Applying to medical school - what unis?

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I was going to post this on a more suitable forum (The Student Room) then I realised that they were all morons so I decided to post on a more mature site where people aren’t up their own arse. Just like the motoring section on that website.

I have a huge passion for medicine (and cars obviously) and I really want to apply to medical school, but with neither of my parents going to uni, or theirs, and nobody in my family being a UK based doctor, I don’t know where to start or where to apply to university, or what to aim to specialise in.

I come from a single parent household, my mum works ridiculous hours and doesn’t earn enough, we rely on child support from my dad. I am on government funding (LIH) and the school also believes I have mild Asperger’s and ADHD for which I received GCSE provisions but I don’t really think I do have that and I am also worried it will bite me on the ass so I never went to see a doctor. I am stating all of this because will it give me help when applying to uni? School said I might be able to go on lower entry requirements.

I received DBS clearance and I’m starting volunteering at my local hospital. I’m also looking for a part time job to support my mum and earn some extra cash for driving lessons (savings are drying up fast)
Did anyone on PH do Medicine at university and would you recommend any universities?

(It might seem like an early post, but our school is starting early applicants for courses like mine. My school also has no help with medicine because barely anyone at my school went on to do it. Academy state school)


Thanks

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elanfan said:

I think it’s brilliant of you to have decided you want to be a doctor despite the various challenges put in front of you. All power to you!

I quite literally owe my life to the medical profession and could have passed on 5 years ago. I am very grateful to one particular vascular surgeon even though I’ve been left disabled.

I’m going to drop you a PM for some of your details. I will chip in £50 towards your driving lessons which hopefully will give you a bunk up. Maybe there are others here that are grateful to doctors and who might also offer a few quid to help out.

I’m not looking for any thanks but would love it if you came back to us and let us know how you are getting on. Good luck!

Edit:

Can you enable your email so I can contact you please.

Edited by elanfan on Sunday 2nd February 01:07

WOW I am so grateful for this but please! Don’t worry about it!! Driving lessons are a second priority anyway and my Dad has decided to help me.

I am however so touched by this gesture, thank you for the offer

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Thanks everyone for the help it’s much appreciated

I feel like I should make it clear though that I am lucky to have a dad with a good profession who provides monetary support to me out of choice and is not a total st. Without him I would’t be anywhere, I wouldn’t even have a car for starters, and I would still be in a council home (during the time we weren’t in contact with my dad we lived in a council home in a poor part of the country)

Thus I feel bad as this thread looks like a sob story when it shouldn’t be. I however am very grateful and touched by the members on this website!

My mum wants me to stay home, I don’t really have a problem with moving but I want to be quite close to my family so I wouldn’t consider Scotland etc.

Maybe 2-3 hours away, but obviously for Medical school I have to take what I can get and this is not really a factor. But if I have the choice that’s what I want to do.

A doctor I got in touch with suggested I do a preliminary year to help me get in to medical school. I am not a complete airhead dreamer but I do struggle sometimes with remembering everything I learn and motivation [to study A level] as I get easily distracted. I only barey obtained “A” grades at GCSE in Biology, Chemistry and Maths with “B” grades in every other subject. And I know for medical school you need A* across the board. Especially now the new scaling means there are A** grades. Which means I was very disappointed.

I’ve been to a couple of “open days” now. I visited a conference in Nottingham with a couple of others where many medical schools were present, and then an industry run course at Kings’ College. Proper open days are starting soon as well, so I’m hoping to visit a few of those too.

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knk said:

I went to Leeds (albeit graduating more than 25yrs ago).
Great city, great medical school.

But any that will take you, the ground is very different to when I went to interview, talked about rugby and beer, and was offered a place as long as I got BBC grades, or unconditional for London.

I ended up missing my great offer to Exeter (by a large margin). A mixture of struggling with A-level chemistry, being fked by COVID, and missing school for health reasons.

Decided against resitting (due to a grudge against my secondary school for the way I was treated), decided to try my hand at a transfer to medicine course instead.

I’m currently on a Biomedical Sciences transfer to medicine course. I need to get a first class this year (above 70%) in order to be able to move to medical school next year.

Currently within that margin, but who knows whether I’ve “ jinxed” it now

Applying to Sheffield, King’s College, Manchester, St. George’s, haven’t decided on the last yet. Only one of those is Medicine

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QuickQuack said:

VS02 said:

I ended up missing my great offer to Exeter (by a large margin). A mixture of struggling with A-level chemistry, being fked by COVID, and missing school for health reasons.

Decided against resitting (due to a grudge against my secondary school for the way I was treated), decided to try my hand at a transfer to medicine course instead.

I’m currently on a Biomedical Sciences transfer to medicine course. I need to get a first class this year (above 70%) in order to be able to move to medical school next year.

Currently within that margin, but who knows whether I’ve “ jinxed” it now

Applying to Sheffield, King’s College, Manchester, St. George’s, haven’t decided on the last yet. Only one of those is Medicine

Damn, I wish I'd seen your post at the time back in 2020, I might even have been able to help with the chemistry!

Don't lose heart if you're set on medicine and you're capable (sounds like you are). I graduated in 2001 having started at Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1995 (before it was swallowed up by the UCH/UCL empire) and over the past few years, and I've mentored several kids with no medical or academic backgrounds into medicine both directly and via BMS transfer. Feel free to drop me a line if you want a chat.

I have 2 chances to get in to Medicine, one to start this year at Sheffield and the other, a possible opportunity to apply to study at the University of Liverpool but that is not guaranteed regardless of mark, and it is also for 2023 entry, which is quite a long time since my A-levels, corresponding to two years of missed time, that is nearly as long as most people’s bachelor’s degree.

I am faced with the prospect of not getting in again this year, this means that I have had to consider what I want to do next.

