UCL biomedical science applicants 2023 entry

Just got a rejection today. Still unsure of the exact reasons, I find it somewhat bizarre as I have offers from Imperial and Manchester which require a grade higher. I saw some people earlier in this thread say that they prioritise med/dent/vet med applicants using it as a 5th choice, which was quite surprising to see, don't know if true thou.

I don't find it surprising because med/dent/vet applicants will generally have higher predicted grades (for courses where these matter), are more mature, motivated and capable having seen more of the professional working world than your average school leaver thanks to work experience, and have a better reference from the school because they'll have put in a lot more effort in than the average applicant (though of course not all applicants and there's also nothing wrong with not putting in extra work when you don't have to) to have been able to apply and biomed isn't a degree where you need to be able to demonstrate a passion to be admitted into-- I doubt they're doing it on purpose its just that competitive applicants will generally be the top students in their cohort and the majority of them won't end up on a med/dent/vet course due to how hard it is to get in

Reply 41

Sleuthy

6

Original post by Anonymous

I don't find it surprising because med/dent/vet applicants will generally have higher predicted grades (for courses where these matter), are more mature, motivated and capable having seen more of the professional working world than your average school leaver thanks to work experience, and have a better reference from the school because they'll have put in a lot more effort in than the average applicant (though of course not all applicants and there's also nothing wrong with not putting in extra work when you don't have to) to have been able to apply and biomed isn't a degree where you need to be able to demonstrate a passion to be admitted into-- I doubt they're doing it on purpose its just that competitive applicants will generally be the top students in their cohort and the majority of them won't end up on a med/dent/vet course due to how hard it is to get in

Thank you for your clarification. That is certainly a valid point, and I do understand that. My only query is the genuine biomedical science applicants (ones who have personal statements tailored to the biomedical science courses) show even more motivation to study the course due to how specific the work experience is i.e. laboratory work compared to hospital work experience in Medicine. You simply cannot assume both are the same course due to similar course content as they lead to entirely different professions/roles in different settings. For me demonstrating a passion for a particular subject, is exactly what makes you the perfect applicant and fit for a course. It may seem like a matter of neglect for genuine biomedical science applicants, and it gives us less leeway to actually get into such a course. I know for a fact that Imperial's admissions prioritise such criteria I have mentioned above. It seems like UCL gives a different style of criteria for this course for sure.

Reply 42

Anonymous #4

Original post by Sleuthy

Thank you for your clarification. That is certainly a valid point, and I do understand that. My only query is the genuine biomedical science applicants (ones who have personal statements tailored to the biomedical science courses) show even more motivation to study the course due to how specific the work experience is i.e. laboratory work compared to hospital work experience in Medicine. You simply cannot assume both are the same course due to similar course content as they lead to entirely different professions/roles in different settings. For me demonstrating a passion for a particular subject, is exactly what makes you the perfect applicant and fit for a course. It may seem like a matter of neglect for genuine biomedical science applicants, and it gives us less leeway to actually get into such a course. I know for a fact that Imperial's admissions prioritise such criteria I have mentioned above. It seems like UCL gives a different style of criteria for this course for sure.

we're not admissions tutors so we can only speculate but I absolutely get your point- I believe skills gained from work experience and part time jobs are transferable and hospital work experience would only support ones application to a biomed course and many applicants to competitive courses would most likely have gained experience outside of a hospital setting following the pandemic- the work experience opportunities open to applicants for medicine and biomed courses would be largely the same and the average biomed applicant likely will not have completed as much work experience as the average vet applicant would have so you could even argue that the vet applicant has demonstrated more of a passion for biomed. I completely agree that demonstrating a passion for a course is what makes you a good candidate for the course but biomed does not require an interview like medical courses do showing that it isn't of as much importance to them as we would like which I suspect is because of the lower costs associated with running the course and the significantly lower and less impactful dropout rates. On top of that biomed is allied with medicine in particular and a competitive applicant would be able to sufficiently display an interest in both in a personal statement and I don't it would be fair to not call them 'genuine applicants' as many do put thought into what their fifth course would be knowing that it may very well be their only offer. I think imperial has the right idea here- just like how medical applicants would apply to courses where the admissions criteria suits them so should every other applicant so if you have applied to courses where the admissions criteria suits you there wouldn't be a feeling of 'neglect' but like I said- all speculation. If you want to know why you have been rejected (If you have been) I would recommend asking for feedback from the uni though as a biomed applicant I doubt you would have to face another application cycle

Reply 43

sleep_supremacy

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by Sleuthy

Just got a rejection today. Still unsure of the exact reasons, I find it somewhat bizarre as I have offers from Imperial and Manchester which require a grade higher. I saw some people earlier in this thread say that they prioritise med/dent/vet med applicants using it as a 5th choice, which was quite surprising to see, don't know if true thou.

I’m sorry to hear that :frown:

I got rejected from UCL biomed as well, though I’m holding offers from KCL and Sheffield which require the same grades. Regarding the prioritizing thing, I’m not an admissions officer and I’m not speaking for them, but a lot of med/vet med people with this as their fifth choice did get offers pretty early on. Why this is, I couldn’t say. Still, it is worth noting that competition was insane this year and a lot of capable candidates who met/exceeded the grade requirements would have been rejected simply because there weren’t enough seats :cry:

Reply 44

Anonymous #2

I just got my offer. It was AAA which was quite lower than what I expected. Some of my friends also applied to the same course at UCL, and they all got rejected even though some of them have higher predicted grades than me. I honestly don't know what is going on

Reply 45

applepencil

1

Congrats!!! may I ask what's your predicted grades?

Original post by Anonymous

I just got my offer. It was AAA which was quite lower than what I expected. Some of my friends also applied to the same course at UCL, and they all got rejected even though some of them have higher predicted grades than me. I honestly don't know what is going on

Reply 46

Anonymous #2

Original post by applepencil

Congrats!!! may I ask what's your predicted grades?

It was A*A*AA for Bio, chem, maths and further maths

Reply 47

wagwangenerals

1

is there a gc forsuccessful candidated

No

Original post by T4444

Im applying for dentistry, biomed was my fifth

what were ur stats if u don’t mind me asking? i’m in the same position for 2024 entry waiting to see if ucl will give me an offer. did u just have one dentistry personal statement or did they ask you to send another?

Reply 50

T4444

7

Original post by apocalippies

what were ur stats if u don’t mind me asking? i’m in the same position for 2024 entry waiting to see if ucl will give me an offer. did u just have one dentistry personal statement or did they ask you to send another?

I was predicted 3A*s in Maths, Bio and Chem and an A* in EPQ. I only applied with a dentistry personal statement, they didn’t ask me for a second personal statement specific to biomed

Reply 51

apocalippies

3

Original post by T4444

I was predicted 3A*s in Maths, Bio and Chem and an A* in EPQ. I only applied with a dentistry personal statement, they didn’t ask me for a second personal statement specific to biomed

Okay that makes me feel so relieved. I would strongly consider UCL for biomed if dent doesn’t work out, i’m predicted 4A* but didn’t take maths, do you think that could hinder anything? as i’ve seen they like to see maths.

Reply 52

T4444

7

Original post by apocalippies

Okay that makes me feel so relieved. I would strongly consider UCL for biomed if dent doesn’t work out, i’m predicted 4A* but didn’t take maths, do you think that could hinder anything? as i’ve seen they like to see maths.

I don’t think it will hinder anything because although the course is maths heavy, as well as some elements of A-level maths included, they teach it from scratch