Does the school you come from affect your application?

Having received a rejection from Birmingham applying to study medicine, I asked for feedback. Part of this feedback read "An additional factor that we consider is contextual information relating to school performance". Does this mean, since I go to a grammar school, I need better results?

Reply 1

ruthf

Yes I would imagine it does. They will assume that because you have had the privilege of getting what a lot of people would describe as a ‘better’ education then you would be expected to be meeting or exceeding their entry requirements.

Reply 2

LostAccount

Yes it's pretty obvious that AAA from a state-funded sixth form in a *****y POLAR area will be valued above a grammar school (let alone a private school) for the same grade in a presumably higher POLAR area.

Reply 3

Thizzumri

Original post by ruthflame57

Original post by LostAccount

I feel a little bit cheated I guess. They give a score based on GCSEs and UKCAT, and indicate on the website their requirements, which I meet. Only after rejection do I find out that those requirements may have been higher for me. I guess I'll just have to apply next academic year again, but this time to unis that don't look so much at GCSEs

Reply 4

LostAccount

Original post by Thizzumri

Your requirements weren't higher, or at least so I presume. But they have a limited number of places and if you have the same grade as another person who had a "worse" education and they have one spot left and you're equal on all other grounds, you're not going to get the spot.

You can enhance your application in other ways (getting work experience in medicine/GP is a good start) or apply for universities with a lower subscription rate (try Scotland/NI). Or try again next year, maybe this was just a bumper year with more applicants. There's Erasmus as well, and Australia.

Reply 5

ruthf

Original post by Thizzumri

They wouldn’t have made your requirements higher as such. It’s just that if you were pitched against children from state schools who they felt were on a par or were better than you then they may have well given them a place over you. There are limited places and they are looking for people to stand out.

Reply 6

Thizzumri

Original post by LostAccount

When you say Erasmus what do you mean? And Australia?

Reply 7

LostAccount

Original post by Thizzumri

When you say Erasmus what do you mean? And Australia?

Erasmus is the EU-wide scheme for applying for universities elsewhere in the EU. Medicinal courses are generally less subscribed in much of Europe than the UK, and there's plenty of universities (or so my prejudiced view) that offer courses in this subject in English, though obviously knowing a foreign language is a plus.

Ireland, France, Netherlands are good picks.

Italy has a fairly reputable university system but I don't think they do English courses outside of Bocconi.

Germany doesn't really have a reputable university system but you could try it out.

Poland doesn't have a reputable university system at all but in terms of medicine they are fairly level to the rest of Europe, especially in the Cracow medicine universities.

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Australia same as Erasmus but you'd get in by virtue of being a UK home student (I presume).

Australia has the benefit of not using the same nonsensical quota system as the UK, where the government imposes an artificial limit on how many people can study medicine for whatever reason. Australia's medicine courses are perpetually expanding, and they're reputable.

Australian degrees are also acceptable in the UK job market, though chances are if you go to Australia to study medicine you'd probably prefer not to come back to NHS given Australia's pay packets.

Reply 8

Elias Secchi

Hello, I want to add information about Italy

Bocconi University has courses in English but is focused on Economics, Finance, Business, Law and Politics. I know it because I'll study finance there.

In Italy there are some universities with medicine courses in English and you can consider them.

There are courses in Bologna University, Rome - La Sapienza University, Milan State University and in Milan there is San Raffaele University too, the uni of San Raffaele Hospital, that is considered one of the best hospitals in Italy.
I'm sure that these aren't the only courses in English, you have to check universities' websites for more information.

Good Luck