St. Andrews Medicine Applicants 2011 :D

Original post by KCosmo

No, you can't skip your higher year (fifth year). The entry requirements for school leavers are based on the grades obtained in fifth year. You can skip 6th year, where most people do some advanced highers, but that's only really an option if you've already done chemistry and biology. It's also safer to do sixth year, your predicted grades count towards your academic score. Would be cool if you didn't need to do 6th year at all though, I could have worked for a year to pay for some of the accommodation costs.

I wonder if I would have been able to just do biology at a local college and work part time, instead of doing 6th year at school where you absolutely have to do 3 subjects (can't abide by advanced chemistry, got the prelim tommorow :tongue:

)

we get made to do at least 4 at our school D:
and this year they're being really strict and not letting anyone drop anything

(which sucks because i really regret taking adv physics :frown:

)

Reply 742

Original post by atomos

we get made to do at least 4 at our school D:
and this year they're being really strict and not letting anyone drop anything

(which sucks because i really regret taking adv physics :frown:

)

haha they do that for most people in my school too, I only got away with doing three cos I do musical instrument exams outside of school which count for ucas points, and told them that the uni's only want 3 actual subjects :tongue:

I'm not doing Adv physics, but from what I've heard it's killer! :tongue:

Reply 743

Original post by KCosmo

I'm not doing Adv physics, but from what I've heard it's killer! :tongue:

its more than just killer!
i just sit there in class spacing the whole time because i actually do not understand what any of it means :')
prelim on tuesday should be fun...

Reply 744

Original post by atomos

its more than just killer!
i just sit there in class spacing the whole time because i actually do not understand what any of it means :')
prelim on tuesday should be fun...

I know how you feel, I've got my Adv Chemistry prelim tommorow :tongue:

As you can see, I'm using my study time wisely!

Reply 745

Original post by Fusilero

Don't worry, I sound patronising to everyone, I can't help it. It's in my genes :hugs:

. Not to mention, last year, I assumed that unconditionals were given to exceptional people rather than being a thing all people with grades got :colondollar:

I was reading a personal statement on TSR last year and I was all :adore:

when I noticed someone got an unconditonal :tongue:

But yes, it seems you're right. St Andrews only asks for Highers -

Why do people even bother doing highers then? :confused:

The entire Scottish secondary system confuses me. :pierre:

Ahh ok, I forgive you then hahaa
I have to say your Scottish highers sound better than the alevel system and you get free education ... you have it so much better. Considering I'm 1/3 Scottish I think I should only have to pay 2/3 of the tuition fees :smile:

Reply 746

Original post by KCosmo

I'm not doing Adv physics, but from what I've heard it's killer! :tongue:

Well good luck to you with the physics!!! Though for some reason I wish I did it though lol
Though it can't be too bad doing it if it isn't part of you offer, I would probs do maths as well in that case lol

Reply 747

Original post by KCosmo

I know how you feel, I've got my Adv Chemistry prelim tommorow :tongue:

As you can see, I'm using my study time wisely!

as am i using my time wisely..not :tongue:

and good luck, hopefully you'll do better than what i did in my chem prelim :')

Reply 748

Original post by atomos

as am i using my time wisely..not :tongue:

and good luck, hopefully you'll do better than what i did in my chem prelim :')

cheers, good luck to you too! :smile:

Reply 749

Original post by ryan118244

It's atomos that's doing physics :tongue:

thanks though :biggrin:

I know what you mean about physics, I didn't pick it and kind of wish I had now :tongue:

although it is a ton of work I think!

Reply 750

Original post by KCosmo

It's atomos that's doing physics :tongue:

thanks though :biggrin:

I know what you mean about physics, I didn't pick it and kind of wish I had now :tongue:

although it is a ton of work I think!

Oh sorry lol, i was on my iPhone, i blame that hhaa

Reply 751

I just realised that St Andrews is the only medical school that doesnt do an intercalated degree where you get to choose one!!!

Reply 752

Eddie91

Original post by ukcathater

Do you want to study in Scotland over England? Do you want to stay here and work after you qualify? furthermore I didn't suggest scots apply to England ang get preferential treatment (but ryan has said that what should happen with English applicants to Scotland) As they can afford to pay!

Whether the uni is in Scotland or England is irrelevant, I picked which unis I thought suited me best and last year included my local med school and Peninsula which is over 300 miles away from me, location doesn't bother me. Even if I could give an answer to your 2nd question it would be irrelevant, I could easily say I would work for the Scottish NHS and then go back to England.

