Swansea Medicine Applicants 2012

Hey!

I have too and will be heading there in September! I got my offer via ucas on Friday. When did you get yours?
I'm not quite sure what to do about accomodation though! I was thinking of living in halls but I don't like the idea of being surrounded by 18-19 yr olds only interested in getting drunk all the time or are stupidly loud so I won't get any work done lol.... A shared house might be the way forward I think?
Also have you received anything in the post yet or anything via email from Swansea? I've had a ucas letter come through confirming my place and an email from the admissions dept wanting copies of my degree cert & transcript which I have sent but I haven't heard anything since! I was thinking we'd get a welcome pack or something..... I guess I'm feeling a bit paranoid that this isn't really happening and that they meant to say 'unsuccessful' instead of 'unconditional' lol ahhh

I got my offer on Friday too! The only confirmation I have got so far is a letter from UCAS and the same email you got, asking for certificate copies. I scanned and emailed them my certificates. I think we are supposed to receive stuff in the post like a welcome pack but it hasn't been sent out in the post yet. I spoke to the admissions team at the med school and they said they would talk to central admissions to make sure the stuff gets sent out to me... so I suppose I'm going to wait and see if it arrives next week, if not I'll call again!

I've applied for halls. I would have preferred to live out but I won't be able to come down to Swansea much before hand to look for houses/housemates so it seems like my only option. In order to apply for halls you need your student number, we haven't been given this yet so I again had to call up to find out what this was so I could apply for halls! The deadline for halls applications is next week so I would definitely apply soon if you're thinking of living there!

I know what you mean! I was really paranoid before, but since I found out I had a Swansea student number it all seems more official lol.

That's fair enough. I'm still looking for private accommodation but I also decided in the end to apply for halls (just incase I don't find anything) and submitted my application on the 22nd of June...so hopefully I should get some sort of place! I applied to be placed in Beck House as the rooms are en-suite and are supposedly suitable for post grads and medics! Other than beck house, nothing else seemed to take my fancy or jump out to me! Where did you end up applying to? Did the accommodation people give you an idea of when we're likely to hear from them? They're always engaged whenever I seem to ring them!

I still haven't received a welcome pack or most importantly, stuff on finance! Have you? I keep scouring the post/my emails like a mad woman each day just incase I have missed anything! I'm probably going to ring up admissions tommorow and ask what's happening as I'm not feeling very wanted by Swansea at the moment - I don't like being ignored! lol!

I'm a bit worried about the student accommodation... Apparently they have a "designated area" for medics in the student village which offers 47 week contracts. But I still applied for the singleton campus accommodation and also beck house (as like you, I'd like to live in quieter accommodation but also close to uni). I'm not sure they will give these to us though, despite listing these as our preferences! Apparently these are only 40 week or 51 week contracts, and medics need 47 week contracts (and hence have designated areas in the student village), so I'm not sure how flexible they would be in giving us 47 week contracts to our preferences/1st or 2nd choices! Like you I've tried calling them about this but can't seem to get through!!!!! I think we hear back on a specific date in July, I remember reading that somewhere?

I know what you mean about checking emails lol. I swear we need to sort out our CRB and Occ Health before we start? I think these are the two main things which are outstanding for us at the moment.... I'm most probably going to wait until the end of the week to see if I receive anything, as I think the admissions people have already begun to recognise my voice and who I am, which is slightly embarrassing lol!

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking! Surely we should be given priority over these 'designated areas'...otherwise what is the point of them? If you've applied for singleton campus accom, whatever you do, do not end up in KILVEY! It's meant to be a complete nightmare according to a friend of mine and from reading reviews right here on TSR. Oh and I got through to accom services today (finally!) and yes they pretty much confirmed what you have told me; we're likely to hear sometime in July but they didn't give me a specific date. The weirdest thing is that undergraduates with a later starting date will have their accommodation sorted before we do!?!...and I'm guessing this is the reason why we we're not given priority which does not make sense at all!

I did finally get a few emails today! (I feel like I finally exist on their system lol) One to say my CRB & Occ health forms are in the post and the other with a information link about the programme & various other stuff on finance etc! If you haven't received the link, just let me know and I can send it to you if you'd like.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and wrap my head around student finance! Still haven't started that yet...

I got the emails too! You don't understand how relived I was to know that the CRB and Occy health forms were on their way! Once those are done we'll be official

I'm just going to wait and see about accommodation. I'd be rather ticked off if I didn't get one of my first five preferences and would try and push for them as much as possible, but if push comes to shove I'd have to go for the student village otherwise I wouldn't have anywhere to live Plus, I'd rather be living with other medical students than be living in some random apartment all by myself lol. Let's wait and see anyway!.

