Graduate Entry Medicine: 2016 Entry

Thank you so much! I THINK but I'm not sure that someone here mentioned King's interviews on the 8th and another date. So yeah in any way they will all be after the first weekend in January (2nd-3rd), which is reassuring for holiday planning purposes!

Although knowing medicine to be uber competitive when applying, when I recieved this email it still came as a shock. 3600???!!! Makes me feel a bit queasy (the reality of it)

I felt the same when I looked at the UKCAT stats, I was like woooo at the top of 9th decile. Oh. That means at least 2500 people scored higher than me, Loads of them are probably GEM applicants... and there are less than 800 places available in England for grads. Places I'm actually eligible for: 274.

Bum.

Remember there are dentists as well. And the vast majority of ukcat takers are undergrads x

I felt the same when I looked at the UKCAT stats, I was like woooo at the top of 9th decile. Oh. That means at least 2500 people scored higher than me, Loads of them are probably GEM applicants... and there are less than 800 places available in England for grads. Places I'm actually eligible for: 274.

Bum.

Only 800 places :s Im going with pessimism too, less chance of disappointment!

But isn't your UKCAT 8796567864? :P

Haha, not quite, but I suck at interviews, I get really nervous!

I'd start interview prepping now, you will definitely have a few - you could you the first one as practice :P Ask doctor/medical student friends to interview you:3

Yeah i think I would like Barts the most since I live two minutes away and did my undergrad there as well.
I have Msci in Mathematics How about you?

Hey! Didn't see this reply hence the lateness!
I have a BSc in biomed. Currently doing a MSc in microbiology and infection!
What's Barts like!? Warwick is close to me so its probably my number one. But saying that, I would take anything! I'd go to med school on the moon if they offered!!!

question about funding

For grad entry, we are supposed to be receiving the loan right? I am a bit confused as everything is changing with conservatives now.
Is this loan means tested? I have been working for one year now, does it mean they will look into my salary for the past year or my parents'? Also, will they look into my savings and give me less if I have some savings?

question about funding

For grad entry, we are supposed to be receiving the loan right? I am a bit confused as everything is changing with conservatives now.
Is this loan means tested? I have been working for one year now, does it mean they will look into my salary for the past year or my parents'? Also, will they look into my savings and give me less if I have some savings?

The only bit you'll need to self-fund is the bit the NHS bursary doesn't cover which is £3.5k. You get a student tuition fee loan for the rest of year one. The NHS pay that amount in years 2,3 and 4. You don't repay that and it is not means tested. You will end up with approximately 22k of debt to Student Finance England. This will be added to your undergrad debt and the repayments will start coming out in F1, it will be quite a small amount initially (about £12/month at the base salary for F1). It will be 9% of anything you earn over £21,000 for 30 years or until it has been repaid (which ever comes sooner).

For many the undergrad loan is on a different scheme. You repay your loan when earning over about £17,000 and the term is 25 years. So potentially some of your total amount of debt may be written off sooner should you get the end of the term without having paid it off.

I think there has been a change to maintenance loans for 2016 entry. Living away from home it will be up to £8,200, if you're in London it is up to £10,700 and these are no longer means tested. Whilst this is great for many, those from low income backgrounds are being shafted (in comparison to previous cohorts) as there is no longer a means tested grant. Overall though, it is more fair. Everyone has access to the same amount of funding and everyone has to pay the money back once in employment. In real terms.

Going back to funding that initial upfront payment, if you cannot save this or get help from friend or family there are two graduate loan schemes that could cover that expense plus books, initial move costs etc. Barclays and the Co-op bank offer a government endorsed graduate loan of up to £10k that enters repayment a year after the loan is provided. The interest rate is fairly low as commercial loans go and can be repaid over a reasonably long term. It may be manageable even as a continuing student if you just take the minimum amount needed. This is a one time offer though, it's normally used to fund things like MSc degrees due to the repayments starting one year after the payment. It also enters repayment regardless of your employment status.

I never got £10k in London and I'm on the max loan... bare in mind I'm in my third year GEM, I got 8.8k as the max in year 1, then year 2 and 3 I;ve got less due to financial circumstances.
NHS Bursary and Student loans are both means tested! Unless that has very unfairly been changed recently (as my loan this year has been cut massively even though I don't get money off parents due to being a grownup but NHS Bursaries going off my dads income for it).
NHS and student loans goes Either off your own income if you;ve worked the last 3 years or your parents.

He's talking about the new way they'll be doing the loans come 2016

The only bit you'll need to self-fund is the bit the NHS bursary doesn't cover which is £3.5k. You get a student tuition fee loan for the rest of year one. The NHS pay that amount in years 2,3 and 4. You don't repay that and it is not means tested. You will end up with approximately 22k of debt to Student Finance England. This will be added to your undergrad debt and the repayments will start coming out in F1, it will be quite a small amount initially (about £12/month at the base salary for F1). It will be 9% of anything you earn over £21,000 for 30 years or until it has been repaid (which ever comes sooner).

For many the undergrad loan is on a different scheme. You repay your loan when earning over about £17,000 and the term is 25 years. So potentially some of your total amount of debt may be written off sooner should you get the end of the term without having paid it off.

I think there has been a change to maintenance loans for 2016 entry. Living away from home it will be up to £8,200, if you're in London it is up to £10,700 and these are no longer means tested. Whilst this is great for many, those from low income backgrounds are being shafted (in comparison to previous cohorts) as there is no longer a means tested grant. Overall though, it is more fair. Everyone has access to the same amount of funding and everyone has to pay the money back once in employment. In real terms.

Going back to funding that initial upfront payment, if you cannot save this or get help from friend or family there are two graduate loan schemes that could cover that expense plus books, initial move costs etc. Barclays and the Co-op bank offer a government endorsed graduate loan of up to £10k that enters repayment a year after the loan is provided. The interest rate is fairly low as commercial loans go and can be repaid over a reasonably long term. It may be manageable even as a continuing student if you just take the minimum amount needed. This is a one time offer though, it's normally used to fund things like MSc degrees due to the repayments starting one year after the payment. It also enters repayment regardless of your employment status.

I'm pretty sure the loans are still means tested - I just used the government's calculator for 2016/17 and mine came out at minimum (~£3800). However, like was said before, if you've been working for a bit it's off your own income so likely to get a higher loan.

I never got £10k in London and I'm on the max loan... bare in mind I'm in my third year GEM, I got 8.8k as the max in year 1, then year 2 and 3 I;ve got less due to financial circumstances.
NHS Bursary and Student loans are both means tested! Unless that has very unfairly been changed recently (as my loan this year has been cut massively even though I don't get money off parents due to being a grownup but NHS Bursaries going off my dads income for it).
NHS and student loans goes Either off your own income if you;ve worked the last 3 years or your parents.

The information I provided above applies to the 2016 cohort onwards. I suspect it will change again for 2017 entry. The change has not and will not apply to continuing students. And yes, it feels very unfair. I graduated last year. During undergrad I had the max loan and a grant and it came to slightly more than I will be getting next year (should I get a place) and I don't forsee living expenses going down any time soon.

Re: means testing. I think a few people corrected me. There is still a sliding scale BUT aren't mature students over 23 automatically classed as independent? Used to be the case but maybe it changed? This all hurts my head. It seems to change annually. I am also a bit anxious about the future of GEM courses. The places available are going down, imperial and UCL have made them unaffordable and Leicester who were early pioneers of GEM aren't running any more new cohorts :-(