Applications statistics

Mutleybm1996

I was wondering if anyone knew of any statistics for % of applicants getting in first or second times? I've recently been rejected by all 4 of mine and am considering whether to take a gap year or accept an Optometry Offer from Manchester :frown:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 1

Zorg

Not certain on medical admissions statistics, but I do know about 80% of statistics are made up on the spot. :colone:

Genuinely though, does it matter what the statistics are? Question is why you think your application failed and whether you feel you can improve it for the next application cycle.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

Physflop

Original post by Mutleybm1996

Posted from TSR Mobile

Depends what your application was like! Are your grades good enough? Then look at your work experience, what is that like? And did you do one of the entrance exams Gamsat, UKCAT or Bmat? Then you can work out if a year out will benefit your application and improve it :smile:

Reply 3

Mutleybm1996

Original post by Zorg

Not certain on medical admissions statistics, but I do know about 80% of statistics are made up on the spot. :colone:

Genuinely though, does it matter what the statistics are? Question is why you think your application failed and whether you feel you can improve it for the next application cycle.

Would you recommend applying pre-gap year?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4

Mutleybm1996

Original post by Physflop

I applied to Exeter who changed their application criteria half way through
I also applied to bristol who rejected me due to lack of extra curricular
Interview at Keele but was rejected
Quite a lot of work experience
Good grades(Not as good as some but certainly not bad for Medicine)

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 5

Physflop

Original post by Mutleybm1996

I'd take a year out then to be honest! You could get a job as a healthcare assistant in a hospital or a care assistant in a care home whichever suits you more, gives you fantastic patient care experience that the uni look very favourably on, will earn you money for uni and will improve your chances a lot.

Reply 6

username1824715

I would take a year out and reapply. It depends how keen you are on Medicine I guess, but if you're keen on it then I would think it would be worth a year and then trying again. I'm at BSMS, and although I don't know exact statistics, I definitely know of at least 6 people who got no offers, took a year out, reapplied and then got in.... and it's not like I've gone round asking everybody, so I reckon the proportion must be a lot more than that!

Reply 7

Mutleybm1996

Original post by RachelDawn

Would you recommend applying after I've got my results this year(so 2015)? It just seems like a bit of a long wait applying in October 2016.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

caisaw

my daughter has very good grades and decent BMAT and UKCAT. she got 4 interviews possibly due to her right application choice and she felt that 3 of her 4 interviews were quite satisfactory but she has got only one offer. thats the competition. For a medicne offer, you have to compete with so many excellent applicants and some of them are mature applicants with uni degrees.

i think and feel that if you can have 4 or 3 interview offers easily, then there is good chance getting at least one offer.

Reply 9

Ezme39

I've heard 30% get accepted first time, 60% second time, and 10% either apply a third time or take a different route. Basically, well worth another attempt :-) I was lucky to get in this year, but I would have taken a gap year if I hadn't

Reply 10

Rishy

I am in same position but I had 4 interviews and all rejections

Reply 11

nexttime

UCAS are the ones who would have these stats and unfortunately i don't think they release them.

We know that overall success rates are 35-40%. Anecdotally people will say that you are more likely to be successful second time around, but given that people who are rejected for a second time tend not to tell people about it i don't know how valid that is.

I think you just need to assess your application yourself and decide how you can improve it, how much you want to do medicine and what your other options are.

Original post by Ezme39

Do you mean 'of current medical students only 30% got in first time'. From personal experience i highly doubt that, but maybe it was just my med school.

Reply 12

Ezme39

Original post by nexttime

Do you mean 'of current medical students only 30% got in first time'. From personal experience i highly doubt that, but maybe it was just my med school.

I mean out of applicants as a whole :-) for example, from the 15 applicants at my college only 4/5 have gotten places this year

Reply 13

Parent_help

There are UCAS stats which can be verified e.g. in 2013, 84,000 applied for 7500 places. e.g. Under 10% of applicants get a place at medical school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_school_in_the_United_Kingdom

However, it is utterly pointless trying to apply generalized stats to individual cases.
e.g. When someone says "what are the chances of winning the lottery", It is very low for an individual, but very high if you consider that there is a winner almost every week.

