Graduate
Entry and Mature Applicants to Medicine FAQ: A guide for the chronologically
challenged
aka
“The Mature FAQ”
Maintained by Alexis Manning alexismanning@googlemail.com
Last updated: 05/10/07
This document is available in HTML format on http://www.geocities.com/alexism1974/maturefaq.htm.
The HTML version may look a little uglier and have some typos since it has been automatically converted from Word. The current Word document is available on request but will look pretty much the same ;)
Please direct any contributions or comments to the email address above. Copyright held by the respective contributors. No portion of this document may be reproduced without prior permission.
Recent change history:
05/10/07: Major revamp
21/08/06: More UKCAT info added; DoH bursary amounts updated;
13/07/06: OU no longer offers ST240,
suggest S205 instead; GAMSAT cutoffs, ACER url and fees updated; Info on Scottish funding courtesy of
Megan; Bank loan section updated – URLs fixed, amounts updated; Brief coverage
of UKCAT added; uni requirements updated from Medschoolsonline; George’s no longer accept grad applicants
for the 5 year course; Oxford GEP entry exam info removed since they will use
UKCAT; Practical advice for those applying after temporarily working abroad
courtesy of MedicMark; Updated funding section for
‘new system’ of fee loans/grants.
29/12/05: Uni
place numbers updated from Medschoolsonline; Notts will not accept grad applicants for their 5 year
course; HYMS accept OU quals; reinstated some info
that was damaged in the prettification; updated Warwick entrance requirements;
new Irish graduate entry courses info from Teacher; private med schools section
updated to indicate current GMC status; info on Oxford GEP entry exam; updated
current funding status snafu for grads.
21/09/05: Graduates may not be
eligible to have their 3K/yr course fees deferred until after they graduate,
noted for 2006 applicants to be aware.
Contents
3. Appropriate work experience
4. Which kind of course should I apply for?
5c. Course
structure and teaching styles
5d.
Where should I apply if I have a 2:2 or below?
5e.
Alternative entrance methods
5e2.
Overseas universities with a UK site
6c. Taking Access to Medicine courses
7b.
Tuition fees / top-up fees.
7d.
Maintenance grant and Uni bursaries
7e.
Maintenance loan (aka ‘student loan for maintenance’)
8a.
Can I apply for GEP courses?
8b.
I am a UK national. I must
automatically be considered a Home student, right?
8c.
What is ordinary residence?.
8c1.
Exception: Working/Studying abroad temporarily
8c2.
Exception: Resident in the EEA
8c3.
Further unusual exceptions.
8c4.
My ears are bleeding and I still don’t understand
8d.
Am I eligible for the DoH bursary?
11a.
Criminal Records Background checks
11b.
Hepatitis B and other vaccinations
14. Useful places for more info
Other guides for mature/graduate applicants
General guides to medical applications /
careers
Introduction
There’s a lack of available
information for mature and graduate would-be
You should treat it as a
starting point for your own investigations – while I make every effort to keep
the information updated, the medical schools are constantly changing their
requirements and policies, often without publicising these changes on their
websites and prospectuses. I also rely
heavily on submissions and comments from readers, some of whom will be better
informed than others. I do make an
effort to filter out unsubstantiated rumour from fact, but errors are bound to
slip through.
Please feel free to contact
me with any comments or suggestions, particularly if you see something you
believe to be incorrect. Ideally, please
provide a web or prospectus source for your information if possible
Be aware that the info in
here may quickly become dated, this is a particular
risk with regards to the sections that deal with funding. Much of the content consists of people’s
opinions; if you disagree with any comment please feel free to submit your
contribution so a more balanced viewpoint can be given. No responsibility is taken for the result of
following any of the advice given in this document, implied or explicit -- this
is all free advice and worth every penny you paid for it! J
Major contributors: Smiley,
Squeak, Xmas
Contributors: Adnan,
Clarkey, Daedalus, Dr Nick
Prettified by: Sparky
Thanks also for comments and suggestions to: Bufforpington, Canicula, DH2005,
Doc Clooney, Fluffy, Gem, GirlieBiker, Hadi, Icklepickle, JakeK, Kev, Littletroll,
Loobyloo, Makey, MedicMark, Megan, Megane1976, Mrdb,
Nadia, Neil Howie, Ohler,
Rich73, Stargazer, Sunny, Teacher, Tangliss, Tara,
VodKatie00 and Will Watson.
