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Medicine 2015 Entry Thread!

ah i see. i am aware that birmingham doesn't require UKCAT. does that make admissions more competitive? for local and international students?

Reply 981

Aniaa

13

Original post by alu97

ah i see. i am aware that birmingham doesn't require UKCAT. does that make admissions more competitive? for local and international students?

I dont know, I didnt apply there. But each school is competitve. However, if you did poorly on ukcat there are still unis open to you, like Birmigham and Liverpool.

Reply 982

LibbyG

1

Original post by alu97

ah i see. i am aware that birmingham doesn't require UKCAT. does that make admissions more competitive? for local and international students?

Birmingham attracts people with high GCSEs, and 4 As at AS is a must have :smile:

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Reply 983

oyyoyy

11

Original post by alu97

oh wow your interview date was pretty early! do you know roughly the dates for when you hear back from the schools whether you're offered an interview or rejected?

how did the interview go? was it hard? was it MMI or those traditional interviews?

Response times vary depending on the uni. For King's, it took them 3 weeks to reply (though for one of these weeks their office was shut for the Christmas holidays). Cambridge interview mid December (Friday the 13th for me :s-smilie:

) and I got a letter on Jan 6th by post. UCL take less than 2 weeks to respond. I can't really say anything for other unis, since I didn't apply anywhere else apart from QMUL, who should probably give a response within a couple of weeks of the interview too. The interview at King's wasn't hard, though it ended kinda awkwardly, which made me think I screwed it all up right at the end lol. It's a traditional interview, about 15 mins, with two interviewers.

Reply 984

f.loco

11

To those that got their interviews, congrats. But can u reply with ur GCSE grades plz as im worried about mines. Id appreciate any feedback!

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Reply 985

MissC123

3

Hello guys! Used to be part of this thread, not sure why I disappeared :eek:

How's everyone doing with work experience? Got a week done over Christmas, should have another this half term and hopefully a gp during the summer.
Am I the only one who is kinda freaked out by the UKCAT? The abstract reasoning looks quite hard, though I think it's only meant to be common sense. Everyone I talk to says is too early to worry about ukcat now and I should focus on my a levels. Also, do you guys think it's time to start drafting out our PS? Or is it too early?

Reply 986

Aniaa

13

Original post by MissC123

Hello guys! Used to be part of this thread, not sure why I disappeared :eek:

How's everyone doing with work experience? Got a week done over Christmas, should have another this half term and hopefully a gp during the summer.
Am I the only one who is kinda freaked out by the UKCAT? The abstract reasoning looks quite hard, though I think it's only meant to be common sense. Everyone I talk to says is too early to worry about ukcat now and I should focus on my a levels. Also, do you guys think it's time to start drafting out our PS? Or is it too early?

UKCAT is quite hard. Although if you do enough prep than even abstracts would be easy :P. The worst thing about ukcat is the time limit, you have literally no time to think over a question, you just need to answer straight away and then, if you have time left go back to it.
Ohh, and usually the online prep sheet are way harder thant he actual ukcat :P (at least in my case)

Reply 987

MissC123

3

Original post by Aniaa

UKCAT is quite hard. Although if you do enough prep than even abstracts would be easy :P. The worst thing about ukcat is the time limit, you have literally no time to think over a question, you just need to answer straight away and then, if you have time left go back to it.
Ohh, and usually the online prep sheet are way harder thant he actual ukcat :P (at least in my case)

Thanks! Have you done the ukcat already? If so how long did you prepare for it?

Reply 988

Aniaa

13

Original post by MissC123

Thanks! Have you done the ukcat already? If so how long did you prepare for it?

yeah I did it in the summer. I prepared the whole month for it, so a lot in my opinion

Reply 989

oyyoyy

11

Original post by MissC123

Hello guys! Used to be part of this thread, not sure why I disappeared :eek:

How's everyone doing with work experience? Got a week done over Christmas, should have another this half term and hopefully a gp during the summer.
Am I the only one who is kinda freaked out by the UKCAT? The abstract reasoning looks quite hard, though I think it's only meant to be common sense. Everyone I talk to says is too early to worry about ukcat now and I should focus on my a levels. Also, do you guys think it's time to start drafting out our PS? Or is it too early?

If you can master the techniques to answering the UKCAT, it becomes less difficult, though you still need to be wary of timing. For the VR section, it's all about scanning through the passage and finding key words as quickly as possible. For AR it's best to find practice questions and learn about different patterns that occur in the questions, and brush up on your mental maths skills for the QR section. Personally, I find DA the easiest, it's just coding which isn't as hard as it may initially appear. Since the situation judgement section counts for something this year [I think?], it'd be worth considering what it takes to practice medicine ethically, or to just be an ethical person in general [maybe the GMC website has some useful stuff on this]. It is a little early to worry about the UKCAT, maybe start thinking it about it more towards June when your AS exams are coming to an end, the same probably applies to drafting a PS.

Reply 990

Aniaa

13

Original post by oyyoyy

If you can master the techniques to answering the UKCAT, it becomes less difficult, though you still need to be wary of timing. For the VR section, it's all about scanning through the passage and finding key words as quickly as possible. For AR it's best to find practice questions and learn about different patterns that occur in the questions, and brush up on your mental maths skills for the QR section. Personally, I find DA the easiest, it's just coding which isn't as hard as it may initially appear. Since the situation judgement section counts for something this year [I think?], it'd be worth considering what it takes to practice medicine ethically, or to just be an ethical person in general [maybe the GMC website has some useful stuff on this]. It is a little early to worry about the UKCAT, maybe start thinking it about it more towards June when your AS exams are coming to an end, the same probably applies to drafting a PS.

DA was definitely the easiest one! Not only its easy in general, but you had more than enough time for it

Reply 991

Hatayy

4

Anyone going to the medicine day conference at the Royal Society of Medicine next Monday? Or have been in the past? :smile:

Reply 992

DCMed96

16

Original post by Hatayy

Anyone going to the medicine day conference at the Royal Society of Medicine next Monday? Or have been in the past? :smile:

I am going! Anyone? going>

Reply 993

Hudl

16

Is it even possible to get into medicine with 1A* & 5As & the rest Bs from a poor performing school (2nd best in the year) but 4As at AS at a better college

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 994

Pennyarcade

14

How much volunteering is actually necessary? Ive heard people saying that they didnt do very much and that the Uni's dont really care about quantity of volunteering/work experience, is this true?

Reply 995

Caitprosser

6

Original post by Pennyarcade

How much volunteering is actually necessary? Ive heard people saying that they didnt do very much and that the Uni's dont really care about quantity of volunteering/work experience, is this true?

I think they care more about how you learn and can reflect on your experiences, and how you can show what you gained from them rather than what you did or for how long you did it.

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Reply 996

jadpan

10

Original post by Pennyarcade

How much volunteering is actually necessary? Ive heard people saying that they didnt do very much and that the Uni's dont really care about quantity of volunteering/work experience, is this true?

Not all but some care for long term volunteering as it demostrates committment, dedication and a different range of communication smills. It doesn't need to be in a medical setting I spent time at a Mencap social club once week which was a really enjoyable experience.

Reply 997

Chief Wiggum

20

Original post by Pennyarcade

How much volunteering is actually necessary? Ive heard people saying that they didnt do very much and that the Uni's dont really care about quantity of volunteering/work experience, is this true?

I think it's generally considered good to have a long term "volunteering"-type thing. eg, once a week at a care home. It's not a requirement, but it shows long-term commitment.