[ADREAM]

(Original post by Baki)
First up, don't worry. If you have a below average UKCAT score, there are still institutions that will take you. Yes, even the ones that use the UKCAT.


EDIT: By bad I mean anything between 599 - 500.

So your options are:

1) Non-UKCAT Universities:

- Which include BMAT Uni's:

• UCL
• Imperial
• Oxbridge

-Non-Aptitude Test Unis:

• Birmingham (7A* Min needed)
• Liverpool
• Apparently Bristol (if this is wrong, hang Degauser for me)

2) UKCAT Unis:

Now, with this one, you have to search for uni's that don't put an emphasis on the UKCAT.

• Keele (Need 4 A's in GCSE)
• Aberdeen (8% weighting)
• St. Andrews
• St. Georges (Interview stage is tough, loads of competition)
• Dundee
• Southampton (SOTON)
• UEA
• Some other ones. Hopefully the others will fill me in.
• Apparently, Hull & York

Unis to Avoid:

• Kings (Unless you have 10A*)
• Brighton and Sussex Medical School
• Barts and London
• Sheffield.
• Manchester
• Some other ones.

Notable Mentions: I know Newcastle seems to be a popular choice for a lot of you. I think I should mention that Newcastle scores the UKCAT as part of their criteria for an interview. The score is given after ranking your UKCAT score compared to their other candidates.

This year a candidate got an offer with 610 in the UKCAT at Newcastle.

So all in all, if you get poor UKCAT grades its not the end of the world. It just means you might have to change your plans around a bit.

EDIT 2: I expect rep for this ****!

EDIT 3: Love you guys/gals who repped me.

Haha, good on you, Bak-man.

Just a note about KCL - I don't think they interviewed anyone at all with a UKCAT that was less than 600, regardless of academics this year. And I think the minimum A* count at GCSE, this year, was at 5-6, again regardless of academics/UKCAT.

[Baki]

(Original post by vas876)
Remember to state less than 500 = Don't apply. unless you have All A*s at GCSE, 4As at AS and Predicted 4A*s at A2

Nah. Although its very unlikely to get anywhere with an average below 500, I'm not willing to make a statement like that without knowing for sure.

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Baki)
Nah. Although its very unlikely to get anywhere with an average below 500, I'm not willing to make a statement like that without knowing for sure.

No one has got in anywhere with less than 500!

[ADREAM]

(Original post by DrDomDom)
Are you capable of using this site and not getting warned?

Also, have to say I agree with you about KCL

Hellooo DDD!

I haven't actually done anything at all wrong. (explained in the chat thread )

And for agreeing!

[Failure By Design]

(Original post by Baki)
First up, don't worry. If you have a below average UKCAT score, there are still institutions that will take you. Yes, even the ones that use the UKCAT.


EDIT: By bad I mean anything between 599 - 500.

So your options are:

1) Non-UKCAT Universities:

- Which include BMAT Uni's:

• UCL
• Imperial
• Oxbridge

-Non-Aptitude Test Unis:

• Birmingham (7A* Min needed)
• Liverpool
• Apparently Bristol (if this is wrong, hang Degauser for me)

2) UKCAT Unis:

Now, with this one, you have to search for uni's that don't put an emphasis on the UKCAT.

• Keele (Need 4 A's in GCSE)
• Aberdeen (8% weighting)
• St. Andrews
• St. Georges (Interview stage is tough, loads of competition)
• Dundee
• Southampton (SOTON)
• UEA
• Some other ones. Hopefully the others will fill me in.
• Apparently, Hull & York

Unis to Avoid:

• Kings (Unless you have 10A*)
• Brighton and Sussex Medical School
• Barts and London
• Sheffield.
• Manchester
• Some other ones.

Notable Mentions: I know Newcastle seems to be a popular choice for a lot of you. I think I should mention that Newcastle scores the UKCAT as part of their criteria for an interview. The score is given after ranking your UKCAT score compared to their other candidates.

This year a candidate got an offer with 610 in the UKCAT at Newcastle.

So all in all, if you get poor UKCAT grades its not the end of the world. It just means you might have to change your plans around a bit.

EDIT 2: I expect rep for this ****!

EDIT 3: Love you guys/gals who repped me.

Thanks for posting this, Baki.

Btw, why should you avoid applying to BSMS if you have a low UKCAT score? On their website BSMS state that 'a lower score will not necessarily be a disadvantage if outweighed by other factors in your application'. So it doesn't seem like getting a bad UKCAT score disqualifies you from getting an offer, like at unis which rank candidates by their UKCAT scores. You might just have to work harder to get an offer, which is easier said than done.

[Baki]

(Original post by Failure By Design)
Thanks for posting this, Baki.

Btw, why should you avoid applying to BSMS if you have a low UKCAT score? On their website BSMS state that 'a lower score will not necessarily be a disadvantage if outweighed by other factors in your application'. So it doesn't seem like getting a bad UKCAT score disqualifies you from getting an offer, like at unis which rank candidates by their UKCAT scores. You might just have to work harder to get an offer, which is easier said than done.

Kings says the same thing. Obviously, very, very few universities will disqualify you pre-interview if you have a very strong application (sans for the UKCAT) because most of them don't have any actual cut off point.

BUT, going from this years experience with BSMS, I would say avoid it if you have a poor UKCAT score. I know someone who had AAAA at AS(AAAA prediction), 5A* at GCSE and 605 UKCAT. And he got rejected from BSMS without interview.

[i'm no superman]

(Original post by Baki)
I know someone who had AAAA at AS(AAAA prediction), 5A* at GCSE and 605 UKCAT. And he got rejected from BSMS without interview.

That just proves that it's not all about the grades. BSMS are big on personal statements and character - individual qualities.
I think I played it way too safe with my personal statement.

