Graduate Entry Medicine 2017

That's a really good idea. Thanks!

I might end up just writing an autobiography of my life but hey!



I've finished it but everytime I look at it, I feel the urge to scrap it and start again. I might edit it a little bit but I'm trying to keep it as it is right now otherwise I'll spend the next two weeks rewriting it every few minutes.



No offence but from my experience, if you're waiting a month, they won't be replying. Have you sent a nice little reminder e-mail? Maybe they didn't see the email. I might send one again but right now I'm just going to email the head of the law school to ask if she can get me in touch with my former tutor.

Yeah they are inefficient. Maybe it's just me but I tend to reply to stuff quickly and when it comes to writing things up, I'm pretty fast. I would say it's my background but I'm not sure. The barristers from my uni were useless at emails and stuff while the solicitors would reply within a minute of an email and they all have law degrees. I guess people reflect the jobs they are in. Most hospital staff are not going to be reading and writing at a high level and will probably use three word sentences so I doubt they'd be checking their emails constantly and they probably get loads so they might get buried.

I actually used to write personal statements in college for pocket money since my EMA wouldn't cover everything. I think I wrote over 20 PS and I think two or three were for medicine but Inever kept copies saved on my files so yeah.

It's going okay though. I'm pretty much done with it but it makes me nervous so I'm trying not to look at it too much.

I think I'll be emailling the volunteer manager actually. She seems busy all the time but I might ask if I can meet with her to make things easier. So I can at least speak to her and give her some scope of what to write.

But I constantly feel like I'm bothering people. I never had this until my last job where my manager would shout and blame me for everything even if I wasn't working a particular day.

And this email has started to feel like a therapy session. Sorry

Yeah I have sent a couple of reminders to them all and ones just replied now saying she can't do it...grr....

Wow! you must have loads of experience then and I'm sure your PS will end up being amazing. I've always been conscious of my English so just constantly worrying whether I've got my grammar and sentence structure correct.

Email your volunteer manager, normally the place you volunteer for are really good with references as they really appreciate you taking your time out to help out their organisation

And don't fret about bothering people, if you need help or a hand you need it. Simples. So never back down just because you need a hand, hopefully you'll be in a position to return the favour to someone else. That other sad person who'd vent out on you isn't even worth thinking about. Close that chapter and think about all the amazing things you'll be able to do once you get your application sorted and are on your way to med school

I don't mind it being a therapy session, I like listening to people and trying to help as I know how even the smallest of things can eat away at you.

Apologies for the massive message :P and for any errors.

Why did she say no?

Not really. It's a bit shoddy and doesn't flow as wel as I hoped it would.

Yeah the volunteer manager is kind of my last hope. If she doesn't reply then I'll probably be looking to apply next year instead.

Thanks. I try to forget my former manager but since he's delaying my job reference and keeps saying he hasn't gotten it, I have to keep calling him up or visiting him at his workplace lol.

No probs.

Hey Guys,

I am a graduate with a 1st in BSc Biomedical Sciences and just waiting for MSc results. A levels were terrible.
Did my UKCAT and got:
VR 530
QR 670
AR 700
SJ Band 1

Average of 633 :/ Not sure if this is good enough for either GEM or 5 year course?

I don't think you have a chance for GEM courses tbh. Can't say much on the 5 year courses :/ as some unis expect you to have certain minimum A level grades as well.

Have you sat the GAMSAT? Or are you sitting the BMAT?

Thanks for the reply, is this still the case if u gave a first class degree? No, but I'm considering it GAMSAT for March now.

I don't think you do tbh with that UKCAT score. However, do check with Barts or I think it was Queens? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if you have a 1st or a masters it can compensate for a slightly lower UKCAT. I could be wrong though as it was a while back I looked.

Also, have you considered Birmingham? Or are you A-level grades not good?

Barts would massively favour your first, but looking at their recent thresholds (and with the average for this year looking to increase via the interim) it might not be worth it.. if you've got good A-levels etc I'd recommend wasting the £20 and applying

Newcastle I'd say you are better off resitting the UKCAT and applying next year. This year the cut off was well in the 700s and the band 3 will really go against you.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mbbs/admissions/documents/OverviewUKCATThresholds.pdf

It's pretty similar with Southampton, they are very UKCAT heavy and rank all applicants in order of UKCAT then do interview invites from the top.

In your shoes I'd take the year out and apply next year (as you are already taking the year out anyway)

Just my two cents though

Honestly I would avoid Southampton and Newcastle. Your ukcat isn't quite high enough since they shortlist based entirely on ukcat.


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What is the deal with Warwick?
I've got a 640 VR and a 743 overall average.
What's happened in previous years? Is it the overall applying average or the 5th decile UKCAT average?

those are amazing scores and from what I've seen of previous years you should be absolutely fine to apply to Warwick! Do you have any tips for VR? Im struggling a lot with VR *and with QR, seems impossible for me to get a high score given the difficulty of the questions on the ukcat website for qr

Here's hoping!
I cannot recommend enough the Kaplan UKCAT book (search for it on Amazon) it's much cheaper than one of their events and I kinda feel like you'd get just as much out of it!
The tips are good for VR and it covers all of the QR. Only thing that's a little lacking is AR

My test is in 2 days so i doubt the book will come in time haha

I don't think you do tbh with that UKCAT score. However, do check with Barts or I think it was Queens? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if you have a 1st or a masters it can compensate for a slightly lower UKCAT. I could be wrong though as it was a while back I looked.

Also, have you considered Birmingham? Or are you A-level grades not good?

Barts would massively favour your first, but looking at their recent thresholds (and with the average for this year looking to increase via the interim) it might not be worth it.. if you've got good A-levels etc I'd recommend wasting the £20 and applying