Medicine 2014 Applicants

Reply 1183

hivelary

Original post by LibbyG

A is 80% UMS
B is 70% UMS etc

A* is an average of 90% UMS across the A2 modules as well as over 80% UMS overall :smile:

Except for maths, which is 90% average over C3 and C4 :smile:

Thats all for the UK :smile:

Original post by TattyBoJangles

A* = 90% in the A2 year
A = 80%
B = 70%

etc.

(That's for A-Levels, no idea about Scottish Highers)

Thank you!

Reply 1184

Ive just been rejected by all 4 of my choices pre interview. I honestly have no idea whether i should take another shot or do something else through clearing. Medicine has always been my goal in life and it feels like its been destroyed :'(

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Reply 1185

Affliction

Original post by ~Zahra~

Ive just been rejected by all 4 of my choices pre interview. I honestly have no idea whether i should take another shot or do something else through clearing. Medicine has always been my goal in life and it feels like its been destroyed :'(

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Sorry to hear. Is this your first time applying? What were your stats and where did you apply?

Reply 1186

Original post by Affliction

Sorry to hear. Is this your first time applying? What were your stats and where did you apply?

Hi
Yep its my first time :/ my stats arent too great:
AAAB at AS A*A*A predicted
GCSE 6As 1A* 3Bs
Ukcat 710 av.
BMAT 3.7 4.9 3A
Applied to queen mary, kings college, UCL, St georges
I think my stats are pretty low so im not sure if its worth me taking another shot, most people dont even get in after a gap year :frown:

Reply 1187

Cephalosporin

8

Original post by ~Zahra~

Hi
Yep its my first time :/ my stats arent too great:
AAAB at AS A*A*A predicted
GCSE 6As 1A* 3Bs
Ukcat 710 av.
BMAT 3.7 4.9 3A
Applied to queen mary, kings college, UCL, St georges
I think my stats are pretty low so im not sure if its worth me taking another shot, most people dont even get in after a gap year :frown:

Hey

I am a graduate applicant and I just saw your post so decided to comment because I wish someone said these things to me when I failed to get in to medicine three years ago.

If medicine is something that you really really really want to do, I'd highly recommend taking a gap year and reapply. Your academics are decent although, your UKCAT and BMAT are both on the low side. That gives plenty of room for improvement because you can study for both tests, especially the UKCAT (don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise) and get better scores. I did something really stupid two years ago when I applied in my final year of high school. Basically, I wrote a personal statement talking about how I wanted to study medicine OR biomedical sciences and ended up applying to 2 medicine courses and 3 biomedical sciences courses. Applying to graduate entry is tough and I'm not only talking about GEP. Maybe this is entirely subjective but I am fairly certain the kind of questions I got asked at my Barts interview were uncharacteristically technical and difficult, even though I was in competition with school leavers.

During your gap year, you can try getting some work experience as a HCA which will give you first hand experience working on the wards. I hope you'll consider reapplying!! Have a look at the reapplicant's thread to see if you can get some advice!!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1188

Original post by Cephalosporin

Hey

I am a graduate applicant and I just saw your post so decided to comment because I wish someone said these things to me when I failed to get in to medicine three years ago.

If medicine is something that you really really really want to do, I'd highly recommend taking a gap year and reapply. Your academics are decent although, your UKCAT and BMAT are both on the low side. That gives plenty of room for improvement because you can study for both tests, especially the UKCAT (don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise) and get better scores. I did something really stupid two years ago when I applied in my final year of high school. Basically, I wrote a personal statement talking about how I wanted to study medicine OR biomedical sciences and ended up applying to 2 medicine courses and 3 biomedical sciences courses. Applying to graduate entry is tough and I'm not only talking about GEP. Maybe this is entirely subjective but I am fairly certain the kind of questions I got asked at my Barts interview were uncharacteristically technical and difficult, even though I was in competition with school leavers.

During your gap year, you can try getting some work experience as a HCA which will give you first hand experience working on the wards. I hope you'll consider reapplying!! Have a look at the reapplicant's thread to see if you can get some advice!!

Hi
kings and st georges rejected me because of my Ukcat and ucl because of my bmat (queen mary didnt specify) i totally agree with you seeing as it seems to be the best thing to improve my application. Thanks for the advice :smile:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1189

Affliction

Original post by ~Zahra~

Hi
Yep its my first time :/ my stats arent too great:
AAAB at AS A*A*A predicted
GCSE 6As 1A* 3Bs
Ukcat 710 av.
BMAT 3.7 4.9 3A
Applied to queen mary, kings college, UCL, St georges
I think my stats are pretty low so im not sure if its worth me taking another shot, most people dont even get in after a gap year :frown:

Okay I'm sorry if I'm going to be blunt, I don't mean any offence, just trying to help you out :smile:

Firstly you chose the wrong unis.

