BM5 Southampton Medical Applicants 2017 entry

Ok, I'll take that into consideration thanks.

What aspects of the course do you like/are really helpful?
Also, what aspects aren't so good?
What's PBL like? I'm worried that i would learn the wrong things or not learn enough or too much. Also I read somewhere that the facilitator isn't an expert in the field so wouldn't be able to answer questions. Is that true?

1. Would you mind listing the pros and cons of Southampton Medical School?

Pros: Early patient contact, great city, great support, lectures based, all get a bonus BMedSci, deliver a baby in year 1!

Cons: Have to do shifts as a HCA in year 2 (only 6 but I did enough before uni. Some people love it though), feedback on essays and exams is frequently late and that drives me bonkers.


2. Do you feel learning anatomy using prosection rather then dissection is an issue?

Dissection will obviously be a rich learning experience. However, in my experience it is not the only way or even the best way to learn anatomy!

Firstly, it is extremely expensive for the university to provide cadavers to everyone/lots of people in order for everyone to do a dissection. When you do prosection there is more funding to put into other resources.

Secondly, dissection is a long process. Anatomy already takes up a lot of my timetable and I am only doing prosection. Dissections take a LONG time, and when there are over 600 muscles in the body (not that you learn them all at one time of course) it is hard enough to cover the material for that, without having to cut and find them yourself. Also, but reducing this time spent finding muscles, nerves etc yourself means you can spend longer learning other aspects of the anatomy.

Another of the big issues for me is anatomical variation and difficulty finding structures. Some of the structures you need to learn about (especially nerves and blood vessels) are TINY! If you're not sure what you're doing you can easily lose it. Prosection allows you have experienced and professional anatomists finding and beautifully dissecting out the structure. I personally prefer this and allows you to see really wonderful specimens. Also, every body is different. I had a friend do a week long dissection of a neck where she beautifully displayed every layer, just to find that this patient for some reason, didn' even have the thyroid gland she was looking for. While prosection specimens do have variations on what is normal, this is already shown, and you don't have to consider this when you're trying to dissect.

Prosection enables you to walk into a room and see exactly what it is you came to learn. A lot of the time they're also not just independent structures, but large dissections where you can peel back each layer and see the organ or structure in situ. Our anatomy exams are called "IAPP"s which are integrated anatomy physiology and pathology exams. This means our questions are not purely anatomy but there are other aspects. Having less time required to learn the pure anatomy allows you to start applying other aspects of the course to your learning right away.


That said, if you want to, you can do dissection in year 3!

I am sure that for some people, they want to get hands on and that is what makes it more interesting. But when it comes to it, when you have so much to learn (anatomy and otherwise), prosection is a hands on (but no cutting) neat way to learn exactly the same content much faster.


3. Are you given a lot of support at the Uni ?

The GMC have said that. our med school is the flagship example for all other med schools to follow when it comes to how students are supported.There is lots and it is varied so that you can find what works for you.


4. How do you rate the teaching? Poor - OK- Good - Excellent ?

Good to excellent depending on the lecturer. There are a few poor ones but they rarely cover anything important. All the hard and important stuff is recovered in small class tutorials too which is excellent.


5. Did you have any time to socialise in years 1 and 2 ?

Too much. All weds afternoons off plus the timetable is busy in the day but not unmanageable. Around exam time things go quiet but we have lots of time.


6. What is the city of Southampton like to live in? Do you find it dull?

Nope love it. It's all the features of a huge city without the crowds, totally geared for students as we have 2 unis. There are 6 cinemas, an epic shopping centre, 2 theatres, lots of history, an Ikea, the docks and airport and well conected via trains. Lots to do in and around hampshire with the New Forest next door, beaches, Bournemouth for sand. Isle of Wight for day trips, good clubs and bars too. It's great!

Hi guys urgent help is needed!! Just done my UKCAT - got 580 in VR, 690 in QR, 580 in AR, and band 2 in sjt so an average of 617My predicted grades are (A*,A,A) in maths,bio,chem. I have 4 A*'s and 5 A's I have put down imperial and sussex as my two BMAT choices and I have narrowed down the list of UKCAT unis to these: so please could you advise me on which two to choose:Birmingham, St georges, Bristol ( 70% on personal statement scares me!), Durham, Norwich, Kings college, Sheffield and Southampton. The other ukcat unis have been omitted from my list due to them being too far away - so these are the best ones location wise!I don't think I will do that well in the BMAT so that puts me off adding any more BMAT unis to my selection!I really appreciate any help and advice! Thanks

My dad really wants me to put southampton down - but I'm not sure if i will get in as my ukcat score is below average! So do you think its a risk worth taking or are the other unis on my list easier to get into - as southampton look at the ukcat in stage 1 100% and that really scares me!!

Well - we live in Brighton and my dad wants me to stay close - so southampton is very close and he just has a strange feeling I will get in - so I will just need to explain to him that I have a very very small change of getting in!! So last year the lowest UKCAT score interviewed was 640 - as you and others have said you expect it to go down but I suppose it wont go down all the way to my score of 617 so yeah I guess it is very risk to apply to Southampton - thanks for your help!

