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Medicine 2008 Applicants!

There seems to be an enormous amount of people on the GCSE forum who seem to be considering medicine... shout out! :smile:

What have you done in terms of your application? Done any work experience yet? Why do you want to do medicine (yes, to help people I know.... :wink:

)? Anyone feeling slightly freaked out by the amount of competition like I am? :p:

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Reply 1

Spacecam

I applied for entry this year and got in : You need a really good personal statement. Get some workexperience in THIS summer and before you send off your UCAS otherwise it cann't go in your P/S

GP surgery, Hospital volunteering, Operating Theatre placements (put surgery down as a request on your application for Work experience).

Don't do further maths - it won't make your application stand out anymore. Revise well for the UKCAT and you'll be fine!

:smile:

Reply 2

Morgan141

I've considered it in the past and I probably would if there wasn't so much competition, as it stands I don't think it's worth it though.

Reply 3

belli

Spacecam

Thanks for those tips and well done for getting in,

yep im considering im doing the chem,bio, maths trio. Most of reason is my mum (whose a GP) hammering on at me at what a good career itis for women, part-time etc but then i relaised iw ould actually liek to do fr the challenge, excitement, um that you could maybe make a difference i dunno sounds quite naieve. But i cnat believe ppl r doing work experience that is incomprehensible to me but i probably will be a ward assistant and help at my mums surgery or something when needed. Btw wat is a UKCAT is it liek teh medical LNAT for law thing? Another question im interested in doing law or medicine can u apply for both?

Reply 4

Cataclysm

I'm considering Medicine, actually I am 200% sure I want to do it, I already have 6 weeks of W/E in a GP Surgery and have lots of voluntary work lined up in the summer at a hospital and hospice. I made a few contacts while I was at that surgery and may be able to get a bit more work experience at other places. My sixth forms runs Millenium Volunteers and I have signed up and will hopefully complete the 200 hours. I'm not doing D of E, doing MV instead, much cooler =)

I have a done a bit as far as extra curricular activities go; I play Cricket & Hockey for a club, I debated for a school society. I was part of the Cricket and Hockey team for 3 years at school (Year 8 through 10), I played Table Tennis for most of Year 10/11 but there were no competitions, etc so doesn't really matter. I am part of a Chess Club which I immensely enjoy. I was a Senior Prefect at school - of that really matters - quite a stupid thing but hey whatever. I've done a fair bit of fundraising for school and charities and will do so at Sixth Form as well. I'm just listing here but I have mentored young children and people of my age to do well and was a study peer through my school for many students who I helped during the GCSEs (this one sounds good in terms of a Medical Application because I showed leadership and commitment for 7 weeks and I hope they get the C/Bs they deserve). I was the editor for a school magazine and wrote articles and I might carry this on next year if I get a chance. I also in my spare time built a stool (yeah that's right a stool out of wood) for a woman with arthiritis, she couldn't find one on the market that matched her needs so I made it as part of my DT coursework.

I could write a whole clichéd response to why I want to do Medicine but I don't see the point, you all seem to know it all anyway.

Competition doesn't seem to scare me because I know that Medicine is competitive and I'm going to go in very well prepared when I do apply. I know people with straight A/A* get rejected but that is just a fact of life, if that happens to me, screw the United Kingdom, I'm going to apply to American Ivy League schools anyway.

Reply 5

Cataclysm

I don't know if this is relevant to a Medical application but I also did a lot of competitions in my school and outside and my team came 1^st place in a Maths/Physics competition. I also did this Physics Olympiad and got a Silver, nothing special but it was a book =).

Reply 6

belli

Oh dear lord, what chance do i have? I can't believe you built a stall for someone with arhtirtus. Are you a saint?

Reply 7

Spacecam

belli

Never never never never do medicine if it's influenced decisions made by your mum. The interviewers can smell it a mile off. You must make your own decision and be able to prove it.

UKCAT is the new admissions examination for all UK med schools.

Reply 8

Cataclysm

belli

Oh dear lord, what chance do i have? I can't believe you built a stall for someone with arhtirtus. Are you a saint?

I built a stool, and I think it would be blasphemous if I proclaimed myself to be a Saint.

