PLEASE HELP narrowing university choices for 2017 entry medicine :)

I am an international student in the IB program, and would love some advice on narrowing down my list of universities. I'm pretty set on Imperial and Birmingham, but need to decide between Leicester, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Exeter and East Anglia for my next 2 options. In terms of my 5th non-med option, I'm quite stuck! I would love to apply to Cambridge's Natural Sciences course but with a medicine focused application, how likely is it that they'll consider me?
IB predicted grades
Chemistry HL - 7
Biology HL - 7
Psychology HL - 7
Hindi A HL - 7
Maths SL - 7
English A Lang & Lit SL - 7

MYP grades (equivalent to GCSEs)7s (A*) in all subjects except for the 5s (B) in maths and science.
Kind of concerned about this, as they are quite important subjects. Does this mean that I should disregard Birmingham and Leicester, as they place quite some emphasis on GCSEs

UKCAT (690 overall)
VR - 580 (also concerned about this section. Will universities consider this as an anomaly? Especially if I can provide evidence of my English proficiency with my IELTS (8.0 overall) and IB English results?)
AR - 770
QR - 720
SJT - Band 1

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

cheeku

For extra curricular activities, I have had several internships at several hospitals (accumulating to a month), an active volunteer at a care home for over a year, founder and leader of a service group that designs and teaches English lessons at a refugee school, research intern at a Thalassemia research project at one of our country's top universities, conducting a research project & writeup (part of the extended essay for the IB) on cystic fibrosis. For the more creative side of things, I'm part of our school's junior varsity touch rugby team, quite involved with cooking (internship at a molecular gastronomy restaurant, leader of a catering club at our school, regularly cook at home for fun), very involved with dancing (take dance lessons and have been part of many dance performances), Silver Duke of Edinburgh award, play the piano. (I'll pick and choose which ones to really dig deep into & reflect for my personal statement)

Reply 2

CYsuxx

I would put Exeter and Edinburgh with your high PG.

As for Cambridge NatSci, go for it. You've got nothing to lose for your 5th choice anyway.

Reply 3

Nadia Jama

Hi, you mentioned teaching English lessons at a refugee school. if you dont mind where did you do that and what is it called?

Reply 4

cheeku

I kinda had to initiate it myself with International Rescue Committee (you must have heard of them). It took a lot of research and groundwork to get it set-up and then contacting the refugees (I live in Thailand, so many are from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar). I'm pretty sure there must be IRC or something similar where you live; find out and get it started! :smile:

Original post by Nadia Jama

Hi, you mentioned teaching English lessons at a refugee school. if you dont mind where did you do that and what is it called?

Reply 5

cheeku

And any comments on my initial query would be appreciated :tongue:

Original post by cheeku

Reply 6

cheeku

Thank you! But isn't Edinburgh supposed to be really competitive and with Imperial already on my list, would it be too risky (keeping in mind that I'll be applying as an international applicant)?

Original post by CYsuxx

I would put Exeter and Edinburgh with your high PG.

As for Cambridge NatSci, go for it. You've got nothing to lose for your 5th choice anyway.

Reply 7

CYsuxx

Original post by cheeku

Thank you! But isn't Edinburgh supposed to be really competitive and with Imperial already on my list, would it be too risky (keeping in mind that I'll be applying as an international applicant)?

I was an international applicant too I didn't apply there, but I know some other internationals who were PG45 that got accepted by Edinburgh. Maybe because they don't interview, it's worth a shot if your academics, extracurriculars etc. are perfect on paper as it's all they'll be selecting off along with your PS.

Of course it'll be risky, but then which med school isn't? I say see if you like Edinburghs course + research their admission procedure then go from there to see if you like your chances.