I have messed up.. Lying on my ucas form

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So I recieved 4A's and B in my highers and recieved a 670 on my UKCAT.

The problem is that on my personal statement I may have said that I volunteer weekly at a local care home.

I dont.
I had organised to for just after my application was being sent off but the care home never got back to me. I kept waiting and now I am going back to start but I am 2 months too late!

The universities are never going to see this as an acceptable excuse and they will question me on it.
Any comforting words from anyone who may uderstand my stupidity?

Ignore everyone telling you to lie at interview :facepalm:

Getting into medical school on the basis of mistruths is not the way to start a professional career.

Do you have interviews yet? If not, then by the time they come round, you will have started your care home work, right? So when asked about it, you can talk honestly about the work you genuinely do in a care home. If specifically asked when you started or how long you've been there (which I think is unlikely to be asked), you can say that you only started recently, because of delays that were out of your hands, but that you wrote in your personal statement that you had started already because you fully expected to have completed a few months of work there before these interviews came round. You are supposed to write about things you intend to do (though you are supposed to at least phrase it to suggest that it's in the future), and problems with setting up this stuff do happen, so it's not the end of the world.

However, if you've completely lied in your statement and made up anecdotes about your care home work that blatantly never happened, you deserve every moment of awkwardness the interviewers choose to create for you. Do not lie to get out of it, because you only dig yourself a deeper hole. You should be trying to convince the interviewers that you are someone with honesty and integrity, even if that means taking the flak for a slight exaggeration on your statement.

Reply 41

Sherbet

Original post by Dandyflower

No, they will categorically not. They will do a CRB check - and that is not required of others courses. And they will interview.

In order to check work experience, you must provide a reference. Any employer of any serious standing will need that. No university does it.

Are you a medicine applicant? Because I know for a fact that Leeds and Liverpool DO do this amongst others.

Reply 42

TaraBelle

Original post by Dandyflower

Two of my unis (at Georges and Nottingham) explicitly have asked for all contact details of where I did volunteering/work experience and have said they are going to verify a random sample of it. So you'd be right to say most unis don't check, but some do, so your last sentence is wrong.

Reply 43

Brachioradialis

Original post by Becca-Sarah

Ignore everyone telling you to lie at interview :facepalm:

You put this across much better than I tried to. Spot on :smile:

Reply 44

richtea5

if you haven't got any voluntary experience yet why don't you sort it out before interviews? surely than you could explain than after your initial enquiry you did not recieve the reply you expected from the nursing home and had to find a different placement so didnt start when expected..

Reply 45

Dandyflower

Original post by TaraBelle

You obviously haven't bothered to read the thread.

Reply 46

Iz08

Original post by Dandyflower

Some universities do, and will ask you for contacts when they invite you for interview, in order to check your work experience, paid and voluntary work. The actual checks are random.

Sure some people lie in PS at during interview, but what does it say about their integrity? Your case appears to be a haste (unconfirmed placement) rather than outright lie. Good luck in getting through it.

Reply 47

Dandyflower

Original post by Iz08

Same as above, read the thread and my responses where I have clearly explained my position which you are misinterpreting.

Reply 48

theatrical

Original post by Dandyflower

You don't know what you're talking about. Quite a few medicial schools now ask for proof of work experince - most ask you to bring it to interview with you.

Reply 49

Dandyflower

Original post by theatrical

You don't know what you're talking about. Quite a few medicial schools now ask for proof of work experince - most ask you to bring it to interview with you.

You can't be bothered to read the thread properly like the others above you before you went on a little self-righteous prance.

Reply 50

Brachioradialis

Original post by Dandyflower

You can't be bothered to read the thread properly like the others above you before you went on a little self-righteous prance.

You show such respect for your peers, don't you? Try to remain a little calmer than this in any interview you get.

Reply 51

HarryMudd

Original post by stevenmcoll23

The problem is, is that you are claiming to experience you don't have. If you are invited for an interview, you have to ensure you can "talk the talk, as well as walk the walk". Ensure you know the in's and out's as well as some of the gripes and complaints that some of the actual carers have - is well worth researching.

Fortunately in the UK we have this Act called the Data Protection Act, which means that unless you give permission to a data controller, they cannot ask for the information on you. However, here is the problem - they could ring up and say, "Hello, I'd like to confirm with you that you have a Joe Bloggs working there for you".

Now look at the structure - the question is to ask the company if they have someone working there by that name, it's not passing out any privileged information. This is the crux if they are doing follow-ups.

Furthermore, the university may do it for courses that involve vulnerable people as a duty of care, and ensuring that the wrong type of people don't get passed through into a situation that these types are not placed at risk. So there is the ? as it were.

Reply 52

Iz08

Original post by Dandyflower

Same as above, read the thread and my responses where I have clearly explained my position which you are misinterpreting.

You tell everybody to read the thread so they can understand your postion. All readers who posted the advice obviously read the thread, and are trying to help OP. The "postion" you expressed through the thread was that universities will not do any checks before they get references. This is obvious, but doesn't help OP.

OP potential problems are: 1/ what to do during interview when the experience is likely to be discussed, and 2/ whether universities will ask for references from voluntary placement, work experience etc. (at any stage of the game), and check them.

There were some excellent posts with advice for OP already, so just to repeat: don't lie; since you got the placement eventually, you'd be able to discuss your experience during your interviews. If timing of the placement ever become an issue, you'd have to tell the truth about when you started and how long you've worked there.

Univeristies m a y ask for contacts and m a y do checks, usually after interviews.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 53

Dandyflower

Original post by MattKneale

You show such respect for your peers, don't you? Try to remain a little calmer than this in any interview you get.

a) Not really my peers since I don't share the age range, b) It's perfectly reasonable to get frustrated at people who don't read your responses, but feel the need to preach - this was the third time!

Reply 54

jumblehunter

Original post by Orinincandenza

Please tell me you didnt make this account to post this and use your real name ? :tongue:

He probably used the name of another medical student he really dislikes...

If I were you mate, I'd make another post asking people who've worked in a care home what it's like, and ask all your friends, and find any excuse to get in a care home for half an hour just to see what its like.