[Chief Wiggum]

(Original post by laurenl93)
She looks boring as **** anyway

How can you tell that based on a picture?

[pts9]

Just thought I'd let you guys know that she is one of my best friends and actually is incredibly social! The press have just really tweaked it all. She had a really good personal statement and reference - the universities even said so and her UKCAT and BMAT were both well above average. It seems like she got the rejections because of her interviews but judging from what she was asked and as I was a medical applicant too, she got some VERY unfair questions and they did possibly challenge her even more so because of her grades and possibly being 'asian'.

She was not pushed by her parents - no one in her family is a doctor either. As for extra curriculars - she volunteered 8 hours a week with first aid, and at a children's charity, and she was deputy head girl at her school and did TONNES for her school.

As for the photo, I was there and she was very happy in all the photo's but it seems like the journalists had an automatic clicker that must have captured this somewhat sad face just as they had said 'finished' or something.

The press really did change the story to what they felt their readers may want. She actually decided about anthropology and changing her mind in april and it wasn't because she was undetermined/not committed but because she realised that she had a LOT of interests outside of medicine (including anthropology) that she wanted to explore before taking the plunge, and durham respected that. She is a bit of a geek and a lot of us were wondering how she would keep herself to just medicine for those 6 years! In fact she had withdrawn before finding out the outcome of one of the medical schools so of course that was going to be a rejection.

I hope that helps answer your questions but I hope that you all do realise that the press have a habit of tweaking things in order to sell papers and as all of us that know her know, she has been unfairly represented and most importantly didn't deserve those rejections in the slightest.

[James1977]

(Original post by pts9)
Just thought I'd let you guys know that she is one of my best friends and actually is incredibly social! The press have just really tweaked it all. She had a really good personal statement and reference - the universities even said so and her UKCAT and BMAT were both well above average. It seems like she got the rejections because of her interviews but judging from what she was asked and as I was a medical applicant too, she got some VERY unfair questions and they did possibly challenge her even more so because of her grades and possibly being 'asian'.

She was not pushed by her parents - no one in her family is a doctor either. As for extra curriculars - she volunteered 8 hours a week with first aid, and at a children's charity, and she was deputy head girl at her school and did TONNES for her school.

As for the photo, I was there and she was very happy in all the photo's but it seems like the journalists had an automatic clicker that must have captured this somewhat sad face just as they had said 'finished' or something.

The press really did change the story to what they felt their readers may want. She actually decided about anthropology and changing her mind in april and it wasn't because she was undetermined/not committed but because she realised that she had a LOT of interests outside of medicine (including anthropology) that she wanted to explore before taking the plunge, and durham respected that. She is a bit of a geek and a lot of us were wondering how she would keep herself to just medicine for those 6 years! In fact she had withdrawn before finding out the outcome of one of the medical schools so of course that was going to be a rejection.

I hope that helps answer your questions but I hope that you all do realise that the press have a habit of tweaking things in order to sell papers and as all of us that know her know, she has been unfairly represented and most importantly didn't deserve those rejections in the slightest.

Quick question. If she had decided to change her mind from doing medicine and was all set back in April who was it that got the press involved?

BTW, nice little groundless comment at the start there attempting to make this a race issue. Yeah, because 'Asians' are so very under-represented in medicine.... Damn those white devils...

Perhaps if her interview was not going well they 'challenged her' in order to give her a chance to redeem a poor start. Not sure how many interviews you have had or conducted but adopting a different approach during an interview if a candidate is struggling with the initial one is actually used to try and help give someone a second bite of the cherry and is a well used interview method.

[massiex]

(Original post by schoolkid)
Good take that you private school people! Your money does not work in medicine thats why I love medicine! Victory for the normal kids YAY! (Sorry about this but at least something good happened today.)

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahah ............pathetic.
And you know she's a full fee paying student, how?
Money does NOT get you everywhere in life. Stop making such low-life comments, and take your jealousy elsewhere.

