MEGATHREAD Interview discussion megathread for 2015 entry

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Is anyone else as apprehensive about interviews as I am? It is the part of the process I'm most anxious about and hearing how cocksure people are on medical ethics and issues is making me feel pretty behind the pack. Beyond that, although I definitely am not socially awkward, in an interview I can find it hard to accurately get my point across in an erudite and concise manner. I stammer, um and ah, and garble my words so that even if I knew what I wanted to say about a particular medical topic I probably couldn't get my point across well. Is there anyone else who's felt like this, and maybe had tips to prepare? I fortunately did well on my UKCAT and only applying to universities that rank them means I'm pretty confident of at least 3 interviews hopefully - my biggest nightmare is that I flunk them all. ��

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi, where have you applied? I had a good UKCAT score too and wonder if I should have applied more wisely 😕

Reply 81

russellwallace

Original post by unitopayfor

Hi, where have you applied? I had a good UKCAT score too and wonder if I should have applied more wisely ��

It's too late to wonder now. You need to prepare for the potential interviews you actually may have. Move on.

Reply 82

ja1

Original post by unitopayfor

Hi, where have you applied? I had a good UKCAT score too and wonder if I should have applied more wisely 😕

Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton and Leicester 👍

Original post by russellwallace

I assume at the open day they would have said things like "showing empathy" or similar. Is that what it was? In the real interview you tend to be given just some details about the station you are going in to.

Reply 83

russellwallace

Yeah, things like 'motivation for medicine' as well, can't remember them all. I remember Leicester were planning to use UKCAT SJT as a virtual station but of course that won't be viable this year.

Posted from TSR Mobile

That's what I assumed. Those are the general list of the things that they will be examining in the various stations. On the day you will not know in advance which ones are being tested overall or in any given station. You will likely be given a synopsis of a scenario you are about to encounter or just a few words. Maybe even nothing!
Most unis have the general things on their admissions criteria. So do the ones which have more traditional interviews.

Good luck with the process

Reply 84

unitopayfor

Original post by russellwallace

It's too late to wonder now. You need to prepare for the potential interviews you actually may have. Move on.

Yes, I know...I applied to Sheffield, Southampton, Cardiff and Birmingham...I think I have a good chance of getting some interviews but maybe should have applied to UKCAT heavy unis - I read on TSR that there are 3000 applicants at both Cardiff and Birmingham which is higher than last year so I may have 'wasted' my UKCAT score by applying to those. I just hope I get some interviews ( as we all do! :smile:

) But you are right...focus on the future and get practising!

Reply 85

russellwallace

Original post by unitopayfor

) But you are right...focus on the future and get practising!

If those figures are correct (and I have no way of knowing how anyone would know them yet) Birmingham is same as last year and Cardiff is only up a little and it's a very popular med school.

Most of te bigger schools get about 3000 applicants for their 300 ish places. It's the usual 10:1 ratio

Reply 86

0612

Original post by ja1

Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton and Leicester
Yeah, things like 'motivation for medicine' as well, can't remember them all. I remember Leicester were planning to use UKCAT SJT as a virtual station but of course that won't be viable this year. Posted from TSR Mobile

Last year Leicester's interview stations were as follows:

"The Multiple Mini Interviews will comprise 8 stations. The stations will test commitment, written communication, verbal communication, comprehension and interpretation, calculation, personal qualities, physical and social interaction and motivation to read medicine. Each station will be marked independently and the scores collated to achieve an overall mark for each applicant."

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 87

ekpenyongnsa

Original post by ekpenyongnsa

Hey. I will be free Nov 1. PM me

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I applied to Glasgow, Plymouth, Dundee and Aberdeen. I'm also international btw.

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Reply 88

unitopayfor

Have five people really been given offers for interview already? surely not??

Reply 89

KateBainbridge

Where do we check? UCAS or emails??

Reply 90

ForestCat

Original post by KateBainbridge

Where do we check? UCAS or emails??

Emails

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 91

kashagupta

Original post by hpcp

If anyone wants to Skype with me just PM me
Applying to birmingham cardiff UEA and barts
Have no BMAT so should be relatively free

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Hey I'd be happy to Skype and do interview practice (I'm applying to Birmingham too!)-but it's not letting me send you a pm?

Reply 92

hukdealz

Original post by unitopayfor

Have five people really been given offers for interview already? surely not??

no, is the simple answer

no interviews have been given out for medicine to date

Reply 93

MrStealYourGirl

Sub

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Reply 94

Helenia

Original post by Jatyization

OMG! That is a massive gap lol! When will they actually inform me of the date of my interview?

Thanks for your help! I have one question for you Helenia, I have always wondered what your A-Level grades were if you don't mind me asking :smile:

Different universities interview at different times, some do just one batch (Oxford and Cambridge both do all their interviews over a ~2 week period in early December) and others do several sets over the next few months. If you do some digging around in previous stalking threads, you may see when people got interviews from the places you applied to, but they do change sometimes.

I got AAAA in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and German. There were no A*s back in my day, and I can't remember all my UMS so not sure how many I'd have got, but I had >90% UMS in all of them, just not sure about the AS/A2 split.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 95

dana.low

Does anyone know when Leicester, King's, Southampton and Dundee give out interviews?
Second time applicant 4 A* and UKCAT score of 3180 (+band 1): VR:720, QR:830, AR:890, DA:740

Reply 96

dana.low

Original post by hukdealz

no offence or anything, but you couldn't be more wrong haha

UCAS run a plagiarism check against ALL personal statements submitted in the last 10ish years. As far as UCAS are concerned, using sentences from your own past PS is equally as serious of an offence as using someone else's words. Unis will only find out that your PS contained plagiarism (even if you don't consider it plagiarism), and will immediately discard your application to that uni. Obviously, this response will be the same from all unis you've applied to.

Just to reiterate, UCAS carry out plagurism checks, not individual unis.

I'm sorry but you're wrong... I'm a second time applicant and I chose to keep some parts from last year's personal statement. My application went through perfectly well! :smile:

Good luck to everyone this year! :smile:

Reply 97

NsT3N12

Hey! is anybody interested in practicing for interviews over Skype? If yes, please pm me :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 98

Northern Downpour

Original post by unitopayfor

Have five people really been given offers for interview already? surely not??

Well birmingham have definitely sent invites to the first batch of interviewees. My interview is on 28th nov and you can choose from dates 17th-28th November. I got the email yesterday as did a few of my friends.

Reply 99

JenniB22

Original post by dana.low

Does anyone know when Leicester, King's, Southampton and Dundee give out interviews?
Second time applicant 4 A* and UKCAT score of 3180 (+band 1): VR:720, QR:830, AR:890, DA:740

I only know for the grad courses at Southampton and KCL but they were very quick in replying to my email so suggest you ask them! Southampton have interview dates from December onwards and invite with about 2 weeks' notice.