Warwick uni medicine 2021 entry

Hello,

I’m applying for 2021 entry. I’m working full time right now but trying to get work experiance.

Hey,

I have a question about work experience and wondered if you could help? I am currently a clinical pharmacist and have worked in hospital for the past 4 years, Ive rotated around all different specialities and worked with lots of different doctors and healthcare proffesionals. In doing so I've been able to expereince and see lots with regards to a career as a doctor.

Will this count as work experience? Or does my work expereince have to be targeted i.e. shadowing. I cant find anything that makes a clear distinction.

I'm wanting to sit the UCAT in july and whether or not I apply will be dependant on what I score.

Good luck,

Simon

Also, if you guys have any questions regarding the early stages of Warwick application feel free to ask, I got an interview there.

That's so great! Could you tell me about the work experience? Are they very strict about it when seeing your applications? Is GP shadowing compulsory?

They require minimum of 70hrs with shadowing making up maximum 20hrs of it, so shadowing isn’t really crucial. Majority of my working experience came from years of volunteering at cancer centre. There were people working as HCA, volunteering at care homes etc. The most important thing is having hands on patient experience. So let’s say you were doing admin work or pharmacy work. It wouldn’t count for Warwick. It also matters during interview as they want you to reflect on certain values they assess that I cannot really say too much about but from what I gather the more you can reflect on such experiences the higher you score

I have been to two hospitals (cardio and gynaecolgy-3 days each), but I would also like to go for GP shadowing. The problem is, I can't seem to find a that takes in Biomedical students. They just usually say, "we do not take Biomedical students, we do only medical students." All the surgeries that I have asked till now, have given my the same answer and few just simply tell me that they are not looking for any student placements. So it's been quite hard to find GP shadowing in particular for me. That's why I went a little more for hospital based and was a part of the busy ward, observing patients, ward rounds, etc. but I am not sure how this would count to what Warwick requires? Would it be a disadvantage if I don't get a GP shadowing experience in particular?

Thank you

I have been to two hospitals (cardio and gynaecolgy-3 days each), but I would also like to go for GP shadowing. The problem is, I can't seem to find a that takes in Biomedical students. They just usually say, "we do not take Biomedical students, we do only medical students." All the surgeries that I have asked till now, have given my the same answer and few just simply tell me that they are not looking for any student placements. So it's been quite hard to find GP shadowing in particular for me. That's why I went a little more for hospital based and was a part of the busy ward, observing patients, ward rounds, etc. but I am not sure how this would count to what Warwick requires? Would it be a disadvantage if I don't get a GP shadowing experience in particular?

Thank you

I can hardly think of a very few people in our cohort who had GP experience so I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Hospital volunteering is just as valued or even more if you had hands on experience. If your two other placements have also been shadowing only, then it would be pointless for you anyway to get more shadowing since Warwick takes maximum of 20hrs. Just make sure you get a good working experience where you actually get to work with patients directly (overwhelming majority did healthcare assistant), cause that’s what they actually want.

Just make sure your work experience is "hands on". If you were just "observing" at your hospital placements that would count as shadowing. It would have been a valuable experience but Warwick only count 20 hours of shadowing towards their 70 hours. Warwick wants you to have experience of directly interacting with people in a caring role and not just observing what doctors do. They want to know that you understand that interacting with patients is a large part of a doctors job and this is something you will be tested on at interview. They can't test you on it if you have no experience of it. There is a lot of information about work experience on the Warwick site so worth checking out. 50 hours over the 3 years preceding an application is not that much. If you can get an official letter from were you have gained your work experience at the time that you do it it will save you time and stress when you come to apply. Before selecting for interview Warwick will ask to see proof that you have sufficient work experience as this forms an important part of their entry requirements. Care homes will always be grateful for volunteers and are likely to be flexible so you could fit this in around work or study.

Good luck

Hi! Thank you very much for your reply...it is honestly so helpful! Oh and if you don't mind me asking, how was your UCAT?

No worries. I had 2740 with quite high VR which also matters for Warwick (eg you can have 3000 overall score but if your VR is eg 500, you won’t make the cut off)

wow that's so great! Congrats on your score! Did you get an offer in Warwick? And also, how long did you prepare for the UCAT? I started preparing quite early, but since second year uni started, it all got very busy and I am not able to do both so, I for now I only concentrating on my Biomedicine course and have halted the UCAT practice. I am planning to take the test in the end of July. How did you manage to score really high in VR? do you have an advice for me in that part?
Thanks a lot

Thanks. I didn’t manage to score an offer with them, partially because I had a difficult day before and was quite mentally exhausted but I will request a detailed feedback. Warwicks interview works in very mysterious ways, many people who were certainly heading for rejections were given offers and vice versa. I wasn’t too bothered as I secured an offer from another uni which I preferred anyway.

My best advice for UCAT is don’t exhaust your mind. I used medify and MedEntry for practice, mainly for AR which is my biggest nightmare. For VR I mainly practiced scanning through texts looking for information but I think out of all sections, VR is what I prepared for the least. Overall I started my regular UCAT prep about 1.5-2 months before, with the last two weeks daily practice, even if just a few AR sets.