2017 Bristol medicine hopefuls

Its 10% UKCAT, 20% A levels/GCSE and 70% Personal Statement.

If you dont pass the academic requirements in full your application will be rejected without any other part of your application being looked at. If you do pass, your PS is scored and this is added to your academic score and your PS score to get a complete score. Invitations to interview are based on a ranking of these complete scores. As you can see, the PS is still the mainstay of the application.

Thank you for the detailed clarification. Bristol is a great place to study and my daughter would love to consider it but it looks more of a risky option if it still relies so heavily on the PS, compared to other med schools..

She can't afford to get it wrong twice in one application cycle

Thanks. I understand your advice and agree that many applicants are successful on a second application as they have become better candidates, but she is guaranteed interviews with her achieved (GCSE) academics at a few universities already, so she may as well apply to them rather than risk it just in order to hope for an interview at a PS heavy med school. Do you know what the GCSE academic requirements are (that have to be met in full)? The med school have said that they will be publishing their selection procedure by the end of this month.My concern with an application to Bristol is that if they are still using the PS score as 70% of the overall score, and the UKCAT for only 10%, they will probably be inundated again this year with applicants whose UKCAT scores are not in the higher deciles (as well as applicants with great UKCAT scores) as the first group of applicants will have fewer choices this year. Many med schools are ranking their applicants on UKCAT score to select for interview and this leaves fewer med schools for those with lower end UKCAT scores to turn to.Obviously we will wait and see what the final selection procedure is from Bristol, and it hasn't been ruled out (in fact, she would really like to include it in the shortlist) but it would have to be a very good reason to apply there and not apply to a different med school with a guaranteed interview (provided the applicant liked it).

Hello again. I don't want to get into an argument with you when you have been so helpful in answering my initial question. Just to explain as you have asked, and then perhaps we should end this conversation.

She will get an interview at Cardiff (rarely look at UKCAT) and Birmingham as she meets their criteria/cut off scores for interview based on GCSEs alone. Speaking to the head of admissions at another medical school at an open day a week ago, they would definitely interview her as they look at a combination of best 8 (or 9?) GCSE's and UKCAT score. With 12 A*s, her UKCAT would have to be a total failure not to get an interview. So that is possibly 3. Many med schools are paying little or no attention to the PS - as we all know, it can be written by someone else and it is not possible for them to check that it is factually correct. Then a fourth could be Oxbridge if she wants to take a risk with that one.

My son has just finished his first year at med school. I am a pharmacist of over 30 years. I know what makes a good doctor/health care professional - certainly not just GCSE's. My daughter has many personal attributes that make her a strong candidate. There is no guarantee that she would get an offer - she is far from complacent - but she does stand a good chance.

My daughter reads student room regularly and has her own account. As she is so busy having just finished her AS exams and last week completing a weeks work experience in hospital, and with every weekend for the last 4 weekends taken up with university visits all around the country, I decided to just do a bit of extra research myself. I find a lot of parents read (and post) on TSR - sometimes even using their child's account.

Thank you for your help in this matter. She will wait and see what Bristol actually publish as their admissions statement because it is was still not finalised when I phoned last week. And then we will decide if it is worth a visit to the open day in September(440 mile round trip).

NO-ONE is 'guaranteed an interview' on the basis of their GCSEs alone!

Your daughter will need to meet ALL the academic requirements in full AND present a decent PS, plus any other requirements (UKCAT etc) to even be considered - and she will be ranked against all other applicants for a highly contested interview place. Btw, you will not have a clue what any University's 'cut off score for interview', and just because a PS isnt referred to at interview does not mean it wasn't part of the selection process. Despite having (apparently) one child already on a degree course, you seem to have a very sketchy idea of how University admissions actually works.

Okay mumzy, look:
- it's implied your admission process knowledge is obscure through your wording.
- saying your question explicitly then saying no one is answering your question is contradictory because you , without any stimulus, decided to talk about your daughter being 'guaranteed offers' so don't try going against responses which you have given way for.
- why are you doing so much for your daughter, I always thought a personality a mature individual of 17/18 can make all these decisions and research by themselves..
Conclusively, your written communication needs some work in the sense of the logic behind it # constructive feedback

Its 10% UKCAT, 20% A levels/GCSE and 70% Personal Statement.

If you dont pass the academic requirements in full your application will be rejected without any other part of your application being looked at. If you do pass, your PS is scored and this is added to your academic score and your PS score to get a complete score. Invitations to interview are based on a ranking of these complete scores. As you can see, the PS is still the mainstay of the application.

Hello again. I don't want to get into an argument with you when you have been so helpful in answering my initial question. Just to explain as you have asked, and then perhaps we should end this conversation.

She will get an interview at Cardiff (rarely look at UKCAT) and Birmingham as she meets their criteria/cut off scores for interview based on GCSEs alone. Speaking to the head of admissions at another medical school at an open day a week ago, they would definitely interview her as they look at a combination of best 8 (or 9?) GCSE's and UKCAT score. With 12 A*s, her UKCAT would have to be a total failure not to get an interview. So that is possibly 3. Many med schools are paying little or no attention to the PS - as we all know, it can be written by someone else and it is not possible for them to check that it is factually correct. Then a fourth could be Oxbridge if she wants to take a risk with that one.

My son has just finished his first year at med school. I am a pharmacist of over 30 years. I know what makes a good doctor/health care professional - certainly not just GCSE's. My daughter has many personal attributes that make her a strong candidate. There is no guarantee that she would get an offer - she is far from complacent - but she does stand a good chance.

My daughter reads student room regularly and has her own account. As she is so busy having just finished her AS exams and last week completing a weeks work experience in hospital, and with every weekend for the last 4 weekends taken up with university visits all around the country, I decided to just do a bit of extra research myself. I find a lot of parents read (and post) on TSR - sometimes even using their child's account.

Thank you for your help in this matter. She will wait and see what Bristol actually publish as their admissions statement because it is was still not finalised when I phoned last week. And then we will decide if it is worth a visit to the open day in September(440 mile round trip).

Okay mumzy, look:
- it's implied your admission process knowledge is obscure through your wording.
- saying your question explicitly then saying no one is answering your question is contradictory because you , without any stimulus, decided to talk about your daughter being 'guaranteed offers' so don't try going against responses which you have given way for.
- why are you doing so much for your daughter, I always thought a personality a mature individual of 17/18 can make all these decisions and research by themselves..
Conclusively, your written communication needs some work in the sense of the logic behind it # constructive feedback