Going to university before turning 18

chernij

I skipped a year in school and so I will be 17 when I start university (birthday is late December).

I want to do medicine, but I heard from someone that I can't apply normally for some universities (with an open UCAS application), and instead I have to go for an interview of some sort instead.

Could someone confirm this, or possible give a short list/ website address of the universities that will require an open UCAS application? Thanks

You actually can't apply to a lot of universities since they have clinicals as soon as they start, and there is apparently legislation which does not allow people under-18 from doing clincals, hence they require applicants to reapply next year etc. etc. However I know somebody who got into Cambridge who is a year younger than everyone else to study Medicine (but you need to have you birthday before December - hence you turn 18 before the December you go to Uni if you want Cambridge). Not sure about Oxford. What universities are you thinking of, and do you think you could get to Oxbridge.

Actually I met the guy I'm talking about at Medsim... I you want to know who he is (he has an acouunt on here...) PM me.

Reply 4

101 Cynicism

All of them take you if you aren't 18 yet. I didn't have any problems (touchwood) and if everything works out, I hope to go while 17.

Well a friend of mine had trouble with all London universities Nottingham and many more. I never knew about the ones that let you. Which ones allow you to go under 18 out of curiosity?

Reply 5

Excalibur

15

101 Cynicism

All of them take you if you aren't 18 yet. I didn't have any problems (touchwood) and if everything works out, I hope to go while 17.

Some of them won't, e.g.

Imperial College London

Candidates below the age of 18 on 1 October 2008 will not be admitted to the course.

Reply 6

Dionysus

15

If you want to somewhere that won't take you, you should take a gap year. I kind of wish I had, actually. Just make sure you do something useful with it and it will work in your favour. Maybe see if you can apply now and defer.

Reply 7

Cynicism 101

11

aster100

Well a friend of mine had trouble with all London universities Nottingham and many more. I never knew about the ones that let you. Which ones allow you to go under 18 out of curiosity?

Well, I didn't know about the 18 dilemma until after applying and by then it was too late. So my decisions were all based on the uni. and not based on which one took under 18. I applied to 2 London unis, got an offer from one and got rejected from the other (not based on my age, based on a crappy interview) and I got offers from Edinburgh, PMS and Southampton. They didn't even ask me if I was under-18.

Reply 8

Cynicism 101

11

Excalibur

Some of them won't, e.g.

I know, so does it say on the websites of PMS and a few others, I think, but PMS took me. Actually, a representative, when they came to our school, said they would be happy to consider my application without gap year if I applied.

Reply 9

lovers in japan

2

I turn 18 at the end of October and only had a problem with a lot of the Cambridge colleges; otherwise I've just found that I'll need to have a special warden looking out of me, and I have to live in a certain place, otherwise it's fine. Medicine... just contact the unis you're interested in, you might be ok because your birthday is before Jan, not sure though.

Reply 10

this is a complete lie, being 17 is fine...i will be

Reply 11

aster100

You actually can't apply to a lot of universities since they have clinicals as soon as they start, and there is apparently legislation which does not allow people under-18 from doing clincals, hence they require applicants to reapply next year etc. etc. However I know somebody who got into Cambridge who is a year younger than everyone else to study Medicine (but you need to have you birthday before December - hence you turn 18 before the December you go to Uni if you want Cambridge). Not sure about Oxford. What universities are you thinking of, and do you think you could get to Oxbridge.

Actually I met the guy I'm talking about at Medsim... I you want to know who he is (he has an acouunt on here...) PM me.

that isnt true because one of my friends is going to cambridge in september and he wont be 18 until february. i wont be 18 till november and i had no problems with my applications and neither did anyone else in my school who will only be 17

Reply 12

FTC199

that isnt true because one of my friends is going to cambridge in september and he wont be 18 until february. i wont be 18 till november and i had no problems with my applications and neither did anyone else in my school who will only be 17

If you didn't realise I was talking about medicine. It's quite clear in the text. What are you talking about?

They have a rule that if you're not 18 by January, you can't do the Preparing for Patients course and hence cannot enter you if you're 18 after Dec/Jan... So I don't know what you're arguing about :confused:

Reply 13

aster100

If you didn't realise I was talking about medicine. It's quite clear in the text. What are you talking about?

They have a rule that if you're not 18 by January, you can't do the Preparing for Patients course and hence cannot enter you if you're 18 after Dec/Jan... So I don't know what you're arguing about :confused:

i am talking about medicine as well.

and cambridge never told my friend to defer either so he has a place despite this

Reply 14

FTC199

i am talking about medicine as well.

and cambridge never told my friend to defer either so he has a place despite this

which college is it? I have an e-mail which says that under 18s can apply to certain colleges (some colleges like Downing don't even allow under 18s), provided that they turn 18th before the end of December. I'm very interested to know what college (s)he applied to...

Reply 15