Wanting to study medicine

[maiacam]

Hi

Please can anyone give any advise please. I didn't go to university so haven't a clue! My son is interested in studying medicine. He is in Year 10 from September and has just chosen his options Maths (waiting result as sat in June), 2 English, Geog, 3 Science, French, Rs and Statistics.

He has also recently joined the St John Ambulance.

Is there anything else he could, should be doing to maximise his chances?

Any advise welcome.

Thank you xx

It's hard to imagine that students actually get to the stange of applying to medical schools without meeting their basic academic requirements but if the posts on The Student Room are anything to go on then it certainly does happen. .

Yes it does. And it is true for other courses too. Unfortunately, many schools simply advise pupils to choose subjects they enjoy, without really explaining the consequences of their choices for later applications.
There are people applying for RG unis with A levels in subjects which are not acceptable and for courses which require a certain A Level, who dont have that A Level. There are academic students who are taking BTecs because they were not advised that A Levels would open more doors for them.
Sometimes pupils are told to simply 'apply and see how you get on' even though they dont meet the requirements.
And it goes back to GCSE....knowing to choose separate sciences etc needs to be pointed out early on, for anyone serious about medicine.

Many schools lack knowledgable people about the tricky to get onto courses and careers advice services have been cut. Many schools have been driven by league tables and pushing pupils towards courses with 'easy' points, rather than those which best prepare them for the next stage they wish to go onto.

For pupils not in schools which give good advice, the info is out there...but it requires some inititiave to find it.

From my DC I get the impression, and they all attend different universities, that you have a much better chance of being accepted from the state sector. With the greatest respect the grades required do require you to be super bright and diligent. Not genius but very bright. The assumption that a group of A/A* at GCSE does not require intelligence is fallacious but popular.

Most medical schools have a relatively low academic hurdle (no need for A*s at most but yes to A grades). Then it generally comes down to personal statements being graded to see if you have an interview. Exact score grids vary but on the whole credit is given for showing leadership, communication compassion, understanding of role of doctor, resilience, ability to cope under pressure, awareness of social diversity. You can do this in any way you like. At interview, generally there will be marks for getting an ethics question right (usually, what do you do if you come across a drunk colleague), for knowing about the course and for skills graded in the PS.

I know all this because I submitted freedom of information requests to all english medical schools and they were obliged to tell me the exact criteria for getting in. I was shocked at how little emphasis there is on the academic tbh.

Oh, I have heard on the grapevine (not through FOI request) that from next year there is to be an extra hurdle of 90% in AS Chemistry. That will whittle down the numbers applying considerably, and is a welcome new emphasis on ensuring medical students are bright enough.

LittleMissMaths. That's interesting about submitting a FOI to the medical schools. Did you make your findings public. Some medical schools are a lot clearer than others when it comes to their admissions policies.

Have you any thoughts on the future use of the UKCAT scores by the UKCAT Uni's?

The 90% UMs at AS chemistry isn't a bad idea, it does seem crazy for the medical schools to have quite so many applicants. It must be a logistical nightmare for them. It's also pretty harsh on the students who have to wait in limbo for months while the medical schools trawl through all the applicants.

Regardless of the entrance requirements I wouldn't want to go into medicine unless I was very confident of my academic abilities. It's not a field of work where you want to be making mistakes.

What I dont understand is why entry requirements for O/seas students are so much lower. Eg: www.uclan.ac.uk/courses/bachelor_medicine_bachelor_surgery.php

I assume at lease some of these students will remain in the UK, and qualified to practice. Given the shortage of GP etc would it not make more sense to take on more bright UK/EU students?

In terms of grades UselessNess' earlier knee jerk comment about the capability of private school students is depressing. In our case the only state options were schools which had little to no history of sending students to Russell Group Universities, and did not offer the maths/science options at GCSE which would credibly enabled any but the most determined student to apply for medicine. I have no doubt that should DD apply for medicine from the private sector she will need absolutely stellar grades, and hope that similar applicants from our local state school would receive a lower offers to allow for their relative lack of opportunity. However I hope she and others will be considered on the basis of whether they will will make good Doctors, regardless of background.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to be rude about private schools. Not at all. My kids went to private schools when they were younger. I was just saying that private school students tend to look better on paper because they do!

I agree with Useless. The very bright might be lacking in social skills and I think the medical schools have got it right.

Of course they could ask for 4-5 A levels all at A*, however would they get the right applicants?

I guess one of the reasons overseas students entrance grades are lower is partly to do with fees. Eg, it costs £17,000 for first year medicine at Bristol as an overseas fee payer but only £9,000 as a home/EU fees payer.

Needmoresleep - Home and EU med and dentistry numbers are limited, so institutions can't take more students even if they want to. And the full cost is met through the NHS for home students, hence why OS student fees are higher.

UCLan is new to Medicine - it hasn't even had its first intake yet, so their published entry requirements are veering on the lenient side for the moment until it has a better idea of the calibre of applicants it attracts.

We came across the course when researching overseas medical degrees.

My understanding is that the NHS has cut the number of UK degrees it is funding, and is likely to then have to recruit doctors from either British students who have studied abroad or International students who have studied in the UK/EU.

I recognise that fees are higher. However it must be frustrating for the many British students either being forced into taking longer, and expensive, post-grad routes into medicine or training abroad, that grade requirements for International students appear to be so much lower. Want2Be suggests she got an ABB offer because of experience as a lifeguard. The average British student is expected to do so much more than that. At the end of the day it seems a system that will not deliver the best doctors for the UK.