ucat

Hi im a student in S6 and want to apply for medicine. I just did my ucat and unfortunately scored 1740 band 1 :// For Highers and NAT 5 i got all As. I really want to go to Aberdeen for medicine but considering my UCAT being so low im worried i wont be able to get an offer this year. I would really appreciate some advice. (im also so scottish and I am only going to be applying for scottish unis)

Hello, I'm a Scottish student applied for Med last year and first of all congratulations on getting all As at Nat 5 and Higher! This will already put you in a position above a lot of people applying.
As for your UCAT it's not a great score, I won't lie, but I will say that in my year I knew several people with very low UCATs who got into Aberdeen and this was without being contextual and with Bs at Higher. I would also look at Dundee and St Andrews as unis that are not that competitive for Scottish students.
You also got a great SJT score so that's another reason I think Aberdeen might be feasible because I know someone who had a poor cognitive score like you but had a B1 and she got into Aberdeen 😁.
I would also see where you are eligible for contextual considerations and maybe look at some Gateway programs if you are open to that since those tend to have less focus on the UCAT. This is more of a backup than anything because you can always redo the UCAT and reapply the normal way if worst comes to worst.
At this stage there is nothing you can do about your score so focus on just applying strategically, writing a killer PS and ACING those interviews. Especially for Aberdeen I think interviews are a big part of offers. Focus on what you can control and you'll be in a great position.
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with any other parts of your application, I'd love to help and best of luck xx

Hey I’m in a very similar position, just sat my ucat and got a better cognitive score (1940 b2) but lower sjt with all As at N5 and highers. I have no clue as to prep for interviews or not my due to the less competitive ucat and wonder if being reach eligible and widening access may improve my chances or not. I want really an offer from any med schools in Scotland, preference for Edinburgh but ik my ucat is too low to apply, do you think I should be taking a gap year since I messed up my ucat ?

Hello, if you have all As and you are widening access I think you are in a very good spot! My advice would be to just apply this year and pick the schools you want - there's only five in Scotland anyway so regardless of whether you think your ucat is too low just go for it! Your ucat is exactly 5th based on preliminary deciles so I think it could go up to 6th after the final ones are released. Your sjt is also not too bad as a lot of people get b3.
I think there's no point not applying this year - best case scenario you get in and you don't have to take a gap year and worst case scenario you don't get in and you are in the same spot of having to take a gap year and reapply, but I don't think you should just give up at this stage and waste a year.
Definitely send in your application and best of luck xx Feel free to ask if you need any more advice for interview prep

Alright thanks for the advice , also if you don’t mind me asking, do you think I should begin interview practice at this stage alongside preparing my p.s. (which I haven’t started writing yet) or rather solely focus on p.s. for now ?, Thanks
kind regards, Fayaaz.

No problem x
I would recommend getting a first draft of your PS done at this stage because it's quite close to the deadline now (15th Oct) and your school might have an internal deadline earlier than that.
After you have a first draft I wouldn't worry about it too much because for Scottish schools PS doesn't matter too too much for most of them.
Interview prep and PS writing can go hand in hand — you'll need to reflect on experiences and think about qualities that brings to Medicine, why do you want to be a doctor, etc. So writing a good PS will definitely help your interview as well.
I would say do some theory (like reading books and learning about medical ethics, watching videos on YouTube about mock interviews and formats, MMI, panel, etc. The Medic Portal website is great for this and The Aspiring Medics YT) and then once your UCAS is off you can begin thinking about practicing more and arranging mocks.
Definitely do not leave it until you have an interview offer because most unis only give you 1-2 weeks MAX (one of my friends had like a few days notice I think), so just act as though you have an interview offer as soon as you send your UCAS off 😁.
Hope that helps xx

No problem x
I would recommend getting a first draft of your PS done at this stage because it's quite close to the deadline now (15th Oct) and your school might have an internal deadline earlier than that.
After you have a first draft I wouldn't worry about it too much because for Scottish schools PS doesn't matter too too much for most of them.
Interview prep and PS writing can go hand in hand — you'll need to reflect on experiences and think about qualities that brings to Medicine, why do you want to be a doctor, etc. So writing a good PS will definitely help your interview as well.
I would say do some theory (like reading books and learning about medical ethics, watching videos on YouTube about mock interviews and formats, MMI, panel, etc. The Medic Portal website is great for this and The Aspiring Medics YT) and then once your UCAS is off you can begin thinking about practicing more and arranging mocks.
Definitely do not leave it until you have an interview offer because most unis only give you 1-2 weeks MAX (one of my friends had like a few days notice I think), so just act as though you have an interview offer as soon as you send your UCAS off 😁.
Hope that helps xx

Hey sorry to bother you, I'm non contextual, got 1920 band 2 on my ucat. I have all As at nat 5, 6 As at higher and am also doing 4 advanced highers. I saw the ucat cutoff for Glasgow 2024 entry was 2450 and in 2023 2440, I'm also applying to Edi (they use weighting system), St Andrews and Aberdeen. Do u think I might have a chance at getting in somewhere, thanks so much!!! x

You're not bothering me at all.
You're grades are amazing and you're UCAT is by no means bad! I think you definitely have a chance at getting into multiple Scottish schools even. Definitely apply and focus on acting your interviews.
Best of luck, let me know if you need any more advice xx

So sorry for my delayed reply Thank you so so much thats made me feel a lot better!!! Btw I saw u got into Cambridge Mashallah Allah humabarik thats amazing may Allah grant you so much success I can't imagine how much hard work that would have required!!! Also I'm sorry to keep asking questions but do u by chance know anyone that was got into Edi uni with the old scoring system around 2530ish because thats around about what my ucat is. I know Edi uses a weighing process so I hope my grades can bring me up but people have said u need around 2700 for an acceptance even tho in Edis admission stats show he lowest was around 2200s (contextual I'm guessing) but even with 10% extra top up their score would be in 2400s. Also do u think my score would be enough for glasgow interview? So sorry again for my one billion questions