Leicester Medical School Applicants 2012 :)

I had my interview of 28th feb, am I meant to have heard back, as I haven't? And I thought today was the deadline?

Oh thank god i have an offer then, i'm really not up for obsessively checking my email every day AGAIN! Thanks and good luck

'm getting so bored of waiting, I've already received an offer for my first choice, I'd withdraw if I wasn't curious to see what Leicester think of me

No disrespect to you, but is your ego really that big? Congratulations on getting an offer, but because it's from your first choice - shouldn't you do the decent thing and withdraw from Leicester. I could understand if you was waiting to make a decision between the two medical schools, but tbh you seem pretty set on your 1st choice and it's as thought you're waiting for Leicester to massage your ego.

It only takes one offer to become a doctor and no offence but through your selfish actions you could be stopping someone potentially getting that one offer. Of-course you're completely entitled to do whatever you like, and I understand you may see it as a 'competition' but what you're doing is quite frankly messed up.

You realise that me withdrawing is unlikely to change anything right? They always give out more offers than places, because they expect people to reject them. There will also be a waiting list, and if an abnormally large amount of people reject them, they will give an offer to someone on that list. The same thing goes for people who get offers but miss their grades; the offer will go to someone else. There's not going to be an empty place on their course because one person decided to go somewhere else.

Seriously, I'm not taking anybody's place. That one person who's offer I could initially take would get the offer immediately if a place became available.

You also seem to assume I think I'm going to get an offer. Why? A rejection is hardly going to 'massage my ego', and after the mess I made of a couple of those MMIs I promise you, I am expecting a rejection. Literally, when I said I was interested to see what they think, that was all I meant. I still am, I applied for a course and I would like to see if I would have got on. MMI was a new experience, and quite frankly I would like to be able to compare my performance at my various interviews, in order to get a decent view of what my weak points are. Waiting for Leicester to respond will allow me to do that.

I'm very sorry if you're offended by me waiting for a response, but I assure you I seriously considered withdrawing, and was heavily advised against it for the reasons presented above.

Sorry are you saying you've already heard back from Leicester or you already have an offer from elsewhere?

I understand what you're saying, but Leicester will send out a set number of offers (their quota) so assuming you'll get one - withdrawing will mean they have one more to send out. Regardless - there will be a space on their waiting list, for someone whose interview score was slightly below the cut-off.

I'm not trying to have a go at you/nor attack you - I just personally believe we should do everything we can for each other, to ensure once we get our offers we help others to get one also. And the way you worded your comment was a bit insensitive to those who aren't as lucky as you.

Like I said you're entitled to do what you want, if you want to find out how you done at your interview - that's completely your decision. But ultimately I wouldn't feel comfortable thinking I could potentially take someone else's offer - but that's just me.

Wish you all the best at the med school you decide to firm.

Thank-you for that. How did you find adjusting to 1st year medicine, I'm pretty worried of not being able to cope academically. How do students generally find ESA1 in January and subsequently ESA2 and the OSCE in the summer? And also - how have you found your time to be at Leicester? (Apologies for all the questions)

I am genuinely excited about starting - Leicester seems like an incredible medical school

I haven't heard back either, actually, I think most people haven't heard back yet. I'm not sure today is a deadline as such, it's just the date UCAS recommends for unis to make a decision by. But I did think unis were fined for not responding by this date, I can't remember where I heard this, and I'm not certain it's true... if someone could confirm it that'd be good.

Someone posted earlier that Leicester said at their interview that decisions would be given out in early April, I guess that must be true.

I'm getting so bored of waiting, I've already received an offer for my first choice, I'd withdraw if I wasn't curious to see what Leicester think of me

Just to add to Lux's comments- ESA1 is the hardest in terms of formatting, as your still new to it, but in terms of content, it's a complete walk in the park. The real work begins come ESA2. The OSCE isn't so bad. A little daunting at first.

I'm about two months away from ESA4. Not so fun anymore.

Hopefully you guys can give us advice when we start with regards to preparing for ESA1.

Good luck with that man - how did ESA3 go for you? I'm sure you'll be fine though!

I'm confused What's ESA1, ESA2, and OSCE?

ESA stands for End of Semester Assessment, basically a written paper
OSCE stands for Objective Structured Clinical Examination, basically a practical exam

Year 1 - ESA1, ESA2, OSCE1
Year 2 - ESA3, ESA4
Year 3 - ESA5, OSCE2
Year 4 - IPE (Intermediate Professional Examination)
Year 5 - FPE (Final Profressional Examination)

Is the FPE towards the end of Year 5, or is it earlier?

Also can you re-sit the finals in Yr5?

Finals are in Feb/March of Year 5, the final years just got their results and are off on their electives soon! Those that didn't pass I think get to re-sit it in a few months time.

Oh wow - that must be really exciting! Going on your elective knowing you've passed your finals. Do the people who failed still get to go? Do many fail? :|

How did your IPE go?

IPE went fine thanks

On the grapevine I heard 15 failed, but that could be totally wrong. But yes I think they still get to go on elective.

Well done on your IPE Is that like 15/180?

Have you decided on your elective -where are you hoping to go?

Also I was thinking about the whole' intercalating' (mind my spelling) - is it necessary to have a competitive F1 application, also do many students get the chance to do it? (Is there a pass-mark or something)

I know this is a way long away, but I'm jus abit curious, with the whole 9 grand tuition fees.

I haven't decided on my elective yet because I've decided to intercalate next year, between Year 4 and 5. (Though I actually want to stay in the UK for the elective, for personal reasons keeping me here). It's not necessary to intercalate for a competitive application, because you could easily pick up the points from somewhere else on the application, eg. your medical school ranking. However if you want to do one of the academical foundation programmes (eg. one that involves research) it might be helpful. Anyone who passes their exams and shows an interest gets to intercalate if they want to. There is no pass mark as such. In Year 5 onwards the tuition fees are currently paid for by the NHS, so I'm not actually paying anything more in tuition fees by intercalating, just maintenance costs.

That's what I was wondering - because I know at Imperial where it's a 6 year course, with the intergrated Bsc included - Years 5 & 6 are paid for by the NHS. So I was wondering if intercalating at Leicester would mean the NHS essentially pay for the Bsc year + the final year. So if I was to intercalate at a london university, I wouldn't really have any costs seeing as I live her. If that was the case, I'd definitely love to - but it's just the whole 9k a year which really sucks if that's not the case.