Medicine 2026 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

Thought I'd start another one.

Also, Southampton dates are out!

not sure why it won't show the image/screen shot...but it's on their website! for school leavers, the first ones are 20-22 Jan, then 5th Feb and so on.

Most Unis won't offer anything until everyone is interviewed. Some will give the highest scoring offers early but it will be v few. Some will send invites in UCAT order, some will be random.

Most will invite a certain number and then do those. They'll then look at how many they are intending to offer to and invite more if needed. Or reject. And some will hold a waiting list.

It's not a precise science ! As hard as it is, no news is still good news. And you can be interviewed in Match and still get offers.

And they are not supposed to give lower offers if firmed as ucas don't like it (but some still do !).

Thanks @mumsneedwine this is really helpful.

(and why did I think it would be simpler, once applied.... )

Congratulations on all the early interview invites - so good to know this phase is beginning.

Hello

My DD also received a Bristol interview invitation yesterday, UCAT of 2450. She's gone for 9th December. She'd been hoping for MMI's to be after Christmas as she planned to prepare over the holidays. So plenty of pressure with early December interview.

She's wondering about paying for a mock MMI practice session with TheUKCATPeople. It's £125, so not insignificant. Does anyone have any experience with this company?

https://www.theukcatpeople.co.uk/product-page/1x-mock-interview-panel-mmi-style-online

Any suggestions for a better company to use?

@mumsneedwine thank you for all the helpful and calming information about interview invitations, offers etc. Much needed.

Thank you

My DD had all her interviews before Christmas last year, she just spent her time using the recommended book, looking at you tube mocks and me questioning her. Her school arranged for a medical student to come and give her a mock but that was it. We thought about paid sessions but couldn't justify the cost of the ones locally, it might have been useful for giving more accurate feedback than I did!

Ds used the ucatcompany

dd used medichut who were absolutely fabulous

my nephew has recently been on one of medichuts courses and was impressed

Has anyone heard from Notts, HYMS, Leeds or Keele as yet? DN not heard anything yet

@HGC2 Thank you, helpful to know all interviews might be before Christmas. It's going to be a busy few weeks. And good to know paying for courses isn't necessary.

@Thefatbutteredpig have passed on the Medichut recommendation, thank you

We used Medichut for DD too - brilliant - she got 4/4 offers

DD didn't use any paid-for resources throughout the process. College did a bit of MMI practice with them I think, but not much. She says she found lots of helpful stuff on TikTok and YouTube.
Also, this is a tough few weeks with interviews coming out and they all do it differently, so really try not to worry if you don't hear yet and assume no news is good news or at least not bad news! (DD had a v high UCAT and I spent a couple of days biting my nails when Manchester seemed to have invited loads of people but not her, but it came through eventually.) She was able to spread the interviews so she had two in December and two in January, but it made for a lot of traveling at a really busy time of year.

My Scottish DS applied last year. He got all his interviews before Christmas, Edinburgh offer before Christmas and the rest in Jan/Feb. BUT they didn’t interview all candidates at the same time. I think nearly all those interviewed before Christmas were Scottish with rUK and international applicants interviewed later.

He had three in-person and one online.

DD received an invite from Plymouth Uni to an MMI prep workshop for next week, and also to a 1-hour MMI mock practice session for the week after that. They are conducting a study to understand "the effect of free interview prep and mock practice" on aspiring med students. The mock will be 1-1, run by a med student. I'm guessing DD was invited because she was enrolled in their e-mentoring scheme in year 12 (which was open to all aspiring medics, not only Plymouth applicants). Participants will be invited later - if they want to, as this is optional - to complete two surveys and potentially take part in a focus group. It all sounds interesting.

Apart from that, we're looking forward to news - either an interview invite or 5th choice offer. 😐

Congrats on your DD interview and the tremendous UCAT score! There is a free MMI day at St George’s next weekend if that suits you?

My DS used MedicHut for an online MMI last weekend. Got really detailed feedback and was around £50.

My DS had a group exercise. The biggest tip he gave for that was to chat to the other candidates when you arrive. That means you have already developed some common grounding before you are set the group task.

@inae what was your 5th choice again? We got an offer for his 5th choice a day or 2 after we stuck the application in...!

Bristol biomed, which apparently tends to put quite a few applicants on hold.

DD had a very busy week and she's exhausted and grumpy and desperate for any UCAS news despite my best efforts to tell her she needs to be patient.

She had a low % on one of her maths papers for the recent mocks (stats & mechanics). Then she 'lost' her Chem lab book for 3 days but found it yesterday. Had an informal online mock practice session with a few students she met on her Gold DofE residential and she said she was waffling terribly on all ethics and NHS-related questions and that everyone else was brilliant (her words). And apparently all her early applicant friends from her 6th form have multiple offers or interview invites, apart from her. 🙄

I had to remind her that there is plenty of time to cover her Maths gaps until Feb mocks and A-level exams, and that she didn't do any summer/September revision for mocks, due to UCAT prep & PS.

Also that it's normal to be tired and waffle in MMI mocks, as she has just completed two weeks of A-level mocks, so she started interview prep late. And that she has time to do interview prep/practice, as most of her med interviews, if not all, will likely be in Jan/Feb, rather than Dec. (Only Exeter might happen in December; rest will defo be early next year).

And that it's normal that her non-med friends who applied to Oxbdrige have offers and interview requests, as those Oxbr interviews are held in December and her friends applied to four other non-interview courses. And to stop checking reddit for UCL inteview invites😀I believe she is anxious about not getting an invite from UCL (her score is borderline), but doesn't want to verbalize it. For the other schools, she knows she has much higher invite chances.

Sorry for the long rant. I need a glass of wine and my sofa😊

@inae
You sound like you’ve had a tough week! Rest assured you said everything right to your DD imo. We are all going to have deal
with tired and anxious YP over the coming months. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You sound like a great Mum !

oh @inae I hope you are on your sofa now with your glass(es) of wine!

our 5th choice was QM biomed and they very kindly gave him a really good offer (I think due to A* EPQ plus his contextual health)...

I am hoping that all of our careful research will bring us at least some interview offers - I saw on a FB group that said their child was rejected from Leicester and that there were 2500 applicants!! I don't know if they did share their own UCAT score, but that just sounds scary and I worry that if there were 2500, and they would say interview 400 to offer 300 (these are just numbers out of the sky - not real ones) then what if they are all the 2500+ champs?! eeeekkk!

My DS got his fifth choice offer last in March. He was considering withdrawing the application by then in order to finalise his offers.

They usually offer 400 for 150 places. And will interview 800-1000. Some interviews coming out quite early this year but many will be after Xmas so sit tight. It's horrible but will be worth it in the end.

DD just got an interview at UEA! UCAT 2030. She’s SO pleased. It’s a v early Dec date though which doesn’t offer much prep time (& she has a big birthday in between now and then!).