1.
“Am I too old?”
Many
Stats
from 2001 illustrate this:
21 yrs 424 applied, 228 accepted: 54% ratio
22 yrs 478 applied, 312 accepted: 65% ratio
23 yrs 301 applied, 159 accepted: 53% ratio
24 yrs 206 applied, 96 accepted: 47% ratio
25 to 29 488 applied, 220 accepted: 45% ratio
30 to 39 271 applied, 71 accepted: 26% ratio
40 and over 43 applied, 10 accepted: 23% ratio
More
recent stats show that this pattern hasn’t changed significantly with the
increasing number of GEP places and applications.
UCAS
statistics and datasets are available, including a method of generating
customised statistics at http://www.ucas.co.uk/figures/enq/index.html. For more admissions stats, including
age-related information, see the BMA report on the demographic makeup of
medical schools on http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/DemographyMedSchls.
Some courses are more open
to mature applicants than others, this is discussed more later. This shows the importance of making a backup
plan for what to do if you don’t get into med school. Some mature applicants have had to reapply
four times before being accepted. It is
also important to bear in mind the length of medical training.
For
example, to become a GP, you will follow roughly the path below:
You
are now a doctor who can only practice under supervision, and are provisionally
registered with the GMC. From here on
out, you draw a salary. Latest salary
details are available on http://www.bmjcareers.com/cgi-bin/section.pl?sn=salary
F1, F2: These ‘foundation years’ are new replacements
for the pre-registration house officer (PRHO) year and the first year of being
a senior house officer (SHO). After the
first year you can work without supervision.
You may be expected to know the basic details of the career pathway at
interview. Current information is
available from the NHS website – Modernising Medical Careers: http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/. Salary: £20,741 before overtime payments
(“band supplements”). Band supplements
are an additional percentage of your salary depending on how many hours you
have to work in a week. Be aware that
many new F1 and F2 jobs are ‘unbanded’ 9-5 jobs, so
the basic salary is all you’ll get.
While this is better from a lifestyle point of view (if not a training
point of view) it is something you need to bear in mind when working out how
much debt you can afford.
ST
posts: 2 years minimum in approved hospital posts. If you didn’t want to become a GP then you
would spend 4 – 7 years in ST posts (ST1, ST2, etc) for your chosen specialty.
GP
Registrar: 1 year
Essentially a GP Trainee, working under the guidance of an
experienced GP. Salary: £43,449. (Information from http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubgpregistrars). I believe overtime payments stop at this
level.
GP:
You
are now a full fledged GP. Salary:
approx £60-90K. Income partly depends on
‘quality’ points being accrued by the practice for such things as vaccination
compliance, measuring diabetic patients’ waistlines, etc.
The
astute will note that this is a bit woolly in the middle – this is because the
MMC shakeup is still continuing and the pathway may
well change again. This represents 10
years from start to finish. So if you
start your course aged 30, you will become a GP at age 40. If you wish to specialise in another area,
you may find it takes another ten years on top of that to hit the top
grades. For example, a surgeon may spend
5 years as an SHO followed by 6 years as an SpR before becoming a consultant, so 18 years from when you
enter medical school.
2. How to apply
You
apply for med school through UCAS in the same way that school-leavers do. This means that you need a personal statement
and a reference. School leavers usually get an academic reference but depending on what
your situation is this may not be appropriate. If you are a recent graduate, using your
personal tutor as a reference is probably best, else
it’s better to talk to your current employer as to the feasibility of writing
you a reference.
