‘Safe’ choices

Original post by MotherDuck

Trying to help my son filter out options and specifically to find a good ‘safe’ 4th choice.

GCSE - 6x 9s (incl 99 dual science) and 4x 8s
A level predicted A* Spanish, A* chem, A bio

UCAT 2860

Band 1 SJT

Lots of work experience. Week shadowing on wards, volunteering in hospital for 6 months, volunteering in nursing home for a year

So, all good, but not outstanding. Would probably do better at BMAT than UCAT, but wants a more practical, hands on course than most unis who use BMAT.

No contextual help. Was privately educated until state grammar 6th form.

Assume Welsh / Scottish unis are out. Shame as he was keen on Cardiff.

Wants to try King’s, Leeds, Sheffield.

Any recommendations for a 4th? HYMS? Exeter? Plymouth? Newcastle?

Do you think the above three are worth a shot?

Kings, Leeds and Sheffield should be OK, but Sheffield's cut off was 2850 for 2023 entry
Cardiff are essentially a lottery. For non-Welsh applicants they need full GCSEs and many still get rejected, using PS and WP flags to decide, I think. So not worth the risk, I would have thought
Exeter has needed A*A*A* predictions for years, so unless he can get this pushed up, I would avoid
Plymouth and HYMS would be fine.
Newcastle cut off is usually one of the highest, and was around 2830 for 2023 entry

QUB, Manchester, Liverpool, UEA, Birmingham, Leicester, ARU, Aston, Edge Hill, probably Nottingham and Lincoln (I cannot work out your score from the info given), SGUL, Southampton and possibly Barts should also be options. Aberdeen and Dundee are possibles, but there are safer choices.

Reply 4

OP

Helpful, both of you, thanks. What score can’t you see? He got 2860, is there something else missing? 660 -790 indiv scores, VR being the lowest, AR highest,

Do the requirements tend to go up every year? Have to say, he was disappointed with VR as he usually aces that and is a total bookworm!

When borderline, ie Newcastle and Sheffield, will it help when the centiles info is released? Does that help inform decisions? Am trying not to pry and just be grateful that he can have a bit of a break now it’s over. That said, he’s working full time for the rest of the summer, so no chance.

Reply 5

Original post by MotherDuck

Helpful, both of you, thanks. What score can’t you see? He got 2860, is there something else missing? 660 -790 indiv scores, VR being the lowest, AR highest,

Do the requirements tend to go up every year? Have to say, he was disappointed with VR as he usually aces that and is a total bookworm!

When borderline, ie Newcastle and Sheffield, will it help when the centiles info is released? Does that help inform decisions? Am trying not to pry and just be grateful that he can have a bit of a break now it’s over. That said, he’s working full time for the rest of the summer, so no chance.

Have a look at Nottingham's website and you can see how they score things - need the breakdown of subsections to work it out.

Cut offs have been fairly relentlessly rising since 2019, but I am not sure that can continue.
Centiles do not generally change much, bit can help if falling just one side or another, but it is more about whether he likes somewhere enough to take a risk

Reply 6

OP

Thanks again. Am clinging to the faint hope that UCAT scores go down this year.

So, Sheffield seems risky, Leeds is blind and King’s possible. how would he afford to live in London? That’s where the huge loans come in, I suppose.

Have got the full break down now if that makes a difference:

VR 660
DM 710
QR 700
AR 790
SJT B1

Some unis seem to score the top 6 GCSEs, some top 8, some don’t differentiate between 8s and 9s, others do… this is all as clear as mud!

Where is the Holy Grail? The achievable, big enough, but not too big, great location which is vibrant yet safe, integrated course, high student satisfaction scores?

Money’s been tight , and he’s been working at the weekends so we haven’t done any open days yet. Really regret that now.

And, little question after my rant, why not Plymouth?

Will spend some time investigating HYMS and Nottingham / Lincoln as I haven’t got my head around how they operate in two locations.

I will try and leave him to it, but it’s hard! There’s no real help at his school either, which is making me panic.

Reply 7

Original post by MotherDuck

Thanks again. Am clinging to the faint hope that UCAT scores go down this year.

So, Sheffield seems risky, Leeds is blind and King’s possible. how would he afford to live in London? That’s where the huge loans come in, I suppose.

