This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Medicine 2012...(hopeful entrants) !!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 3140

Normandy114

Original post by Nator

Sounds awesome :biggrin:

I remember how when I was doing my work exp. at a hospital at the lunch break all the doctors went to the doctors mess, which is a room where they just chill and have a break, and I went too and they had like a flat screen TV, table tennis tables, snooker tables etc. Was a pretty kool place :smile:

Haha really? The break room I was in for part of my work experience was just a big-ish room, with old chairs, notice boards, and a small kitchen :rolleyes:

Reply 3141

Nator

Original post by Normandy114

Haha really? The break room I was in for part of my work experience was just a big-ish room, with old chairs, notice boards, and a small kitchen :rolleyes:

Really no joke :biggrin:

Ahhh so I guess it's not an every hospital thing which answers "sixthformer"'s question :tongue:

Reply 3142

giraffegiraffe

Original post by oHellno

I am getting genuinely confused about where to apply.

At first I was thinking of London unis, just because it's quite practical, all good, but now thinking of others. I just feel like I'm being a bit random with my choices, I know you're supposed to apply smart, but I don't know how to properly cross any off, the only reason I'm ruling any places out at the moment is because I don't want to go to a particular city.

I feel like I can't properly decide until I've done the UKCAT :erm:

don't knowwww.

Im sort of in the same position as you and feeling very confused about which ones to think of putting down and why.
What i have done so far is made a list of all the unis that do medicine and then crossed off the more PBL ones as I dont think I'd do very well with pbl.
Looking at uni websites and prospectuses which show you the way the course is run is quite helpful, and you can see what you do in each year in each uni.
Course content is probably going to be a big factor in shortlisting unis- though as toosexy... said, medicine is medicine and you will come out with the same degree no matter which uni you go to:-)

having said that.... maybe The most important thing (as well as the 'feel' of the place and city) is to apply smart, (also as toosexy... has said) where you have more chance of getting in already, cant stress how many people have told me this.
eg. if you have good gcses - birmingham. ucl like a contrasting subject eg. a modern language as AS/A2. st georges are pretty work-experience heavy i've heard. cambridge look mainly pretty much only at academics in particular individual module scores so people who get in the 90s for their modules defintiely in the running. and steer clear of the ones which like their applicants to have something which you might not (eg. my work experience doesnt amount to all that much so st georges i have crossed off)

also- Probably would be a wise choice to put one uni down which doesnt ask for any entrance test? eg. birmingham, bristol, just incase it doesnt go as planned. (i'm thinking birmingham as a definite option because its fairly close to where i live plus they look at gcse results quite a bit ) I am less confident on ukcat/bmat so also thinking of crossing off ones which have a definitive very high ukcat cut-off. (toosexy... put a really useful link up here somewhere which outlines how each uni view/use the ukcat scores... (cheers toosexy:-)))

i think once you've got the shortened shortlist and you start going to open days etc you'll have more of an idea of which ones appeal to you - and which ones you think you will have a good shot at because of what you already have!

i guess a lot of people have a dream of going to oxford, cambridge because they love the feel of the place, the tutorial system appeals, the collegiate system appeals and they have great academics - so that is one choice for them settled.

hope this helped!? this is what i have heard from a lot of people which has helped my confusedness on this too.

just a quick question ..... where are people thinking of applying to and why those ones? anyone thinking of applying abroad? (how would you go about it? i was thinking of it as an option- but now thinking it may be better to go abroad for the postgraduate... but not really sure so anyone who has been in this same boat?) oh also- what exactly is an elective (how is it different from intercalation?) cheers

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3143

sixthformer

Original post by Nator

Really no joke :biggrin:

Ahhh so I guess it's not an every hospital thing which answers "sixthformer"'s question :tongue:

lol

aww

Reply 3144

Nator

Original post by sixthformer

lol

aww

Reply 3145

AishaTara

for the BMAT test, if you apply before Oct 15th and the exam is in Nov and you don't do as well, that would be an option wasted. You can't sit the BMAT test or UKCAT then decide where to apply?

Reply 3146

Normandy114

Original post by AishaTara

for the BMAT test, if you apply before Oct 15th and the exam is in Nov and you don't do as well, that would be an option wasted. You can't sit the BMAT test or UKCAT then decide where to apply?

You can sit the UKCAT test from the 5th July (i think) and you get the results straight after the test. With BMAT you do take the risk of applying before you know how it even went or what result you got.

Reply 3147

AishaTara

Original post by Normandy114

thank you

Reply 3148

conorcd

Original post by Dominic1994

Wow! thats fantastic! well done! :biggrin:

why didnt you have to declare your AS levels? :s-smilie:

Your UKCAT is amazing too :L yeah, i plan to run for head boy in upper 6th, would that sufffice? :biggrin:

cheers!

being head boy is great but if you don't get it, any positions of responsibility/organisation will help-prefect, form captain, head of charity club, mentor, helping run clubs etc-
this is the first year everone has to put their AS results (if schools don't hey can get fined). up until last year schools decided themselves and luckily for me, mine didn't certify them until en of year 13. my next brother is doing his AS exams now and has complained it was easier for me too!

Reply 3149

conorcd

Original post by sixthformer

thank you

any advise

what did you have to do, when did you have to do it, ect

thanks!

what other places did you do experience?