I have already decided against biomedical sciences, I just feel it is not for me and I am not particularly enjoying the course material, although it may be unfair to come to this conclusion before the end of even the first year. Also, I have not really particularly fitted in much at the university where I am, I have had an OK but quite boring time but I feel I could improve my experience elsewhere.

Going off the content I researched for my dissertation that I presented for one of the Sutton Trust programmes as well as my EPQ, I have decided for my backup choices to apply to more epidemiologically oriented courses.

I tried finding epidemiologists to tell me more but I couldn’t find much. A quick browse of The Student Room (I guarantee barely anyone on PH is on The Student Room too hahah, its a forum populated by a fair few truly awful people in my opinion), but excusing my bias towards it, apparently Epidemiology is a module common in most Medicine degrees in the UK and is considered irrelevant?


What would your opinion towards this be? My intention is at the moment to study postgraduate Medicine after doing this degree anyway if it all goes to st, regardless I am interested in becoming a doctor of epidemiology anyway? Obviously not having started any degrees related to that yet, I don’t know, but it seems interesting. Does an NHS employed epidemiologist benefit from a medicine degree?

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gangzoom said:

If you are losing interest in Biomedical Sciences already you need to decide if you are serious about pursuing a career in medicine. As some people have already suggested if you want to be a good/successful doctor you have to be prepared for the job to become the most important thing in your life second only to your most close relatives.

Assessing if you have the mental determination to get through the worst parts of the job is what partly the application teams are looking for, and saying you 'gave up' on a Biomedical Sciences course because you got bored of it isn't going to score many points if at all.

Thank you for your words. Regarding this part I should clarify better that it is the analytical chemistry and related lab work side of the biomedical sciences which I have not been enjoying. Currently doing an immunology module which is great.

When you were at university studying Medicine, were you able to keep a good work/life balance?

Re: the last part, I am on a transfer course so as long as I get the 70% I am on the university’s pathway to studying Medicine at the partner school (Sheffield). Best not to mention BMS then I assume?

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2 years after posting this thread, I flunked my A-levels for all sorts of reasons. Part of the blame on me I will accept but there was a lot of extenuating circumstances that I don’t want to go in to too much detail about

Not knowing what to do next… I had the option to retake Year 13 or study a foundation year in Biomedical Sciences and really knuckle down and try and get into Medicine. Had to try and get 70% in …

Well I’m glad to report the hardest task is over.

It’s not official yet (official manuscript hasn’t been published) but my results are in, and I managed to get above 70%!!!!!!!!! Thanks to a surprise fluke in my final chemistry exam! Hopefully I haven’t jinxed it but if my calculations are all right, (got three others to calculate it too exactly according to how I was told by head lecturer)

Over the moon is an understatement.
I now can take up offers from Sheffield to read Epidemiology, Manchester to read Public Health and Bath to read Sport and Exercise Science if I choose not to go to read Medicine.
Now for the next bit, to actually apply to the course. All of us who achieve above 70% have been guaranteed an interview to read medicine at the University of Sheffield.

There is one massive cock up I made that might undermine the whole situation, but regardless I am still pleased that I met the grades anyway. It makes up for my tragic A Levels and actually gives me a second chance academically. I genuinely think I would be dead if I went back to sixth form for another year as I really struggled in every way. Uni was fantastic in comparison.


The cock up was that

We were supposed to apply for *4* Ucas choices in January and then leave one place blank in the case we achieved 70%, so we can fill that space with the application to Medicine at Sheffield.

Stupid me followed those instructions, then completely forgot while drunk and alone in my room, then applied to a course I knew nothing about (Sport and Exercise Science) for a laugh. Seriously you can’t make this up, to say my mum was fuming at me was an understatement …. I don’t think anyone could have been more idiotic in their life ever. Unforgivably stupid !

Luckily for me (My mum would never let me hear the end of it otherwise), I had applied to Sheffield for another course. I now have to pray that the admissions officer at Sheffield takes pity on me and allows me to change my course to Medicine. Because otherwise, I don’t think I could even look at a bottle of Tanqueray ever again.


Now, once the manuscript is here, regardless of whether I got in to medicine or not, time to treat myself to that 330i I always wanted because I did it!

Edited by VS02 on Wednesday 8th June 01:50

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QuickQuack said:

That's a great result, well done! Have you managed to sweet talk the admissions officer at Sheffield? Do let us know!

I'm sorry I missed the epidemiology question, I only drop into this forum very occasionally. I'm glad others answered though and feel free to PM at any time.

Well, sort of. They gave me an ultimatum; I can choose to take up a Public Health offer and not do medicine, but be safe;

Or forego my offers to apply to Medicine through a special process called UCAS Extra (if you decline all offers, you can apply to 1 course of your liking). If I fail the interview or the UCAT (last time round, I did well enough), then I am screwed and have nothing.

I took a risk and I went for the second choice. Just handed in my medicine application a few hours ago. I am guaranteed an interview. Binned off searching for a car, a holiday and getting plastered with my mates for a little while; time to go full study mode for the next month and concentrate on getting a solid UCAT score, and honing my interview skills.




Spoke to admissions officer; there are 20 places or thereabouts to distribute between the Biomedical/clinical science students from the 2 partner Universities, Sheffield Hallam where I “went” (studied pretty much everything online) and Bradford. Spoke to my course leader. Apparently there are 8 students from FY applying and 2 from first year, so assuming there are more from Bradford competition will be high.

I wasnt motivated before as I thought I would fail but I’ve done the hardest part now so I just need to be confident and then I can reach my goals.

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loafer123 said:

Good luck - real commitment shown!

You may already use this...?

https://www.medify.co.uk/ucat

Yep, I use medify, excellent resource