It might interest you and other applicants to see the feedback I received from them:

Dear Mena,

Thank you for your email regarding your unsuccessful application to BSMS.

Your application was considered an eligible one (passed step 1 of the process described on www.bsms.ac.uk) and was sent to two of our assessors. Because the scores returned were relatively close to, but just below, the interview threshold it was subsequently sent to a third assessor. The mean score returned was 24/30, which compares to an overall average for our A level applicants of 21-22/30 but an interview borderline during the main UCAS cycle of above 25/30. Applicants with scores of 24.5/30 or above were placed on our Reserve List, and those with scores below this returned to UCAS as unsuccessful.

In summary there was nothing at all wrong with your application, which was considered a very strong one. Unfortunately just too many others were considered even stronger. The context of course is that this year there are nearly 20,000 applicants competing for the 7,500 places in the 31 UK medical schools. If our applicants are any guide, a very high proportion of the applicants are very well qualified both academically and non-academically, so the competition is severe, and many excellent applicants unplaced. This level of competition is fully reflected at BSMS.

However, if you end up without a place there are broadly three options:

1. With the right A level grades, take a gap year and re-apply. Lots of people do this, and with the right grades chances of at least interviews are pretty high. It is important to have gap year plans in place by September - these will strengthen the non-academic aspects of your application. We have quite a lot of students who have entered this way.

2. Again with the right A level grades, progress to a BSc degree, but you can still apply to some medical schools (e.g. BSMS) in your first year on the basis of the A levels you have already achieved. You will be at university, so you won't have the gap year plans to help, but just having the A level grades in hand rather than predicted grades will help many candidates.

3. Complete a BSc degree, get high grades, and reapply to medicine as a graduate entrant. Here good A levels may improve your chances, but quite modest A levels can be OK if you do well at university. This too is an entirely credible entry route - 3yr BSc + 4 year on a graduate-entry medicine degree is no longer than the standard route with a gap year (gap year + 5 yr + 1 yr for intercalated BSc) and graduates seem to be doing very well on course pretty well everywhere.

I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful, but I hope that this at least provides the context to our decision.

Kind regards,

Sue Woods
BSMS Senior Admissions Officer

That makes it...
- 0.5 short from getting a place on the BSMS reserve list.
- 1.0 short from getting an interview at BSMS.
- 0.6 short in S2 of the BMAT from being a guaranteed interview at UCL.

It just shows how close and tough it gets when you apply to medical school. I feel really, really lucky that I eventually got an offer from George's. It's humbling, it really is...and anyway, I'd rather go to George's, merry, merry George's!

[Failure By Design]

Thanks for posting that !MEna. It was very helpful.

[i'm no superman]

(Original post by Failure By Design)
Thanks for posting that !MEna. It was very helpful.

No worries!

So, where are you thinking of applying to?

[Failure By Design]

(Original post by !MEna)
No worries!

So, where are you thinking of applying to?

I want to apply to Newcastle, but I'm also considering BSMS, Bristol and for my fourth choice I have no idea (possibly one of Aberdeen/Cardiff/Durham/Soton/St George's).

Btw, I'm hesitating whether or not to apply to BSMS and Bristol since they place so much emphasis on the PS and you can never really know where you stand with that . It's so hard to choose medical schools - you want to choose the places you like the best, but at the end of the day what really matters is getting a place at a medical school.

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Failure By Design)
I want to apply to Newcastle, but I'm also considering BSMS, Bristol and for my fourth choice I have no idea (possibly one of Aberdeen/Cardiff/Durham/Soton/St George's).

Btw, I'm hesitating whether or not to apply to BSMS and Bristol since they place so much emphasis on the PS and you can never really know where you stand with that . It's so hard to choose medical schools - you want to choose the places you like the best, but at the end of the day what really matters is getting a place at a medical school.

You meet Bristol's GCSE criteria?

[Failure By Design]

(Original post by vas876)
You meet Bristol's GCSE criteria?

I will check that. Thanks for reminding me .

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Failure By Design)
I will check that. Thanks for reminding me .

They want 5A*/A

[blonde-beth]

(Original post by Baki)

Now, with this one, you have to search for uni's that don't put an emphasis on the UKCAT.

• Keele (Need 4 A's in GCSE)
• Aberdeen (8% weighting)
• St. Andrews
• St. Georges (Interview stage is tough, loads of competition)
• Dundee
• Southampton (SOTON)
• UEA
• Some other ones. Hopefully the others will fill me in.
• Apparently, Hull & York

you should add cardiff to this list, iv just been to their open day and they said they only use your ukcat score when making difficult decisions between similar candidates

[ddxxx]

(Original post by vas876)
They want 5A*/A

is that 5A* s AND 5 As?

[carcinoma]

(Original post by ddxxx)
is that 5A* s AND 5 As?

/ = OR or a Mixture of the two

[Danielisew]

I got one offer from Keele with a UKCAT of 573 - it's not the end of the world if you don't have 600+ ! My GCSEs weren't even great (5 As, 4 Bs) but my A levels are looking better.. Just hope I meet the grades =]

The interview is important if you get one.

[x_skater_jnoo_x]

(Original post by Danielisew)
I got one offer from Keele with a UKCAT of 573 - it's not the end of the world if you don't have 600+ ! My GCSEs weren't even great (5 As, 4 Bs) but my A levels are looking better.. Just hope I meet the grades =]

The interview is important if you get one.

WOOWW ohmgsh

thanks this is what i needed to see...i feel so much better for applying now =D that's amazing

[lekky]

Come September I will be posting in this thread


Anyone know Leeds' stance on the UKCAT?

[Baki]

(Original post by lekky)
Come September I will be posting in this thread


Anyone know Leeds' stance on the UKCAT?

Not quite sure.