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Did anyone regret applying to Southampton or King's?

I need to make a choice within the upcoming week before I send off my application. I appreciate how annoying threads like this can be but I really need some advice. My university choices over the past couple of months have changed a lot but I'm set on applying to UCL, SGUL and HYMS.

My last choice is turning out to be a bit of an issue. Competition is fierce with a course like medicine so this topic is based on your personal anecdotes if you applied to either SOTON or KCL. The only thing that has stopped me from considering Southampton in the past was their lack of interviewing for the BM5 undergraduate course. Nevertheless, I have decided to reconsider Southampton since it's not that far away from home, their offer is flexible since I could end up getting a B in Chemistry next year, and they do not have a cut off score for the UKCAT this year. I am however quite worried about the statistics I have read in their prospectus - 17:1 applicant to place ratio? The medschoolonline table does however state it was 10.6:1 during the '08 cycle but that will obviously change each year. I don't really know what to expect from applying to Southampton since I've read about applicants with much better GCSEs than me get rejected or end up on the reserve / waiting list but then again, I've read about some applicants getting an offer with a much lower UKCAT score than me. Just hope my personal statement will be good enough to be honest.

Moving on to King's, well, I won't lie - I loved the open day. I just feel I need to be realistic about applying there, especially since they are using the UKCAT quite significantly this year. I remember reading about the mass load of members here on TSR being placed on the waiting list last year and that has put me off applying quite a bit. As much as I'd like to believe that good academics can outweigh a fairly low / average UKCAT score, I would be devestated to get rejected without an interview at least.

I just feel so nervous about applying. I feel as if everywhere I want to apply to is a big risk. Please offer some words of advice - anyone had any good or bad experiences applying to either institute?
Reply 1
Avatar for 1mhward
1mhward
1
What did you get on your UKCAT? Cos I got high 600 (690 or something) average on my UKCAT last year, applied to Kings and got rejected without interview so its not everything, I was predicted AAB and had AAB as AS so....... if thats were you like apply there. The problem with Soton is that because they don't interview loads of people apply there incase they are not good at interviews. I would say go with Kings, I also applied to Southampton and got rejected without interview so i kinda regret applying there, but that said you have excellent A levels and GCSE's, and if you are predicted good grades you stand a good chance, but its a risk!
Sorry, probably haven't been much help! but just to let you know!
I scored 605 in my UKCAT. I wasn't too happy about it to be honest but I can't do anything about it now. The conflict I have about applying to somewhere that I like after reading about your personal experience just makes it feel like I'll be wasting a choice - and I really can't afford to do that when applying to study a course like medicine.
hmm I kinda wished I didn't apply to Soton because I hadn't really thought it through about the non interviewing thing - my main reason to apply there was the fact that they don't interview which at the time I applied I thought would be my weakest point (probably still is but has somewhat improved). But that being said had I chosen a different university I probably wouldn't have gotten in last year anyways...

I didn't regret applying to Kings last year and am applying there again this year :p: I don't know why but I really love the place lol
Reply 4
Avatar for vj69
vj69
Last year Kings interviewed an applicant with as low as like low 500's i cant remember the exact figuire but its on their website... As there is no interview at soton, ur UKCAT will be more important...
Reply 5
Avatar for Tyraell
Tyraell
13
FFCrusader
hmm I kinda wished I didn't apply to Soton because I hadn't really thought it through about the non interviewing thing - my main reason to apply there was the fact that they don't interview which at the time I applied I thought would be my weakest point (probably still is but has somewhat improved). But that being said had I chosen a different university I probably wouldn't have gotten in last year anyways...

I didn't regret applying to Kings last year and am applying there again this year :p: I don't know why but I really love the place lol


Quite similar here; I only applied because they don't interview. I didn't even visit Soton! I figured if I could just send of my application to them and then forget about it I'd be free to focus on my other choices. :yep:

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