MEGATHREAD - The GEM "Am I Good Enough?" General Questions & Advice Megathread

Reply 100

quasa

Entertainment Forum Helper

20

thats good to know.

Reply 101

quasa

Entertainment Forum Helper

20

so people, when would it be ideal to apply for med school if ur a pharmacy student, during ur final year (final year of Masters) or during pre-reg year?

Reply 102

Jack.O

Original post by Ronove

Grad Med course admissions people don't care in the slightest where you got your first degree.

Have to concur with this. :smile:

Reply 103

quasa

Entertainment Forum Helper

20

i was also wondering, do grad entry students get NHS bursary or not?

Reply 104

Monco

Original post by quasa

i agree with the gahenna in that u need to ask people, admin people so on & so forth about these things and that ur shooting urself in the foot by just applying, but i still think that luck has something to do with it (some guy who went to my friend's uni dropped out of MPharm after 2 years, done biomed at a uni ranked between 100-112 & is starting medicine at imperial this september)

Well, obviously, I'm not just applying. Obviously I don't apply to universities that ask for a biomedical degree, which I don't have.

However, I'm just saying that the exact selection process isn't transparant. I'm pretty sure that many people meet the minimum requirements that they put out on their sites. That, however, doesn't mean that anyone who meets the minimum requirements gets in.

Reply 105

Princess Bubbles

OP

16

Original post by quasa

i was also wondering, do grad entry students get NHS bursary or not?

They do in year 2-4. Details of funding can be found in this thread..

Reply 106

Princess Bubbles

OP

16

Original post by Ronove

Grad Med course admissions people don't care in the slightest where you got your first degree.

Actually, it depends on the med school. For example, the admission tutor at the Cambridge open day said that they looked at where the degree was from to ensure that you were academic enough. Also there are some stats which show that students from Russell group unis are more likely to gain entry than other universities.

Reply 107

uer23

15

Original post by GodspeedGehenna

Do you not bother reading the admission pages then? Or speak to the countless students that have been through the process? Or hell, even straight up ask them what they look for?

It's your own foot you're shooting by crossing your fingers and applying blindly, mate.

Considering that Grad Entry applications are on the rise year after year, I believe there is an element of luck, however you have to maximize your chances by doing the utmost you can and then hope for luck rather than lets say do one week of GP experience and sit down and hope you get an interview.

With thousands of applications and limiting spaces, you may get 2 or more applications which are similar to each other as I believe many medical schools use a points/scoring system at each part of the process (PS, Interview etc.) So in that sense the increased competition means even the best of the best may not get offers as med schools cannot just dish out offers to everyone.

Reply 108

Monco

Original post by uer23

With thousands of applications and limiting spaces, you may get 2 or more applications which are similar to each other as I believe many medical schools use a points/scoring system at each part of the process (PS, Interview etc.) So in that sense the increased competition means even the best of the best may not get offers as med schools cannot just dish out offers to everyone.

Exactly. Then, when you get similar candidates, suddenly it will matter where the cadidate got his/her degree and in which. Also I can imagine that universities will favour "first class" graduates over "upper second".
At this point luck comes into play.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 109

Alice249

Original post by Monco

Exactly. Then, when you get similar candidates, suddenly it will matter where the cadidate got his/her degree and in which. Also I can imagine that universities will favour "first class" graduates over "upper second".
At this point luck comes into play.

I don't deny that a degree classification is important. But I feel that sometimes applicants are suspicious when universities say we accept 2.1s or 2.2s, or feel that this might be the exception and not the norm.

From my experience if a university says they accept 2.1s they mean it and there isn't a huge discrimination against 2.1s. The reason I say this is other factors come in to play, such as interviews. If you're applying to be a medical student for four years it is much more important that your interviewers can stand to be around you for four years and whether you can interact with human beings than whether you have a 2.1 or 1.1.

Yes, I am sure if you give me the theoretical situation where 'two candidates are EXACTLY the same in every respect apart from one has a 2.1 and one has a 1.1' then yes the person with the 1.1 would be offered the place. But in reality, I don't think that situation ever occurs. Interviewers are only human too and as such they will always get on with some people more than others and more than likely pick the person they get on better with.

(Also, frankly I don't think my interviewers could have given two hoots that I got a first in Kantian metaphysics. It's just not relevant.)