There
are some sites on the web that have sample personal statements (such as http://www.studential.com) if you need
inspiration, but be aware that the quality of the
statements on these sort of sites is highly variable
If
your academic performance was less than stellar, it’s a good idea to at least
mention this on your personal statement, especially with regard to extenuating
circumstances. People seem divided on
whether or not it’s a good idea to send supplementary references, CVs, etc to
your university choices. The general
consensus is that, at worst, it does no harm, and at best may help your
application. Some courses (e.g. George’s
GEP) explicitly ask for supplementary references not to be sent, in which case
you obviously shouldn’t, but if you accidentally send supplementary references
to a university that doesn’t want them, the worst that will happen is that
they’ll be thrown in the bin – it’s hard to envisage a situation where sending
supplementary references will adversely affect your application.
You
may only apply for 4 medical places per attempt through UCAS, so it is
important to make your choices carefully.
If you are unable to travel due to family commitments and can only make
one or two choices, ensure you address this in your personal statement to try
to turn it to your advantage. The
application deadline for medicine is October 15th on the year before
your course starts, that is, to start in September 2009 your application must
reach UCAS by October 15th 2008.
Ensure you keep a photocopy of your application form.
3. Appropriate work experience
School-leavers
are encouraged to gain work experience partly to gain experience of teamwork
and communication, and partly to try to discourage them from medicine. Many people have gleaned a very glamorous
idea of what medicine is like from watching TV soaps, and don’t realise that
medicine is more about cleaning vomit from your shoes than strutting around in
a spotless white coat. Even though this
is less true of mature applicants, universities like to see that you have made
an effort to try to find out more about medicine and that you have a caring
nature.
It
costs ~£250K to train a doctor, and ~20% of candidates are not practicing
medicine five years after graduation, so it is very much in the university’s
interest to test your motivation.
Without any relevant work experience, mature applicants are, frankly,
unlikely to get an interview. Some
universities (e.g. Bart’s) have more lenient policies with regard to work
experience, but most candidates report being asked about their work experience
at interview.
If
you are currently working in the healthcare field, obviously this section
doesn’t apply to you. Otherwise it’s a
good idea to gain relevant experience where possible,
this can include any of the following:
- Hospice voluntary work
- Hospital volunteering
- Samaritans
- Working as a nurse auxiliary /
healthcare assistant
- Working on social / welfare
committees either at university or as community work
- Working with physically or
mentally disabled people
- Volunteering at an old folks’ home
- Shadowing (‘work experience’)
- ** [AM: More please!] **
If
you have any friends or relatives in medicine, arranging to sit in on a day at
a GP surgery or at an operation can be mildly illuminating but, in my opinion,
this is of much less value than it is for school-leavers. If you can get it, overseas healthcare work
is a great way to make your application stand out.
Hospices
and hospitals are usually keen to recruit voluntary staff, particularly if you
give them an idea of how long you’ll be able to volunteer for. You will need to have a criminal records
check – this process can take 4-6 weeks, so it is best to arrange your
voluntary work early. It seems
universities prefer long-term placements to short intensive stints for
voluntary work, since this shows commitment.
The
universities are looking for evidence that you are aware of the realities of
medicine, so hands-on work (or, at least, observation of hands-on work!) is
preferable. Getting this experience can
be difficult, so don’t feel discouraged if you’re initially rejected.
If
you’re interested in more formal work experience (i.e. shadowing), your options
are GP practices or hospitals. Here you
are likely to get only a few days of experience, but raw volume is relatively
unimportant, rather what the universities will be interested in here is what
you’ve gained from the experience.
GP
practices have a formal selection procedure where applicants are evaluated at a
weekly meeting. Many people are unaware
of this and, because they approach the practice in a casual manner, are
unsuccessful. The best approach is to
consider it as a formal application for a job, and contact the practice manager
with a covering letter describing your past experiences and explaining your
reasons for choosing that specific practice.
