A100 Edinburgh Medicine - 2017 Entry

You can have 50,000 extracurricular activities and still not get in yet have three or four and get in! It's all how you write and present them in your personal statement with Edinburgh if you want to get the best score on your application. So it doesn't matter if it isn't impressive, just as long as you talk about how it will help you as a doctor or what it has done for you. In a summary, I think you'll be fine!! You need to cover in your personal statement what personal qualities you have, extra-curriculars such as Piano, charity shops or things like this and finally work experience. You'll get one mark for each section and since you have to selectors looking at your application, that means there are approximately 6 marks for your personal statement.

Here's a breakdown of the scoring system for British applicants:
10 - 8A*s> GCSE
10 - A*AAa A Levels
08 - Top Octile UKCAT (ranges between 720-730 usually, has been lower before in the past though)
06 - Band 1 SJT (you drop two marks for each band you lose)
06 - Personal Statement (divided evenly between Personal Qualities, Work Experience and Extra-Curriculars) + Edinburgh emphasise on a good reference too for validation purposes.

This gives a total out of 40. Generally, UK students need 38/40 for an offer. A handful get in with 37 but it's pushing it a little as a lot of people get that score. Scottish applicants tend to get in with 35/36ish due to additional weighting.

Does anyone know what the cut-off was for last year to get into the top octile in the UKCAT!

I'm a gap year applicant and I'm considering Edinburgh as a choice. I got my A level results today and achieved A*AA, however I have a b at AS in German. I also have 10 A*s at GCSE. I know you need an A in your 4th AS subject to get full marks so what score would I get for the academic section?

I really like the look of Edinburgh and although I couldn't go to an open day seriously considering applying I got 10A*/3A at GCSE and 5 A's at AS. I havnt done my UKCAT yet but if I get 700+ pretty positive I will apply.

Regarding personal statement, I can't seem to get the personality part through eg. How do I show in caring and empathetic without stating how I developed the skills? And I only wrote a little paragraph on extra curricular a as don't have too many. I'm so bad at it

Talk about and discuss the things you've done. For empathy/compassion, volunteering work is most appropriate but if you're discussing what you observed during clinical shadowing try and put through a sense that you understand/feel for the patient. More important for the personality part, is that you should seem humble and not brag about things and come across as an arrogant ******.

Don't worry too much about extra-curricular stuff. It doesn't have to be all very impressive things, but just some sort of indication that you have a life outside academia/medicine.

Oh okay thanks! I will try and do that when talking about my shadowing, though the main one is surgical so hmm. Yeah don't be wanting that 😂 Okay that's good, as have done some stuff

For surgery, you can try and talk about and reflect on the patient journey. Also trust in doctors to be completely in control of their lives etc

I really like the look of Edinburgh and although I couldn't go to an open day seriously considering applying I got 10A*/3A at GCSE and 5 A's at AS. I havnt done my UKCAT yet but if I get 700+ pretty positive I will apply.

Regarding personal statement, I can't seem to get the personality part through eg. How do I show in caring and empathetic without stating how I developed the skills? And I only wrote a little paragraph on extra curricular a as don't have too many. I'm so bad at it

If you can't think of a powerful way of showing your compassion/empathy from your work experience, then abstract examples can also be used to illustrate these characteristics. An act of compassion that is personal to you e.g. giving a stranger the Heimlich maneuver and then sticking around to help them get over the shock of choking, or something smaller like sitting with an elderly relative and explaining why they should be taking their prescribed medications will likely be more memorable than simply having compassionate thoughts whilst shadowing a doctor (because although is highly commendable it is likely to be on a lot of personal statements, and you should be looking to distinguish yourself from the bunch throughout your personal statement).With regards extra-curriculars, as mentioned above it is much more important that the admissions team see you have a balanced lifestyle than them being wowed by just how good at a particular sport/instrument/past-time you are. The fact that you have on-going extra curriculars can be used to demonstrate effective time-management, stress-management and organisation skills that are important to medical students and doctors.

Good luck!

You can have 50,000 extracurricular activities and still not get in yet have three or four and get in! It's all how you write and present them in your personal statement with Edinburgh if you want to get the best score on your application. So it doesn't matter if it isn't impressive, just as long as you talk about how it will help you as a doctor or what it has done for you. In a summary, I think you'll be fine!! You need to cover in your personal statement what personal qualities you have, extra-curriculars such as Piano, charity shops or things like this and finally work experience. You'll get one mark for each section and since you have to selectors looking at your application, that means there are approximately 6 marks for your personal statement.

Here's a breakdown of the scoring system for British applicants:
10 - 8A*s> GCSE
10 - A*AAa A Levels
08 - Top Octile UKCAT (ranges between 720-730 usually, has been lower before in the past though)
06 - Band 1 SJT (you drop two marks for each band you lose)
06 - Personal Statement (divided evenly between Personal Qualities, Work Experience and Extra-Curriculars) + Edinburgh emphasise on a good reference too for validation purposes.

This gives a total out of 40. Generally, UK students need 38/40 for an offer. A handful get in with 37 but it's pushing it a little as a lot of people get that score. Scottish applicants tend to get in with 35/36ish due to additional weighting.

Does anyone know what the cut-off was for last year to get into the top octile in the UKCAT!

Hello, I got my UKCAT score today and now I'm wondering if I've got a shot with my application were I to apply. EU student, 673 average and band 2, probably have a high enough predicted grade (approximately 43 IB score with 777) to get all 20 marks. I've shadowed a hospital for a week and worked at a pre-school for 3 weeks as well as a few odd volunteering jobs so I've got a lot to reflect on in my personal statement. I really want would like to apply but now with my UKCAT score and seeing everyone else's application I'm not sure if my application is strong enough.

Can I do my fourth AS level in year 13? If I am predicted an A in the AS, will I still get full marks for that section?

Can I do my fourth AS level in year 13? If I am predicted an A in the AS, will I still get full marks for that section?

That's quite an unusual situation. I'd say that your best bet would be e-mailing the admissions team and seeing what they say. I would've thought it should be fine but it's probably best to double check.

I got 11A* and AAA at AS with A*A*A prediction for A2 so I hope I'm considered

You can have 50,000 extracurricular activities and still not get in yet have three or four and get in! It's all how you write and present them in your personal statement with Edinburgh if you want to get the best score on your application. So it doesn't matter if it isn't impressive, just as long as you talk about how it will help you as a doctor or what it has done for you. In a summary, I think you'll be fine!! You need to cover in your personal statement what personal qualities you have, extra-curriculars such as Piano, charity shops or things like this and finally work experience. You'll get one mark for each section and since you have to selectors looking at your application, that means there are approximately 6 marks for your personal statement.

Here's a breakdown of the scoring system for British applicants:
10 - 8A*s> GCSE
10 - A*AAa A Levels
08 - Top Octile UKCAT (ranges between 720-730 usually, has been lower before in the past though)
06 - Band 1 SJT (you drop two marks for each band you lose)
06 - Personal Statement (divided evenly between Personal Qualities, Work Experience and Extra-Curriculars) + Edinburgh emphasise on a good reference too for validation purposes.

This gives a total out of 40. Generally, UK students need 38/40 for an offer. A handful get in with 37 but it's pushing it a little as a lot of people get that score. Scottish applicants tend to get in with 35/36ish due to additional weighting.

Does anyone know what the cut-off was for last year to get into the top octile in the UKCAT!

Hi was wondering where you got this information from with regards to the scoring system? It's just I haven't seen it anywhere else that's all.