Reply 110

Monco

Original post by Alice249

The reason I say this is other factors come in to play, such as interviews.

Yes, I agree. However, some schools don't do interviews, Southampton is one for example. I'm quite curious how their admission process works.

Reply 111

Alice249

Original post by Monco

Yes, I agree. However, some schools don't do interviews, Southampton is one for example. I'm quite curious how their admission process works.

From my experience I'd guess it involves 25-30 darts and a very large dartboard.

Reply 112

Beska

21

Original post by Alice249

From my experience I'd guess it involves 25-30 darts and a very large dartboard.

..How did you guess Nottingham's undergrad admissions policy? :eek:

Reply 113

username356927

13

Original post by Monco

Yes, I agree. However, some schools don't do interviews, Southampton is one for example. I'm quite curious how their admission process works.

Probably similar to Edinburgh's. More weighting will be given to PS, reference, Grades and UKCAT/GAMSAT score.

Reply 114

Nutta!

10

Original post by Monco

Yes, I agree. However, some schools don't do interviews, Southampton is one for example. I'm quite curious how their admission process works.

You mean 2?

Reply 115

Nutta!

10

Original post by Alice249

I don't deny that a degree classification is important. But I feel that sometimes applicants are suspicious when universities say we accept 2.1s or 2.2s, or feel that this might be the exception and not the norm.

From my experience if a university says they accept 2.1s they mean it and there isn't a huge discrimination against 2.1s. The reason I say this is other factors come in to play, such as interviews. If you're applying to be a medical student for four years it is much more important that your interviewers can stand to be around you for four years and whether you can interact with human beings than whether you have a 2.1 or 1.1.

Yes, I am sure if you give me the theoretical situation where 'two candidates are EXACTLY the same in every respect apart from one has a 2.1 and one has a 1.1' then yes the person with the 1.1 would be offered the place. But in reality, I don't think that situation ever occurs. Interviewers are only human too and as such they will always get on with some people more than others and more than likely pick the person they get on better with.

(Also, frankly I don't think my interviewers could have given two hoots that I got a first in Kantian metaphysics. It's just not relevant.)

It depends on the admissions criteria

Reply 116

Alice249

Original post by Nutta!

It depends on the admissions criteria

This kid's got insight.

Reply 117

MissGinge

Helloooooo!

My very first post (yay!)
I'm looking for some advice as to whether or not i should bother applying for GEP 2012 entry, i'd really appreciate it if you'd be brutally honest with me!

I applied for 2009 A100 entry to KCL, Barts, Penninsula, and Leeds/Leicester (can't remember!), had an interview at KCL...and was rejected by all four :frown:

- I don't think i really had the grades or experience to get in.

My grades are; GCSE's - 2 A's, 8 B's, A Levels - BBBbbc (Chem, Bio, Health and Social Care, Law, Citizenship, and Environmental Studies). I'm in my final year of my degree in Forensic Science (Achieved a 1st in years 1 & 2 and predicted a 1st overall). My UKCAT average was around 620 (can't remember individual scores!)

I have a lot of volunteering and work experience, including - 5 years with St John Ambulance - President of the Volunteer society at uni- Peer mentoring at school, college, and uni - Various Leadership awards at uni - and i'm applying to work with the samaritans!
I've shadowed for 2 weeks at a local GP's, 1 week in Orthopaedics, 1 week with Elective Care, and i may visit a care home for a week (time off work permitting!).

For 2012 entry i plan on applying to; Barts, Southampton, Warwick, and Imperial (long shot!), unfortunately due to the nature of my degree i don't have many options, and i really don't want to do the GAMSAT!

So...if anyone has any advice or what not, don't hold back!

Thanks a lot :smile:

xx

Reply 118

petzneo

15

Original post by quasa

similar story to me in year 2, except mentally i was suffering coz i was in student accomodation staying next to a foreign student who thought that it was ok to play loud music all day everyday and be physically abusive in front of the landlord; as well as a couple of drunken idiots who were in my seminar group who loved playing loud music and getting on my nerves (1 of them has to repeat 2nd year and the other got a 3rd so serves those 2 right).

anyways, in terms of pharmacy, is it true apparently 3rd year has least workload c.f. 2nd year?