The Student Room Group

University of Birmingham Medicine 2016 Entry

This thread is for all those applying (or thinking of applying) for undergrad Medicine at Birmingham for 2016. As with last year's thread, I'm a current Birmingham medic who will try and be around to answer as many questions as I can (and a few others should be around if only out of curiosity).

Be sure to take a look at the course details on Birmingham's website. There's a quick link to the course page here: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/med/medicine.aspx

Please remember that not every "Am I good enough because...xyz...?" can or should be answered because it just gets repetitive and you probably are anyway. Emailing the admissions office will probably get you a much better and more definite answer.

Very best of luck to you all!

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Wow nobody has replied here😭
Guess I'm the first, woop!
Hoping to apply here but will be definite after sitting my ukcat.
I know they look at academic 70 and ukcat 30 but is there any info except on their website (even if it's speculation) on what sort of score would get you in the higher bits of the 30% for ukcat because I think ive got the whole 70% for academics.
Seeing as I'm the first, I might as well put my stats up eh😏😏
GCSE : 7A*1A (a* including maths, double science , history, both englishes and RS)
AS: 4A's in maths bio Chem and psych
And I think my predicted grades are A*A*A but lol at that ever happening
Reply 3
Would love to apply here although not sure UKCAT is high enough :frown:
I have 11A*s at Gcse and 4As in bio, Chem, maths and geography
I have band 1 stj and 650 avg
Does anyone know what score is needed on average for an interview? I know that it is worth 30% but that's it really!
Thank you! :smile:


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I am thinking of applying here!!
I have 10 A*s at GCSE, 4As in bio chem physics and maths at as and an A* in the epq
Band 1 755 avg
I've checked the website, but just double checking Birmingham don't take ums into account as long as you have 4 As? And they are okay with as resits within the two years? Because I will have to resit to get the A* they want! :tongue:
Reply 5
Because this is the first year that Birmingham are using the UKCAT you can't be too sure about what a specific score for interview might be. The admissions site says there isn't a minimum cut-off, only that higher scores will give an advantage (as you'd expect).

It's probable that UKCAT scores will be used to choose between candidates in deciding who to interview, as pretty much everyone will have the same GCSE and A Level grades. They say that the SJT band is used at the interview stage, so it's likely that it will only be used if they are having an issue choosing between basically identical candidates.

My advice: don't worry too much about the UKCAT score right now, just be sensible about where you apply if you don't think your score is very good.
Reply 6
hmmm 625 average and SJT band 2 - I was thinking of applying but idk now :frown:
Reply 7
I'm thinking of applying to medicine at Birmingham, I only have 6A*s 3As (Bio English Lit and Lang), I have 4 As at AS and 835 average in UKCAT, is it worth applying?
Reply 8
Original post by Whizbox
I'm thinking of applying to medicine at Birmingham, I only have 6A*s 3As (Bio English Lit and Lang), I have 4 As at AS and 835 average in UKCAT, is it worth applying?


According to:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/med/medicine.aspx?OpenSection=EntryRequirements

They will only score these specific 5 GCSEs (Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Chem, Bio, Maths) and 2 other non-specific GCSEs. The first five will be scored in the following ratio A*:A:B as 4 : 2 : 1, the non-specified GCSEs an A* gets 2 points anything else 0 points.

Eng Lang: 2
Eng Lit: 2
Chem: 4
Bio: 2
Maths: 4
Other 1: 2
Other 2: 2

So your score would be a total of 18 out of a possible 24.

Academics is 70% whilst UKCAT is 30%.
They say a high UKCAT will make up for lower GCSE performance, and you do have a super high score, but at the end of the day UKCAT is only 30%.

They also say this:
"We predict, however, that if you offer grade A in only one specified subject (the rest at A*), and your UKCAT score is in the top 60% you will achieve an overall score that is within a range required for invitation for interview."

I'm not sure on whether you should apply or not, I just wanted to give you more info just in case you didnt know. But looking at your stats you could have much safer choices.:smile:
Original post by Whizbox
I'm thinking of applying to medicine at Birmingham, I only have 6A*s 3As (Bio English Lit and Lang), I have 4 As at AS and 835 average in UKCAT, is it worth applying?


Your ukcat is AMAZINGGGGG!
I'm genuinely amazed. Kings and Newcastle and Durham would be amazing for you.

