Cardiff Medical School Applicants Thread

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Inspirations have I none

awww don't be! the interview is pretty friendly and relaxed. You get a tour before the interview, and get to meet the other people being interviewed on the same day as you. By the time you actually have to go to be interviewed, you'll be pretty relaxed. They interview quite a lot of people in my opinion at cardiff, so I think you've all got a great chance of getting an interview/offer.

oh that sounds quite pleasant actually!
the fear does not reside however

Reply 21

overclocked

Inspirations have I none

you really should have known about the GCSE cut off some time ago if you have already sent your application via ucas, lol.

I think the cutoff for GCSEs is 5A*s or 6A*s. I think the figure was 22 or 23 last year with points as follows, A*=3, A=2 B=1. Look at top 9 subjects. Therefore if we say the cutoff is 23, that's 5A*s and the rest As.

Cut off point may go up though this year, you never know. What did you get at GCSE?

I doo know about the cut off just not the exact details
I got 12A*s 1A at GCSE so cut off should be okay :smile:

Reply 22

RollerBall

Cut off system for GCSEs...

22 points last year, year before 21, year before that 20 and year before that 20 again.

A* = 3
A = 2
B = 1

From top 9 GCSE. Cut off is worked out from the entire cycles applicants. I.E. Put them in a order, X number go through. This decides the points cut off. Who knows what the cut off will be however I personally would not feel safe without 4 A*s and 5 As. As the point system is supposed to be hanging around 22 this year. Hence, I didn't apply, that and a couple of other reasons.

Some discretion is given for those with A levels in hand. For example, AAA or AAB will likely push you over if you are a mark or two short for the cut off.

Application is not even looked at if it doesn't meet the GCSE hurdle.

Reply 23

naraena

Hello fellow cardiff applicants! I am one too ^^

Reply 24

omlette

bob9001

ooo what's the uni like? is Cardiff nice?
I've heard it's amazing so I applieddd :smile:

It's freakin' AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :woo:

Reply 25

blonde-beth

omlette

It's freakin' AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :woo:

well thats good to know!! woop. :woo:

Reply 26

zakgunner

I am actually quite worried now from what i read about cardiff selection procedure, as I only have 3A* 3A 3B's and one short course A and one short course C. Do you think I still stand a chance although i do have 4 A's at AS but a ukcat of 610 average??

I never knew about cardiff gcse cut off, i wouldnt have applied then.

Reply 27

blonde-beth

zakgunner

the cut off will change year to year depending on the quality of the other applicants. remember they also take other things into consideration like your statement and reference etc. dont worry too much about it now, and remeber you have 3 other choices if this one dosnt go according to plan! :smile:

Reply 28

DoctorCli

cardiff is deff my first choice!!!!! also applying to leeds, soton and bristol.

does anyone know what the interview is like? i.e. what kind of questions do they lean towards etc?

Reply 29

myfanwy

Completely depends on the interview panel. There's generally a medical student on the panel (4th year) and how nice they are to you depends a bit on their interview. One of the panel is usually quite scary. They ask about ethics, our personal statement, why Cardiff, what you do to relax wtc. How you answer will dictate a lot how the interview goes.

Personal experience - they saw where I was from and as they'd been a huge ethical thing around the area (even though it did happen before I was born!) they linked the ethics to that.

They try to have third year students to chat to you in the morning on the tour and before your interview, to let you know a bit about the med school etc. If they know the people on your interview panel, they might let you know a bit about them...if you'e lucky. But they aren't always there - we have placements throughout most of the interview times so it is possible you'll meet 2nd years instead.

I had a nice interview panel, and so did most of my friends here, so don't worry about it. It was probably the most relaxed of my interviews.

Reply 30

overclocked

anyone been acknowledged by Cardiff?

Reply 31

blonde-beth

bob9001

anyone been acknowledged by Cardiff?

nah i havnt, but i got a nice postcard from soton today!

Reply 32

xMJWx

Am also applying to cardiff :biggrin:

Reply 33

overclocked

ahh so many cardiff applicants! :p:

Reply 34

myfanwy

Hi everyone.
Not an applicant :smile:

- 3rd year at Cardiff.

If you have any questions on the course/accommodation/interviews etc feel free to ask.

Good luck with your applications!

Reply 35

apple100

myfanwy

Hi everyone.
Not an applicant :smile:

- 3rd year at Cardiff.

If you have any questions on the course/accommodation/interviews etc feel free to ask.

Good luck with your applications!

Hi at interview do they ask about recent medical developments/issues in and around Cardiff? Because I have never been to Cardiff...

Reply 36

myfanwy

apple100

Hi at interview do they ask about recent medical developments/issues in and around Cardiff at interview? Because I have never been to Cardiff...

I don't think so - haven't heard of them doing so, but just in case here's a few things that may be relevent

They've combined a lot of the NHS trusts and LHB's recently - so its a new umbrella over Cardiff and Glamorgan - think it's to help with money issues and patient services

There was the problem with UHW having to stop doing post mortums a short while ago (not the best thing to come out with, but they may mention it and ask if you thought it had damaged public perception of medicine - i did get a similar style question in my interview)

One of the department in BioSci (where you are for 2 years) got the noble prize for medicine in 08- Sir Martin Evans for stem cell research or something, so you could see what he did as a recent medical development

As I said I doubt you'll be asked anything, but there are a few things you could talk about if any question did come up.

Hope that helps

Reply 37

apple100

myfanwy

Thanks so much :smile:

sorry if this sounds really stupid but what us UHW and LHB? :colondollar:

Reply 38

myfanwy

UHW = University Hospital of Wales - where the medical school is based for years 3-5, and some of the early years
LHB - local health boards - they're the ones who get the funding and give it out for all the treatments etc, and pay the GP practises.