The UCAS 'chat' thread for all 2009 hopeful medics...

because it's a ridiculous system.

candidate A: good personal statement, good reference, plenty of work experience, plenty of voluntary work. but underperformed in the bmat (in my case by 1 mark in the whole exam)

candidate B: not as good PS and average reference, not a lot of work experience/voluntary work, and probably just passed the academic screening. however, he managed to gain slightly above average marks in the bmat and subsequently is called for an interview.

who would you pick for an interview?

because it's a ridiculous system.

candidate A: good personal statement, good reference, plenty of work experience, plenty of voluntary work. but underperformed in the bmat (in my case by 1 mark in the whole exam)

candidate B: not as good PS and average reference, not a lot of work experience/voluntary work, and probably just passed the academic screening. however, he managed to gain slightly above average marks in the bmat and subsequently is called for an interview.

who would you pick for an interview?

To save a lot of effort on terpineol's part, I may as well just direct you to his earlier post. This outlines exactly why a medical school won't view every application as thoroughly as you want them to

ah right, i guess that's fair enough.

but i'm still angry lol...

You can have a hug. We all know you're awesome!

Give them a break. Even reading your rant is doing my head in.

I didn't ask you to read it, so frankly I don't care if I did your head in.

They didn't ask you to read their rejections and complaints. Neither did they ask you to be an admissions officer.

And if they shouldn't care why even get your point across in the first place?

Talking to yourself?

They didn't ask you to read their rejections and complaints. Neither did they ask you to be an admissions officer.

And if they shouldn't care why even get your point across in the first place?

Talking to yourself?

I'm not trying to be an admissions officer. But I do know that if they're going to curse and throw their toys out of their pram if they get a rejection then they're going to be a nervous wreck seeing as many people fail exams in their training multiple times over

No I'm not talking to myself, but it was pretty immature to start tantrumming. I don't know why you care so much.

Stop cursing them because they didn't want you for their medical school. Of course they've read your PS. You seem quite arrogant to me, if you got a rejection they didn't want you at their medical school, just because your PS is good enough for one university doesn't mean it is for another. Were there any circumstances as to why you didn't get the grades at AS? If not, I have no sympathy really. We all have to get good grades, a good PS and ultimately it lies down to that 15 minutes in the interview room. Do you think you're a special case?

In all fairness, they want mature applicants. Applicants who don't start throwing a tantrum like that because someone doesn't think they're good enough. Now shush and learn to cope with things like this.



Well they're really quite within their right to reject you based on those grades. I mean what if you didn't meet their offer? But if they said that your PS wasn't good enough, then your PS wasn't good enough. It's simple, really.

Do you think it's different for any other applicant on here? We all have wanted to do medicine, we all have worked hard and it all comes down to 15 minutes, sometimes 10. What do you expect?

yes i had extenuating circumstances as to why i got the as grades, which were very very very serious at the time. do you honestly think i would even bother applying to medicine had i not had those circumstances? for god's sake when i phoned the admissions departments before applying they were surprised i was even carrying on with a2 so you have absolutely no right to judge me on my academics when you have absolutely no idea what i have been through. and due to the seriousness of this case, i was given special consideration by the exam boards but my other unis thought this was not good enough so still took my circumstances into account whereas when i phoned uea up before applying they said exam board consideration should suffice. at the end of the day uea probably thought i was too "messed up" to apply and didnt want someone like me on their course - thank god for more understanding unis. uea claim to care and to consider each application carefully - i dont think so - they probably saw my grades and ukcat and binned it. the other unis recommended that i resit as and they would have considered me the same but i was determined to do it in 2 years because uea said that they wouldnt considre me if i did it over 3 so you can imagine why i was so annoyed at the rejection after sacrificing so much for them - then again i dont expect you to understand anythign as you are a narrow minded naive 17 year old who has no understanding of what difficulties people can be faced with when applying. not all of us have sparkling grades and an easy ride into med - some of us actually have to overcome barriers that you cant even imagine but i dont expect you to understand that. the other thing with me that is different is i cannot reapply to medicine, unlike most people - this is my one and only shot so every rejection hurts a lot more than what it should. and graduate entry just isnt an option for me - no way in hell could i afford it!

and for the record, uea are interviewing people with pharmacy/optometry statements according to other med applicants. one of my friends has tailored his ps to neuroscience and managed to get an interview as well and is now boasting about it. these people only applied on the off chance of getting interview. so yes i am angry, i am bitter, i may be acting immature but i believe that uea have honestly cocked things up well and truly this year. if you look at nmm you'll see what i mean - why should i learn to cope with this? their system is flawed and i think come april they would have realised this.

you also have no right to comment on my maturity either. again you dont know the obstacle si have had to face and you know nothing about me. i have had to deal with things that not veen grown up adults have had to deal with which is why my other unis were probably so understanding. at least now i know that the other unis i applied to will take me seriously and bother reading my whole applicatiopn. if i get a rejection from them i wont be so annoyed because they would have had a good reason to reject me if they think im not good enough. the thing that has upset me with uea is the way they dealth with everything - im going to appeal this decision as i believe i wasnt treated fairly if i end up getting 2 more rejections

Ooo...Lots of buzzwords. "Extenuating circumstances", "obstacles" etc..

@Adream: Maybe I'll see you at Kings.

and what is that supposed to mean? - if you are implying that im lying you deserve the rejections for your own insolence and lack of understanding of humans. in fact in my eyes you do seems incredibly arrogant and narrow minded - just like another poster

Oh the irony.

At any rate, looks like the unis are already ahead of ya'.

Oh and that other poster, has 4 interviews and one offer. I'd listen to her.