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Imperial College Medicine Applicants 2012

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Original post by purplefrog
I applied to UCL, ICL, KCL and B'ham last year. I took 4 subjects and in the run up to my interview I emailed ICL to confirm what you were asking and the reply was "as long as your subjects meet the grades required in any combination, you will be admitted to the A100 course." I was hoping to have ICL as a handy insurance as I too was fretting about chemistry!!

UCL only ever give AAA offers regardless of how many A2s you take. They even discourage applicants from taking more than 3 if it detracts from their overall performance. And UCL specify AAA with As in Biology and Chemistry. And yes, I do go to UCL :smile: Just thought I'd answer your post


wow that's scary... cause I'm applying to the exact same uni's as you did! Prepare for a full inbox of Qs :wink: haha. May as well ask how your ICL interview went? did you get an offer from there as well?
Which subjects did you take? I know UCL have a slight preference for an arts subject so taking 4 would work to my advantage for UCL...
Well your chem was an A, or A* at the end so well done! :biggrin:
So for UCL, I can get a D in psychology and get AAA in maths, chem and bio and they won't care + still give the offer?
Original post by purplefrog
I applied to UCL, ICL, KCL and B'ham last year. I took 4 subjects and in the run up to my interview I emailed ICL to confirm what you were asking and the reply was "as long as your subjects meet the grades required in any combination, you will be admitted to the A100 course." I was hoping to have ICL as a handy insurance as I too was fretting about chemistry!!

UCL only ever give AAA offers regardless of how many A2s you take. They even discourage applicants from taking more than 3 if it detracts from their overall performance. And UCL specify AAA with As in Biology and Chemistry. And yes, I do go to UCL :smile: Just thought I'd answer your post


Out of interest, why UCL over ICL?
Original post by Nator
Is a high BMAT score, above that of the cut-offs, looked at as a decider between applicants? :smile:


Once you meet the cut off, only interview is the decider
Original post by englishman129
Out of interest, why UCL over ICL?


I prefer the arty side to UCL - I want to meet people studying all sorts of things apart from the sciences. The only reason I applied to ICL was due to it having a very similar course structure to UCL... I ideally wanted to apply to UCL, ICL, Newcastle and Edin based on course structure but my UKCAT wasn't good enough for the latter two. And I also preferred that UCL do the BSc before clinical skills (so in year 3) as when I was on work experience I had Imperial students who were in the hospital after their BSc saying the year they spend in the labs doing the BSc after first year clinicals made them really rusty on their practical skills such as canulating.

Though I am totally jealous of Imperial's sports centre - that's the only thing that drew me to ICL over UCL. Otherwise, for me, I preferred UCL's environment and found it less competitive and workaholic than Imperial's. They're both stunning places though! Congrats for you on getting in at ICL :biggrin:
Original post by purplefrog
I prefer the arty side to UCL - I want to meet people studying all sorts of things apart from the sciences. The only reason I applied to ICL was due to it having a very similar course structure to UCL... I ideally wanted to apply to UCL, ICL, Newcastle and Edin based on course structure but my UKCAT wasn't good enough for the latter two. And I also preferred that UCL do the BSc before clinical skills (so in year 3) as when I was on work experience I had Imperial students who were in the hospital after their BSc saying the year they spend in the labs doing the BSc after first year clinicals made them really rusty on their practical skills such as canulating.

Though I am totally jealous of Imperial's sports centre - that's the only thing that drew me to ICL over UCL. Otherwise, for me, I preferred UCL's environment and found it less competitive and workaholic than Imperial's. They're both stunning places though! Congrats for you on getting in at ICL :biggrin:


Thanks for the reply! Yeah, that totally makes sense..fair enough. Tbh, both unis are awesome. Went for a Neuroscience interview at UCL and loved it there as well.
Thinking of applying to Imperial this year having achieved AAA at A2 (im a re-applicant) and i have 8A*'s 2A's at gcse, just wandering whether or not i would be at a disadvantage because i have no A*'s at A-level. I know their offer is 3A's but wouldn't they favour post A-level applicants with an A*/s? Oh and i took some As resits in January this year to boost my grades, what would Imperial think of that? Just considering my options as getting into medical school this year is a must!
Reply 106
Original post by F_to_the_hizzy
Thinking of applying to Imperial this year having achieved AAA at A2 (im a re-applicant) and i have 8A*'s 2A's at gcse, just wandering whether or not i would be at a disadvantage because i have no A*'s at A-level. I know their offer is 3A's but wouldn't they favour post A-level applicants with an A*/s? Oh and i took some As resits in January this year to boost my grades, what would Imperial think of that? Just considering my options as getting into medical school this year is a must!


I got A*AAA and thinking whther to apply since there would be loads applying with A*A*A*s. :frown:
Original post by F_to_the_hizzy
Thinking of applying to Imperial this year having achieved AAA at A2 (im a re-applicant) and i have 8A*'s 2A's at gcse, just wandering whether or not i would be at a disadvantage because i have no A*'s at A-level. I know their offer is 3A's but wouldn't they favour post A-level applicants with an A*/s? Oh and i took some As resits in January this year to boost my grades, what would Imperial think of that? Just considering my options as getting into medical school this year is a must!


you've met their conditional offer so your fine. apply. As long as you've completed A levels in two years, AS resits are fine.

good luck
Reply 108
Original post by englishman129
Once you meet the cut off, only interview is the decider


So say one student scrapes the cut-off, whilst another achieves 9.0, 9.0, 5A, surely they cannot be given equal priority?
Original post by Nator
So say one student scrapes the cut-off, whilst another achieves 9.0, 9.0, 5A, surely they cannot be given equal priority?


Imperial don't care tbh. One guy on here got 7, 4.6 4A or something and missed the cut off. But re ur point.. I think in their eyes, once you meet those min academic requirements it's all up to you and your communication skills/other skills needed as a Dr which should come through at interview.

higher BMAT people might get interviews earlier (not sure about this).. but i'm guessing, as me (and a few others) who scrapped the cut off got interviews very late - i was in the second last batch.
Reply 110
I got a B at AS in chem but I've been predicted an A but my school have to cash in AS's because we're a state school. I got 11 A*S and 2As at GCSE and my personal statement etc is good. Any advice? I really love Imperial! want to go there so bad!
Original post by englishman129
Imperial don't care tbh. One guy on here got 7, 4.6 4A or something and missed the cut off. But re ur point.. I think in their eyes, once you meet those min academic requirements it's all up to you and your communication skills/other skills needed as a Dr which should come through at interview.

higher BMAT people might get interviews earlier (not sure about this).. but i'm guessing, as me (and a few others) who scrapped the cut off got interviews very late - i was in the second last batch.


Everything of what you say is absolutely correct. BMAT scores only increase your priority for interview and act as a tickbox for meeting "minimum requirements". The rest is down to your interview performance.
Original post by missdunni
I got a B at AS in chem but I've been predicted an A but my school have to cash in AS's because we're a state school. I got 11 A*S and 2As at GCSE and my personal statement etc is good. Any advice? I really love Imperial! want to go there so bad!


Hmmmm.. so AAAB? And B in Chem? Predicted AAA? That's a hard one.. I would still go for it. The admission tutor will probably think your UMS was high B .. and hence you're predicted A. Also, your GCSEs are insane. As long as you get above the cut off for BMAT, I'm sure you got a good chance :smile:

good luck!!
Reply 113
Original post by englishman129
Imperial don't care tbh. One guy on here got 7, 4.6 4A or something and missed the cut off. But re ur point.. I think in their eyes, once you meet those min academic requirements it's all up to you and your communication skills/other skills needed as a Dr which should come through at interview.

higher BMAT people might get interviews earlier (not sure about this).. but i'm guessing, as me (and a few others) who scrapped the cut off got interviews very late - i was in the second last batch.


Thanks for the info :smile: So if 2 candidates reach the interview stage, their interview determines whether they are successful or not, and not something like they look at both of their BMAT scores and see who has the higher one?
Original post by Nator
Thanks for the info :smile: So if 2 candidates reach the interview stage, their interview determines whether they are successful or not, and not something like they look at both of their BMAT scores and see who has the higher one?


Yep, interview is the determining factor..
Reply 115
Original post by englishman129
Hmmmm.. so AAAB? And B in Chem? Predicted AAA? That's a hard one.. I would still go for it. The admission tutor will probably think your UMS was high B .. and hence you're predicted A. Also, your GCSEs are insane. As long as you get above the cut off for BMAT, I'm sure you got a good chance :smile:

good luck!!


Thank you, yeah I'm going to still try, theres no harm in trying and I'll just work my butt off for the BMAT! thanks :smile:
Reply 116
Original post by andrewpeters
Do you think it's worth applying with AABB, B's in biology and maths...with AAA predicitions?


No unlucky
Original post by Jasmine_777
Hey there, for current Imperial students who did 4 A levels, I know the minimum entry requirements are AAAC does that mean someone who is doing maths, chem, bio and physics can get the C in chemistry and the 3 As in Maths, psy and bio ?


Original post by purplefrog
That's correct - in Imperial's case, they do not specify what grades the subjects should be in - unlike some other medical schools. So its a great uni to apply to if you're doing 4 A2 subjects :smile:


I still don't understand why people even bother considering 4 A-levels. Med' schools ask for 3, so why burden yourself? If someone's worried about a particular subject, even more reason to drop a subject to concentrate on 3?
Reply 118
Original post by Someone123123

Original post by Someone123123
I still don't understand why people even bother considering 4 A-levels. Med' schools ask for 3, so why burden yourself? If someone's worried about a particular subject, even more reason to drop a subject to concentrate on 3?


Maybe because they just want to do 4?
Original post by Someone123123
I still don't understand why people even bother considering 4 A-levels. Med' schools ask for 3, so why burden yourself? If someone's worried about a particular subject, even more reason to drop a subject to concentrate on 3?


I did A levels because I was interested in the subjects rather than seeing them purely as qualifications for university entry. There were more than three subjects I was interested in, so I did more than three.

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