A Rookies Guide To Getting Into Medical School

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Intro

I'm no expert at this whole process, I'm not an admissions tutor.But having just gained a place at medical school, I know something about it,and my advice is here for you to take or leave. This is aimed mostly at Year 12's who are looking to apply in the next academic year,but there may be some useful bits for others too.

Teachers Advice

Take with a pinch of salt. I was told that unless I got over 85% in every module I’d never get in med school. And that basically if my work exp was anything less than single handedly saving the life of a car crash victim in A&E then it wasn’t good enough. Don’t panic, remember people who know it already don’t need med school do they ;) A Slight Exaggeration here i think, however the sentiment's are correct, don't be put off by what your teachers say. Getting into medicine is the most difficult of any degree but it is not impossible and if its what you want to go into then don't let anything hold you back.

Work Experience

For goodness sake start early! At a hospital near me there was an 18 month waiting list! Hospital experience is important, but not the be all and end all. Try general hospitals and small units as they are likely to be more accommodating. You NEED ‘caring’ experience, and if that means listening to old Doris in the local care home warbling about the good old days, then so be it. I worked with special needs children, and in my interviews I spoke more about that than my hospital experience. In general variety is the spice of life. There is no ‘right’ amount of work exp, if you’ve enough to speak eloquently about it for 5-10 minutes then you’re good to go.

UKCAT and BMAT

With the UKCAT you have the golden opportunity to do it before you apply. Use it. That way not only is it £30 cheaper, but you don’t make the mistake of applying to 3 UKCAT worshipping unis then getting a low score. You can prepare for the UKCAT through regularly doing a bit of practice. However don’t pay for any courses, such a waste of time. There's a load of practice papers floating about everywhere. On the contrary, BMAT requires an awful lot of work to succeed. For this reason, if your first choice is a BMAT you should do the UKCAT as well. However, if your first choice is a UKCAT then you won’t be motivated to do the BMAT-don’t do it.

Extra curricular

If you’re grade 8 piano, then well done you, by all means bring it up in your PS, saying why that makes you a better candidate. But heed this: practically everyone does D of E/ plays an instrument/ sport. Its not special unless you can say how it impacted on you as a person.

More to follow, but I have a Chemistry lesson to go to!

Brief Description of the Application Cycle

Although before the 15th of October you think that once the 15th comes and your application is well and truly gone then you will be able to forget all about it. This WONT happen, unfortunately :(. You will spend every free moment thinking about medicine, when your not partying, at school/college or asleep at least. Once submitted it is best not to have high expectations that way the disappointment of your first rejection will be less damaging to your confidence. You will be rejected by at least one of your medical schools without interview, or after interview. Unless you are the top 1% of all applications, and that's about 20 people in the country. First interviews are held mid-end November and December, January will be a blank unless your not in education. And February, March and April will hold the last interviews.