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Newcastle Medical School 2012 Entry Applicants

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Reply 40
How do cutoffs differ for graduate entry? Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what it was this year for the 4yr course?
Original post by moesy
I know leicester looks at individual sections and the lowest mark is taken as your level. so if you score 700's in 3 and 590 in another, they'll use the 590 to give you a score out of 12 which is a debatable point.

Outdated and incorrect. It changed this year, they now use totals
Reply 42
I think I'll apply. I got 695 in the UKCAT which should hopefully be enough.
Thanks for the info Beska.
Reply 43
Original post by Beska

x


Thanks for your information :smile: In your opinion, do you think international applicants have an easier or harder chance? Sigh. Considering Newcastle cause I love their larger international cohort and my UKCAT's score sort of high =/
Reply 44
thanks :smile:
Reply 45
Original post by Metastasis
Thanks for your information :smile: In your opinion, do you think international applicants have an easier or harder chance? Sigh. Considering Newcastle cause I love their larger international cohort and my UKCAT's score sort of high =/


Are internationals judged separately from home applicants (i.e ranked separately) or not? I don't see a reason why internationals would find it any more difficult other than the usual cap on internationals, etc.
Reply 46
I'm considering newcastle... got 685 on the UKCAT, with 540 in VR as my lowest subsection :s-smilie:

I'm not sure how Newcastle uses UKCAT on the internationals. I'm keep getting mixed information about universities' policy towards UKCAT and how they use it on the internationals... can someone help me clear this up?
Reply 47
Hey i'm probably gonna be applying to Newcastle as it is my local uni and want to have a back-up in case i don't want to move away.

I know it will be somewhere but it is hard to find what i'm looking for

What sort of UKCAT scores have people been getting this year and is it worse to have a big range in your scores?

I achieved this morning;

Verbal- 670- I feel is very low:confused:
Quantitative- 900- hopefully makes up for it:blushing:
Abstract- 750
Decision- 730

Avg 762.5?

Thanks in advance, D
So how are GCSE's used?
Reply 49
Original post by Steerforth
So how are GCSE's used?


They're not. Once you meet the minimum GCSE requirements you are ranked by UKCAT score for interview selection.
Original post by Beska
They're not. Once you meet the minimum GCSE requirements you are ranked by UKCAT score for interview selection.


And what is the minimum GCSE requirements, it doesnt seem to specify anywhere?

Or am I just being silly... :colondollar:
Reply 51
Original post by Beska
Hey guys. :biggrin:

A bit of info about Newcastle's admission policy (which can be found here):

Selection for interview - "shortlisting"

First things first, they check that applicants reach the minimum A-Level/GCSE requirements. All those that do are ranked by UKCAT score and approximately the top 40-45% are given interviews. The interview shortlisting is done purely on the UKCAT average. Having additional A*'s at GCSE or A-Level, for example, will not help or make it easier to achieve an interview. The UKCAT score required for interview will vary year on year because each year the UKCAT scores of those applying change. You will either be given an interview or rejected.

The UKCAT cut-off last year was 675 (then lowered to 667.5 later in the cycle). You can expect it to increase this year. It is impossible to know by how much.

UKCAT scores are given to Newcastle on or around the 5th November. You can expect interview invites from this date. My interview date for 2011 entry was 19 Nov, and I received the invitation (first by email, and then letter) on or around the 12th Nov. The latest you can be rejected for not meeting the UKCAT cut-off is around mid-February, so don't give up hope!

Interview

If you are above the UKCAT cut-off then you will be invited to interview. The medical school describe the purpose interview as "to confirm whether the candidate has the aptitude, motivation and personal qualities to succeed as a medical student" and they are held between mid-November and early March. You will be interviewed by two members of academic staff, which may or may not be practicing doctors (I was interviewed by two doctors). Each individually fill in an assessment form which is very structured. They rate you on a 4-point scale (1 being crap, and 4 being exceptional) on the following criteria:

Choice of Newcastle - self explanatory.

Reflection on the commitment to care and role of a doctor - caring nature, insight into a career as a doctor, understanding of the NHS, ethical issues, etc.

Reflection on personal attributes - learning styles, communication skills, ability to deal with questions, ability to explain complicated concepts, non-academic and personal interests, personal attributes (strengths/weaknesses, self motivation, leadership, teamwork), coping with stress

Verification of Personal Statement - ability to verify personal statement and draw on examples

Overall performance at interview - rated on your overall performance



(All of these and a more in-depth description of each is available in the admissions policy I linked before.)

They won't tell you your scores until after the end of the application cycle. After then, you can apply for them and you get a letter if you're interested and nosy like I am. :p:

Using all these 4-point scores, they will somehow give you an 'overall interview score' (which is separate from overall performance, by the way) which allows you to be ranked with the other applicants. This is the reason they do not give out any offers until they have finished interviewing everybody. Once they rank all of the applicants they have interviewed, they will give offers to approximately 400 of them. You have about a 43% chance of gaining an offer after interview. The interview stage is tough. It is not a case of "gain interview = gain place".

If you are ranked in the top 400-odd people they interviewed, you will be given an offer from early/mid-March. The first offers last year came out on 9th March (the day I got my offer! hooray!) and from some rumours floating around last year tend to be given out in some kind of descending interview score order.

Key Dates (all estimated based on previous cycles)

UKCAT deadline: 07 Oct 2011
UCAS deadline: 15 Oct 2011
UKCAT scores given to Newcastle: ~05 Nov 2011
Interview invites expected from: ~12 Nov 2011
Interview period: ~19 Nov 2011 - ~19 Feb 2012
All pre-interview rejections given out: ~12 Feb 2012
Offers start to be given out: ~9th March 2012
All post-interview rejections given out: End of March 2012
Post-offer open day: 4 April 2012 and 11 April 2012

Key Stats (approximate, based on 2010 entry cycle)

Places: 352
Applications: 2057
Interviews: 928
Offers: 400

Chance of interview: ~45%
After interview, chance of offer: ~43%

Hope this helps!


Thanks Beska
Why do you think the cutoff will go up this year?
Reply 52
I'll be applying here too, best of luck to everyone.
Original post by Beska
.


Can'ae believe how quickly this past year has gone... I remember posting in/joining this thread last year!

Good luck applicants this year :smile: hopefully see you around when you come up for your interviews etc!
Original post by oldbatty
Thanks Beska
Why do you think the cutoff will go up this year?


It goes up every year, for every medical school. I think 2-3 years ago the cut off was only around 645.
Reply 55
Original post by RyuHADOUKEN
It goes up every year, for every medical school. I think 2-3 years ago the cut off was only around 645.


Do you think that there will be a drop in applicant numbers due to the fees increase this year?
Original post by oldbatty
Do you think that there will be a drop in applicant numbers due to the fees increase this year?


I doubt very much that there will be a drop in the number of applicants, just a smaller increase than there has been in years before.
690, probably wouldn't be a safe choice, who knows what the cut-off will be! I may put it down but it may be an auto-rejection :frown:
Good to see a thread now, was planning on applying if UKCAT was above 670, so definitely applying there now! 707.5 average so I think I stand a good chance at beating the cut off.
Reply 59
Original post by Circadian_Rhythm
690, probably wouldn't be a safe choice, who knows what the cut-off will be! I may put it down but it may be an auto-rejection :frown:


hey no way :biggrin:

remember on TSR the UKCAT scores will be skewed and i highly doubt the cut off will be more that 690 :wink:

personally i reckon that is a very safe score to apply with :smile:

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