[Confused24/7]

(Original post by laurenl93)
She looks boring as **** anyway

It's nice how people like you throw both superficial and irrelevant comments at this girl you probably don't even know. Grow up.

To the others who are using reverse snobbery against this girl just because she goes to a private school, have you thought that maybe she's not even paying fees? and the fact she's going to study Anthropology means that she may be concerned about paying back the extra potential £5000 per year after graduating?

In terms of medicine i believe it really does rely heavily on the interview. Personal statement/work experience etc gets you to the interview for medicine. From then on it's all about how you present yourself to the interviewer. I definitely think she should've taken a gap year and reapplied if she really wanted it though.

[bluemax]

not the first time its happened...medicine is known to reject the most able candidates.

[laurenl93]

(Original post by Confused24/7)
It's nice how people like you throw both superficial and irrelevant comments at this girl you probably don't even know. Grow up.

To the others who are using reverse snobbery against this girl just because she goes to a private school, have you thought that maybe she's not even paying fees? and the fact she's going to study Anthropology means that she may be concerned about paying back the extra potential £5000 per year after graduating?

In terms of medicine i believe it really does rely heavily on the interview. Personal statement/work experience etc gets you to the interview for medicine. From then on it's all about how you present yourself to the interviewer. I definitely think she should've taken a gap year and reapplied if she really wanted it though.

Lol k.

[James1977]

(Original post by bluemax)
not the first time its happened...medicine is known to reject the most able candidates.

No it isn't, it really isn't.

It may of course reject the most academic candidates but that is because medicine is not purely about academics. When in practice doctors and surgeons deal with patients, not written exams and coursework. Many of the most noted academics have had terrible people skills, an attitude not compatible with modern medicine.

[Dr dolittlee]

why are people judging her like they know everything on her ucas application. This is ridiculous! people can be extremely clever and have a great social life! I dont think she should give up on medicine so quick though i would love to have her gradessss and get into med hehee. there are people reapplying for years trying to fulfill their dreams and people give up so quick. shame really

and someone mentioned race? are med admissions tutors really racists towards asianss?! :| this is stupid. it doesn't mean all asians want to become doctors and lawyers!

[gimboid]

(Original post by pts9)
...

Just a qick question...

Are you the girl in the article?

[Besakt]

She lives within running distance of me.

[mackemforever]

(Original post by Aminaubah)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...e-tried-for.do

Ok, I have just finished my GCSEs and would like to apply to a really competitive university (you might have noticed from previous threads). This article that came out today really scared me.

What do you have to say about this? What might have been a reason/the reasons for her not getting in, general ones?


By the way, didn't mean to cause any offence to anyone, especially the girl herself. I was honestly just shocked and interested!

Okay, why the neg reps? Did I not just ask a question?

How are we meant to know why she got rejected?

I would assume that either her personal statement was crap or she did absolutely nothing outside of academia.

[USB]

Lol.

Intelligence is more than grades; that's why there are interviews.


Not to offend anyone, but it is apparent that the majority of Medical applicants purse Medicine for money.

There is nothing particularly wrong in that, but that doesn't mean to say it should be the deciding factor for your applications....

[wasting-time]

(Original post by gimboid)
Just a qick question...

Are you the girl in the article?

Yeah she is

[twelve]

First, why didn't I get an article about me I'll have you know I got full marks in Chemistry and got rejected :P

But thats basically my point - there are soo many people who get rejected, and academically they are good applicants. Thats medicine for you, and these articles really annoy me. They make out like the system is flawed, or even worse, like htis person is the only one it has happened to, and neither is true. The system is just VERY COMPETITIVE.

(Original post by pts9)
Just thought I'd let you guys know that she is one of my best friends and actually is incredibly social! The press have just really tweaked it all. She had a really good personal statement and reference - the universities even said so and her UKCAT and BMAT were both well above average. It seems like she got the rejections because of her interviews but judging from what she was asked and as I was a medical applicant too, she got some VERY unfair questions and they did possibly challenge her even more so because of her grades and possibly being 'asian'.

