Newcastle Medical School 2016 Entry A100

Hey guys.

A bit of info about Newcastle's admission policy (which can be found here):

Selection for interview - "shortlisting"

First things first, they check that applicants reach the minimum A-Level/GCSE requirements. All those that do are ranked by UKCAT score and approximately the top 40-45% are given interviews. The interview shortlisting is done purely on the UKCAT average. Having additional A*'s at GCSE or A-Level, for example, will not help or make it easier to achieve an interview. The UKCAT score required for interview will vary year on year because each year the UKCAT scores of those applying change. You will either be given an interview or rejected.

2014 entry UKCAT cut-off was 745
2013 entry UKCAT cut-off was 695 (but some people received interviews with lower scores, around 680)
2012 entry UKCAT cut-off was 667.5
2011 entry UKCAT cut-off was 675 (then lowered to 667.5 later in the cycle)
2010 entry UKCAT cut-off was 645
2009 entry UKCAT cut-off was 615

You can expect it to perhaps increase this year (it is better to assume it will increase than assume it will stay the same/decrease) but it is impossible to know by how much. In the past it has increased approx. 30 points year-on-year, but this may change (as it did between 2011 and 2012).

UKCAT scores are given to Newcastle on or around the 5th November. You can expect interview invites from this date. My interview date for 2011 entry was 19 Nov, and I received the invitation (first by email, and then letter) on or around the 12th Nov. The latest you can be rejected for not meeting the UKCAT cut-off is around mid-February, so don't give up hope!

Interview

If you are above the UKCAT cut-off then you will be invited to interview. The medical school describe the purpose interview as "to confirm whether the candidate has the aptitude, motivation and personal qualities to succeed as a medical student" and they are held between mid-November and early March. You will be interviewed by two members of academic staff, which may or may not be practicing doctors (I was interviewed by two doctors). Each individually fill in an assessment form which is very structured. They rate you on a 4-point scale (1 being crap, and 4 being exceptional) on the following criteria:(All of these and a more in-depth description of each is available in the admissions policy I linked before.)They won't tell you your scores until after the end of the application cycle. After then, you can apply for them and you get a letter if you're interested and nosy like I am. Using all these 4-point scores, they will somehow give you an 'overall interview score' (which is separate from overall performance, by the way) which allows you to be ranked with the other applicants. This is the reason they do not give out any offers until they have finished interviewing everybody. Once they rank all of the applicants they have interviewed, they will give offers to approximately 400 of them. You have about a 43% chance of gaining an offer after interview. The interview stage is tough. It is not a case of "gain interview = gain place".If you are ranked in the top 400-odd people they interviewed, you will be given an offer from early/mid-March. The first offers last year came out on 9th March (the day I got my offer! hooray!) and from some rumours floating around last year tend to be given out in some kind of descending interview score order.

Key Dates (all estimated based on previous cycles)

UKCAT deadline: 06 Oct 2015
UCAS deadline: 15 Oct 2015
UKCAT scores given to Newcastle: ~05 Nov 2015
Interview invites expected from: ~12 Nov 2015
Interview period: ~19 Nov 2015 - ~19 Feb 2016
All pre-interview rejections given out: ~12 Feb 2016
Offers start to be given out: ~9th March 2016
All post-interview rejections given out: End of March 2016
Post-offer open day: 4 April 2016 and 11 April 2016

Key Stats (approximate, based on 2013 entry cycle, info from here.)

Places: 219
Applications: 2151
Interviews: 844
Offers: 342
Chance of interview: ~39%
After interview, chance of offer: ~41%
Overall chance of offer: ~16%Hope this helps!

Hey guys, it's just under a week until Results Day but many of you are already preparing for or have done your UKCAT. So if you've got a nice score and are interested in applying to Newcastle this September (either school leaver/gap year applicant/Biomed transfer), do post here!

Over the next few days, I'll add links to the previous year's threads and to the medical school website. I've also added a poll to this thread for your UKCAT scores.

UKCAT cut-offs:
2015 entry: 575 (2300) - Yep very low because of the whole UKCAT rescaling shindig. Again, they only base the cut-off on applicant scores so the lower the scores...the better for all of us!

What do u think the cut off will be this year, i have my test next month

Hey guys, it's just under a week until Results Day but many of you are already preparing for or have done your UKCAT. So if you've got a nice score and are interested in applying to Newcastle this September (either school leaver/gap year applicant/Biomed transfer), do post here!

Over the next few days, I'll add links to the previous year's threads and to the medical school website. I've also added a poll to this thread for your UKCAT scores.

UKCAT cut-off:

2015 entry: 575 (2300) - Yep very low because of the whole UKCAT rescaling shindig. Again, they only base the cut-off on applicant scores so the lower the scores...the better for all of us!

Alright so I am going to quote @Beska, not just because I am being incredibly lazy but also because his post will be very helpful for future Newcastle A100 applicants:



And therefore the link to last year's (2015 entry) thread:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2827187

Hi everyone,

I contacted Newcastle med school admissions, here is some useful information they gave me regarding the ukcat, including previous cut offs:

We set a threshold each year depending upon the scores of those who apply to us, and all applicants with a score above this threshold are invited to interview. As the threshold depends on the scores of those in each cycle, we are unable to predict what next year’s threshold could be. Performance at interview is the sole basis upon which offers are made. Please see http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mbbs/admissions/interviews.htm for details on the attributes assessed at interview. Our UKCAT thresholds have previously been as follows:
2011 - 2670
2012 - 2660
2013 - 2780
2014 - 2980
2015 - 2300

Please note that UKCAT recalibrates the scores each year so your score is not directly comparable with previous years. This year saw a large reduction in national scores which left a large number of candidates falsely believing they did not have a chance of a successful application to Newcastle/Durham.

As you can see 2015 was the lowest it's ever been, I'm still not sure why, if anyone knows more about why it was so low, this it would be a great help.

I also just want to wish everyone the best of luck with their applications this year, this is my first time apying to Newcastle, although I have been trying to get into med school for close to 6 years now and finally have the grades to get in (I literally started from scratch with barely a GCSE to my name after I left school, I'm 29 now 😄 Never give up!!!

Hey, thanks for the information!

Also, props for the tenacity, I'm sure you'll get in this year. Have you done your UKCAT yet?

Hi everyone,

I contacted Newcastle med school admissions, here is some useful information they gave me regarding the ukcat, including previous cut offs:

We set a threshold each year depending upon the scores of those who apply to us, and all applicants with a score above this threshold are invited to interview. As the threshold depends on the scores of those in each cycle, we are unable to predict what next year’s threshold could be. Performance at interview is the sole basis upon which offers are made. Please see http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mbbs/admissions/interviews.htm for details on the attributes assessed at interview. Our UKCAT thresholds have previously been as follows:
2011 - 2670
2012 - 2660
2013 - 2780
2014 - 2980
2015 - 2300

Please note that UKCAT recalibrates the scores each year so your score is not directly comparable with previous years. This year saw a large reduction in national scores which left a large number of candidates falsely believing they did not have a chance of a successful application to Newcastle/Durham.

As you can see 2015 was the lowest it's ever been, I'm still not sure why, if anyone knows more about why it was so low, this it would be a great help.

I also just want to wish everyone the best of luck with their applications this year, this is my first time apying to Newcastle, although I have been trying to get into med school for close to 6 years now and finally have the grades to get in (I literally started from scratch with barely a GCSE to my name after I left school, I'm 29 now 😄 Never give up!!!

What are the entry requirements for grads to the 5 year? A levels, GCSEs, degree etc? Thanks!!!

What are the entry requirements for grads to the 5 year? A levels, GCSEs, degree etc? Thanks!!!

For a grad applying to the A100, you would be required to achieve at least a 2.1
(Source: Newcastle website - Graduate applicants to A100 Applicants must have achieved, or expect to achieve, an honours degree in any discipline to at least an upper second class or first class Honours or Integrated Master's degree.)

I am sitting my UKCAT on September 17th followed by the BMAT on November 4th. So hopefully I do well enough for a interview. And thank you for your kind words, I really hope I get there at some point soon! What about you? Have you sat it yet? Also does anyone have any tips they could give me for the QR and AR sections of the UKCAT? Any help would be appreciated, I'm currently using the 600Q book and a big red kaplin book, although my timing is still pretty bad. I'm currently only scoring an average of 600.

I have a 2.1 in Physiology and 667.5 ukcat. Do you think this would be good enough? No a level requirements at all?


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Once you have a degree they don't consider your A levels, I rang them a few weeks back.

I have a 2.1 in Physiology and 667.5 ukcat. Do you think this would be good enough? No a level requirements at all?

Ah ok, yeah I sat it a few weeks back. Av 712.5 band 1. I got 880 in QR - would say it's a lot easier than any of the mocks - make sure you can nail the easy stuff down every time. AR was hard for me, not the best person to advise you really!

Ah ok, yeah I sat it a few weeks back. Av 712.5 band 1. I got 880 in QR - would say it's a lot easier than any of the mocks - make sure you can nail the easy stuff down every time. AR was hard for me, not the best person to advise you really!

From what I have read it is my understanding that as long as you have at least a 2.1 in your degree, then you'll pass the academic criteria and move onto the ukcat screening process, although you may want to confirm that with a member of the admissions team. Your UKCAT score sounds good, the national average is around 660 (according to kaplin resource book), although this changes every year and Newcastle will have their own cutoff based on the average scores of the people who apply there. In the last cycle it was 2300, which is an average of 575 across all 4 sections, although the previous year it was 745, which is a HUGE drop, so in answer to your question I have no clue if your score will be good enough. Although if I had your score (I have yet to take my test), I would be as happy as a pig in rolling around in its own filth. Also, some tips on AR (if you have any) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and good luck with your application.