CraigKirk (Offline)  

At the risk of "overstaying my welcome", could I trouble you with a couple of other questions? Feel free to say no, I didn't want to clog up the Manchester thread with our conversation, but I'm happy if you want to re-post your answers onto the thread.

How did you approach answering the questions that involve describing yourself, situations you've been in and how your experiences have benefited your various skills? Actually this is such a broad question I'll narrow it down, how did you structure your answers for open ended questions "what do you want to achieve in medicine?" "why do you want to do medicine?" "take me through your work experience" etc. Did you use a "3 point rule"? Plus did you find the work experience questions generally more easy to answer, did you have the opportunity to use anecdotes when talking about your experiences, and if so, did you? Apparently they make the answer seem more interesting and keeps the interviewer's attention, but all mine just seem so dull and to go on forever...And out of interest, did you find it easier to talk about yourself or to talk about a current or ethical issue?

Thanks for all your help!

I had an applicant contact me saying you had put 625 as the UKCAT cut-off for Exeter and Plymouth, despite last years cut off being 642.5, so I wanted to contact you to let you know about it and that I changed it to include the correct cut-off scores for both medical schools respectively.

Thanks for reminding me cos I forgot to tell you, like I knew I would.

Hey,

Please remind you to PM you tomorrow.

Fantastic!

Thank you so much for your hard work, it's greatly appreciated

Indeed

Hey,

Haha it's odd, I was just thinking about that tbh! Good to know, I will remove them.

And it's no problem, afterall I said I'd do it over the next week and I meant it My plan of action is to 1) Input all the details 2) Condense further if I can and make it neater etc 3) Contact each med school to confirm all info is accurate and up to date and then ask if there's any more info I can be given, which might help with the 'when to avoid applying'

It's looking very nice so far

I agree that it doesn't want to contain too much info, so it's got a nice amount atm

Hey
Been a bit busy the past few days, but finally gotten around to creating the page, which can be found here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki...your_Strengths
All it needs is the information in the correct area. It should be fairly simple to update but let me know if you need a hand etc
Also you should have the ability to update it, let me know if that isn't the case

I have to say it's nice to work with you too
It's always nice when 'regular' users help out as it were
I would agree that it brings out the best in some, but believe me when I say it bring s out the worst in others!

I'll leave you to that page now then, VM me if I'm needed

It's a good idea, I'm just trying to picture the logistics of it. With the GCSEs in particular they should check the GCSE entry requirements page as well, otherwise you're going to be putting an awful lot of info onto one page, same with A level requirements.
What I can see in my head is having either a table, or section for each med school. Alongside would then be admissions policy, and 'When to avoid applying here', where we could put generic reasons not to apply there. Ie BL, policy, UKCAT less than 600 average.
Is that similar to what you had in mind?
The problem with having separate columns for GCSEs/AS levels etc is that the columns are quickly going to get narrow and long. So if we could have all the info in one column and then summarise in a column beside it
Sounds good, though for the title I prefer 'A Guide to Applying to Medical School using your Strengths'


Well I'm hoping that you stick around when you get to uni! You're a useful person to have on the site and it's not going un-noticed
Obviously study is more important, but still.. be good to keep you around

That's fine, we'll split the page into 3 sections, 5/6 year standard course, GEM, and foundation year entry. Don't worry about the latter two


Nothing quite like that so far, and it's feasible

Are you happy with the ideas discussed and to go ahead?
If yes, I request that I create the page and do all the formatting first since it'll be easier than moving huge blocks of text later on
Makes things easier for you too then since you just need to input the data into the right bit

That's the attitude I like to see

We're always busy, but you're page would get lost soon if it's not linked to so it needs that two minute job doing to it

Though in future can I ask that you let me know before you create a new page? I appreciate being kept in the loop and there could be a page already on it/plans to include it elsewhere

But yeah, making my edits now