[ThisLittlePiggy]

(Original post by bean87)
yeah it rather annoys me when people shout about their average grades then go on to state they recieved A's and B's

I suppose amongst the majority of medic applicants,these days,A's and B's are average.

[Kinkerz]

(Original post by MHMQ786)
[SIZE="3]

Profile of a less-than-average student with a low UKCAT, 4 days of work observation (not experience!) and predicted grades of ABB at the time of applying to study Medicine!

[/SIZE]

GCSEs: 8 A*'s, 1 A, 1 B

Please tell me you're joking...

Anyone who has GCSEs that allow them to apply to Birmingham and still thinks their GCSEs are average...well...it baffles me.

(Original post by MHMQ786)
Universities applied to and decisions: In order of preference when I applied: (for Medicine)
Leicester University: Rejected... probably due to my low UKCAT result. I had an interview, which I thought went pretty well.

UKCAT, grades, PS etc. are used before interview. The interview is used to decide whether you're offered a place or not.

(Original post by MHMQ786)
[ADVICE: Don't look at the candidate profiles and look at their grades... normally, the grades don't count as much as the rest of your application does (obviously depending on where u apply). Make sure your application/personal statement is checked over by at least five different people - including teachers, careers advisors, and even the companies where u pay money to get ur statement checked.

It depends on how well clued up your school is. I wouldn't have let teachers do anything but spell check and the careers advisor only really knew her stuff when it came to apprentiships.

My advice would be to use the PS helpers on here. They're better than any teacher or careers advisor.

[nexttime]

(Original post by DrDomDom)
Your obvious academic strength, and evident lack of extra curriculars would seem to indicate:

- Oxford are grade whores.
- The other 3 are interested in more than grades.

Nothing unexpected...

I'd disagree. It has been established Oxford couldn't care less about being a 'prefect' or 'football captain', but the criteria above does not mention anything about the interview. Having 5/6 25 minute interviews would let them make a pretty decent judgement without even looking at grades.

In terms of academic merit i am above average. The other medics at my college achieved around 5A* 6A, BMAT roughly 20. Strong, but not amazing. All weight is on the interview, honestly! (In contrast, cambridge have only one interview with each candidate, btw).

[Woody.]

I'm quite confused as to what UCL are looking for as they gave maze.e a place and not Star_struck, yet Star_struck's grades seem to be a bit higher and you both have similar extra curricular stuff.

[Phalanges]

(Original post by Woody.)
I'm quite confused as to what UCL are looking for as they gave maze.e a place and not Star_struck, yet Star_struck's grades seem to be a bit higher and you both have similar extra curricular stuff.

I imagine, as always, that how you portray yourself at interview affects massively your chances of an offer. You can have the greatest track record in the world on paper but unless you're applying to Edinburgh, the interview is there for a reason.

It might help if you just post once you've read this so that Hygeia can come along and delete these posts in order to keep the thread on track.

[Kinkerz]

(Original post by Woody.)
I'm quite confused as to what UCL are looking for as they gave maze.e a place and not Star_struck, yet Star_struck's grades seem to be a bit higher and you both have similar extra curricular stuff.

In addition to jonny's point, the way they expressed things in their PS would've been different and that is pretty influential.

[Toiletpaper8]

In addition to the points mentioned above by kinkerz and jonny, they probably also both had varying degrees of luck.

[Faith01]

I feel depressed after looking at this, I am still awaiting my GCSE results and I can guarantee you it won't be as good as the average poster on here e.g 7 A*s. I also don't play any instruments like most of you do, my extra curricular will probably blank. (No D of E) Don't contribute to any sports, because I am not a sporty type of person.
*sigh*

[nexttime]

(Original post by Faith01)
I feel depressed after looking at this, I am still awaiting my GCSE results and I can guarantee you it won't be as good as the average poster on here e.g 7 A*s. I also don't play any instruments like most of you do, my extra curricular will probably blank. (No D of E) Don't contribute to any sports, because I am not a sporty type of person.
*sigh*

All pretty minor stuff! Although GCSEs are important, i wouldn't start worrying just yet!

