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Medicine 2015 Entry Thread Mark II

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Original post by MollyMcFly1
Exeter (AAA)! They've been my favourite since I went to the open day last year. Then Keele will be my insurance as they'll accept either AAA or A*AB so I figured I'd kick myself if I came out with A*AB and hadn't insuranced Keele! But I feel really bad about declining UEA as I loved it there as well. Wish I could go to all of them to be honest! :colondollar:


congrats on your offers! I have 3 offers too and know exactly what you mean when you say you want to go to all of them!!! I'm so stuck choosing between them!


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Original post by blissfully
congrats on your offers! I have 3 offers too and know exactly what you mean when you say you want to go to all of them!!! I'm so stuck choosing between them!


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Where do you have offers? And what are your stats if you don't mind me asking?
Original post by JMJ_1996
Where do you have offers? And what are your stats if you don't mind me asking?


I have offers from SGUL, Leicester and UEA :smile: I'm on a gap year so after 4 pre-interview rejections I really didn't expect to get this far.

My stats are 6A*s, 5As, 2Bs for GCSE, A-Levels AAAAb and UKCAT 705
Original post by blissfully
I have offers from SGUL, Leicester and UEA :smile: I'm on a gap year so after 4 pre-interview rejections I really didn't expect to get this far.

My stats are 6A*s, 5As, 2Bs for GCSE, A-Levels AAAAb and UKCAT 705


Oh wow massive congrats seems like you definitely deserve it! Why do you think you got pre interview rejections last year?
Original post by blissfully
I have offers from SGUL, Leicester and UEA :smile: I'm on a gap year so after 4 pre-interview rejections I really didn't expect to get this far.

My stats are 6A*s, 5As, 2Bs for GCSE, A-Levels AAAAb and UKCAT 705


how did you improve your application in terms of ukcat, interview performance and other factors that led you to 3 offers! This is some real motivation for people like me haha. Thank you.
Original post by JMJ_1996
Oh wow massive congrats seems like you definitely deserve it! Why do you think you got pre interview rejections last year?


I don't think I was committed enough to do medicine as I changed my mind from biomed to medicine in august which gave me 2 months to get relevant work experience and my AS grades weren't the best (AAabbc - i completed 2 A-Level in year 12) and my ukcat was only 685 last year where the average was higher so!
Original post by blissfully
I don't think I was committed enough to do medicine as I changed my mind from biomed to medicine in august which gave me 2 months to get relevant work experience and my AS grades weren't the best (AAabbc - i completed 2 A-Level in year 12) and my ukcat was only 685 last year where the average was higher so!


Well seems like you're thankfully in a better position now! How did you manage to improve your UKCAT?
Congrats to everyone on offers, it's especially nice to see loads of gap year applicants with offers, just proves how far an extra year of preparation and experience can get you.


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Original post by Natalierm2707
Congrats to everyone on offers, it's especially nice to see loads of gap year applicants with offers, just proves how far an extra year of preparation and experience can get you.


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Yeah I totally agree! Very motivating
Original post by Paras Agarwal
how did you improve your application in terms of ukcat, interview performance and other factors that led you to 3 offers! This is some real motivation for people like me haha. Thank you.


I was about to quote you on the UEA thread to tell you not to give up on your application even with 3 rejections! I know it's much harder for internationals and I know it sucks seeing your friends go to uni while you're on a gap year but if you're committed enough to medicine then I think it's totally worth it!

Firstly I tried to gain more work experience/job as a HCA which didn't go down too well - I managed to get an interview for the job 3 months after the application and by then I had submitted my UCAS so i didn't really care and declined. The only work experience I got was volunteering once a week and tutoring - both not very clinical but it was something to talk about at an interview.

I also attended one of the ISC medical interview courses and bought the book. (which of course I only read half of) Due to my lazy nature I found the course really helpful and learnt quite a lot (probably most things I learnt are things pre-med students should already know like the Harold Shipman case and Mid-staff/Francis report - obviously they covered much more than that)

I also attended a UKCAT course - not really sure if it helped but my overall score increased from 3rd percentile to 1st percentile so i suppose it did.

I really didn't change much to my PS as I really couldn't be bothered and didn't think it was too bad so I just made sure all of my universities were ones which didn't use PS as an interview selection criteria. This brings me onto another point - apply to your strengths! Last year I applied to Nottingham because we had a school visit there, Leeds because it was russell group, Exeter - last minute swap out for southampton as i realised i didn't meet their criteria and Barts because it was cool and appeared in an episode of Sherlock... so yeah my choices were terribly thought through to say the least.

This year I applied to Leicester because I figured my preinterview score was high enough to guarantee an interview - same with QUB and St George's and then I couldn't find any other unis that did a scoring system that favoured me apart from Cardiff which was a tad risky (had a score of 25/27) and then someone suggested UEA and I was like sure why not, I'm guaranteed 3 interviews, that's good enough.

Anyway tl;dr don't give up!!!
Original post by JMJ_1996
Well seems like you're thankfully in a better position now! How did you manage to improve your UKCAT?


I attended a UKCAT course in London and also used medify - last year I really didn't do much for it!
Original post by blissfully
I was about to quote you on the UEA thread to tell you not to give up on your application even with 3 rejections! I know it's much harder for internationals and I know it sucks seeing your friends go to uni while you're on a gap year but if you're committed enough to medicine then I think it's totally worth it!

