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*MEGATHREAD* - The GEM "Am I Good Enough?" General Questions & Advice Megathread

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Reply 80
Original post by quasa
also i thought people get around 600 average for UKCAT


Yea, around that. But not a lot of people who get lower than 600 post their results here. Thus making it seem like the average is a lot higher :redface:
thats very true
Original post by quasa
so u got 46% overall for 2nd year or just for a module/exam?


Just that module I averaged a 2.2 in second year but graduated with a 2.1 overall. I reached a brick wall in year 2 where I simply stopped caring. Thank goodness I got my act together in final year!
Original post by quasa
also i thought people get around 600 average for UKCAT


Think of a normal distribution and you'll find the mean is 600. You don't want to be an average candidate if you can help it!
Original post by I<3LAMP
Think of a normal distribution and you'll find the mean is 600. You don't want to be an average candidate if you can help it!


It's not. The most recent collation of data showed that the mean had shifted to about 630 with a s.d. of ~21.
Original post by I<3LAMP
Just that module I averaged a 2.2 in second year but graduated with a 2.1 overall. I reached a brick wall in year 2 where I simply stopped caring. Thank goodness I got my act together in final year!


similar story to me in year 2, except mentally i was suffering coz i was in student accomodation staying next to a foreign student who thought that it was ok to play loud music all day everyday and be physically abusive in front of the landlord; as well as a couple of drunken idiots who were in my seminar group who loved playing loud music and getting on my nerves (1 of them has to repeat 2nd year and the other got a 3rd so serves those 2 right).

anyways, in terms of pharmacy, is it true apparently 3rd year has least workload c.f. 2nd year?
(edited 12 years ago)
There is more information in this thread.
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
It's not. The most recent collation of data showed that the mean had shifted to about 630 with a s.d. of ~21.


Ooh ok. Damn everyone is getting more practised. :mad:

Where did you find the stats, on the UKCAT website?
Original post by quasa
similar story to me in year 2, except mentally i was suffering coz i was in student accomodation staying next to a spanish dickhead who thought that it was ok to play loud music all day everyday & physically attack me in front of the landlord & a couple of drunken idiots who were in my seminar group who loved playing loud music and getting on my nerves (1 of them has to repeat 2nd year and the other got a 3rd so serves those 2 right).


Sounds fairly typical of student accommodation. I sincerely hope you're not going to be playing the 'mitigating circumstances' card.
Original post by quasa
similar story to me in year 2, except mentally i was suffering coz i was in student accomodation staying next to a spanish dickhead who thought that it was ok to play loud music all day everyday & physically attack me in front of the landlord & a couple of drunken idiots who were in my seminar group who loved playing loud music and getting on my nerves (1 of them has to repeat 2nd year and the other got a 3rd so serves those 2 right).

anyways, in terms of pharmacy, is it true apparently 3rd year has least workload c.f. 2nd year?


Ouch...well I hope you redeem yourself this year.

No idea about pharmacy I'm afraid, I studied Biomed. :h:
Original post by I<3LAMP
Ooh ok. Damn everyone is getting more practised. :mad:

Where did you find the stats, on the UKCAT website?


It was published by some organisation. Probably was Pearson VUE. The .pdf was floating around the subforum for a while.
speakin of accomdation, is it wise to go for private accomodation rather than those advertised by uni's?
Reply 92
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
Luck doesn't come into it. You're either what they're looking for or you're not.



I can't imagine it being so black and white. If there are 1500 people applying for 40 places, then there's no way luck doesn't play a part.
Since there are no 100% objective criteria, luck will play a part anyway.
Original post by Monco
I can't imagine it being so black and white. If there are 1500 people applying for 40 places, then there's no way luck doesn't play a part.
Since there are no 100% objective criteria, luck will play a part anyway.


Luck doesn't come into it.

Either you're good enough, by whatever standard they're using, to be in the top 40, or you're not.

They don't pick your name out of a hat, bro. And just because it's subjective doesn't mean it's random, either.
Reply 94
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
Luck doesn't come into it.

Either you're good enough, by whatever standard they're using, to be in the top 40, or you're not.

They don't pick your name out of a hat, bro. And just because it's subjective doesn't mean it's random, either.


I know it's not random. But since we don't know which criteria they use, one cannot say beforehand if he/she is good enough or not. So in that sense, it's luck. You need to be lucky, in the sense that you're the person they're looking for.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Monco
But since we don't know which criteria they use


Do you not bother reading the admission pages then? Or speak to the countless students that have been through the process? Or hell, even straight up ask them what they look for?

It's your own foot you're shooting by crossing your fingers and applying blindly, mate.
Reply 96
Well it's pointless isn't it? The admission pages list very broad criteria. Take the Southampton criteria ( http://www.som.soton.ac.uk/undergrad/course/bm4/entry/ ). I bet there's hundereds of people that meet them.

However, how does soton decide who's more suitable if they receive 1500 applications of candidates who meet the criteria on the page? No one knows, at least the info is not public.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 97
Original post by Monco
So you're saying Oxbridge is less competitive than most uni's? I would not have thought that to be the case.



Yes that is exactly what I am saying.

And in response to another poster asking for a chemistry A-level and some kind of scientific degree is hardly a specific entry requirement, in fact Cambridge will take any degree subject.

I suspect the reputation and what is said at some of the open days put people off - in that it is very self directed learning.

Also I can assure you there were more than 9 places for 2010 entry!!!! Oxford has places for 33 GEM students each year which is pretty average. In fact, Warwick aside, most universities only have 25 places.
(edited 12 years ago)
i agree with the gahenna in that u need to ask people, admin people so on & so forth about these things and that ur shooting urself in the foot by just applying, but i still think that luck has something to do with it (some guy who went to my friend's uni dropped out of MPharm after 2 years, done biomed at a uni ranked between 100-112 & is starting medicine at imperial this september)
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 99
Original post by quasa
i agree with the gahenna in that u need to ask people, admin people so on & so forth about these things and that ur shooting urself in the foot by just applying, but i still think that luck has something to do with it (some guy who went to my friend's uni dropped out of MPharm after 2 years, done biomed at a uni ranked between 100-112 & is starting medicine at imperial this september)

Grad Med course admissions people don't care in the slightest where you got your first degree.

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