With this in mind, all the figures quoted so far look ill-informed to me.
For some, there will be 100% rejection every time, and for others, a very high statistical chance of 100% acceptance.

If you want to know the most important stats for getting in Med schoole, they are: Excellent academics, Excellent PS, Excellent interview technique.

To (mis)quote a Terminator line
There is no luck (stats) but what we make for ourselves

Reply 14

Dr. Django

Original post by Mutleybm1996

Posted from TSR Mobile

Sorry to hear that :frown:

I would personally take a gap year and reapply, I don't know specific stats but I think your chances are substantially higher (perhaps even double). Just make sure you apply to your strengths! To give some perspective, I know plenty of people who got zero offers first time and multiple second time around! I really think it's worth having a second shot...I'm a bloody resitter and I've got 3 offers!!

In terms of stats, I was once told that 70% of people get zero offers, 30% at least 1, around 10% at least 2, less than 5% get 3 and around 1-2% get 4 offers...in other words; you really aren't alone in being unsuccessful!!

Make sure you look at where you can improve your application, and ask for feedback where necessary. If ukcat let you down, consider taking more time to prepare (most people do so much better in ukcat second time). If PS let you down then try and get feedback on why, try and find examples if successful statements and think about what differs between theirs and yours. If you were rejected for academics, make sure next year you are as sure as you possibly can be that you will be competitive, don't take needless risks when applying.

If you did manage to get a couple of interviews, again ask for feedback. Try and prepare more thoroughly, practice answering questions to a friend/family member; make sure you know as much as you can about the interview process so you aren't shocked on the day!! Most reapplicants do so much better, I know of people with 4 post interview rejections first time, then 3 or 4 offers as reapplicants: rejection doesn't mean you can't be a good doctor.

The difference between success and 'failure' in med applications is so small, if medicine is really what you want to do then plan some worthwhile things for your gap year, work your ass off for grades (and on your reapplication after June) and get ready to smash it next year. At worst you 'waste' a year, gaining invaluable life experience, and know at least you gave it all you could...at best you begin the journey into your dream career...what's one year out of a 40 year career!

good luck and pm me if you want advice

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 15

Parent_help

Original post by Mutleybm1996

OK, purely my own opinion here, you are young.
It doesn't matter if you apply again and get knocked back again. Never be afraid of failure (a pathetic British trait IMO)
However, what does matter is that you tried (otherwise you never know).

I've said it in previous posts what one needs to do to improve your chances. Look them up. Some may disagree with it, but you make up your own mind - good luck in what you choose to do.

Reply 16

Parent_help

Original post by nexttime

UCAS are the ones who would have these stats and unfortunately i don't think they release them.

Nonsense - they do - see other post

Original post by nexttime

We know that overall success rates are 35-40%.

Nonsense again - please see other post

Original post by nexttime

Anecdotally people will say that you are more likely to be successful second time around, but given that people who are rejected for a second time tend not to tell people about it i don't know how valid that is.

What does this mean?

Original post by nexttime

I think you just need to assess your application yourself and decide how you can improve it, how much you want to do medicine and what your other options are.

Reasonable advice

Reply 17

nexttime

Original post by Parent_help

Nonsense - they do - see other post

They don't.

Please link the breakdown for proportion of first time applicants get an offer versus proportion of those who are applying for the second time get one.

Nonsense again - please see other post

Wikipedia has mis-quoted. That's applications, not applicants. You can infer this from individual med school stats (if there were 10 applicants per place each with 4 applications, the average application to place ratio would be 40. It clearly isn't). I will try to find UCAS's own stats on this and change wikipedia.

EDIT: Total applications 97,560 in 2014 ("Application is defined as a choice to a course in higher education through the UCAS main scheme. Each applicant can make up to [four] choices,"), acceptances 8,915. Assumption that each applicant makes 4 choices, then acceptance rate is 36.6%.

EDIT2: wikipedia corrected

If success rate was only 10% you'd be nuts to keep applying over and over again. You could be at it for decades.

What does this mean?

There are lots of successful re-applicants on TSR, whereas there are few unsuccessful ones. This should not necessarily be interpreted as re-applicants being more successful.