So I know it's been a while since I last posted on this blog, so I just thought I'd write an update about what's happened over the last few months.
The first and most important thing: I applied to Medical School! After hours of slaving over my personal statemen and studying for the UKCAT, I finally got it finished and sent off my UCAS form.
I had an interview at one of the universities I applied to in mid-November, and I feel like it went quite well! The panel who interviewed me were lovely and they weren't trying to catch me out - they definitely tried to make me feel at ease, and if I got a bit stuck they wouldn't try and keep pushing and pushing me for an answer if my mind went blank (which unfortunately did happen just once). I felt like I could answer the questions - hopefully it was good enough for me to get in! Fingers crossed.
I also got an offer to study Biochemistry as my backup - hopefully I won't have to take up this offer, but it's still nice to just have one offer when I log onto my UCAS Track page.
I've also obviously got my AS grades - I was really happy with them and they were good enough to allow me to apply to medical school so that was great!
I've started A2! It's quite difficult, but hopefully I can manage it for the rest of the year. I've dropped French and continued with Biology, Chemistry and Maths and they're all so interesting.
It is quite difficult seeing everybody get offers when you know that you're not going to get any offers until around March, but then everybody else who's applying to medicine is in the same boat as you. I'm watching all of the threads for the applicants to my universities on The Student Room, and it can be quite nerve-wracking, especially when you see other people getting interviews at a university you applied to!
I'm trying to keep up to date by reading the BMJ and BBC News, and I follow some of the Medical Schools on twitter, as they sometimes post about the medical research that their university is undertaking.
So that's just a little update about what's going on! Hopefully I'll try to post on here more often - sorry for slacking!
Showing posts with label ukcat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ukcat. Show all posts
Friday, 6 December 2013
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Choosing Unis
Just a quick post because it's quite late and I reeeeeeally need to sleep.
Picking the university that you want to go to is so important, especially for Medicine because everywhere wants different things and they're all so picky! So here's a list of things to look at and questions to ask yourself when you're trying to pick which universities to look at or apply to.
1. What grades do they want? There's no point applying to somewhere like Birmingham if you don't have exceptional GCSEs (a good number of A*s, especially in all sciences, Maths and English) however, universities like Newcastle don't even consider your GCSE grades. It'a good idea to look at what they want in case you don't have it, because if you don't have the right GCSEs it's straight to the "no" pile. Play to your strengths when looking at universities.
2. What A level subjects do they want? Some universities require specific AS grades, whereas some don't mind. Some Chemistry and Biology to A2, whereas some only want Chemistry. Some want Maths AS, some don't. Check which subjects they want to make sure you don't end up stuck taking the wrong subjects.
3. What kind of course do they offer? There are different types of Medicine course: PBL, Integrated, Traditional, systems-based... You need to decide what best suits you to make sure that you'll learn well when you go there, so definitely look into these options.
4. How much work experience do they want? If they want loads of experience but you only have a few days then don't apply, however if they say that they want just some experience in a healthcare setting then if you have that, go for it! Universities definitely understand that not everybody can get work experience in a hospital so anything is good! Hospices, old peoples homes, etc.
5. UKCAT/BMAT? Check to see if they want these things. You'll need to start practicing and book early to make sure that you're ready for it, because sometimes these exams can be the deciding factor. So check this first, and if you think you'll be bad at it, try to look at other universities that don't want it (Birmingham, Bristol...)
6. What's the city like? When you visit the university definitely go and visit the city because you may love the university but hate the city, and don't forget you have to go and live in that city after your first year.
7. Application process? Once you've chosen where you want to apply, it's worth checking their application processes just to make sure that you know what you're letting yourself in for, and which things they focus on more in their application. Southampton, for example, doesn't interview so you'd have to make your personal statement fantastic in order to apply there. Just get an idea of how they do things, and a good way to do this is to either email the university or find out at their open day.
These are just a few of the things you should look at. Of course there are others, but these are the questions that I've been asking myself recently about the universities that I've seen.
I hope that this helps!
Picking the university that you want to go to is so important, especially for Medicine because everywhere wants different things and they're all so picky! So here's a list of things to look at and questions to ask yourself when you're trying to pick which universities to look at or apply to.
1. What grades do they want? There's no point applying to somewhere like Birmingham if you don't have exceptional GCSEs (a good number of A*s, especially in all sciences, Maths and English) however, universities like Newcastle don't even consider your GCSE grades. It'a good idea to look at what they want in case you don't have it, because if you don't have the right GCSEs it's straight to the "no" pile. Play to your strengths when looking at universities.
2. What A level subjects do they want? Some universities require specific AS grades, whereas some don't mind. Some Chemistry and Biology to A2, whereas some only want Chemistry. Some want Maths AS, some don't. Check which subjects they want to make sure you don't end up stuck taking the wrong subjects.
3. What kind of course do they offer? There are different types of Medicine course: PBL, Integrated, Traditional, systems-based... You need to decide what best suits you to make sure that you'll learn well when you go there, so definitely look into these options.
4. How much work experience do they want? If they want loads of experience but you only have a few days then don't apply, however if they say that they want just some experience in a healthcare setting then if you have that, go for it! Universities definitely understand that not everybody can get work experience in a hospital so anything is good! Hospices, old peoples homes, etc.
5. UKCAT/BMAT? Check to see if they want these things. You'll need to start practicing and book early to make sure that you're ready for it, because sometimes these exams can be the deciding factor. So check this first, and if you think you'll be bad at it, try to look at other universities that don't want it (Birmingham, Bristol...)
6. What's the city like? When you visit the university definitely go and visit the city because you may love the university but hate the city, and don't forget you have to go and live in that city after your first year.
7. Application process? Once you've chosen where you want to apply, it's worth checking their application processes just to make sure that you know what you're letting yourself in for, and which things they focus on more in their application. Southampton, for example, doesn't interview so you'd have to make your personal statement fantastic in order to apply there. Just get an idea of how they do things, and a good way to do this is to either email the university or find out at their open day.
These are just a few of the things you should look at. Of course there are others, but these are the questions that I've been asking myself recently about the universities that I've seen.
I hope that this helps!
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