Be aware that practices near your home may reject you on the grounds of
patient confidentiality, so applying a little further afield
is a good idea.
Hospitals
are rather less difficult with regards to potential work experience. If you have any friends or relatives within a
trust, approaching them is ideal.
Alternatively, choose a maximum of 4 areas of interest and find out the
heads of these respective departments (usually consultants). Once you have identified the person
responsible for the department, write them a formal letter as described
above. Some people suggest that you
should apply to 4 departments in several hospitals to increase the chances of
success. This way you have a greater probability of being successful, and if
there are too many offers, you can kindly decline.
Good areas to investigate are paediatrics, nursing or geriatrics. The volume of applications tends to be higher
over summer, so you are more likely to get a positive response if you make
arrangements earlier.
If
you are a Scottish student then there is a special program at
4. Which kind of course should I
apply for?
There
are three main course lengths, and which one is most appropriate to you depends
on your background and qualifications.
6
year (Foundation / pre-medical courses): These are suitable for people without
the required A-level science qualifications.
Competition for places on these courses is usually high, and most people
will be better served by acquiring the necessary qualifications. See the section below for more information.
5
year: Standard medical course. A DoH bursary is available for the final year. Many med schools allocate ~10% of their
places for mature applicants, though there is not necessarily a fixed quota.
If
you don’t have a science degree already and are studying a 5-year course, you
may have the option of taking an additional year to gain a Bachelor’s degree in
clinical science, usually by taking a year between your 3rd and 4th
year (“intercalation”). Gaining a BSc
can influence your future career prospects, however it’s something to consider
later as all 5-year courses offer intercalation. If this is very important to you, you might
want to consider the proportion of students that intercalate at a given
university and whether you need to be at the top of the class to be able to do
so.
4
year (Accelerated / graduate entry course / GEP / GEM): These are suitable for
people who already have a degree. If your
degree is in a relevant subject (e.g. Biology, Health Sciences, etc) or a
science, you will find more universities willing to consider you. The competition for these courses is very
high because most of them attract a DoH bursary for
years 2 – 4 (see ‘Funding’ for more details).
Some of these places have entrance exams, on which more later.
Many
GEP courses have a slightly elongated academic year in the first year (mid-Sept
until the end of June), followed by a vacation until the following September. From the second year onwards, the length of
the course increases and become effectively full-time, that is, 45 weeks or
more a year. This varies from one course
to another so you will need to check the specifics of your particular
course. Bursaries and loans take these
extra teaching weeks into account, but it is worth bearing in mind that you are
unlikely to able to earn money during the holidays.
4a. Foundation courses
Some
universities run six year courses aimed at students without the necessary A-levels. Information on a few of these is given below.
4a1. Southampton
Eligibility
requirements:
You
must:
- Be the first member of your
immediate family to go to university
- Live in a postcode which is in the
bottom 20% in terms of prosperity
- If you studied A-levels at a
college, be eligible for or be claming EMA (education maintenance
allowance)
There
are around 30 places in each year. There were around 60 applicants for 2003
entry, which is partly due to the fact that the course is not well
advertised. It seems unlikely that this
low level of competition will continue.
People on the course are entitled to a bursary of £1000 per year and
accommodation is provided. Only around 1
or 2 people per year quit the course, and last year only one person failed. The
course is made up of lectures and hospital visits and is similar in content to
the first year of a medical degree.
Please
bear in mind that there is little information about this on the Soton website, and doubtless some of the details of the
program are subject to change. If in
doubt, contact the university for more information.
