HELP! Applying for Medicine this summer to start studying in 2018

Ahhh loads. Maybe the biggest thing I wish I'd realized is that a lot of the things I did made absolutely zero difference to my application. It's easy to feel like every little thing boosts your chances of being accepted a bit more but it really doesn't work that way unfortunately. The key thing is to apply tactically so that you get invited for as many interviews as possible (for this you roughly speaking need a strong UKCAT, BMAT, or grades, but not necessarily all of them) and then make sure to do as well as possible at your interviews. Personally I wasted a lot of time reading stuff and studying in order to get great grades and volunteering than would've been "enough". I think that spending that time on e.g. interview prep would've been more useful than trying to make my application "perfect".

A bit busy today with work but might get back to you later with a few words on the admissions tests if others don't do so before me!

Reply 2

toadwhisperer3000

4

Original post by StationToStation

Ahhh loads. Maybe the biggest thing I wish I'd realized is that a lot of the things I did made absolutely zero difference to my application. It's easy to feel like every little thing boosts your chances of being accepted a bit more but it really doesn't work that way unfortunately. The key thing is to apply tactically so that you get invited for as many interviews as possible (for this you roughly speaking need a strong UKCAT, BMAT, or grades, but not necessarily all of them) and then make sure to do as well as possible at your interviews. Personally I wasted a lot of time reading stuff and studying in order to get great grades and volunteering than would've been "enough". I think that spending that time on e.g. interview prep would've been more useful than trying to make my application "perfect".

A bit busy today with work but might get back to you later with a few words on the admissions tests if others don't do so before me!

Is it worth applying to kcl if you feel you might not have the strongest of stats since it is such an oversubscribed uni?

Reply 3

Original post by toadwhisperer3000

Is it worth applying to kcl if you feel you might not have the strongest of stats since it is such an oversubscribed uni?

Sorry to cut in, but since I have an offer there I thought I could help.

They weigh GCSEs against your UKCAT so if you have/don't have stellar GCSEs it can be outweighed by a solid UKCAT. My advice would be to wait till you have your UKCAT results before you apply.

Btw all medical schools in the UK are very oversubscribed :smile:

If you have any other questions feel free to message me.

Reply 4

Roseman

Original post by alicedech

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in year 12 studying Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Spanish at A level and am certain I want to do medicine, but my question is was there anything you wish you'd known before applying to med school? (whether this is related to UKCAT/BMAT, personal statement, uni choice, extra reading/work experience etc…)

any advice or comment would be really appreciated, and if you're already studying medicine how are you finding it so far?

thank you!

One tip, thats not how you spell medcin

Reply 5

Original post by toadwhisperer3000

Is it worth applying to kcl if you feel you might not have the strongest of stats since it is such an oversubscribed uni?

Possibly, depending on your GCSEs and UKCAT as HMarles said. :smile:

if your UKCAT is in the 650-700 region you'd need really good GCSEs to stand a chance, but with a >750 band 1 UKCAT you could get an interview even with not so good GCSEs.

Reply 6

There is a lot I wish I'd known!

Off the top of my head:

Do the UKCAT in the late summer for the sake of you sanity. Also, I would definitely suggest using medify to practice for the UKCAT.
Practice for the BMAT once you're done with UKCAT; again, for the sake of your sanity.
Personal statement doesn't matter as much as it seems (unless you apply to Bristol)
Do your research about what medical schools look at to select for interview i.e. if you're GCSEs aren't stellar don't bother with places that look a lot at GCSEs and if they're great you may not want to apply to places that look very little at them unless you have a great admissions test score.
Try and talk a lot about what you have personally done in your interview answers rather than more general responses.

That's all I can remember for now.

Hope that helps at least a little :smile:

If you've got any questions, feel free to message me.

Reply 7

username2314589

OP

4

Original post by Roseman

One tip, thats not how you spell medcin

Actually I'm pretty sure it is? Google it :smile:

Reply 8

Original post by Roseman

One tip, thats not how you spell medcin

I hope you're trolling

Reply 9

Original post by StationToStation

Possibly, depending on your GCSEs and UKCAT as HMarles said. :smile:

if your UKCAT is in the 650-700 region you'd need really good GCSEs to stand a chance, but with a >750 band 1 UKCAT you could get an interview even with not so good GCSEs.

I think I've applied to most of the unis you have; I keep seeing you all over the med school forums :smile:

Reply 10

Original post by HMarles

I think I've applied to most of the unis you have; I keep seeing you all over the med school forums :smile:

Haha yeah I remember you username! Did you apply to Exeter too?? It seems like loads of people have gone for the Oxford-Edinburgh-King's combo but the fourth choice seems more random

Reply 11

Original post by StationToStation

Haha yeah I remember you username! Did you apply to Exeter too?? It seems like loads of people have gone for the Oxford-Edinburgh-King's combo but the fourth choice seems more random

Yeh I went for Exeter but not Edinburgh, I applied to St Andrews instead. Probably would have gone Edinburgh had I not got Band 2 on my UKCAT :frown:

Thinking about firming St Andrews, where are you thinking?

By the way apologies to OP for having a conversation here :smile:

Reply 12

Original post by HMarles

Yeh I went for Exeter but not Edinburgh, I applied to St Andrews instead. Probably would have gone Edinburgh had I not got Band 2 on my UKCAT :frown:

Thinking about firming St Andrews, where are you thinking?

By the way apologies to OP for having a conversation here :smile:

Ah yeah, band 2 is a killer at Edinburgh! Congrats on the offers, St Andrews sounds awesome.

I'm not sure yet! Might pick King's if they take me from the waiting list which is quite likely apparently. But we'll see. :smile:

Reply 13

SO to continue where I left off - getting plenty of practice under timed conditions is key for the admissions tests. The past papers you can get for free online are great for the BMAT, but for the UKCAT you should maybe think about getting additional resources like Medify or the 1000Q book. Time is everything, especially in the UKCAT, so try to push yourself to be as quick as possible even when you're practising. Because of the time thing it's important to learn the balance between trying hard enough but also knowing when to let go of a question instead of getting stuck on it, or even skipping it altogether. (With enough repetition you'll learn to recognize the questions that are more time-consuming than others for you.) Getting quick and accurate in mental maths is also important in both tests so maybe start practicing that already by sometimes doing stuff like random two-digit multiplications in your head or doing your homework without a calculator etc. The SJT score in the UKCAT is quite important at many unis even though many applicants don't seem to care about it nearly as much as the other sections - don't ignore it as getting a bad SJT score would restrict your choice of unis by quite a lot!

Reply 14