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Med Unis that don't care about Personal Statement

Do you guys know if there are there any unis other than Warwick that don't look at your personal statement when applying and have UKCAT as an entrance exam (or no entrance exam at all)??

Thanks
Bristol places like 80% of weight on the personal statement when it shortlists people for interview so you might want to avoid it. It's also pretty important at Edinburgh. Other than that, I'm not sure what would be the point of applying to universities that "care less" about the ps - the vast majority of them will look at it but won't care nearly as much as they care about your academics, UKCAT and interview. If you have those sorted you should be fine with a decent personal statement, and everyone can piece together a decent personal statement if they make an effort.

You can find pretty useful (although in some cases slightly outdated) info about the selection procedures of medical schools here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Applying_to_Medical_School_using_your_Strengths

Good luck :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by StationToStation
Bristol places like 80% of weight on the personal statement when it shortlists people for interview so you might want to avoid it. It's also pretty important at Edinburgh. Other than that, I'm not sure what would be the point of applying to universities that "care less" about the ps - the vast majority of them will look at it but won't care nearly as much as they care about your academics, UKCAT and interview. If you have those sorted you should be fine with a decent personal statement, and everyone can piece together a decent personal statement if they make an effort.

You can find pretty useful (although in some cases slightly outdated) info about the selection procedures of medical schools here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Applying_to_Medical_School_using_your_Strengths

Good luck :smile:

Hey, Thank You.
I'm a graduate applicant and other than Medicine I'm also applying to a postgraduate course (through undergrad UCAS) as a backup, where they make their interview offers based only on the personal statement. The postgrad course is not medicine related.

I can't really afford to have a gap year, so I'm trying to find a middle ground.
Already talked to Warwick and they said it's fine if my ps is not related to medicine, as they don't even look at it. So I was just wondering if there are any other unis that do that.
Original post by Nessie162
Hey, Thank You.
I'm a graduate applicant and other than Medicine I'm also applying to a postgraduate course (through undergrad UCAS) as a backup, where they make their interview offers based only on the personal statement. The postgrad course is not medicine related.

I can't really afford to have a gap year, so I'm trying to find a middle ground.
Already talked to Warwick and they said it's fine if my ps is not related to medicine, as they don't even look at it. So I was just wondering if there are any other unis that do that.


Ah I see, that's a trickier situation then! I don't know a lot about grad entry, but in undergrad it's pretty much the end of your application if you have a personal statement unrelated to medicine, even if the uni doesn't place much weight on it generally. It's so competitive that med schools will take any excuse to reject applicants. :frown: It's probably best for you to start researching the policies of unis to check which will look at the ps and which will not, and maybe email them and ask whether they would accept a substitute ps (At least Durham allows you to send another ps after applying so that they'll only consider the one you sent by email and not the one on UCAS.) It would probably be the most convenient option if the postgrad course would allow this. :smile:
Original post by Nessie162
Hey, Thank You.
I'm a graduate applicant and other than Medicine I'm also applying to a postgraduate course (through undergrad UCAS) as a backup, where they make their interview offers based only on the personal statement. The postgrad course is not medicine related.

I can't really afford to have a gap year, so I'm trying to find a middle ground.
Already talked to Warwick and they said it's fine if my ps is not related to medicine, as they don't even look at it. So I was just wondering if there are any other unis that do that.


I'll be honest: I don't think you'll get any medicine offers if you do that. Not even Warwick.

Medicine tends to look pretty heavily at the personal statement to look for commitment to medicine and evidence of personal qualities. There are not really any exceptions to this. Oxbridge are probably the ones that look the least but even they will most likely have read it and would be pretty put off by it not even being about medicine.

Re: Warwick: I'm sure what they say is accurate. However, did they make any commitment to not reading it after interview offers are made but before, after, or even during the interview itself? Contacting unis directly is useful, but bear in mind they have significant incentives to make their applicant pool as big as possible (looks good, gives them the most choice) but little incentive to deter people. This is particularly true of people who answer e-mails in the admissions office, rather than people actually conducting interviews and making decisions. I have significant doubts about your ability to explain away your statement to Warwick despite what they may have said. Significant doubts.

Have you contacted this other course to see if there is any way you can submit an alternative personal statement to them?

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