She was not pushed by her parents - no one in her family is a doctor either. As for extra curriculars - she volunteered 8 hours a week with first aid, and at a children's charity, and she was deputy head girl at her school and did TONNES for her school.

As for the photo, I was there and she was very happy in all the photo's but it seems like the journalists had an automatic clicker that must have captured this somewhat sad face just as they had said 'finished' or something.

The press really did change the story to what they felt their readers may want. She actually decided about anthropology and changing her mind in april and it wasn't because she was undetermined/not committed but because she realised that she had a LOT of interests outside of medicine (including anthropology) that she wanted to explore before taking the plunge, and durham respected that. She is a bit of a geek and a lot of us were wondering how she would keep herself to just medicine for those 6 years! In fact she had withdrawn before finding out the outcome of one of the medical schools so of course that was going to be a rejection.

I hope that helps answer your questions but I hope that you all do realise that the press have a habit of tweaking things in order to sell papers and as all of us that know her know, she has been unfairly represented and most importantly didn't deserve those rejections in the slightest.

SO she didn't really get rejected, she withdrew her application and changed course?!

And also, please do not even bother mentioning race. Someone else said, its not like asians are under represented within medicine :|

[ak9779]

What's interesting is that this surely wasn't news to her. She must have known that she had been rejected from all four universities months before she received her final results. Her rejections were based on her predictions (et cetera), NOT her final grades.

[USB]

(Original post by ak9779)
What's interesting is that this surely wasn't news to her. She must have known that she had been rejected from all four universities months before she received her final results. Her rejections were based on her predictions (et cetera), NOT her final grades.

Exactly it was a pretty silly thing for an A*A*A*A* girl, to go the media about this.

Looking for sympathy?

Well there isn't enough to go around...

[Visions-of-Johanna]

(Original post by Aminaubah)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...e-tried-for.do

Ok, I have just finished my GCSEs and would like to apply to a really competitive university (you might have noticed from previous threads). This article that came out today really scared me.

What do you have to say about this? What might have been a reason/the reasons for her not getting in, general ones?


By the way, didn't mean to cause any offence to anyone, especially the girl herself. I was honestly just shocked and interested!

Okay, why the neg reps? Did I not just ask a question?

Grades aren't everything.

I read about that girl in the paper, and her subjects weren't particularly medicine-related. Plus she applied to very competitive universities in the first place and may have had somewhat loosely-related subject choices and probably a very poor personal statement/reference/work experience/personality/extra-curricular activities. In addition to this, she'll have had interviews. If she under-performed in them or came across as someone they thought wouldn't get the most out of a university experience, they'll have rejected her like that.

Even if she didn't have those issues, there's bound to be a reasonable explanation as to why she didn't get her offers.

Like 'twelve' said, this girl isn't a one off. I got 4 rejections out of 5 and I had high UMS marks - 100% last year and this year. It's not just one person every year.

If the university doesn't want you, then there's not a lot you can do but say 'oh, fair enough, I'll try somewhere else', or 'okay, never mind - I'll try harder next time.'

And, I've just read the post by 'pts9' - this girl obviously wasn't 100% focused on medicine if she wanted to go explore anthropology first. Not saying she wouldn't have been a good doctor, or a good medical student, or anything like that - she's obviously very bright - but I'm saying that a competitive university, offering a very competitive course would want someone who will stick at the course like mad.

I don't know - and now I've written all that I don't want to judge her. After all, I got 4 rejections, so all I just wrote applies to me too.

Well isn't that ironic...

[CallieCat]

It doesn't mention BMAT/UKCAT scores, predicted grades, relevant work experience... you don't JUST need to be smart to be a doctor. Could have a crappy personal statement or bad references, and she went for the high-risk strategy of only applying to the best universities for one of of the most competitive courses.