Have got the full break down now if that makes a difference:

VR 660
DM 710
QR 700
AR 790
SJT B1

Some unis seem to score the top 6 GCSEs, some top 8, some don’t differentiate between 8s and 9s, others do… this is all as clear as mud!

Where is the Holy Grail? The achievable, big enough, but not too big, great location which is vibrant yet safe, integrated course, high student satisfaction scores?

Money’s been tight , and he’s been working at the weekends so we haven’t done any open days yet. Really regret that now.

And, little question after my rant, why not Plymouth?

Will spend some time investigating HYMS and Nottingham / Lincoln as I haven’t got my head around how they operate in two locations.

I will try and leave him to it, but it’s hard! There’s no real help at his school either, which is making me panic.

Plymouth should be fine, just forgot to list them!
All as clear as mud, indeed!

Treat Nottingham and Lincoln as two different locations that just select things in the same way. Lincoln generally has a slightly lower cut-off.

And one person’s Holy Grail is another’s poisoned chalice, so it is down to what your son is looking for. Doing open days is no use until you have all your stats, as setting your heart on somewhere that is not achievable, just leads to heartache.

I have been doing this for years, so just ask if you have questions

Reply 8

OP

Thanks, wouldn’t it be easy if they all used the same parameters.

With GCSEs, UCAT, work experience, all things being equal, the heaven’s smiling, wearing his lucky pants etc I’m hoping that if he applies to King’s, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham /HYMS he might have a decent shot at a couple of interviews.

He hasn’t had his final predictions yet, and there is a chance that the bio will go up to an A* too, he was one mark under in the summer exams. But, it sounds as though adding Exeter, if it does go up, it will be adding another one into the ‘stretch’ end.

Reply 9

Original post by MotherDuck

Thanks, wouldn’t it be easy if they all used the same parameters.

Now where would the fun be in that?? :lol:

With GCSEs, UCAT, work experience, all things being equal, the heaven’s smiling, wearing his lucky pants etc I’m hoping that if he applies to King’s, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham /HYMS he might have a decent shot at a couple of interviews.

He hasn’t had his final predictions yet, and there is a chance that the bio will go up to an A* too, he was one mark under in the summer exams. But, it sounds as though adding Exeter, if it does go up, it will be adding another one into the ‘stretch’ end.

I suspect all of those should interview him and if he gets A*A*A* predicted, Exeter would, too.

Sheffield use SJT as a virtual interview station, so his B1 would stand him in good stead for that element and HYMS use it for 10% of post interview scoring.

He should look at where he wants to be, teaching styles, placements, cost of living, etc, but I think it generally comes down to gut feel and most people are happy wherever they end up, if they go into it with a positive mindset.

Reply 10

OP

Thank you again. You have reassured me.

He is a very positive, half glass full kind of guy, so no worries there. Possibly a bit toooo nice, hence my fear of Manch, Liverpool etc.

Good luck to everyone else doing their UCAT soon.

Original post by GANFYD

Kings, Leeds and Sheffield should be OK, but Sheffield's cut off was 2850 for 2023 entry
Cardiff are essentially a lottery. For non-Welsh applicants they need full GCSEs and many still get rejected, using PS and WP flags to decide, I think. So not worth the risk, I would have thought
Exeter has needed A*A*A* predictions for years, so unless he can get this pushed up, I would avoid
Plymouth and HYMS would be fine.
Newcastle cut off is usually one of the highest, and was around 2830 for 2023 entry

QUB, Manchester, Liverpool, UEA, Birmingham, Leicester, ARU, Aston, Edge Hill, probably Nottingham and Lincoln (I cannot work out your score from the info given), SGUL, Southampton and possibly Barts should also be options. Aberdeen and Dundee are possibles, but there are safer choices.

Hello, student from ARU here. If he wants a practical medicine course I do recommend ARU as an option. It’s an excellent university and the facilities are brand new. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and the patient contact we have from year 1 is great exposure. There are open days, the next one is 7 October which is before the deadline for UCAS. I highly recommend that he attends open days generally as you get a much better feel for whether it’s a good fit and also whether the area is somewhere you want to spend the next 5 years. Best of luck with it all

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 12

OP