Bham say lower gcses require a higher ukcat. They do give more weighting to gcses though so maybe call and ask?
But yeah defo apply to ukcat heavy unis because your ukcat is beautiful. Like I want to frame it
Got a pretty bad UKCAT score of 690 - is this just barely high enough to get an interview?
Reply 11
Hey
I have got 5 A*'s including further mathematics, 4 A's and 2 B for GCSEs. For AS- level I got 3 A's for Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics and a B for Physics.
I have just finished my UKCAT with an average of 630 Band 2
Are these results good enough for birmingham? Thanks
Original post by AF108
Hey
I have got 5 A*'s including further mathematics, 4 A's and 2 B for GCSEs. For AS- level I got 3 A's for Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics and a B for Physics.
I have just finished my UKCAT with an average of 630 Band 2
Are these results good enough for birmingham? Thanks


No, you need AAAA at as. Sorry

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Reply 13
Thought I'd pop into this thread for a nosy and was so confused to see people posting UKCAT scores. I am SHOCKED that Birmingham is now requiring UKCAT. Med school asked us for input on whether they should start implementing UKCAT and the answer was a resounding NO! They never bloody listen.

Honestly, I feel so bad for this year's applicants. UKCAT and MMIs - two of the things I applied to Birmingham to avoid!
Original post by Ghotay
Thought I'd pop into this thread for a nosy and was so confused to see people posting UKCAT scores. I am SHOCKED that Birmingham is now requiring UKCAT. Med school asked us for input on whether they should start implementing UKCAT and the answer was a resounding NO! They never bloody listen.

Honestly, I feel so bad for this year's applicants. UKCAT and MMIs - two of the things I applied to Birmingham to avoid!


This made me laughπŸ˜‚ but hopefully it'll be worth it if I can get an offer from birmingham.
On a scale of one to amazing, how good is the course at bham? I visited the med school last weekend and loved the building and people😊
Reply 15
It's just frustrating. I understand medical schools are in a tough spot trying to differentiate between candidates for vastly oversubscribed places, but for an institution claiming to teach evidence-based medicine, it's disgustingly hypocritical for them to implement a screening tool with no evidence base behind it. UKCAT does not correlate to anything meaningful at all whatsoever!



Original post by Whatisanerdeven?
This made me laughπŸ˜‚ but hopefully it'll be worth it if I can get an offer from birmingham.
On a scale of one to amazing, how good is the course at bham? I visited the med school last weekend and loved the building and people😊


Birmingham start giving out offers in early November, so you may found out pretty quickly!

I've talked a little bit about the course already in this thread, if you want to know more about it: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3591729
Original post by Ghotay
It's just frustrating. I understand medical schools are in a tough spot trying to differentiate between candidates for vastly oversubscribed places, but for an institution claiming to teach evidence-based medicine, it's disgustingly hypocritical for them to implement a screening tool with no evidence base behind it. UKCAT does not correlate to anything meaningful at all whatsoever!





Birmingham start giving out offers in early November, so you may found out pretty quickly!

I've talked a little bit about the course already in this thread, if you want to know more about it: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3591729

They did say it was because AS grades are not being used next year but I genuinly think they should use the bmat instead if anything.

I did so so below average on my ukcat (610) and it made me feel so dumb😒 really do despite the ukcat but anything from me is biased because of my terrible score .
And really?! I'm no where near prepared for interviews, never mind an offer.

Thanks for the link :smile:
Guys I need help,
I have 11A*s for GCSE's
5A's at AS in bio chem phys maths and critical thinking
Predicted 4A*s
But my ukcat is 630 band 2 (which sucks)
And o don't have all the volunteering they put on the website
Will I be invited for interview?????
Reply 18
Hey I'm still not sure if I'm able to apply for Birmingham :s-smilie:
I got 2 A*s and 1 A at A2
5 As at AS Level (including Critical Thinking)
12 A*s at GCSE
However, my UKCAT score was 695 SJ band 2

I'm a gap year applicant; do you think I have a good chance of getting an interview at Birmingham with these set of results?
Hi,
I was wondering how the course structure is at Birmingham. Is it a problem based learning medical school or a more lecture based one? If it is integrated, then to what degree is it PBL/traditional style?
Thanks,
Joel


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