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Cardiff University Medicine Applicants 2017

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Just out of interest, is anyone applying for the foundation year (A104)?
Reply 81
Hi!
Cardiff, after visiting and thorough research, is my favourite medical school.
I have 10 A*s at GCSE, AAAA at AS in bio, chem, maths and further maths, and a predicted A*A*A* in all subjects but FM.
I got a 690 average UKCAT, band 1.
How heavily weighted is each aspect in the decisions to invite to interview? Is the personal statement heavily scrutinised? Also how long after admission through UCAS is it until you find out if you're invited for interview or not?
Hi,
I have 8A*s, 2As and a B (in English language -_-) at GCSE and A*A*AA at A-Level, does anyone know if my stats are competitive enough for Cardiff? I think I'd score 25/27 for my GCSEs, Is there any point in applying to Cardiff?
Reply 83
Original post by lukeetay
Hi!
Cardiff, after visiting and thorough research, is my favourite medical school.
I have 10 A*s at GCSE, AAAA at AS in bio, chem, maths and further maths, and a predicted A*A*A* in all subjects but FM.
I got a 690 average UKCAT, band 1.
How heavily weighted is each aspect in the decisions to invite to interview? Is the personal statement heavily scrutinised? Also how long after admission through UCAS is it until you find out if you're invited for interview or not?


Hi there,
1) decision to invite to interview is based on GCSE score and personal statement quality. With your 10A*s and a good personal statement you should be fine.
2) UKCAT is only used post interview.
3) interviews have changed slightly this admissions cycle, Cardiff are now holding MMI style interviews in Novemeber, December, January and February (exact weeks are in my OP I think), So we are unsure when you will hear back.

Glad you really liked Cardiff!
Reply 84
Cardiff University Open Day: Saturday 22nd October 2016.

The next CU open day will be held on Saturday the 22nd of October 2016, this gives anyone who has applied to medicine at Cardiff but couldnt make any of the earlier open days a chance to visit, or people who just want to find out more about the course and have a look at what goes on in and around the medical school! As this is a whole university open day it will also give applicants or prospective applicants the chance to look around bioscience building (where we learn anatomy) and the students union to get a flavour of Cardiff student life.

I will be holding a talk on what it is like to be a medical student at Cardiff, covering all aspects from curriculum, societies, placements, a quick guide to CBL as well as being there to answer any questions anyone may have. There will be many other great events occurring in and around the medical on that day including various talks and the chance to chat with students and academic staff.

Just spreading the word :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Hello there,
I am from Wales and Welsh is my mother tongue. At the Open Day someone mentioned that you get two extra academic points if you are from Wales, is this true? And I have heard that you can be taught a part of the course in Welsh... do you know how much of the course will be available in Welsh?
Thank youuu
Hi, I got a GCSE score of 21 and have achieved 3As in A Level, just wondering what my overall score would hence if its worth applying to Cardiff?
Reply 87
Original post by Gwenog_quidditch
Hello there,
I am from Wales and Welsh is my mother tongue. At the Open Day someone mentioned that you get two extra academic points if you are from Wales, is this true? And I have heard that you can be taught a part of the course in Welsh... do you know how much of the course will be available in Welsh?
Thank youuu


The usual response to the "Does Cardiff give preference to Welsh students?" question was always a resounding no - something they made clear at all open days.
However, in the tv show about the medical school this week I'm sure they said that they now are giving preference to Welsh applicants. The reason stated being that research has shown doctors from Wales are more likely to stay and work in Wales after graduating - so recruiting students from Wales will help solve the recruitment crisis here at the moment.
Reply 88
Original post by PeterMJP
Hi, I got a GCSE score of 21 and have achieved 3As in A Level, just wondering what my overall score would hence if its worth applying to Cardiff?


I am afraid it is not public knowledge of how the GCSE scores are calculated for Alevel holders, you are better ringing the medical school (dont email you will be waiting years) and asking.
Reply 89
Original post by Gwenog_quidditch
Hello there,
I am from Wales and Welsh is my mother tongue. At the Open Day someone mentioned that you get two extra academic points if you are from Wales, is this true? And I have heard that you can be taught a part of the course in Welsh... do you know how much of the course will be available in Welsh?
Thank youuu


Original post by Elwyn
The usual response to the "Does Cardiff give preference to Welsh students?" question was always a resounding no - something they made clear at all open days.
However, in the tv show about the medical school this week I'm sure they said that they now are giving preference to Welsh applicants. The reason stated being that research has shown doctors from Wales are more likely to stay and work in Wales after graduating - so recruiting students from Wales will help solve the recruitment crisis here at the moment.


Currently the admissions policy for 2017 states nothing about giving away extra points for welsh candidates, if I am totally honest this would be unlikely as it thus discriminates against other candidates, meaning welsh applicants require 2A*s less to get an interview, but I suppose given the current crisis of welsh doctors it may be a way to get them into medical school in wales. Cardiff have such high GCSE requirements that it often excludes a lot of the welsh applicants to medicine, and like Elywn said the welsh government and Cardiff are currently noticing that welsh trained doctors are more likely to stay in wales. My main arguement for this is why not give some incentive to get doctors to stay in Wales full stop, I am looking very kindly upon the prospect of staying in Wales for foundations years at least as I really do like it here, but because im from england do I not matter as much? These are the issues were facing.

