Birmingham - How many A*s

I've read in places that you need 5 and others that you need 7. Also does that mean that they get a much lower number of applicants and if you have the right number of A*s you'll likely to get in, provided everything else is OK.

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Reply 1

Mubsy

I heard that this year the threshold was 7A* and above to be eligible for an interview which I think is a totally ridiculous method of selecting applicants for interview.

I am thinking that perhaps they may have got more applications than usual due to the fact that they don't ask for the UKCAT.

Reply 2

-42-

It's 7, a Birmingham admissions dude came into our school and actually told us that straight out so trust that number!

Also I think applications to Birmingham went up significantly last year because they don't make applicants take the UKCAT yet. I wouldn't have imagined that if you get lots of A*'s it means you're in either - they will only interview you if you're academic standards are up to it, so after you've got through there you still have to impress them with your interview...

So all in all, if you think it's a lot easier to get into because you have the minimum number of A*'s, I doubt you'd be right, there are a lot of other factors. Having said that, if you do really want to go there and like the course/city etc. go for it, you should have a good chance of getting an interview if your PS is good too!

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Reply 3

Mubsy

But if you have less than 7A*, don't bother applying.

Reply 4

Philosoraptor

Hmm, for me it'd be a hard decision whether to apply to UCL or Birmingham :P:. Interesting that birmingham has this "interesting" requirement when other well known medical schools don't even feel the need to do so. I suppose the UKCAT but then that's a stupid test anyway :p:

Reply 5

_GUESS_

-42-

Last year when I applied, that Dr. Lote guy (dunno what his exact name is) said that they interview 900 applicants and give around 800 offers. So he said that if they call you in for an interview, you'd need to do something very wrong to get rejected.

Reply 6

-42-

Erm, 900 interviews and 800 offers? I'm not quite sure what you mean because it can't be medicine! I thought the interviewees/offers ratio was about 2:1 actually, but I could be wrong.

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Reply 7

_GUESS_

Honestly, that is was what he said on the 2005/2006 open day.

Reply 8

P_singh_J

7?!! No wonder I didnt get an interview. Seems a bit of a silly way to select really, surely not all the best doctors are the geeks. (no insult intended!)

Reply 9

-42-

Okay then, it just sounded like a lot! I suppose that a lot of their applicants must either fail to meet there offer or take up an offer elsewhere so of course the number of actual students who go there come the new year will be less.

I think I'll probably go to an open day here as I like the look of the Uni and the course in their prospectus, what were your general impressions of the medical school/uni last year?

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Reply 10

_GUESS_

As a university it seemed v.nice. However I didn't like the fact that they do the dissection for you ie you just watch. The course is lecture based (quite traditional) so if you don't like pbl bham is a good bet. I'm not sure about this but they have about 300 places available each year (maybe more), so the med school there is quite big.

Reply 11

P_singh_J

Have to add, the campus is amazing! Everything you could ever need is on site, its a lovely place to be!

Reply 12

_GUESS_

Definantly. It also had a nice atmosphere (good weather probably helped a lot).

Reply 13

Mubsy

B'ham is a decet university. Nice campus and the best sporting facilities of any university I had ever visited on an Open Day. Sport is the great thing about B'ham uni.

Even though I only just meet the requirement of 7A*, I don't approve of this method of selecting applicants. Fair enough every medical school has its own method of selection but I still think B'ham have got theirs wrong.

I was put off from applying as I feared the threshold would go higher than 7 and I wasn't prepared to waste a space on my UCAS. Yes I liked the place but I wanted to maximise my chances of studying Medicine so I chose to apply elsewhere.

Reply 14

_GUESS_

I applied there because that ******* senior admissions officer gave me some misleading information on the openday.

Reply 15

Mubsy

_GUESS_

I applied there because that ******* senior admissions officer gave me some misleading information on the openday.

I did find the admissions tutor very misleading msyelf acually.

Reply 16

_GUESS_

I don't hate anything more than a misleading admissions department. They basically waste one of your 4 choices. Damn them!

Reply 17

theredsox

What I really don't understand is why they have this A* policy? I mean, I don't think that people with more A*s are better doctors. Maybe it's just a way to save time? :s-smilie:

(I'm just bitter cause I only got 5 :rolleyes:

)

Reply 18

Philosoraptor

Lol just 5 :p:

, I got less!

Reply 19

iceman_jondoe

that is really unfair actually i didnt apply there myself i didnt achieve any A*'s at gcse and from experience ive met soo many people with just grades but as people they are complete idiots. which is why i think they shoudl change the way in which they interview applicants. its certainly unfair and im aware kings have had a similar approach in the past dunno about this year