[alexis 123]

(Original post by chelski786)
What business do you run if you don't mind me asking?

how could you be predicted 3 A's with those grades

[buck-your-waas]

(Original post by Faith01)
I feel depressed after looking at this, I am still awaiting my GCSE results and I can guarantee you it won't be as good as the average poster on here e.g 7 A*s. I also don't play any instruments like most of you do, my extra curricular will probably blank. (No D of E) Don't contribute to any sports, because I am not a sporty type of person.
*sigh*

Awwww honestly hun I felt exactly like you did at your stage of the application, the worst thing you can do is compare yourself to others it will only bring you down. I have 4a*s only, fairly run-of-the-mill extra curriculars, and absolutley no sports interest whatsoever (except gym, but i'm not even sure if i included that), and i ended up with 3 offers. The most important things are, your work experience and voluntary work, the interview, and, of course, belief in yourself!
From my experience anyway PM me if you want advice

[Faith01]

(Original post by nexttime)
All pretty minor stuff! Although GCSEs are important, i wouldn't start worrying just yet!

(Original post by buck-your-waas)
Awwww honestly hun I felt exactly like you did at your stage of the application, the worst thing you can do is compare yourself to others it will only bring you down. I have 4a*s only, fairly run-of-the-mill extra curriculars, and absolutley no sports interest whatsoever (except gym, but i'm not even sure if i included that), and i ended up with 3 offers. The most important things are, your work experience and voluntary work, the interview, and, of course, belief in yourself!
From my experience anyway PM me if you want advice

Thank you, feel loads better now.

[Alex D]

(Original post by Faith01)
I feel depressed after looking at this, I am still awaiting my GCSE results and I can guarantee you it won't be as good as the average poster on here e.g 7 A*s. I also don't play any instruments like most of you do, my extra curricular will probably blank. (No D of E) Don't contribute to any sports, because I am not a sporty type of person.
*sigh*

Don't believe what everyone posts on here

[Iscariot]

(Original post by Alex D)
Don't believe what everyone posts on here

Don't believe what anyone posts on here. Therefore ignore the next bit...

If you're thorough in your preparation for every step of the process you should probably get into some medical school unless you turn out a real weirdo on interview day.

[Alex D]

(Original post by Iscariot)
Don't believe what anyone posts on here. Therefore ignore the next bit...

If you're thorough in your preparation for every step of the process you should probably get into some medical school unless you turn out a real weirdo on interview day.

Big difference between not believing what everyone says and not believing what anyone says But that is some top advice

[alexis 123]

Originally Posted by Faith01
I feel depressed after looking at this, I am still awaiting my GCSE results and I can guarantee you it won't be as good as the average poster on here e.g 7 A*s. I also don't play any instruments like most of you do, my extra curricular will probably blank. (No D of E) Don't contribute to any sports, because I am not a sporty type of person.
*sigh*

I certainly don't have 7 A*'s, in fact i only have a single one (I can almost here all of you *gasp*..ghastly) lucky i have 4 A's at unit 1 AS-level (chemistry/biology/psychology/maths)...

in conclusion... don't be disellusioned that A*'s are a must... ( maybe my argument would be more valid if i make it to medicine) =p

[DR_X]

I was wondering if it was a good idea to put my family tragedy as a motivator for me doing medicine.

[Toiletpaper8]

Minor point, but the first line of the first post on the thread is grammatically incorrect. I am being pedantic, I know.

[Toiletpaper8]

(Original post by DR_X)
I was wondering if it was a good idea to put my family tragedy as a motivator for me doing medicine.

IMO, no, it's a terrible idea.

[DR_X]

(Original post by Toiletpaper8)
IMO, no, it's a terrible idea.

may I ask why......