St. George's UoL GEM (A101) Applicants 2015

Will hopefully be applying provided the open day today doesn't put me off massively.
Anyone any questions they want me to ask/make me look clever?

Ask about the number of places they think they'll have for next year and current status of the GAMSAT requirements, since they're liable for change at a moment's notice.

Maybe admissions info from this year? How many applied, how many were accepted, etc.

Ask about the number of places they think they'll have for next year and current status of the GAMSAT requirements, since they're liable for change at a moment's notice.

Maybe admissions info from this year? How many applied, how many were accepted, etc.

I went to the Open Day at the start of last month and the usual GAMSAT questions were asked. The GAMSAT overall score cut-off last year was 60. I would be very surprised if this rose above 60 and I saw many applicants with a score of 60 last year receiving offers so that tells you it has little or no bearing after the shortlisting stage. All they will tell you though (and all they did tell us at my Open Day) is that they cannot give an exact figure as it depends on the cohort of applications that year (i.e. top 300 applicants might be higher scoring this year and hence the cut-off could be higher). They will not know until the 15th October unfortunately... and you will not know either!

The difficulty, cost and uncertainty around GAMSAT makes it a real gamble for medical students...

Yeah I remember we'd talked about this before. Definitely asking this, perhaps more from what they have seen this cycle as I invite they'll be reluctant to make any predictions going forward, if only to cover themselves.




Have they released any info re. 2014 entry GAMSAT cutoffs or wad thus info from the open day?

Yeah I remember we'd talked about this before. Definitely asking this, perhaps more from what they have seen this cycle as I invite they'll be reluctant to make any predictions going forward, if only to cover themselves.

They have published them on their Entry Requirements page. It is in the second paragraph below the GAMSAT Requirements table/box.

Agreed, I can't imagine them giving out a definite answer regarding future section minimum scores and being coy about it as well, but it'd be nice to know where they currently stand and if the online prospectus is up to date RE: 55 minimum in each section as opposed to 50, even if it is liable for change at a moment's notice.

Knowing how many people have had offers/places this year would be interesting at the very least, since there seems to have been a lot of confusion on forums regarding how many places were actually cut/available this year.

Sorry for the epic long post, thought this as good a place as any to scribble my notes

Ta, must have missed that as I haven't been checking it as religiously as before.



Sorry I've only just seen this. I think the online prospectus is up to date and they did mention the increased GAMSAT score. They also said they interviewed fewer people due to the reduced places, IIRC the figure was in the 400-600 range for interview.
I was talking to an admissions officer and she seemed reluctant to comment on the changes to the course with respect to the shape of training review and HEE proposals going forward. However she did highlight that there have been a large number of cuts in recent years and given the demand for doctors that she thought it unlikely there would be further cuts. I didn't pursue the discussion further as she seemed uncomfortable answering questions for the course and it's fate.
Although there may be some merit to her thought process, the HEE proposals look to increase levels of international students on medical courses in the future. Therefore supplementing levels of trained medics and maintaining the required levels of doctors. In my opinion this is mainly due to the constraints on available funding. If this was implemented alongside current GEM courses I would imagine the foundation place to applicant number issue to be exacerbated.

This ignores the fact that if registration were to be moved to graduation, that 4 year courses would not be compliant with the EU guidelines. As the courses can be altered e.g. Imperial's GEM becoming a 5 year course.

Therefore I believe the real question is to what extent can we fund the training of our own UK doctors and to what extent are the governing bodies willing to reduce UK places to enable increased international students to enter.

Sorry, thread has been successfully derailed

Back to SGUL and impressions from the open day.


Sorry for the epic long post, thought this as good a place as any to scribble my notes

If anyone is put off by the £150 a week for accommodation... that's pretty good (even for zone 3). As I am sure you'll know as a graduate, £150 a week does not get you too far at a number of universities up and down the country these days! Let alone London...

I disagree with this last part. £150pw isn't too bad per London standards. Even more so when you consider it includes your bills.
It isn't cheap but equally you get a pretty decent room from what I'm told.
£150 would get you three weeks rent in some cities. I was actually speaking to a colleague who said she'd bought a 2 bed house for £90,000 in Plymouth. Another friend who was studying in London with me last year was paying more, only just, for her room in halls than her 2 up 2 down house in Bolton. Even I was paying less than £90pw in Bristol for a nice sized double room.

The point I'm trying to make is that though by London standards £150 isn't a great deal, going outside London even in the South prices are significantly less. Particularly when you consider that extra £50pw is your weekly food shop and a couple of drinks at the weekend.

Morning,

I'm applying for SGUL this year too! I grew up nearby so I know the area pretty well so might be able to help answer any questions from that side. Don't suppose they said when they would set their GAMSAT minimum cut offs for? Are they interviewing the same proportion of candidates (so that they keep the interviewlace ratio) or interviewing the same number of people as before (so you have lower odds of getting a place when you hit the interview stage)? Or are they trying to have more of a balance?

From some vague conversations regarding the cuts, the current thinking in the university is that they'll still interview the same number of candidates, so the GAMSAT cutoffs won't change much. It does mean that the success ratio at interview will drop though (it used to be nearly 1:3, but it'll be more like 1:5).

The minimum score per section has changed several times over the last three years, including changing last year after the prospectuses had been printed. The only way to find out what they currently are is to call admissions - but really, it's best to wait until a bit closer to applications.

I am not liking the prospect of 1:5 interview ratios...! Although I think it'll be closer to just below 1:4. Still, I wish they could set a higher GAMSAT cut-off and interview a relatively smaller proportion of candidates... that is what it is there for, after all!

Their online prospectus (here) currently states 55 minimum in each section, like with 2013 entry. This is liable to change without notice though.

Saw these posted on NMM a few weeks back.

Ooh, well that's new. I checked a couple of weeks ago and it was the same as last year. I suspect if they've changed it then it's likely to stick.

It's more to do with http://www.sgul.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs4/entry-requirements not being updated, yet. I don't think they've updated it since last November. I saw that the 2015 prospectus was put up about 6 weeks ago. However, when they do finally update the MBBS4 page, I would take that cut-off as superseding the prospectus.

I was in two minds about taking the GAMSAT again, personally, as I got 61, so it's potentially on the borderline depending on the criteria they use.