- If you are thinking about applying for medicine,
there is quite a bit more to think about
than other degrees.
(chill music)
The first thing you need to know
is that only four of your five choices
on your UCAS application form can be for medicine.
The reason behind this is to protect you
because the entry requirements for medicine
are so, so high.
If you apply and don't get any offers,
you still got that fifth choice to fall back on
or if you apply, get your offer,
but then don't get your grades,
you still got that fifth insurance choice to fall back on.
When you're picking this fifth choice,
four other ones medicine, and the last one not medicine,
please make it something medical related.
If it is not something medical related,
that is gonna send out massive, massive big red flags
to the people doing the admissions,
and they're going to wonder why you want to be a doctor,
but aren't willing to go
and do something else medical related.
If if you don't get onto your medical course,
you don't actually want to be a doctor anymore,
then you don't have to take up that place,
and you have lots of other options afterwards.
But please make sure that this fifth choice
is something medicine related;
otherwise, it's going to look really weird.
The other important UCAS thing that you need to know:
that the entry deadline for medicine
is much earlier than the entry deadline for other courses.
You have the same entry deadline as Oxford and Cambridge.
That is the 15th of October to get everything in,
so things can happen very, very soon, very, very quickly
after you get back from school.
You have a month to get everything sorted out,
get your references sorted out.
So some when we go back to school in year 13
is not the time to decide you want to apply for medicine.
We need to have started sorting things out
much, much earlier than this.
Less than 10 percent of applications for medicine
actually get offered a place,
so if you want to be one of those 10 percent,
then you need to make sure that your application,
your personal statement, your predicted grades,
and your references really, really stand out.
We need to be thinking about your work experience,
how you can be getting work experience,
what type of work experience is really, really good,
your EPQ, your extended project, your extended essay,
is gonna give you some fantastic things to write about
in your application.
It's gonna give you fantastic things to talk about
in your interviews,
and it's really good of a way
that you can show off your passion.
You need to look at the university entrance requirements,
I have a long, long list of all of these for you,
and decide whether you're going to apply to
the UKCATS or the BMATS, or both of them.
Universities will ask for either
the UKCATS or the BMATS,
so it is not your choice which one you apply for,
but if you pick all the universities
which accept UKCATS,
then you don't need to take the BMATS;
however, chances are you're going to need to take both.
Apply early for your UKCATS
so that you can have your choice of dates.
Do not leave it until you are applying for your UCAS place
because there will not be enough time.
Start getting ready for interviews.
Think about potential questions that could come up.
Do your research on potential questions that could come
and start thinking about answers.
Start thinking about ways that you can
talk about your work experience,
show how much you've got out of it.
Start thinking about ways that you can prove
that you are passionate about medicine.
That being a doctor is your life.
Start thinking about ways you can impress
the person interviewing you.
Start prepping for the UKCATS and the BMATS.
It is going to be a lot of content in there,
a lot of critical thinking in there,
a lot of logic, outside the box thinking,
and how you approach situations.
They are not solely based
on your knowledge from school.
And then the other thing we need to do
before we even start thinking
about filling in our UCAS application form
is going around universities
and deciding where you want to apply.
Which course structure fits you,
which module structure fits you,
whether you're going to be happy at the university,
city, campus, how far away it is from home.
There are lots and lots of things for you to consider.
You have made the difficult decision
that you want to apply for medicine,
and I'm afraid there is a lot of work for you to do.
Ouch.
Love you too, Prim.
(chill music)