Yeah that's very true - I see what your saying. Also what was the drop last year so it went down to 640 from?

I was fairly sure it had dropped year on year, but digging out the old figures I have it seems like it went up this year:

2016 entry - 640 average was the lowest score
2015 entry - 625 average was the lowest score
2014 entry - 700 average was the lowest score

This was the first year they did it this way so there is no more data.

I will double check with admissions that these are accurate for School Leavers only but I am fairly sure it is (and 100% sure for the latest figures).

Is there a reason why the ukcat cutoff was so high in 2014? Was that the year where the average scores were massively inflated?

I have just read all your replies and they have really cheered me up. Thanks for taking the time to post. I'm a graduate from Chi applying to BM4 and BM5, with 689. S'ton looks fantastic.
Did you study at Northbrook?

Good ^_^ Glad to hear.

Ahh it's nice to find people from home. There are a fair few Sussex students at Southampton which is nice too.
I did for a very short while. Before that I was at Bhasvic and then Worthing College (slightly complex education history haha).

Let me know if you have any questions. Always happy to help if it means ignoring my pile of work for a bit!!

Would you happen to know info about the BM4?

Are you an A level student?

You'd have been interviewed this year if so and they're predictin UKCATs to drop again so I'd be optimistic.



That was last year's requirements and an old post. With the new application cycle the 4th AS or EPQ is no longer required.



You would have got a BM5 interview (A100) this year and juuuuust got an interview for BM4 (lowest ave interviewed 725).

We don't care about anything above the minimum requirements so just ace the interviews

I'm a graduate with 1st Class Honour in Biomed, do you think there's a chance for me to get an interview for BM5 this year with my UKCAT being 690 overall?

Good ^_^ Glad to hear.

Ahh it's nice to find people from home. There are a fair few Sussex students at Southampton which is nice too.
I did for a very short while. Before that I was at Bhasvic and then Worthing College (slightly complex education history haha).

Let me know if you have any questions. Always happy to help if it means ignoring my pile of work for a bit!!

So I worked out for my category (grad applying for bm5), last year the lowest UKCAT score interviewed was 9.2% higher than the average score. This year, my score is 8.9% higher than average score. Do you know how they work out a cut off? Does it all really now rest on the scores of other applicants now for me? I know the average has dropped again, but it's down to the wire for me isn't it? Painful!

Expected cut off this year for BM5 graduates is 700 - I only got an average of 686, so not too hopeful. One positive is the UKCAT scores have slightly decreased from last year.

I'm a graduate with 1st Class Honour in Biomed, do you think there's a chance for me to get an interview for BM5 this year with my UKCAT being 690 overall?

How did you get an expected cut off? The uni were not giving estimates at all last I checked!




You need to decide if you think you have a chance based on the last year or so of stats. I would take the total UKCAT score of your group and divide it by 4 to get the ave (4 sections in last years UKCAT) and see if your score is competitive. Unfortunately no one can give you a more definitive opinion!

So just an update on the 2016 application stats:

Each group applying to BM5 is considered separately. Find the group you belong to to find your stats:

School Leavers (A levels)
No. of places: 126
No. of applicants: 636
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2560 (total)No. of interviews: 432
No. of offers: 250
Applicants per offer: 2.5

Graduates applying to the 5 year course
No. of places: 20
No. of applicants: 363
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2770 (total)
No. of interviews: 48
No. of offers: 20
Applicants per offer: 18

Mature non-graduates
No. of places: 5
No. of applicants: 40

Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2400 (total)
No. of interviews: 24
No. of offers: 14
Applicants per offer: 3

Overseas applicants
No. of places: 12
No. of applicants: 153
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2120 (total)
No. of interviews: 72
No. of offers: 19
Applicants per offer: 8

How did you get an expected cut off? The uni were not giving estimates at all last I checked!




You need to decide if you think you have a chance based on the last year or so of stats. I would take the total UKCAT score of your group and divide it by 4 to get the ave (4 sections in last years UKCAT) and see if your score is competitive. Unfortunately no one can give you a more definitive opinion!

So just an update on the 2016 application stats:

Each group applying to BM5 is considered separately. Find the group you belong to to find your stats:

School Leavers (A levels)
No. of places: 126
No. of applicants: 636
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2560 (total)No. of interviews: 432
No. of offers: 250
Applicants per offer: 2.5

Graduates applying to the 5 year course
No. of places: 20
No. of applicants: 363
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2770 (total)
No. of interviews: 48
No. of offers: 20
Applicants per offer: 18

Mature non-graduates
No. of places: 5
No. of applicants: 40

Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2400 (total)
No. of interviews: 24
No. of offers: 14
Applicants per offer: 3

Overseas applicants
No. of places: 12
No. of applicants: 153
Lowest UKCAT interviewed: 2120 (total)
No. of interviews: 72
No. of offers: 19
Applicants per offer: 8