Personal Statement Help for medicine

masjas2020

Hi guys, so i wanted to know whether if it was enough to have 9 A*s for gcse and 2 As, along with duke of ed bronze award and John paul II award and currently doing the Bar Mock Trial. I've also won several public speaking competitions and have a part time job. Is this enough for a medicine try hard candidate?

Reply 1

magicbeans1212

You'll defo get offered an interview.

Reply 2

N/A IS THE NAME

Yh definitely. Just do well in ur AS levels and get good predicted grades, and also do well in the entrance exams

Reply 3

Ryndvdmddn

OBVIOUSLY FFS. WHAT IS WITH THESE STUPID THREADS “hey guys I have 230 A*s and an OBE will I get an offer”. Jesus, use your common sense.

Reply 4

Helenia

Do you have any actual medical work experience? That's more important than public speaking awards or something pope-related.

Reply 5

angelinthewind

Why don't you do a search and read through one of the older threads. So many have asked this question before you.
You would need some sort of work experience in a medical setting - preferably a care home. If you google or even search on TSR you will get a good idea of preferred work experience types.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 6

gapyear2018

Original post by imagineiwascool

Get a good UKCAT and yeah tho ur gcses should guarantee u interviews at places like Cardiff and Birmingham

Reply 7

masjas2020

Original post by Helenia

Do you have any actual medical work experience? That's more important than public speaking awards or something pope-related.

yea i'm volunteering at a near by hospital and our school makes us do work experience by shadowing gps and work in the hospital for 2 weeks

Reply 8

masjas2020

Original post by angelinthewind

thank you lol, i have looked at others, but people keep saying different things like you need to have got all a*s or to get reallllyy good as levels

Reply 9

angelinthewind

Yes you need good A levels and no you don't need all A*s (at gcse)unless you are applying to oxford, even then there are contextual factors that are considered

Have a look at this - https://www.medschools.ac.uk/media/2032/msc-entry-requirements-for-uk-medical-schools.pdf

This will give you a good idea on entry requirements for each college for 2018 entry.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 10

angelinthewind

Original post by imagineiwascool

yea i'm volunteering at a near by hospital and our school makes us do work experience by shadowing gps and work in the hospital for 2 weeks

Shadowing is different from work experience.
Try to get atleast 6 months of work experience and then reflect (not say) what you gained when writting your PS.

Some details - https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/jobs/work-experience/medicine-work-experience

Reply 11

masjas2020

Original post by angelinthewind

does it have to be 6months? and also thank you for referring me to that page. Also does work experience, include being paid for working there

Reply 12

Asklepios

First of all, not all medical schools will look at your personal statement prior to interview - e.g. Some might screen and select based on grades/ukcat/bmat so this will depend.

Secondly, for pretty much all medical schools, the list of things you've done for your personal statement is largely irrelevant on its own. Instead, it is how you write about these things that really matters. Your personal statement is your chance to SHOW the admissions staff that you are suited to medicine (have researched it/not naive, have the right personal qualities etc). The important point here is to show and not tell.

Obviously though, the more you've done, the more examples you can draw on to talk about yourself. So in that sense, you've done pretty well and covered a lot of bases.

Edit - to add to the above, there is no minimum of how much voluntary work or work experience you have to do. For some of the reasons I've said, more will help (but perhaps only to a certain point), but I know folk who have gotten in with no work experience at all and people who've done heaps of it and not had a single offer.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 13

angelinthewind

Original post by imagineiwascool

does it have to be 6months? and also thank you for referring me to that page. Also does work experience, include being paid for working there

You can get paid work if you can find it. This is not a must especially if you are an Year 12/13

Work experience like working in a care home or working with differently abled children will come under voluntary work. Again it's how you make use of the opportunity and what you learn from it.

6 months is a good minimum because it shows commitment.
Why do you want to be a doctor ? If you cannot digest 6 months (which would prob be a couple of hours a week) in a health care environment, how do you get an insight into it. This is an opportunity for you to check out if you actually want to be a doctor not just to tick some boxes.

Reply 14

masjas2020

Original post by angelinthewind

At our school we have to work during the school year at a hospice/care home. But i was thinking during the summer i could spend sometime doing other than what we're doing in school