4a2. St
George’s
The
course is made up of 8 modules, all giving a good grounding in the basic
sciences relevant to medicine, including chemistry, maths and IT, physiology (2
modules), cells and tissues, introduction to genetics and "structure and
function of biomolecules". It is taught by a mixture of lectures,
tutorials and practical sessions and examined by a mixture of coursework and
exams. Almost all of the teaching is
done at
You
are interviewed as a prospective medical student for the FFM,
you have to pass the CRB and occupational health checks before you can start
the FFM since successful completion means you have a guaranteed place on the
MBBS at SGHMS. This year (2003-04),
successful completion has meant passing every module and having an overall
average of 60%.
There
are no bursaries available to FFM students like the WAMP at Soton. You are eligible to apply for a student loan
and tuition fee support from your LEA for the FFM year.
4a3. Lincoln
Lincoln
runs a scheme where students take a one year course leading to a Cert HE / ScM Certificate in Science for Health Professionals and
then, if they gain at least 60% in that course, go on to take up a place at
Nottingham to study Medicine. In 2006,
they had 12 places for Medicine applicants.
Full
details are available on: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/cours...ience/index.asp
The
requirements are that you must:
- be the first member of your family
to go to university
- be receiving means-tested benefit
or in receipt of Education Maintenance Allowance
- have family/cultural links to Notts and/or
- be attending a school or college
which doesn’t have a good record of sending people to higher education
There
are also academic requirements, including 200 UCAS points (or the equivalent),
a minimum of a C grade in GCSE Maths and English, and a minimum of a C grade in
GCSE Biology, Chemistry, or Double Science.
A
bursary is associated with the course, but the exact amount is currently not
specified.
4a4. Others
The
list above is just a starting point for your investigations and is not
exhaustive. Many other medical schools
offer foundation / widening access to medicine-type courses. These include:
GKT - http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/medicine/access/couldistudy.html
[ ** AM: add more
here **]
The
full list of 6 year courses will always be available from: http://www.ucas.com.
5. Where should I apply?
If
you have a degree you are likely to be interested in the four-year
courses. Some of them require your first
degree to be in science, others do not.
Please
refer to the table below for a list of 4-year courses and their stated
requirements for 2006. Note that any entry
enclosed in square brackets [as so] indicates that this appears to be an
effective requirement rather than a formal one.
So a course which only seemed to interview applicants with a 1st
in earlier years will have [1st] in the ‘Degree Restrictions’ column. A full list of courses is always available
from http://www.ucas.com
You
may also wish to look at the BMA’s guide to becoming a doctor (see links
section), which gives application advice and lists qualifications required for
each medical school.
5a. Four year courses
BE
AWARE THAT THIS LIST IS NOT BEING ACTIVELY MAINTAINED AND IS OUT OF DATE. This table is kept
for indicative purposes only, and any applicants are strongly advised not to
rely on it but to use the up-to-date lists found at http://www.medschoolsonline.co.uk
|
University |
# Places |
Degree
Restrictions |
Other
Qualifications |
Entrance
Exam |
|
|
40 |
Life
science 2:1 [mostly 1sts] |
Chem
'C' |
None
currently, considering GAMSAT |
|
|
19 |
Life
/ medical science 2:1 |
“applicants
must have covered a substantial component of Cell Biology and Mammalian
Physiology in their previous degree” |
None |
|
|
20 |
"good
degree in any discipline" |
Complex |
BMAT |
|
GKT |
24 |
2:1
arts or science |
- |
MSAT |
|
|
64 |
2:1
health science |
- |
UKCAT |
|
|
32 |
2:1 in biological / healthcare |
"Taken
into consideration" |
None |
|
|
25 η |
2:1
[almost all 1st] |
Any
within last 2-3 yrs |
UKCAT |
|
|
91 ε |
2:2 |
- |
GAMSAT |
|
|
30 ζ |
Life
science / chemistry “usually 2:1 or better” |
2
science A-levels or equivalent; if degree is Chem,
must have GCSE/O-level Bio or better. |
UKCAT |
|
Queen Mary |
40 δ |
2:1
in science or health-related subject |
- |
MSAT |
|
|
40 η |
2:1 |
GCSE
passes English, Maths and Science; AS Chem & Biol OR A2 Chem |
None |
|
|
70 ε |
2:2 |
- |
GAMSAT |
|
|
70 |
2:1 |
Chem
OR Biol at |
GAMSAT
(only used as part of their scoring system) |
|
|
164 ζ |
2:1
bio sciences (or 2:2 bio sciences with subsequent doctorate) |
A-levels
/ GCSEs not considered |
MSAT |
δ For 2004 and 2005 entry, 14 of these
places were earmarked for Queen Mary's biological science and engineering
students. It’s not clear whether this
can be expected each year.