Reply 9

Happyness

i never wanted to do medicine, it just seems a little absurd putting so much effort and time into something that is imperfect, i.e. us humans. I am a perfectionist and working on something imperfect is not too appealing to me.

Reply 10

Excalibur

Kquishir

So what do you classify as perfect? :smile:

Reply 11

Cataclysm

Excalibur

So what do you classify as perfect? :smile:

Maybe be 101010101011 or the Borg, they seem to want perfection.

Reply 12

ExitMusic

Any of you know whereabouts you want to apply?

Reply 13

Cataclysm

Well my parents want me to go to Imperial College London or any other London Uni like UCL/Kings because that will I can be close to them and can come over on weekends and over holidays quite easily and I've been to Imperial College London and I liked it quite a bit and have heard good reviews about their Medical Department and it's just a fantastic place and I will definitely apply there, not sure as a First choice/Second choice but looking at the amount of value people put on Oxbridge, I'll try there as well but heart is more set on Imperial.

Reply 14

arpeggio

Oh dear. Catacylsm... you've done so much, is there any hope for the rest of us?! I'm pretty sure I want to go into Medicine... I'm doing silver DofE at the moment and planning to do gold next year, and I've also applied to learn sign language at school so hopefully I'll get to do that! For the past year I've led the Christian Union at my school with some friends in my year, and hope to continue into the sixth form. I'm going to start helping out at Sunday School as my community part of my DofE. I did fencing and ballet to quite a high level, and played netball and hockey - at the moment I do a lot of running and badminton. Erm... I did a sponsored 20-mile walk with a friend for Children In Need! (Scraping the barrel here :p:

)... I play the flute to grade 6 standard and occasionally take part in concerts. In terms of work experience, I've got a week at a hospital lined up in July, and I'm also going to do some long-term volunteering at the local hospice. This doesn't seem a lot really does it? I guess I should look into helping out at the doctor's surgery and maybe do some shadowing of doctors (if you can still do that - I'm not sure if you can any more.) I'm thinking of applying for a job as an A&E receptionist as well.

By the way Catalclysm - what's MV?

Reply 15

calcium878

Cataclysm

One short sentence there, mate. Is your full stop key broken!? :wink:

Reply 16

Cataclysm

xemmajanex

By the way Catalclysm - what's MV?

http://www.millenniumvolunteers.gov.uk/

Check it out, it's a very good thing to participate in.

Reply 17

Cataclysm

calcium878

One short sentence there, mate. Is your full stop key broken!? :wink:

OMG! I guess Karma does go around and come back to bite you in the ass. Just this morning I corrected this guy because he forget to capitalise and now I forgot full stops! Hah.

Reply 18

aMasterPieceOfDNA

Argh jesus! I have just read through this thread and cannot believe how much thought people have already put into medicine *cough Cataclysm* Don't get me wrong you guys are clearly very dedicated =] and have made me realise how much I should get my arse into gear! I've just finished my GCSEs and am pretty (almost 100%) sure that I want to do medicine but...WOW by the sounds of it I have no chance! Im on track for getting mainly A*s possibly a few As in my GCSEs and have already got an A* in English lang which I took early...oh and also a B in short course ICT which was a total blag as we had supply teachers for the whole year :mad:

. But anyway...erm yeah Im doing A levels in Maths, English Lit, Chemistry and Biology but am thinking about whether to do Physics or not...any advice? Have no work experience except for a job I've just started which involves working 2 hours on Saturday and Sunday in a care home making and serving tea to the old folk (bless them). But thats it! Theres not really any other relevant stuff I can think of, I have various certificates that I've picked up over the years of secondary school...trident gold, outstanding achievements, maths challenge etc. Oh and also some kickboxing certificates.

I know that the competition is VERY strong but Im trying not to let it put me off medicine because it's the only thing I've ever really wanted to do. I've been told that your interview is the most important part of it all but of course to actually get an interview you're going to need a pretty impressive application!

So yeah...thats me and my "planned medical career" in a nutshell...could any of you give me some advice on things to do over the summer and also whether I should do physics or not? I've been told you need to be doing your A levels to volunteer in a hospital, is that true? Anyway any advice would be greatly appreciated =]=]

Peae Out :rock: