A Few questions...

Completely untrue. Last year there were 1300 applicants and 284 offers were given out for 265 places, which is among the lower applicant to offer ratios.

Those applicants are of course fantastic, with (in previous years) you realistically needing 91-92+ UMS average to stand a reasonable chance of getting in. But if you did get 95+ your chances are really pretty good.

Of course the Cambridge admissions process has had to change now that they can't use UMS any more so presumably they will be more heavily relying on factors like the BMAT.

Hey,Im The OP...
So Thanks for the info.I was intrigued when you said that the cambridge admission process has changed and they can't use UMS.Why is this? and what is BMAT and why can they not use UMS?
Please explain...
Thanks.

ah ok thanks a Lot!
So do Extra curriculars in medicine only matter in two candidate have the dame grade...?
also,you seem to know a lot,How is work experience looked at by uni,Is it by quantity or?
So say i do WE at 3 hospitals for 2 years each will that count as 6 years of cumulative WE? or...
Also,is shadowing doctors/surgeons... given the same amount of recognition as WE.
Also,What king of task would WE include?
Finally,would blogging about medicine be beneficial to show your interest in the subject and would short medical courses be help,Life the one that last a few days over the holiday or a few weeks that go about into medical procedure(Would they show your interest in the subject?)?
Thanks.

Work experience is the same as shadowing for most people - and you would only realistically have a couple of weeks max. Voluntary work is a separate issue and is more important to do long-term.

Extra-curriculars are important to have, but I'm not aware that they'd ever be used on their own to differentiate between candidates.

Lots of people seem to start "medical" blogs, I'm not personally convinced by most of them but I'm not actually an admissions tutor so don't know for sure. Courses like Medlink are only useful if you learn something from them that you wouldn't otherwise have learned from your work experience/voluntary work, and are expensive. I had a great time on Medlink and it was good for me because nobody else was applying to medicine from my school, but I don't think it was a deciding factor in my application.

Because they've changed A-levels to be 2 year qualifications, not 2x1 year qualifications. The UMS you would have been submitting to Cambridge no longer exists.

The BMAT is one of the medical admissions tests (the UKCAT being the other big one). Cambridge have used it for a number of years alongside UMS, GCSE etc but I suspect now it will play an even bigger part.

1) You cannot do long term WE at hospitals, placements are normally a few weeks for people of your age should you even be accepted
2) While hospital placements are all good and well I assure you if you do not do continuous long term voluntary work with a care home or a cancer charity etc you will not be studying medicine at Cambridge

1) perfect connection
2) The only reason I have work experience at 5 different hospitals is because they are all different department. e.g. Orthopaedics at a local hospital, gynaecology at University College London Hospital, plastic surgery at the Royal London Hospital and ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital. My recommendation to you, is find WE in as many different departments, to show your all roundedness.
3) You realise you can't continuously do work experience, but yes. If the opportunity arises for you to do some shadowing in a holiday, jump at it.
4) 15 no. You would need to wait until you are 16+ to do any form of non administrative work
5) Shadowing is more following a consultant, seeing what he/she does. Taking notes. Work Experience is more clerical, more doing tasks...

is number 1 really a good connection? My dad is surgeon too and he can never seem to get me any experience -.- I always have to apply myself.

Well, my connections were family friends who are consultants...they just got the work experience for me. I assumed that having a parent is even better :I

Oh,ok...
Thanks!
so what task would wrk experience involve?
Also,would start ASAP be a Good idea?

Work experience is the same as shadowing for most people - and you would only realistically have a couple of weeks max. Voluntary work is a separate issue and is more important to do long-term.

Extra-curriculars are important to have, but I'm not aware that they'd ever be used on their own to differentiate between candidates.

Lots of people seem to start "medical" blogs, I'm not personally convinced by most of them but I'm not actually an admissions tutor so don't know for sure. Courses like Medlink are only useful if you learn something from them that you wouldn't otherwise have learned from your work experience/voluntary work, and are expensive. I had a great time on Medlink and it was good for me because nobody else was applying to medicine from my school, but I don't think it was a deciding factor in my application.

Most medical work experience will just be shadowing doctors of one sort or another. You might occasionally do a bit of admin type stuff - I was answering the phones on my GP placement etc, but I wouldn't expect to be able to do anything particularly clinical.

It's never too early to start looking, but many hospitals won't take under 16s, so don't be too demoralised if it takes a while to sort out. You might be able to start some voluntary work though.

so say by the Time you were at Uni...
You have done 5 Short medical courses,would they make a notice impact on your application as they show you're passion for the subject?
Also,I currently do 5 Extra-curriculars(Excluding medical related stuff),considering future work load at A-level would you say that that is a good or V.good or Ok amount?
Finally,my friend is doing WE at several diff. departments and GP's-Would doing WE at many place help even more?
Thanks.

As I said earlier - remember that your PS is only 4000 characters! There is no way you can adequately write about and reflect on that many different courses etc - they want to see that you've thought about and learned something from all the things you've done, not just a list of courses/musical instruments/departments.

I don't think you can do 5 extra-curriculars to a significant depth to be worth writing about each of them on your PS.

That's what I thought, it gets me a bit pissed at my dad like I swear there must be something he could do.
oh well, what year are you in? + do you know which unis you wanna apply to?

Having quickly looked through this, it looks like some people are quite worried about the whole application process. But you really don't need to be, getting into medical school isn't actually that hard, unless you want to go to a place like bristol, you don't need to have done much, I got into medical school without playing an instrument, doing DofE, going to a foreign country etc. Literally, a 1 week shadowing placement, a year or 2 of weekly volunteering with people, and something that shows you can work in a team and something that shows you can relax is enough (kill 2 birds with one stone and do a team sport).

With regards to work experience, teaching hospitals in big cities offer placements to loads of students on a weekly basis, london in particular is a good place for shadowing experience, I literally just applied to St George's for a placement, had to write a short personal statement thingy, and they gave me a placement in the trauma and ortho department, I was in the A&E while they were filming 24 hours in A&E, and I didn't have to do anything special to get such a good placement.

oh ok,completely forgot about that...:]
back to the care home then...
If i volunteered at a care home it will also count as volunteering for dofe but should i continue to do it after the req. time for done volunteering is done or until i can get WE?
Also,is Dofe recognised for medicine..
Finally,Would grade 8 at a few Instruments be in-depth enough?
thanks.

A commitment to long-term volunteering is important so yeah, not just enough to get your DofE signed off. Doesn't have to all be in a care home, you can find loads of different things that you might enjoy.

There isn't a set amount of extra-curricular that is "enough," but if you think you can realistically get to grade 8 and will have skills that are useful for medicine from it, then go for it.