Kings look favourably upon those with plenty of A*s at GCSE and a high UKCAT score. Whilst you've done well in the UKCAT and your GCSEs are decent, they don't compete with those who get interviews from kings.

Queen Mary's strongly give preference to those with a high UCAS tariff, since you only took 3 A2 levels, again you're putting yourself at a massive disadvantage because most interviewees will be offering 4 A2 levels which significantly boosts their tariff.

UCL was risky since you take the BMAT post application and so you never know what the outcome will be.

St George's I have to admit was plain unlucky.

I would strongly advise reapplying if medicine is something you really want to do. I disagree with 'im not sure if its worth me taking another shot, most people dont even get in after a gap year' if you don't believe me look at the reapplicants thread, loads of us have at least one offer.

One thing you have to do next year is put 'prestige' aside if you really want a good chance of getting in. Unfortunately because of your GCSEs you'll have a hard time applying to unis like BHAM, King's, Cardiff, Lpool etc... Focus on getting the 3A grades this year, that takes precedence.

Over the summer nail your UKCAT so you give yourself a good shot at applying to unis like Newcastle, Durham, Aberdeen, HYMS and Manchester (there are more, just listing them off the top of my head) since they don't really focus that strongly on grades achieved at GCSE.

If you get the 3A grades and a good UKCAT, you're well within a shot of getting 4 interviews next year. It all comes down to doing your homework so you can apply smartly. I rang almost all the medical schools to ascertain their admissions criteria as often times they aren't very transparent on their websites, or sometimes they maybe outdated.

Find the medical schools which match your stats the best and next year will be completely different to this. Take it from me, I got one interview and 4 rejections last year. This year I got 4 interviews, I have an offer and I'm waiting for the other 3 to get back to me, there are many more who have achieved the same outcome through reapplying. Trust me, it really is worth it! :smile:

I wish you and anybody else in your situation all the best and hopefully this advice came in useful.

Reply 1190

itsmagic

10

Original post by ~Zahra~

Ive just been rejected by all 4 of my choices pre interview. I honestly have no idea whether i should take another shot or do something else through clearing. Medicine has always been my goal in life and it feels like its been destroyed :'(

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi,
Really sorry to hear about those :frown:

As a reapplicant, I definitely agree with what Affliction has said! If you really want to do medicine, give reapplying a shot :biggrin:

it was the best decision I ever made and I seriously didn't think I'd get an offer this year!
Best of luck :smile:

Reply 1191

username1155925

14

Original post by ~Zahra~

Hi
Yep its my first time :/ my stats arent too great:
AAAB at AS A*A*A predicted
GCSE 6As 1A* 3Bs
Ukcat 710 av.
BMAT 3.7 4.9 3A
Applied to queen mary, kings college, UCL, St georges
I think my stats are pretty low so im not sure if its worth me taking another shot, most people dont even get in after a gap year :frown:

Basically, what Affliction said. Reapply, and choose your unis more wisely. Don't go for somewhere like Kings where they want high GCSEs, just look at each uni's requirements very carefully and go for the ones you have a good shot at. When you do the ukcat again, you'll have more experience, so will probably score higher. If you practise more and get a really high score, say, over 760, you can apply to places like Newcastle and HYMS. It's all about tactics!

Good luck and don't lose hope :smile:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1192

Thankyou for all the advice i really appreciate the support :smile:

Reply 1193

Mutleybm1996

19

Does anyone have any advice on applying for work experience??

Reply 1194

prideauxa

Anyone else firmed Cardiff?

Reply 1195

HaQ_mAn_

14

To people that have been rejected from all their choices, make sure you get your grades, improve your application and try again!!!!!

I was there last year, And now I've got offers from Plymouth and Manchester and haven't even heard back from Nottingham yet. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR GRADES AND DON'T GIVE UP !!!!

Reply 1196

Angelica.

Original post by prideauxa

Anyone else firmed Cardiff?

yesss!!

Reply 1197

prideauxa

Original post by Angelica.

yesss!!

Exciting!! Have you heard anything about the tour?

Reply 1198

med.x

Original post by itsmagic

Hi,
Really sorry to hear about those :frown:

As a reapplicant, I definitely agree with what Affliction has said! If you really want to do medicine, give reapplying a shot :biggrin:

it was the best decision I ever made and I seriously didn't think I'd get an offer this year!
Best of luck :smile: