Where should I apply? Medicine

Hi. I am currently deciding where to apply for medicine and I want at least 2 choices to be ones where I actually have a good chance of getting in. I have predicted A levels of A*AA (chemistry, biology, psychology) and have GCSE results as follows:

5A* (maths, statistics, history, RE, ICT)
7A (english lit, english lang, biology, chemistry, astronomy, french, german)
1B (physics)

I took the UKCAT and got the following scores:
VR: 650
AR: 670
QR: 720
SJT: Band 1

I am not taking the BMAT. Obviously I know to avoid GCSE heavy universities such as Birmingham and Cardiff, but I'm still not totally sure which admission processes play to my advantages. At the moment I am thinking of applying to 4 out of: UEA, Queen Mary, HYMS, Southampton and St George's.

Thank for any help

Hello there. Firstly, you are listing 5 unis, so just in case you don't know this already, you are only allowed four choices for medicine. Secondly, you seem to show a preference for universities in the south of England. Is location important for you?*

Hi, I know I can only apply to 4, those 5 are just the ones I am deciding between at the moment, but thanks for making sure! I have no preference for location, although I would like to stay in England!

Well there is many universities you are eligible to apply to so that shouldn't be a problem I think that depending on what your personal statement you stand a good chance in all of the universities you have listed. With your results St. George's and UEA are pretty "safe", although it is difficult to say that you will surely be invited for an interview, as it would heavily depend on your experiences and how you structure your personal statement. Sometimes people get offers from more competitive universities but don't even get invited for interviews at universities that they thought were "safe" to apply to. With so many able candidates, I would say that getting a place is sometimes a matter of luck. So I would suggest that as long as you meet the minimum criteria, choose the universities and locations you like. You will spend at least 5 years at the university you go to so it is very important for you to be happy with the environment of the city you choose.*

Thank you for your help. I heard that UEA like a lot of A* at GCSE, I was wondering if you know whether that is true or not? Are there any other universities I may stand a pretty good chance with that I haven't listed? Obviously I am choosing universities based on where I like best, which for me are Southampton and St George's but with medicine being so competitive I understandably also have to smart about where I apply, as I am trying to avoid taking a gap year

I think UEA consider your nine best GCSEs, but i don't know how much gravity they give to A*. I do not know enough to say for sure, sorry :/*

I believe that you would stand a good chance for an interview at Aberdeen and Glasgow, but if you want to stay in England they are not any good! What about Keele? You should be fine with your A*AA prediction. *

I wouldn't mind going to Scotland, I'm just not sure on the amount of places they give to English students as from my research it seems as though there are more places for Scottish residents than English-or at least this was definitely the case with Glasgow! Keele might be a good idea for me actually! Thanks for the suggestion!

no problem also it might be a good idea to look at places relative to the number of applicants. It is also worth mentioning that Scottish and EU applicants are competing for the same places.

That's what I thought and then I looked at Glasgow's analytics and there seemed to be a lot more places taken by Scottish residents than English but thinking about it that's probably just because more Scottish people applied

you have enough choices in England anyway. I wish you the best of luck with your applications!

Hi just out of interest what sort of GCSE grades do GCSE heavy universities like for medicine? Because to me those GCSEs are plemty good enough

For GCSE heavy universities such as Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cardiff you need 7A*+ to be in with a good chance, and with Oxbridge it would not be wise to apply with less than 8A*, with 9 putting you in a good position

Hi mate, me and you have almost the same stats, I am applying to St George's, Imperial, UEA and S'ton, I think we have a good chance of getting an interview at St George's because last years cut off was 650 and if you meet their GCSE requirements and cut off you're guaranteed an interview.

UEA- this is quite a good choice I think
QMUL - unless you have a high UCAS tariff, I'd advise you to avoid it, since they rank applicants for interview 50:50 on UCAS tariff and UKCAT
HYMS - also could be a good choice, I think
Southampton - another good choice
SGUL - I think you are guaranteed an interview here

I'd also advise you to look at Plymouth, Sheffield and Manchester
Manchester being the riskiest of those three since they use their own version of a PS to rank students also.

Hi Jade and others, if you have any questions about UEA please let me know! We're a Top 15 university (Times/Sunday Times University Guide 2017), Top 5 for student satisfaction (National Student Survey 2016) and within the World Top 100 for research excellence (Leiden Ranking 2016). Our YouTube channel is a good place to go to get a feel for what it's like to study here and in Norwich, and our admissions department are more than happy to take questions to put your mind at ease (just email [email protected]) or call 01603 591515