University of Nottingham A100 2023 entry Applicant and Offer Holders thread

I have a score of 126/152, would that be too risky to apply?

Hi, I'm in the same boat! I'm a graduate applying so my GCSEs will not be scored. I calculated my score as 98/120 (SJ Band 1 and 38/60 for UCAT).

I emailed Admissions and they explicitly said they never give out information on previous years cut off scores so I'm not sure whether this is a safe score to apply with.
"With regards to your query, our School of Medicine never publish previous years cut off scores. They believe this can be very misleading as each recruitment cycle they may decide to adjust our scoring process and then you are not comparing like with like. If you meet our academic entry requirements, we’ll then score your GCSE’s and UCAT raw scores. If you’re applying as a graduate then we will just use your UCAT raw scores to establish an overall score. Those who are scored without GCSE’s are placed in a different
assessment group to the applicants where both have been scored. One group has no advantage over the other."
Thanks, any help would be appreciated!

Hey, I managed to get 116/152. Do you think its safe to apply?

Hey, I managed to get 116/152. Do you think its safe to apply?

Is it safe to apply to Nottingham with 134 points?

Cut off last year was around 127-129

Has anyone got an email from nottingham talking about the application process and delaying their decision time; feel like I’ve already been indirectly rejected?

Hi @GANFYD
I know you’ve said notts is fine for me before (with score of 134) but with all of the 2021 cohort gcse grade inflations and extra band 1s this year, I’m not fully confident I’d get an interview there!
My stats are below:
GCSEs: 9999888887 (7 in French) achieved in 2020
A levels achieved in 2022: AAA in maths bio chemistry
Ucat: 2900
Vr: 640
Dm: 780
Qr: 740
Ar:740
Band 1
As you can see my main problem is I’ve only got 28/32 in gcse points whereas everyone with all 9s or 8 grade 9s are gonna get 32. My vr only get 8x2 points or 16/24. Overall for gcse I get 28( a concern of mine), for ucat I get 106/120 ( decent I guess), 60/60 for band 1,( very common this year) so I only get 28+106+60= 134 points.
I am on a gap year already and I appreciate I have safer options as well like Liverpool, SGUL or ARU but I know Nottingham has a good post interview offer ratio as well. I would really want 4 interviews! Would you apply to Nottingham with 134 points if you were in my shoes? Please be brutal and honest with your advice!!!!!

Believe it or not, I did apply to Nottingham, nearly a million years ago, when I knew nothing about med schools admission (it was so not a thing!), and it was the closest med school to my home! One of my son's also applied a while back.

Your UCAT split does you no favours on their scoring system, as people could score 160 less and still have the same score.
The minimu UCAT a points score of 134 can be made up with is 2740, and that relies on full GCSEs and a B1. That is a 79th percentile score, and relies on things falling exactly right!

I personally would not apply, if I was on a gap year, as I would want 4 interviews and there are safer options, but I would be reasonably confident you will make the cut - however, I would want as certain as possible.
I will repeat my mantra - depends how much you like Nottingham, how safe your other choices are and how much risk you are prepared to tolerate (this is low risk, I would say)

congrats on your 22nd thousand post

Aww, Jesus, I need a life!!
I have been poorly, had lots of stress and appraisal going on, plus the state of the place is not conducive to posting, or it would be even worse (but thanks, anyway )

Believe it or not, I did apply to Nottingham, nearly a million years ago, when I knew nothing about med schools admission (it was so not a thing!), and it was the closest med school to my home! One of my son's also applied a while back.

Your UCAT split does you no favours on their scoring system, as people could score 160 less and still have the same score.
The minimu UCAT a points score of 134 can be made up with is 2740, and that relies on full GCSEs and a B1. That is a 79th percentile score, and relies on things falling exactly right!

I personally would not apply, if I was on a gap year, as I would want 4 interviews and there are safer options, but I would be reasonably confident you will make the cut - however, I would want as certain as possible.
I will repeat my mantra - depends how much you like Nottingham, how safe your other choices are and how much risk you are prepared to tolerate (this is low risk, I would say)

Hi GANFYD - do you think 132 is risky then?

Following on from your analysis above of full GCSEs (32) and B1 (60) to get a score of 134, I think you could get it from a score of 2540 if everything fell into place - 610 in 3 (including VR) and 710 in one. That would be 42 points. For 132 points (40 points from UCAT scores) you could drop as low as 2440 if the scores fell the right way (610 in everything).

This is what I keep saying - Nottingham is not necessarily a high UCAT med school! Things do have to fall just right for that to happen though, and you also need a B1 and full GCSEs, which is less likely, the lower you go down the UCAT scores, statistically.
I think the cut off will probably be in the 130-132 region, but that is a pure (educated) guess, and see my caveats above about applying anywhere!
If you drop even one 9 to an 8, then you need one section of the UCAT to be >700.
130 is 6 x 9s, 2 x 8s, B1 and >600 all sections of UCAT. That is a reasonable target

Thank you, thats really helpful, thank you

You can analyse things until you are blue in the face, but as long as it is not a ridiculous option, sometimes it comes down to whether you would be more upset to have interviews and offers elsewhere but find out you would have interviewed at Nottingham, or getting interviews elsewhere adn no offers and a straight up rejection from Nottingham.
I would want safe, as to me, the degree and job are more important than the uni, and luckily, it is about the only thing my children have ever agreed with me about, so we worked out where they could apply, and then they chose, but other people have different approaches. My job is to point out the ridiculous choices and give them the information to make an informed decision.
I can tell people where I would apply - but they are not me (luckily for them!!!!)