Medicine 2026 Part 3

[MyGreyBiscuit]

Hi everyone, here's the new thread!

No, the waitlist is real; they do also reject.

Thanks @SlenderRations, that's helpful info.

Waitlists are to manage risk; they can make fewer offers knowing they have a pool of preferred candidates they can call on if the get fewer students accepting or meeting grades. They may make offers from it in the summer, or instead of clearing. Those on the waitlist are those who they considered good candidates - people they would be pleased to have - but who just missed the cut.

My understanding is though they won’t ‘poach’ waitlisted students from other universities. So if she gets other medicine offers then Exeter won’t make an offer from their waitlist. Not sure how correct that is but definitely don’t turn down another offer in the hope of Exeter offering off it’s waitlist!

yeah I don't think anyone should poach, but my understanding of what happened to the person we know about was that they rang and said I've got 3A* and whatever the UCAT was, and Exeter said ok. So, it's like clearing I guess, you don't just apply to 'lower grades' school, you can apply to 'higher grade' schools too. take some time @inae to process. It's brutal.

Sorry to hear this. It’s such a cruel process.

If it helps, waitlists are real.

My son got a place from a waitlist a few years ago.

His uni started opening up places to waitlisted candidates once others start declining their places.

Exeter must expect movement once all offers are out and then will offer to waitlist

All you can do is hang on in there at the moment and hope for movement soon.

Maybe that was because they rang Exeter? My understanding is Exeter wouldn’t have approached them if they had somewhere else, but may have done so if they didn’t have a medicine offer?

I'm just going to put this out here for all those children who don't get any offers but who cannot imagine not doing medicine.

My niece didn't apply for medicine aged 18 - she applied straight for biomed (went to Birmingham, got a 2:1). She then worked for a whole year as a HCA in a hospital, where they really supported her by giving her a wide range of experience. She then did a master's in physiology.

She's going to med school (Keele) in September, 5 year undergrad course. They interviewed her and offered a place within 36 hours. It was definitely the work experience that swung it, because it gave her such a wide range of experience to apply within her PS and her statement.

We're finding the money as a family! I know that wouldn't be an option for most families - but I urge those youngsters who don't get a place this time around to consider a gap year working in a hospital like my niece did. They'd be applying with ongoing experience (consider starting asap after A levels), A level grades already known and it could just make the difference and bring about an unconditional offer.

@inae I've had several students go to Exeter from
waitlist on results day. They don't offer it to everyone. But it's hard.

Second this - my godson didn't get any offers first time round and he felt pretty terrible but in his case, he decided to take a year out and reapply, as he didn't want to do biomed. He got good A'levels plus UCAT so got 4 offers last year with he felt much quicker decisions - he's now in 1st year at UCL. It's definitely helped my DD seeing that as he really took a dip after not getting any offers (think he got rejected by 3 pre-interview and then the other post-interview so v harsh!) He has said that the year off was the best thing he did - volunteered in a hospice as well as working and then volunteered in India in a field clinic - definitely helped him be more confident in interviews and now at uni too.

@inae - really sorry to hear about Exeter but the reserve/waitlist thing does appear to be real so hopefully that will work out or she'll get offers for the others! My DD absolutely loved interview day at Southampton so now keeping everything crossed for that...roll on March really....😅

Yes, I wish my niece had thought of doing this before applying for biomed - would have possibly expedited matters AND saved us a lot of cash!

I'm so sorry @inae - is there any way of finding out her interview score to see how close to the top of the waitlist she is? From what I've read there's often lots of movement from these.

I studied medicine at Southampton and had the most amazing time for the 5 years and beyond. I so hope she hears soon with offers from the others and moves off the Exeter waitlist too.

oh yes definitely...not poached. They approached, and presumably because they were on the waitlist, and for whatever reason, preferred there to the other place they had firmed.

Back to waiting

Sorry to here that - fingers crossed for the other two.
It's so hard on them.

DD's super bright friend who has 2 offers already hasn't heard from Sheffield or Newcastle yet, she also has a friend waiting for HYMS.

We've still heard nothing at all from Keele. I suppose no news is good news (and DD already has an offer so is relaxed about it) but if they are suppose to do all interviews in Jan to March then it's getting less and less likely.

Just reread that. DDs friends waiting for Sheffield, Newcastle and HYMS have had interviews so just waiting for offer/reject. But DD hasn't had an interview or rejection from Keele.

Keele set themselves a lot of additional work pre-interview with their selection method. I can see how that could take time over simply ranking UCATs.

Also, they seem to have had a huge number of applicants this year - I think I read around 2,700!! I think it was twice what Oxford received. Having to go through that many PSs is a massive undertaking.
@FruAashild is Keele a favourite of your DD?

No, she's happy with the offer she has. I think I'm more interested/curious than her. She has an offerholder's day mid March so we might need to decide if it's worth holding out or just accepting the offers she has before we hear from Keele. They have put out a statement saying they've only reviewed 25% of their applications which is useless. There seems to be real variation in how quickly different places process their applications.

My niece had her interviews with Keele on Monday 27 Jan 2025 and received an offer 36 hours later. I wonder, do they do responses in batches? I can't believe they're waiting until they've gone through all the applications before contacting applicants.

Thanks all, let's hope for better news from the others.

@Peanuts79 no idea if they disclose individual MMI scores or waitlist positions, but I guess it won't hurt to inquire. They asked DD to confirm by the 27 Feb whether she wants to remain on the waitlist for A100.

I saw it suggested that a reason why Newcastle had to rely on clearing to fill so many places this last couple of years was because they left their offers too late so people were already firming up other offers. I wonder if Keele might find the same if they left making their offers too late?

I'd definitely go on the waitlist - although check to see what that actually means. I have it in my head that if you have an offer elsewhere you can't be waitlisted...? But I have no idea how they would know...? (unless they check the UCAS website). I'm not advocating lying of course - I'm just wondering how it actually works.

@MyGreyBiscuit DD has already emailed them to confirm to be on the waitlist. Their email says they will share further details on how the A100 waitlist operates at a later date.

It also says if they don't hear anything from the candidate by the 27th of Feb, they will "process the application as an unsuccessful application" (whatever that means, probably UCAS will be updated then).

Presumably if they don’t hear they simply inform UCAS they have been rejected.

Or they just leave it until the cut off day and let ucas do the rejecting (I'm looking at you Kings).