Medicine 2012...(hopeful entrants) !!

my personal statement is pants

don't worry, mine is too

my personal statement is pants

It's so hard to get the end of it right!

i'm having more trouble with the beginning tbh - ive drafted out the rest of it about 20 times, but i've done the first paragraph 50 times and it's still incredibly cliche!!!

i'm having more trouble with the beginning tbh - ive drafted out the rest of it about 20 times, but i've done the first paragraph 50 times and it's still incredibly cliche!!!

x

Not too sure to be honest. But they did tell us they don't 'Cash in' our AS grades untill the end of our last year.

Yes, that's what I meant. That means that universities will look at your predictions instead (You are unbelievably lucky that your school doesn't publish the results). And with those grades you are ok. Manchester had an average cut-off point of 645 last year, so you are well clear of that. Stay away from Birmingham (as they require 8A*'s and above at GCSE) and other UKCAT heavy unis (Newcastle, Sheffield) which have high UKCAT cut offs and you'll be fine.


PS: Can somebody look at mine plz? Feels kinda bad to be asking, but I am away for the whole of next week on a stupid biology coursework, to do ecology crap XD. So time is an issue for me

Honestly, that looks like a very, very strong application, which will have a good chance at interview for the majority of places. Kings is a good idea, as they interview based upon a combination of GCSEs and UKCAT, both of which you have done well above average in. Your AS grades are good as well, which is something UCL are quite keen on, although I would be cautious of applying to two BMAT universities and risking it when you stand a good chance elsewhere as well. Seeing as I have no idea how good your personal statement or references are I can't comment on that, but that work experience does look quite impressive.

Wow, thanks . Kinda motivated me to go off and do more work on my EPQ lol. Yeah forgot to mention my EPQ in "Whether the danger of use of ionizing radiation in medicine is justifiable" (Typical Russian topic ). Doing this out of a slight interest in oncology, although I know I must choose medicine with an open mind. O.o, I liked the overall impression of Kings from what I read, but accommodation is going to be quite expensive considering I am not an oil-rich Russian tycoon (yet ).
Thanks, but yeah, I have been warned against 2 BMAT unis, considering I've not done it yet. I also REALLY liked the look of Imperial, but they are BMAT too. I had my PS checked by like 3 current med undergraduates so far, all of whom said it was good and just adjusted the grammar (Because I am crap at grammar, since I am not native English XD)
I wouldn't count that work experience as being that big, considering I have no medical connections at all, and nobody in my family is in the medical sector. I had to arrange all of the work shadowing myself which was a pain in the backside, but it isn't as impressive as some of the work shadowing done by people I know (They go for work shadowing all over the world, one guy went to Beijing hospital for 2 weeks), and people who I met on an oxbridge conference, all seemed to be perfect candidates lol. I know that it isn't how much you do, but what you take away from it, but I cannot help but feel intimidated by some of these 'perfect candidates'.

-snip-

Ah I gotta do my EPQ too, end of project review deadline is end of the month! Doing mine on motor neuron disease, and if palliative care is better than drugs for treating it. Only on 1k or so words at the moment, but it's on the back burner until UCAS is out of the way.
Your work experience volunteering in a hospital and care home both sound good, but it's all about how you write about it on the personal statement. I also come from a non-medical background so I know exactly what you mean when you say it was a pain in the backside, took me several months to organise a week shadowing a consultant, but it was worth it in the end. International work experience, whilst certainly sounding spectacular, isn't actually that great. Work experience is all about making sure a candidate knows what being a doctor's job is like, and how the NHS works. UK doctors may have a very different career to those in Beijing, and shadowing a doctor there is a lot less relevant than shadowing one here.

... have you finished your extended project? or even nearly finished it? Our final (like final final) deadline was Feburary last year, your's is so early, I feel bad for you :/

Ah not quite finished, was supposed to have been finished by the end of summer but not quite there haha. I've done about 1,500 words of it so it's coming along nicely, 30% of the way. Yeah the year above us had to do it before February, but then they complained that it got in the way of the January exams, so they've moved it so it interferes with our UCAS application . I think the year below us have to finish it before the end of their school year, so moved earlier once again. I've done all the research so far so just have to write it all, but finding time/motivation is difficult. How did yours go?

Hahaha I know that feeling. Think every deadline I just scrapped but I got away with it. Both me and my friend were at that stage in January and it was due in on 14th Feb but then I got on a roll and instead of writting 5k, I hit 7k and was told off! apprently you're only allowed to go 10% over I think :s

Schools are just stupid. Tbh I'd rather have had it over Jan exams than over ucas. Particularly for people who's uni apps are so so so so essential. Over jan exams no one did anything of their extended, but the break did most people good.

I could never get motivated. I did mine on a stupid topic (nice big long word of Haemochromatosis XD) that it took me ages to actually find stuff for. I think I researched as I wrote. See if one day you feel like doing it, do it! Even if it's get up early, work for a few hours, go back to bed, then get up and do some more. (I found that actually really worked for me, did it right throughout year like with revision - apprently it helps you remember more and refreshes your brain )

Got there in the end and didn't do too badly, got 49 or 50/50 so A* Good luck with finishing yours!