Medicine 2012...(hopeful entrants) !!

Yeah, my application changed quite a lot. I came to realise that my main problem first time around was too much emphasis on the academic side of medicine in my personal statement. I think that prevented me from getting interviews at Keele and Nottingham last year. To improve that this year, I vastly increased focus on the doctor-patient relationship and seeming like I want to do medicine so that I can basically help people and because I appreciate the rewards of it. My personal statement is, in my opinion, about ten times better mostly due to restructuring and better choice of content. Obviously, I added gap year plans too, including more work experience, a second job in teaching, fundraising and extra AS levels.

Given that, I still think having obtained the grades does make a profound difference to your application because almost every applicant has the grades required and many have much better than the grades required in their predictions, which not all of them meet. Basically, having the grades already means there's no doubt in them that I have the ability and the study skills.

Similarly, simply being a reapplicant is a great factor, because they can be confident that you do really want to do medicine; you didn't just go for the fifth choice because you wanted to go to university or because it would be inconvenient to try again in three years' time, especially given that grad. entry is even more competitive. You've shown a huge dedication by giving an extra year of your life to getting that place - perhaps even more so for 2012 reapplicants as they still want to pursue medicine despite the tuition fee rises.

My UKCAT went up from 635 average to 682.5 average this year, mainly due to putting more time into it as last year I had summer schools and work over the summer etc. holding me back. My best hint is do every last mock UKCAT you can find (I used three books, the Pearson VUE official tests and two Kaplan tests given to me by a friend who attended the course as well as various internet resources).

The only place I have applied to again is Nottingham University, because I really love the course there mainly (two degrees at once - I would intercalate wherever I go, I think, but Nottingham saves time). My other three choices of 2011 entry: Cambridge, Birmingham and Keele, are not in my application this year. This is basically because I decided to play more closely to my strengths. There isn't really an order of preference this year, because I really just want to get into medicine after last year's catastrophe.

Any more questions?

Which is your first choice uni?

i have 5 lessons of 1 hour each week, so i guess your lessons are more crammed in?

edit: for each subject obv.

I have a total of ten subjects. We have cumpulsory subjects, which are English, Dutch, Maths and PE. For Maths we have A (which is sort of the easy maths) and B (a lot harder, the one I take lol), we also have C, which is for the people who are pretty bad at maths and who won't need it in their further studies anyway and we have maths D, which is very very advanced and which you require if you want to go to the Technical Uni's here in Holland.

In addition to that, I take Latin, Greek, French, English A2, Chemistry, Biology, Physics

But all students are also required to take General Sciences, Social Studies and either Classical Cultural Forming (if you take Latin/Greek) or Cultural Arts Forming. These subjects are only taken in one year and examined in the same year.

Most students in Holland, who do VWO (so the highest level of secondary education) have about 7/8 subjects.

i have yet to find an advent calendar

How come? Loads of shops have them? Get one halfway through advent so you can have 2 chocs a day!

no shops near me seem to stock them - i went to the big sainsburies in town and they dont have any, and none of the newsagents near me have any either

Sainsburies dont have them?! What's wrong with them?

I know that Thorntons and Wilkinsons have them, if that helps. And Poundland but I'm not sure how good they'd taste.

Ten subjects! I can't even imagine that. And all those languages, I would get so so confused

So how much depth do you go into with your subjects? Like, what topics do you do in Bio and Chem? I just can't even imagine it being possible having to balance ten subjects with the same depth as A Level

Would you prefer the VWO system or A Levels?

no shops near me seem to stock them - i went to the big sainsburies in town and they dont have any, and none of the newsagents near me have any either

i know right??? i thought for sure they'd have them!!

i don't have a wlikinsons or a thorntons near me, so i may have to risk poundland

VWO is equivalent to A-levels, so pretty tough! Up-side is that the topics which we are taught in Chemistry usually come back in Biology with more depth and vice versa. Same thing really with Latin/Greek, the grammar is essentially the same, and therefore French is also relatively easy. Dutch is a bitch, but English is ok Maths is fine as well and Physics is pretty tough, but I manage!
I think I would prefer VWO-system, because I wouldn't be able to pick only 4 subjects :O During my school career I've already dropped Geography, History, German and Economics haha.

Yeah, the overlap must help. Bio and chem for us hardly ever overlap. In fact the different Biology topics in themselves barely overlap, it's so ridiclous. First quarter of A Level Bio was human biology, then we jumped to plants and fish, this topic is about ecology, and then we're going back to human biology. How does that make sense, syllabus-deciders?

I've heard that greek/latin grammar is a bitch, I can hardly deal with french... I still don't really know what the point of the subjunctive is

What's dutch like? Is it dutch literature or is it about grammar?

Did you never do art/music at school? Although to be honest, I hated both

Yeah, the overlap must help. Bio and chem for us hardly ever overlap. In fact the different Biology topics in themselves barely overlap, it's so ridiclous. First quarter of A Level Bio was human biology, then we jumped to plants and fish, this topic is about ecology, and then we're going back to human biology. How does that make sense, syllabus-deciders?

I've heard that greek/latin grammar is a bitch, I can hardly deal with french... I still don't really know what the point of the subjunctive is

What's dutch like? Is it dutch literature or is it about grammar?

Did you never do art/music at school? Although to be honest, I hated both

Sounds familiar! Must be AQA... I hated the unit you're currently doing! BLERGH.

Awww no, but advent calenders have to be special