Firstly I tried to gain more work experience/job as a HCA which didn't go down too well - I managed to get an interview for the job 3 months after the application and by then I had submitted my UCAS so i didn't really care and declined. The only work experience I got was volunteering once a week and tutoring - both not very clinical but it was something to talk about at an interview.

I also attended one of the ISC medical interview courses and bought the book. (which of course I only read half of) Due to my lazy nature I found the course really helpful and learnt quite a lot (probably most things I learnt are things pre-med students should already know like the Harold Shipman case and Mid-staff/Francis report - obviously they covered much more than that)

I also attended a UKCAT course - not really sure if it helped but my overall score increased from 3rd percentile to 1st percentile so i suppose it did.

I really didn't change much to my PS as I really couldn't be bothered and didn't think it was too bad so I just made sure all of my universities were ones which didn't use PS as an interview selection criteria. This brings me onto another point - apply to your strengths! Last year I applied to Nottingham because we had a school visit there, Leeds because it was russell group, Exeter - last minute swap out for southampton as i realised i didn't meet their criteria and Barts because it was cool and appeared in an episode of Sherlock... so yeah my choices were terribly thought through to say the least.

This year I applied to Leicester because I figured my preinterview score was high enough to guarantee an interview - same with QUB and St George's and then I couldn't find any other unis that did a scoring system that favoured me apart from Cardiff which was a tad risky (had a score of 25/27) and then someone suggested UEA and I was like sure why not, I'm guaranteed 3 interviews, that's good enough.

Anyway tl;dr don't give up!!!


Thanks that's really helpful! Could I so what UKCAT course you went on as think I would do the same if I end up on a gap year?
Original post by blissfully
I attended a UKCAT course in London and also used medify - last year I really didn't do much for it!


Thank you!! Do you know which UKCAT course it was?
Original post by blissfully
I was about to quote you on the UEA thread to tell you not to give up on your application even with 3 rejections! I know it's much harder for internationals and I know it sucks seeing your friends go to uni while you're on a gap year but if you're committed enough to medicine then I think it's totally worth it!

Firstly I tried to gain more work experience/job as a HCA which didn't go down too well - I managed to get an interview for the job 3 months after the application and by then I had submitted my UCAS so i didn't really care and declined. The only work experience I got was volunteering once a week and tutoring - both not very clinical but it was something to talk about at an interview.

I also attended one of the ISC medical interview courses and bought the book. (which of course I only read half of) Due to my lazy nature I found the course really helpful and learnt quite a lot (probably most things I learnt are things pre-med students should already know like the Harold Shipman case and Mid-staff/Francis report - obviously they covered much more than that)

I also attended a UKCAT course - not really sure if it helped but my overall score increased from 3rd percentile to 1st percentile so i suppose it did.

I really didn't change much to my PS as I really couldn't be bothered and didn't think it was too bad so I just made sure all of my universities were ones which didn't use PS as an interview selection criteria. This brings me onto another point - apply to your strengths! Last year I applied to Nottingham because we had a school visit there, Leeds because it was russell group, Exeter - last minute swap out for southampton as i realised i didn't meet their criteria and Barts because it was cool and appeared in an episode of Sherlock... so yeah my choices were terribly thought through to say the least.

This year I applied to Leicester because I figured my preinterview score was high enough to guarantee an interview - same with QUB and St George's and then I couldn't find any other unis that did a scoring system that favoured me apart from Cardiff which was a tad risky (had a score of 25/27) and then someone suggested UEA and I was like sure why not, I'm guaranteed 3 interviews, that's good enough.

Anyway tl;dr don't give up!!!


thank you very much.That's some top advice and i'm very sure you'd make an amazing doc! Good luck with uni :smile: Which one are you firming?
Original post by Paras Agarwal
thank you very much.That's some top advice and i'm very sure you'd make an amazing doc! Good luck with uni :smile: Which one are you firming?


I'm torn between UEA and Leciester but most likely UEA as I loved it when I visited - good luck to you whichever path you decide to take:smile:

Original post by JMJ_1996
Thanks that's really helpful! Could I know what UKCAT course you went on as think I would do the same if I end up on a gap year?


I did the Kaplan one! I'm sure you'll get in to UEA as you seemed confident about your interview! - just give it time!
A gap year is so worth it, can't say that enough.
Original post by blissfully
I'm torn between UEA and Leciester but most likely UEA as I loved it when I visited - good luck to you whichever path you decide to take:smile:



I did the Kaplan one! I'm sure you'll get in to UEA as you seemed confident about your interview! - just give it time!


Fab thanks. And yeah it went so well but not so sure now, seems too late! I guess everyone thought theirs went well?
Original post by curtis110
A gap year is so worth it, can't say that enough.


Thanks for the motivation! Why do you think so?
Original post by curtis110
A gap year is so worth it, can't say that enough.


yep I agree - at first during september to december it was kind of ****ty because of everyone coming back and talking about the awesomeness and novelty of uni but later on it's awesome! Have you heard back from anywhere yet?:smile:

Original post by JMJ_1996
Fab thanks. And yeah it went so well but not so sure now, seems too late! I guess everyone thought theirs went well?


no problem! - only time will tell but I have hope in you!:biggrin:
Reply 179
I am a gap year reapplicant.
Nearly 4 post interview rejections after applying for a second time.

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