Student finance is a nightmare, I tried to register as a new applicant and then it was like, "we seem to have records of you already" blah blah blah. So then I had to remember some extinct email address that I hadn't used for almost the past 5 years to log onto student finance. (I couldn't remember the password for that address either, which took me hours to unlock). And finally once I had completed it, they needed proof from my parents about their income from my "parents account." I'm pretty sure my parents don't have an account.... let alone an email address and "favourite place they visited as a child", or whatever silly question they were asking lol.

I wish I had the patience for that, but I don't! lol! I think I just want a place sorted asap so I can make the most of my summer and have that peace of mind really that everything is done. I also reallllyyy want to go on holiday before everything kicks off in september and as we both know, the next 4 years may not give us that luxury to do so! BUT I'm not going to plan anything until my place is sorted! I may give the accommodation people a call tommorrow and ask what's happening...I can't take the waiting around!



Haha! Yeah I've also had my issues! I was apparently entitled to £ 3000 something maintenance loan & £0.00 tuition fee loan when I had finished filling out the form and this was including my parents income! I submitted it anyway (I emailed the moneydoctors at swansea and they advised me to do this) and since then I've been on the phone to the SLC to try and rectify things - I spoke to this one girl called Maureen with a thick somerset accent (If you're viewing this Maureen (very unlikely but) I HAAATTEE you... lol) who basically kept saying I was wrong and that she was right yada yada and it was back and forth for about 15 minutes and then she sort of caved in and said "Ok I'll talk to my advisors and then get back to you" soooo...the saga continues! I'm hoping I'll hear some good news tommorow as I want my monies!

I didn't manage to get hold of them today in between work etc but I will try to get hold of them tommorrow and when I do, I'll let you know!

Nah, student finance will not sort itself out unfortunately lol you have to keep pestering them to get things done! They are very very incompetent. I was on the phone to SLC again for about 25 minutes (I'm dreading what the phone bill will be like) and finally they said that my application has been passed onto the resolve team! I tried to ask them how to get in touch with the resolve team specifically for if I had anymore issues/questions (as anyone on the phone is hopeless i.e maureen) but they wouldn't give me any contact details! So it's just a bit of a waiting game for me now!

Sharm El Sheikh eh? Very nicee indeed! I've never been there but I've always wanted to go! I think I deserve a holiday though - it's been 4 years since I've been anywhere (went houston for 3 weeks!) and I'm not going to wait another 4 years to do so!
For me, it still hasn't quite hit yet! Even though I'm preparing and now buying things from ikea lol, Sep 3rd seems miles away! But yes I am looking forward to being a student again (I've missed my 20% off in new look and dorothy perkins lol ) and finally meeting everyone as I feel really gutted to have missed the meet & greet but never mind!

Occ health form was a bit a headache to fill in! My mum couldn't remember if I had some of the vaccinations listed at birth so, I went to my gp to try and find out but they too had no record of it but to be fair I didn't really expect them to have it either! I'm pretty sure I've had most of what they've listed and especially the TB one as I have a scar (or it could just be something random lol) but I have nothing to prove I guess that I have had it! So the medical appointment should be interesting and lengthy!

Eurgh, I'm going to try and sort student finance out today.... but later lol

I managed to fill out my occy health form in the end! Had an appt with the nurse who luckily had some of the info I needed. lool, I know what you mean about the scar. The nurse and I were both staring at it for a while, and had a "not sure if BCG scar or just weird mark" moment I rang the occupational health department and have an appt for the evening of the 16th of July at Swansea. Apparently they go through the form, check our general health like BP and stuff. Then they take some blood samples to test for blood borne diseases etc.

I know. I'm looking forward to being a student again! Not sure if I can be asked to convert my bank account over to a student account, as I think if I do that they'll remove my credit card limit and give me a student credit card instead, which will probably have hardly anything on it. A

Also you know that worksheet that we have on the link they emailed us, is it compulsory for us to complete it. Or is it just one of those exercise things that we can do to just familiarise ourselves with basic concepts? AND.. I still need to fill out the questionnaire thingy and sent passport sized pictures of myself. (Will go and do that today also).

Hi Everyone,

Could anyone tell me what the cut-off in terms of getting an interview was this year? Looking to apply in October as my UKCAT didn't go as well as planned, and to my knowledge Swansea usually have a lower GAMSAT cut-off than other courses? The website says 50 but I highly doubt that would actually get me an interview!

Matt

How did you get your appointment to be in the evening??? My appointment is on the 12th July in the morning! Really didn't want it in the morning but I didn't have a valid excuse to say I wanted it in the afternoon! I just wanted a lie in lol but it's fair enough I suppose as I haven't got to far to travel. I'm a nightmare (so I've been told!) to get blood from; my veins are quite deep and in the past, most nurses had to have quite a few goes before drawing any blood from me! So err yeah I'm not particularly looking forward to thurs!
I still never got through to accom btw! But will I try and ring them again on monday! Did you hear from them at all? The more I think about it though, the more I am leaning towards living in halls even though I was quite opposed to it in the beginning...I think I'm just becoming lazy! So the idea of my accommodation being sorted and me just turning up to my room seems like an attractive option!

