what!!(mentoring? Leadership?)…

Tutoring and mentoring are great skills to talk about, I think they're essential for future doctors. Congrats to your DS and his YP!

DD plans to continue volunteering until Easter, as she enjoys the role, but no more wex stuff after the surgery placement. Interviews, mocks, A-level revision, and her usual sports stuff is more than enough for the remainder of year 13.

PS. Her other choice is Exeter.

Was it Sheffield, Southampton, Exeter and UCL then, @inae ? yeah I think that’s more than sufficient! DS also taking driving lessons…!!

Hi all,

Nice to hear how everyone is doing. @MyGreyBiscuit I could so do with a break in Greece right now 😂.

Interesting discussion about wex. I am curious to see how this all pans out as DD also only did one week of clinical wex at a hospital. She volunteers at a care home now and had a long period of volunteering as a young leader at Brownies. More importantly though she has worked part time for 2 years doing various FOH jobs which out of it all I feel will give her experiences to reflect upon. She has changed jobs recently to a very high end restaurant which she had wobbles about staying at initially. Shouty chefs and staff uniform checks where they all line up is not unheard of. Good grounding for a ward round with a scary consultant maybe 😂.Only time will tell if it is enough but I genuinely feel DD has learned such valuable skills working it has to help if she ever gets to med school.

How is the interview prep coming on for everyone? I had a chat with DD whilst we watched some youtube videos of mock MMIs but tbh she is doing her own thing, she has her own way of learning and retaining information so I am staying out of it until she asks me for help (if she ever does). She has a day of mock interview practice at a local hospital trust aimed at local schools mid Nov so I think that will help her see how prepared she is (or not!). I think her own school are doing something similar the same week, it all helps.

All I think when I watch a mock interview is 'thank god I don't have to do this!'.

I'm not sure about what he's doing for interview prep to be honest. I shall ask him when he's back from school. Everytime I do ask he says everything's in hand. ... what youtube videos are there that you are viewing if I may ask @bluefineliner ? and no, we've not paid for any of those advertised on fb - I'm sure some of them are good, and I've offered, but he's said no. School's doing something (we are state grammar), but again, not sure what!!!

@MyGreyBiscuit Yes, that's the list. She should be getting at least three interviews... hopefully four.

DD has mocks next week and has not done much interview prep yet. She has just started writing down short bullet point-type answers to some common questions, e.g., "Why medicine?" "Why Sheffield?" but didn't get too far.

She's also subscribed to BBC Health to ensure she gets current medical news. She read about the residents' strikes, and she is already fierce about the topic😆. She's bookmarked two more things she needs to go over: some GMC document and another one I forgot about.

Her school is not doing anything to support interview prep, and that angers me a bit. There are only three med school applicants, and DD has said they might get together once mocks are over to practice interview questions together. She's also doing some free online sessions (Exeter, Imperial). The Imperial Student Union MMI prep day will hopefully help the three of them a lot (that's the full-day event on November 23rd).

@inae I mentioned the free MMI thing at Imperial to him - we've not signed up. School's never really been that forthcoming, but somehow this year they are. I'm not entirely sure why - perhaps there's a new teacher in charge. There's about 12 of them I think doing it, which is kinda similar to previous years. I'm not sure what the answer to 'why Sheffield' ought to be? I strongly suspect 'mum and dad came here to study' will not quite cut it!!!

@MyGreyBiscuit look at the course structure - it's integrated, has a spiral curriculum, does prosection etc. Then look at the hospitals where placements are and see if any specialities they cover. And know a bit about the city - love hill walking and outdoors stuff, good music scene etc. Know about the city's demographics too.

Id love someone to answer why with 'because my UCAT fit' but not sure it would go down v well 😂

Thanks @mumsneedwine those are great! Although for him, 'mum and dad came here' was one of the top reasons! (although having said that, when I brought him there to visit, I got lost - and he said 'are you sure you came here'!?!??!). 😂

😂 it's also a nice thing to add.

It is our furthest from home choice though... so we shall see...! having said that, I have lots of ex-colleagues and friends there, so it'll be a good 'homecoming of sorts'.

They should say, "because I'm ranking high on your scoring scheme and wanted to maximize the number of interview invites and post-interview offer odds. " 😁

DD plans to describe her research interests and link them to the respective schools and course structure to demonstrate that she researched her options. Apart from that, it will be stuff like city life/fun stuff, the outdoors, proximity to the Peak District, etc.

I've always thought a good answer would be to say that you're conscious how difficult a 5 yr medical degree will be and therefore feel it is important to be somewhere you feel comfortable and believe will give you the best chance of feeling settled and happy, so that you can cope with the demands of the course, and then give the reasons why that city/campus etc offers that for you (and why should the familiarity of going somewhere your parents studied not be a viable reason for you as an individual).
They always say that showing you understand the demands of the course is an important thing to get across.

I'm relieved to say DD has received an email from the A-star team lead informing students that, from mid-November onwards, interview practice will be organized for all early applicants who get interview invites. Whew!

Anything that looks useful generally, a lot are very similar but Medicmind has numerous ones which analyse answers given which is useful. Also DD had Ali Abdaal recommended to her by a 5th yr med student on an open day and they seem good. There is so much 'advice' out there I think it can be overwhelming to know where to start. I have been looking at another fb page for med applicants and it is saturated with people advertising MMI prep. Although they don't cost much how on earth do you know if it will be useful to attend an online one hour course run by someone who got in to med school x years ago? This is where the external pressure ramps up for our YP.

@inae glad your DD has some practice line up with her school now. My DD goes to a mixed state school and they seem very on the ball with support. It is a large 6th form though so relatively more med/den/vet applicants which might lead to a need for support.

I always think the 'why here' question a bit pointless as any student will research the school and have a prepared answer, even if the real answer is 'because my UCAT and grades fit!'.

hey @bluefineliner - totally agree. We always start our interviews with why have you applied to us, and I've also coached colleagues on that, so I'm not sure how useful they are (because you pay more/I'm out of a job/my current boss is rubbish)!?!?

and glad @inae that you've got some practice lined up. DS says his are next thursday with some webinars as well... not sure how prepared he has to be!

Does anyone know when the unis get the ucat scores? Also, has anyone seen on TSR that there's someone who says they've got through to the interview stage already because they had written what ucat score they received in their PS?!?!?! That's wrong info isn't it (I'm not worried - just wondering how false it must be...and therefore 'fake news')?

@MyGreyBiscuit they are talking rubbish ! UCAT scores go to Unis start of next week. And no Uni would take a students word for it 😂.

You'd be surprised how many people turn up not having researched that Uni v well. Or know anything about the City. You need to know the style of teaching etc as not all styles suit everyone (I'd gate PBL !).

@mumsneedwine they must be lying right!? I mean, I'm not sure what they get out of that. I have a PhD student researching such harmful media - it's a whole dark world out there! You'd rate PBL? What are the various ways (we've not really considered that - I think we made the general distinction between trad and others...! lol!)

@MyGreyBiscuitwhoops, no I'd hate PBL. All that having so WiFi in a group all the time. Just not me.

There will be some weird stuff on TSR, there always is. People will claim to have interviews with ridiculous UCAT scores. Try and ignore as it's easy to get paranoid. No idea why people do it. Weird.