I will contact admissions to ask about this point as it is not something I can yet give a yes or no answer to, when I receive the answer I will post it here, but for now just assume that welsh students are not given priority as that is how it has been for the past admissions cycles.
Reply 90
Want to go for it but my score is 25/27. (7A*s 3As) Say the cutoff score this year is 26 (hypothetically), will they not look at my personal statement at all? You said that some 25s got offers with really good personal statements but I'm not sure if they'd give all 25s' personal statements a look or would they look at another academic criterion first (for borderline/ 1 point below cases?)
+A*AA prediction.
+Band 2 UKCAT 640
Original post by Natalierm2707
I am afraid it is not public knowledge of how the GCSE scores are calculated for Alevel holders, you are better ringing the medical school (dont email you will be waiting years) and asking.


I've rung the medical school and they said they've very last minute decided A-Levels will be scored in the same way was GCSEs I.e 3 for A*, 2 for an A. It was a pleasant surprise because my academic score was 22/27 beforehand and I was pretty down about it but it's gone up to 29/27. I've rung on 4 different occasions just to be super sure. Do ask them again before you apply!
Original post by PeterMJP
Hi, I got a GCSE score of 21 and have achieved 3As in A Level, just wondering what my overall score would hence if its worth applying to Cardiff?


I've rung the medical school and they said they've very last minute decided A-Levels will be scored in the same way was GCSEs I.e 3 for A*, 2 for an A. It was a pleasant surprise because my academic score was 22/27 beforehand and I was pretty down about it but it's gone up to 29/27. I've rung on 4 different occasions just to be super sure. Do ask them again before you apply!
Original post by Natalierm2707
Currently the admissions policy for 2017 states nothing about giving away extra points for welsh candidates, if I am totally honest this would be unlikely as it thus discriminates against other candidates, meaning welsh applicants require 2A*s less to get an interview, but I suppose given the current crisis of welsh doctors it may be a way to get them into medical school in wales. Cardiff have such high GCSE requirements that it often excludes a lot of the welsh applicants to medicine, and like Elywn said the welsh government and Cardiff are currently noticing that welsh trained doctors are more likely to stay in wales. My main arguement for this is why not give some incentive to get doctors to stay in Wales full stop, I am looking very kindly upon the prospect of staying in Wales for foundations years at least as I really do like it here, but because im from england do I not matter as much? These are the issues were facing.

I will contact admissions to ask about this point as it is not something I can yet give a yes or no answer to, when I receive the answer I will post it here, but for now just assume that welsh students are not given priority as that is how it has been for the past admissions cycles.


Thank you so much for your response! I must've misheard the lecturer at the open day then... but yes it is crucial that Welsh-speaking doctors are encouraged to stay in Wales, particularly as very young and elderly patients who speak Welsh as their first language often have trouble speaking English.

That's very kind of you to contact admissions; I'm very grateful! :smile:
Reply 94
Original post by Gwenog_quidditch
Thank you so much for your response! I must've misheard the lecturer at the open day then... but yes it is crucial that Welsh-speaking doctors are encouraged to stay in Wales, particularly as very young and elderly patients who speak Welsh as their first language often have trouble speaking English.

That's very kind of you to contact admissions; I'm very grateful! :smile:


Couldnt agree with you more here, I do think we need more welsh speaking doctors in the more rural areas of wales, but often once having graduated welsh doctors want to stay in the cities where the majority speak very good english, so its all about direction.
Reply 95
Original post by KayleyC
Want to go for it but my score is 25/27. (7A*s 3As) Say the cutoff score this year is 26 (hypothetically), will they not look at my personal statement at all? You said that some 25s got offers with really good personal statements but I'm not sure if they'd give all 25s' personal statements a look or would they look at another academic criterion first (for borderline/ 1 point below cases?)
+A*AA prediction.
+Band 2 UKCAT 640


they usually read all the personal statements of every applicant.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 96
Original post by Annon2879
I've rung the medical school and they said they've very last minute decided A-Levels will be scored in the same way was GCSEs I.e 3 for A*, 2 for an A. It was a pleasant surprise because my academic score was 22/27 beforehand and I was pretty down about it but it's gone up to 29/27. I've rung on 4 different occasions just to be super sure. Do ask them again before you apply!


That would be awesome if it is true! I will try and confirm this officially.
Can someone please clarify whether you need to be on one Cardiff's courses in order to apply for their grad course?

Got a bit confused with whether you have to or not :/

Thanks!
Reply 98
Original post by NafNaf39
Can someone please clarify whether you need to be on one Cardiff's courses in order to apply for their grad course?

Got a bit confused with whether you have to or not :/

Thanks!


I was looking at this on the admissions policy just yesterday, I will link it here: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/357809/Admissions-Policy-for-Undergraduate-Programmes-in-Medicine-2017-18.pdf

to summarise, to apply to A101 at Cardiff which is the GEM course you must have graduated with a 2:1 or above in the 4 feeder stream degrees which are:
- The BMedSci Medical Sciences Degree from the University of Bangor (B100)
- The BSc (Hons) Medical Sciences Degree, from the University of South Wales (B901)
- The BSc (Hons) Medical Pharmacology degree, School of Medicine, Cardiff University (B210)
- The BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences degree, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University (BC97)
Dentist graduates can also apply for the GEM course with the aim of maxilliary-facial specialisation.

From what I can gather being on the course our graduates that join us in year 2 are all (bar a couple of dentists) from the 4 courses above, we did have graduates of other degrees at different universities join us in year 1 but they cannot join for A101 they join for the 5 year A100 just like everyone else. Cardiff specify these courses for the GEM I believe because they have great control over the content which they are taught within them, meaning they can prepare the students adequately for everything they will have missed out on during year 1 teaching (which is a heck of a lot of stuff, trust me).

Hope this answers your question.
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi guys. I just applied yesterday! Good luck to everyone. :smile:

Anyways, how do I calculate this score?

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