Medicine 2026 part 2

[mumsneedwine]

Thought I'd start another one.

That is awesome @Vista123 !!congratulations!!! What were her other choices?

There’s a webinar here that might be of interest. Organised with Imperial and an NHS trust. forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=slTDN7CF9UeyIge0jXdO48DPZ3yytfpBgI-vSI0BIVtUNk9EUzJGNFVRMTRJNURaREo0UVFBSVZVRCQlQCN0PWcu

Thank you. Her choices are UEA, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.

Dd at uea. Happy to help if needed

DS started medicine at UEA this year and is loving it!

Congrats to your daughter! And good luck with the prep… hope she can enjoy her birthday without too much stress.

My daughter has applied to UEA too but no news yet … guess we just have to sit tight! I saw UEA had released interviews to wildly different UCAT scores (between 1890 and 2300) so it looks like their approach to sending out invites is quite random.

Yikes, who knew this business would be so nerve wracking - and I guess it gets even more so post interview!

@Vista123 congrats on the UEA interview! At least we are in the interview offer period now, if only at the very start 😂.

I think most of DDs choices will be later to offer interviews so we are trying to not overthink it, which is hard as DD is a natural drama llama!

I'm secretly hoping Newcastle might send some interview offers in the next week or two going on last years dates. Who knows!

Solidarity in keeping the YP going in the coming weeks.

Now you can all see my user name origin 🍷. It's a tough old process. Maybe Wes would appreciate doctors more if he realised how hard it is just to get in. Happy Saturday everyone.

Indeed @mumsneedwine so true. And of course, there’s a whole aging population issue that he’s not dealing with. And with geriatric care, it’s so much more complex and challenging.

We’ve not heard anything either. DS is focusing on homework and mocks in January. Also doing interview practice. although if St George’s dates are out then I hope the letters will come soon since it’s early part of December!

happy weekend everyone!!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We're still in 'no news is good news' territory 😄

It looks like Exeter is sending interview invites later this year than in past years, apparently due to GAMSAT results being delivered late to universities. There are other med schools that could be impacted by the delay e.g., Plymouth.

@mumsneedwine what's your opinion on paid MMI practice/MMI circuits? Are they absolutely needed?

DD has done/is doing a few free MMI mocks in November (UCL done, Imperial in-person this Sunday, Plymouth online end of Nov). Also doing a bit of Zoom practice with friends, which is helpful, but the feedback is basic on those. I'm thinking it could be useful to do 1-2 more full MMI mocks in Dec/Jan, once she is a bit more prepared content-wise, so we might need to pay for it. At the moment DD is reading NHS and GMC-related topics and bullet-pointing answers to common FAQs. Thoughts re: the paid stuff, is it worth it?

@inaeI'm afraid it's random. It can take a long time to hear back from Keele.

I don't think paid MMI things are worth the money as you just need to be able to think out loud, so explain your thought process verbally. Know a bit about the NHS, what makes a good doctor and why that Uni/city. Other than that you just have to be prepared for anything !

Don't sound rehearsed as it will lose marks. Don't give generic answers, don't ramble, reflect not describe, and know current issues in NHS.

But many people do like them 🤷‍♀️

@inae is it possible to let me know how to find the end of Nov Plymouth mock MMI session ? Have googled but can’t find it (maybe it’s full?). Thank you

I would worry that too many mock sessions could make you overprepared. They are trying to see what you are naturally like, so whilst pointers to ensure you portray yourself well would be helpful, if you come across as coached that wouldn’t be.

I think as long as you know the usual themes/questions (bank) that they'd use, and you know your answers then that's good. So, know why you're choosing them, why you want to study medicine etc that'll be fine. Obviously as a parent, I might feel slightly differently and am so tempted by all these paid options with fantastic claims like 96% getting offers!

Having sat on numerous interview panels (not medicine), and coaching colleagues and friends through interviews, there are really only a set list or types of questions they can ask. It's how you use your experience to answer them. So, a kid with work experience at Scouts will answer differently from working at Starbucks...but both should be valid and be able to talk about difficult situations, leadership opportunities and working in teams.

That's what I think now though... lol!!! Also in the 'no news is good news' camp!

Thanks @mumsneedwine @MyGreyBiscuit and @2025parent. We're not sure about paid yet... My DD feels very unprepared at the moment, but I hope in 2 weeks from now she will feel differently.

@Vista123 there is no link, as these were not advertised online. Plymouth has an eMentoring scheme which is open to all prospective med students (any uni, you don't have to apply specifically to Plymouth). They pair you up with a med student and you can ask them questions securely via an app. My DD took part in that in year 12 and she was paired up with a lovely year 3 med student and asked her questions about med school choices, UCAT prep techniques and resources, how the course works, etc. The scheme doesn't require any contextual factors, so anyone can sign up. DD found it very helpful.

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/outreach/medicine-dentistry-biomedical-healthcare/e-mentoring-scheme

Once that her participation in eMentoring ended, she was asked by email whether she would like to remain on their email list - for events or for research purpposes - and was recently invited to do an MMI prep session and one online MMI practice session.

@inae it sounds like she's done quite a few practice sessions already (the UCL thing that our kids went to, and all the things you stated)...

Frankly, I think that they are expecting so much off our 17 year olds, it's quite crazy. At my ripe old age of 52, I'm still not very good at interviews, and panic the hell out of them (always a good thing though as it means you take them seriously)... I think it's also ability to think on the spot and able to know yourself/your experiences. So, always have a couple of examples ready to share for those questions they might ask you. That's what I tell my colleagues and friends anyway - and so far I've had 100% success (LOL!!! anyone want to hire me as a career coach!?).

Agreed 100%.

This process tests their resilience in ways I didn't imagine. Year 13 for an aspiring med student is brutal.

On a relatd note, I believe reliance on the interview performance alone, to make offers (once you're past the invite stage), is a bit too high. There are a few schools that base their offers on a blended score - interview performance + UCAT + academics (not the ones DD applied to 😁). That makes more sense to me, as it seems a bit more balanced.

DD has an interview at Sunderland in December. Woo hoo! I was expecting it to take longer. Now to start some interview practice.

Just been put on hold by Bristol. UCAT 2420

We All just feel a bit blurgh now. It was her first response from a university.
Does anyone know the normal response from a Bristol hold/timeline etc? Thanks

Forgot to say DDs UCAT, it's 1850 but Sunderland look at the pre-interview questionnaire not UCAT scores and we are local (no other contextuals though).

Dd was put on hold by Bristol a couple of years ago. Dont worry

They assess applications, check they meet the entrance requirements etc and then put them on hold. Its just their way of processing applications.

They will come back to you, maybe in a good couple of weeks or after the festive period.

Hang on in there, its just the start of a brutal process until decisions are made

Dd also interviewed at Plymouth and Keele and maybe able to help once your daughter makes contact

That's mad, with that score. No idea why Bristol does this to applicants.

@JaninaDuszejko congrats to your YP!

Thanks @Thefatbutteredpig I think the questions came as their friends received interview invites from other unis (including Bristol) so wasn’t sure what it meant. You are right about it being a long and brutal process!!