You can always open up a different student account elsewhere and keep your current one as it is so there's no need to convert it. I did that for my previous degree by opening up a student account with halifax. It had a huge overdraft limit but I never (thankfully!) needed to use it - although the temptation was always there! So I don't think I will bother with student account this time round....I'm going to try and do a thing called budgeting instead

As that worksheet is on the check list, I'm going to assume it is compulsory and will therefore make sure I have it done before we start. I haven't done the medical questionaire yet nor have I had my photos taken! I hate having my photos taken though...I always seem to look ill in them lol :s





Hi!

On my interview day, I spoke to a few first yr students who confirmed that they knew quite a few people who had an overall score of 50 and I know of one person from my interview day who had an overall score of 51! So there must be some truth in it! BUT I've heard that they maybe changing their entry criteria as they're possibly catching on to the fact that they do have lower gamsat requirments compared to other unis. I'd check this with admissions dept to see if this is the case as they don't always update their website/ucas on time.
In general though, Swansea are very much focused on your PS and reference and BOTH need to be very good to gain an interview. Someone I know infact got an overall score in the 60's, but did not gain an interview at Swansea! So that would suggest that either their PS and/or ref was weak. Although obviously you cannot control what your academic ref writes and whether you see it or not before submission, try and discuss everything that you'd like to be included in your ref with him/her.

Hope that helps!

Hi Everyone,

Could anyone tell me what the cut-off in terms of getting an interview was this year? Looking to apply in October as my UKCAT didn't go as well as planned, and to my knowledge Swansea usually have a lower GAMSAT cut-off than other courses? The website says 50 but I highly doubt that would actually get me an interview!

Matt

Hello!

Swansea look at all aspects of your application, and each one is scored individually. In certain things you would need a certain score in order to get an interview, for instance in your personal statement, as mentioned before. If you don't get a certain score in your statement, then you won't be invited for interview irrespective of how high your GAMSAT score is.... That's what I gauged anyway from what was said when I was at my interview (Please correct me if this is incorrect?). Score wise it varied quite a lot. I think I had one of the lowest scores at around 57, but other people had as high as 70. Provided you have a solid personal statement, a reasonable GAMSAT score (I think someone on this forum got an interview with 55 or 54?) and a good reference, you should stand a reasonable chance of getting an interview. I think Swansea have a document on their website under the Policies section which tells you everything you need to know about what they look for from an applicant and info about their admissions process. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you might have

Thanks for the great advice, I'll have a look for that policy document. A little of my background: Predicted 1st in Biomedical Science, various shadowing placements and worked in a clinical NHS laboratory for about 9 months on placement. My caring experience consists of living with my girlfriend + her family for that 9 months, where I've helped look after her grandfather who requires full-time care.

Do you suppose this would be sufficient, or do I need more non-personal caring experience?

Thanks for all your help

I'm not too sure how I got the evening to be honest! I told them I worked full time and was only free on certain dates and they just gave me the evening. Also they asked where I would be travelling from and I told them from just outside London so maybe that influenced it too? (I'm going to have to drive down to Swansea and leave at ridiculous o'clock because the train tickets are too damn high!).

My veins are quite big! And I have many lol. I'm one of those people that you probably don't even need to put a tourniquet on and bleed quite easily so yeah. It's quite funny as although I take blood from people pretty much every day as HCA, I'm not that good with having it taken from me lol!

Accommodation people are a nightmare! Because I do shift work it's really hard to get hold of them I'm just going to wait and see, so long as I don't get put in the student village (which will most probably happen as that's the designated "medics" area), I'll be quite happy. And even if I do get put there, I'm sure I'll get over it quite quickly once I meet my fellow classmates and start the partying (Which is probably one of the most important things I'm looking forward to LOL).

I hate having my photos taken too. It took me quite a while for mine, I kept on laughing when the lady in the machine was like, "Okay.... get ready.... time to take the picture". It's not even that funny but I think I'm just weird like that. Anyway, because I was trying to keep a straight face my eyes in my photo are like this now So yeah, when you see my student ID you can laugh muchly.

Thanks for the great advice, I'll have a look for that policy document. A little of my background: Predicted 1st in Biomedical Science, various shadowing placements and worked in a clinical NHS laboratory for about 9 months on placement. My caring experience consists of living with my girlfriend + her family for that 9 months, where I've helped look after her grandfather who requires full-time care.

Do you suppose this would be sufficient, or do I need more non-personal caring experience?

Thanks for all your help