University of Birmingham A100 2021 Entry

Find this so confusing, so with full
GCSE points non contextual, what you you have to get in UCAT to be safe?

Nobody can say for sure. Birmingham have changed their scoring system this year and may attract more applicants who have contextual points. There is no limit to the number of contextual students they will interview either so applicants who do not qualify for any contextual points do need to be careful.

As a guide last year’s cut off for non contextual was about 8.6 which equated to the 7th decile on their UCAT table. Even with full GCSE points to be safe I would want to be in the top 3 deciles, which equates to about a 680 average on their conversion table.

Remember this is based on last year’s applicants so if you are close to the decile thresholds you may move up or down to the next decile depending on the strength of this year’s applicants.

Have you tried the calculator?

Nobody can say for sure. Birmingham have changed their scoring system this year and may attract more applicants who have contextual points. There is no limit to the number of contextual students they will interview either so applicants who do not qualify for any contextual points do need to be careful.

As a guide last year’s cut off for non contextual was about 8.6 which equated to the 7th decile on their UCAT table. Even with full GCSE points to be safe I would want to be in the top 3 deciles, which equates to about a 680 average on their conversion table.

Remember this is based on last year’s applicants so if you are close to the decile thresholds you may move up or down to the next decile depending on the strength of this year’s applicants.

Nobody can say for sure. Birmingham have changed their scoring system this year and may attract more applicants who have contextual points. There is no limit to the number of contextual students they will interview either so applicants who do not qualify for any contextual points do need to be careful.

As a guide last year’s cut off for non contextual was about 8.6 which equated to the 7th decile on their UCAT table. Even with full GCSE points to be safe I would want to be in the top 3 deciles, which equates to about a 680 average on their conversion table.

Remember this is based on last year’s applicants so if you are close to the decile thresholds you may move up or down to the next decile depending on the strength of this year’s applicants.

Do you know what the cut off is for contextual schools ?

I have scored full points on GCSEs,
Am a contextual School student
Have a UCAT score ~ 650 STJ 2
My Polar4QUINTILE score is 4

This gives me a score of 7.333 .

Are you sure the UCAT cutoff is the 7th decile I thought UOB aren't that UCAT focused ? That seems a little tight tbh

I just did UCAT and got 650 STJ Band 1.

My GCSEs are six 9s and three 8s,

I have 3 months work experience in a nursing home with barrier nursing.

My predicted A level grades are A*A*A* .

I am a contextual school and my Polar4QUINTILE score is 4.

Do I stand a good chance of getting an offer ?

An interview offer you mean? You would have got one for 2020 entry, but they have changed their selection process, so it’s hard to call as we more people may be aware of and therefore attracted by the AAB contextual offer, therefore driving up cut offs. You have probably got safer options so it will depend how much you really want to go to Birmingham.

I really want to go Birmingham. Why isn't my offer safe as such ? Someone who went to the same school as me who entered for 2019 got a UCAT score of 2580 , STJ band 2 , and scored about 22.5 on their GCSE points on the calculator whereas I have 24. They received a place.

It's dangerous to compare 2019 entry to 2021. The 2019 contextual cut off was ridiculously low. They probably recognised this and subsequently dropped the A*AA grade requirement and introduced AAB contextual offer in 2020 and have made further changes for the 2021 selection process.

As i said if you really want to go there put it as one of your selections. I think you may be ok with your stats but there are no guarantees.

True with no guarantees. I have put my score into the calculator and get a 7.333 and I've been told the cut-off was 6.5 for contextuals ? Also, because 20% of places are ALWAYS offered to contextual students, I'm not really competing with the other 80% who go to grammar schools etc, but rather the 20% who go to state schools.

They have published their cuts offs - it was 7.03 for contextuals last year

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-mds/medical-school/Application-Statistics-Medicine.pdf

BUT the selection process has changed, the 20% is not a thing anymore. There is no limit to the number of contextualised applicants they will interview so you are competing with everyone. They will simply interview the top x scorers to fill their interview places regardless of whether they are contextual or not.

I have written to the unis that I'm interested in for exactly these stats but they're very busy trying to sort out this year's mess but you would happen to have similar latest (2019-2020 stats applicant numbers, interviews and offeres etc) for Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Sheffield and Southampton?

Big ask but PLEASE go ahead and slap me down if I have overstepped the mark! haha

You need to search their web sites and FOI requests. If you look on the 'which medicine school' thread the answers are also probably the last few pages.

You need to search their web sites and FOI requests. If you look on the 'which medicine school' thread the answers are also probably the last few pages.

They have published their cuts offs - it was 7.03 for contextuals last year

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-mds/medical-school/Application-Statistics-Medicine.pdf

BUT the selection process has changed, the 20% is not a thing anymore. There is no limit to the number of contextualised applicants they will interview so you are competing with everyone. They will simply interview the top x scorers to fill their interview places regardless of whether they are contextual or not.

Are contextual students treated equally as international / grammar with the threshold ? Is the threshold meant to go up ?

Can you please give the source of where the 20% thing isn't in place anymore ?

grammar yes, internationals compete amongst themselves for a limited number of places

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/medical-school/applying-to-medicine/selection-for-interview.aspx - open the selection for interview section...

We will apply the following selection process to all standard applicants:

Applications will receive an overall score, which is the sum of weighted scores for each of three components: academic, UCAT and contextual

The inclusion of a contextual element to the score replaces our previous method of assigning 20% of interview places to contextual applicants

The weightings will be: 45% academic, 30% UCAT and 25% contextual

We will not score your personal statement, but you must offer evidence of commitment to medicine (see 'Preparing to Apply')