My opinion is that no applicant should be given preferential treatment just because of where they live. I agree on the concept of foundation courses in medicine for poorer people as my friend is on one atm. (I do actually live in a ****hole... well next to it anyway). Your preconception that people in Scotland are poorer than the English seems to be based on something other than fact, as a quick look on wikipedia shows that the GDP per head for Scotland is slightly higher than that for England. Also neither did 'I' say English should be given an advantage over Scots when applying to English unis.

Original post by ukcathater

Look he only asked a a question about the st Andrews cut off . You could have been a little more sympatheric to his question.He is a popular mebmer of the forum an he actually did try to find out himself but they didn't give him an answer as far as I know

Fair enough, I didn't realise he had been rejected. But my point that I failed to show was that any information on an applicants chances for a specific med school which are objective (UKCAT cut-off, BMAT, A-level reqs etc.) should be inferred from the website rather than as word-of-mouth 'fact' (on TSR). As it is usually misleading, I could easily say the UKCAT cut-off for St. Andrews is 640, and would cause panic for people with scores below this and create a false sense of security for people with scores above it. The 2nd point is that there is no point asking what the cut-off is once you have applied, because you can't substitute your choices once submitted so knowing it is next to useless. Of course it is useful to know this sort of info if you decide to reapply, but as far as I knew he was still in the running for St. Andrews so should have been concentrating on working hard at Adv. Highers and preparing for interviews at other unis etc., rather than worrying about factors he cannot change.

Reply 753

Eddie91

Original post by garlicbreadman

No, I have received a rejection and they havent replied 2 my email I sent them a week ago regarding the cutoff :angry:

Oi, back off, I don't see what your problem is. I may not have shared anything which u couldnt find out for yourself but forums are for discussion, sharing your thoughts and information! Forum=a public meeting or assembly for open discussion
And how am I being overly-pessimistic? Not everyone can remain as calm as you! At least I'm not "dying"

See above post ^^^.

Being pooled is substantially worse than rejected normally as you go through the process 3 times with the new open offer. When I said 'dying' I didn't exactly mean it in a literal sense, it's called having a sense of humour... maybe you should read up on it.

Reply 754

Fusilero

Original post by ryan118244

I just realised that St Andrews is the only medical school that doesnt do an intercalated degree where you get to choose one!!!

Well, you get a BSc(hons) in Medical Science.

But if you don't like that I know that if you go to Manchester you can choose to do an iBSc or even iMSc after the 3rd or 4th year as well - since we enter in the 3rd year we may be able to do intercalation.

However I'm not too sure about the Scottish options, Edinburgh does it after the 2nd year and before the 3rd but St Andrews student would enter in the 3rd year so you might be skipping it there. Glasgow does after the 3rd year and we enter in the 3rd year so you might be able to do one there. You enter Dundee at the 4th year so I think you skip the chance for an iBSc there. Aberdeen you enter in the 3rd year and you do your iBSc between 4th and 5th so you have a chance there.

Yes, this does mean if you go to Dundee you get a 5 year course with a BSc (hons) - no, I have never figured out why they do that. :cool:

I must add that these options for doing an iBSc might be artificially blocked off to St Andrews applicants as they already have a BSc, I don't know. All I'm mentioning is the time you enter the partner medical schools and the time those partner medical schools normally do their iBSc. We should be able to do an iMSc at Manchester though, but even that may be a closed path.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 755

i had a dream last night about my interview, i was running late then kept becoming later because i couldnt find my clothes or anything i needed to bring and i hadn't looked over my ps and didnt know anything about the nhs.... it was horrible :P

Reply 756

Original post by Fusilero

Yes, this does mean if you go to Dundee you get a 5 year course with a BSc (hons) - no, I have never figured out why they do that. :cool:

Cool, I thought it was was 6 years wherever you go. If I get in though I'll probably still head back to Glasgow after the 3 years, the med school here is about a 20 min bike ride or 40 min bus (the bus takes a really weird winding route) from my house :biggrin:

If only there was no UKCAT :P I'm hoping for St Andrew's now since glasgow and dundee gave me the chop.

Just out of interest, do you think it would be possible to do 3 years at St Andrew's but apply to an american medical school? Medicine's a postgraduate course over there, but I suppose a bachelors in medical science would be quite an appropriate degree? :tongue:

Just a thought, I'll probably just go back to glasgow as I said! :tongue:

Reply 757

dafloodman

Just got an offer and I was only interviewed last week! Such a relief after being forced onto a gap year :biggrin:

good luck to everyone who's waiting!

Reply 758

Original post by dafloodman

Just got an offer and I was only interviewed last week! Such a relief after being forced onto a gap year :biggrin:

good luck to everyone who's waiting!

Nice one! Can I ask what your grades/UKCAT/work experience was like? I had an interview on the 25th but still no word :tongue:

Reply 759