I still volunteer in the hospice and do St Johns duties now and the care home I volunteered in offered me a job so I work there part-time. I also helped at my local beaver scouts and in the refugee centre. Had VERY LIMITED shadowing exp-1 session shadowing a gp and a week filing at gp practise in Year 10-but I wrote about it well in my pers statement and linked it to books I'd read. No-one ever asked me about it but they all asked about the hospice and care home.
my local uni-newc- do free lectures so I went to any about medicine and paid £30 to go to th emini-medical school at the local life centre-well worth checking if local unis or colleges or museums do anything like that as the lectures were really good and gave me extra stuff for pers statement (I could use some good medical terms and it showed a genuine interst in medicine)
I also got to watch an embalming as I was a bit obsessed by egyptology and I begged every funeral home til one agreed. Thats come up in a few interviews too (probably bcause they thought I'd made it up?)
at school mainly normal stuff-inter-house debates, form captain, helping at clubs, rugby team.
it's not what you've done but how well you write about it

Reply 3150

ChemistryProNOT

Probably not the right thread but just thought I'd do a profile using the templates I have seen on here - not done UKCAT so this is omitted. Just advice on whether more needs to be done?

Year of Entry: 2012
Deferred?: No
GCSEs: 8A* 2A
AS Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, History and Maths (Hopefully A's in all but who knows?)
Work Experience/Volunteering: 3 hours for 6 months in local hospital - meeting and greeting patients and relatives, helping out in surgery, taking letters and things to different departments.
2 weeks in local health centre (starting in August, all organised) - Will be working on reception, shadowing GP, helping out with other clerical duties.
Extra Curricular: Football Referee (Quite a high level, referee at LFC and EFC academies upto the ages of 16/17)
Play tennis in local league, games held every week.
Member of gym and go four times a week.
Enjoy writing articles and projects - currently doing one on cross dominance between eye and hand.

Reply 3151

Normandy114

Original post by ChemistryProNOT

Probably not the right thread but just thought I'd do a profile using the templates I have seen on here - not done UKCAT so this is omitted. Just advice on whether more needs to be done?
-snip-

Nice, wish my GCSEs were that good :moon:

Reply 3152

ChemistryProNOT

Original post by Normandy114

Nice, wish my GCSEs were that good :moon:

Lol cheers, I'm sure yours were fine. Think I just got lucky, I also got an E in citizenship but that's a secret :wink:

Reply 3153

conorcd

Original post by ChemistryProNOT

Lol cheers, I'm sure yours were fine. Think I just got lucky, I also got an E in citizenship but that's a secret :wink:

your gcses would be great for places like Kings,Birm, cardiff. have a look at the charts on tsr that list requirements for each uni. and excellent shadowing-plus interaction with patients so well done.
on their website Leeds have a list of different criteria they use and it's relevant for most unis-stuff about positions of responsibility, community involvement. you probably cover most areas but worth looking at. a lot of your stuff seems individual
(Though great for leadership, organisation, showing you have an outlet for stress). have you examples of teamwork (school teams, teambuilding stuff like StJohns or scouts, school committees).
having stuff you do through school also helps them write a cracking reference about your communication skills, positive attitude etc-I forced myself to do debating and also enjoyed mentoring /helping at clubs).
what you have is really good I'm just trying to think of anything else you can get points for (eg reading medical books you'd enjoy or going to any medical lectures in local unis or museums).

Reply 3154

sixthformer

Original post by conorcd

could you find me any links or websites for opportunities like that?

Reply 3155

AishaTara

Hey everyone! Just wondering who is going to open days and which ones?
also, to those who already been, how were they? did you find them useful?
I don't know where I'm applying yet and I dont think i'll be able to go all over UK to go to them all, so what should I do?

Reply 3156

conorcd

Original post by sixthformer

could you find me any links or websites for opportunities like that?

where do you live? also-are you Iranian. my family are half-Iranian and your picture of the Iranian president stands out. don't worry-I'll help either way.

Reply 3157

conorcd

Original post by AishaTara

some schools have a fund to help with travel costs to stuff like that but I used my share to go to a medical day at Imperial college. I only ever went to the Newcastle open day which was interesting but didn't really tell us anything more than the website. I know people say go to lots of them but its too expensive if your school can't help. most unis either do tours on the interview day or have post-offer days. try going in the forums for each uni you are really interested in and asking if anyone is going on the open day so they can tell you about it.or pick your top 3 and go there.
I went to events like Purepotential days at my local uni (there's a website and the events are free)-they did sessions about pers statements/interviews and had representatives from the GMC but the actual open day only had a 1 hour talk about medicine and then a general tour.
also there are ucas events all over the country (look on ucas site) where representatives from every uni are there to ask q and they do talks about pers state etc-or you can download the talks onb the ucas site..

Reply 3158

AishaTara

Original post by conorcd

Thank you for all this. It's not that I can't pay for it or anything. It's just the fact most of them are so far and the time and then if it wasn't worth it etc. I think I'll read the websites and prospectus inside out and then choose afew to go to :wink:

thanks again

Reply 3159

sixthformer

Original post by conorcd

where do you live? also-are you Iranian. my family are half-Iranian and your picture of the Iranian president stands out. don't worry-I'll help either way.