ε Notts and
George’s use a shared interview process.
This means that you will be interviewed by one or the other, and then usually offered a place or rejected by
both. So applying to both of these unis is something you should think over carefully.
ζ Their website or prospectus imply
that this course is willing to take on Overseas applicants for the GEP
course. If you are an Overseas
applicant, I recommend you contact any
GEP course before you apply.
η This course is always very heavily oversubscribed (even
compared to other GEP courses) due to the liberal entrance requirements.
5b. Five year courses
If
you have no degree, you are restricted to the 5 or 6-year courses. They may expect you to present other
qualifications, such as A-levels, access qualifications or Open University
credits (more on this in the next section).
It’s worth mentioning here that mature applicants without a degree are
not penalised, indeed, two of the board users without degrees applying for 2003
got four interviews each.
5-year
courses that are generally considered ‘mature-friendly’ include
New
5 year courses often seem to have a high mature intake in their first year
(e.g. UEA). Whether this will continue
in future remains to be seen.
5-year
courses where there is some contention as to how mature-friendly they are:
The
entry requirements for matures are much more varied and flexible than for four
year courses. If you have non-standard
qualifications, I recommend you contact the university directly. The full list of 5 year courses will always
be available from www.ucas.com. To emphasise, the requirements of the courses
are changing and are often flexible for mature students – if in doubt, contact
the universities.
Please note that A-level
General Studies is not usually accepted, and usually 10% of places are
available for mature students.
Medschools Online (http://www.medschoolsonline.co.uk)
sent questionnaires to each university asking them about their places for
mature or graduate students, and I recommend their website as an excellent
starting point when considering 5 year courses.
The observant will note that there used to be a similar table here, but
their one is very clear and more up to date so there is no point in replicating
it here.
If
you have your choice between a selection of
universities, which ones you apply for is a matter of strategy as much as
anything else. At the risk of being
viciously mauled by wild bears, I’ll go out on a limb and say it makes little
difference which med school you go to.
All are GMC-certified. The exams
you have to pass are of the same difficulty.
You can make more ‘connections’ at places with more specialist centres
such as London, and that may also be a factor if you plan an international
career, but that’s about it.
So
your selection criteria should be based firstly whether you think you’ll be
happy living there for the next five – seven years, then on the course structure. If you have the option to apply for four-year
courses, it’s recommended to apply for at least some five-year courses as
well. The competition for the four-year
ones is such that you could easily find yourself without a place and being
forced to reapply next year. There’s
plenty of disagreement whether it’s better to apply to 2 GEP and 2 5-year
courses or 3 GEPs and 1 5-year course, but most
people seem to agree that 4 GEPs is a high-risk
strategy.
Med
schools often have other entrance info buried in the prospectus. For example, George’s in 2003 offered a
guaranteed interview for their five year course to anyone with a 1st
and also reduced the A-level requirements.
So once you have drawn up your shortlist, go through the prospectuses
with a fine-toothed comb. These details
are often noticed by other applicants and mentioned on message boards.
5c. Course
structure and teaching styles
There
are several teaching styles used, some of which may suit you better than
others.
Traditional Courses: Usually five / six year.
Basic clinical / biomedical sciences are taught thoroughly in the first
two to three years with little reference to clinical conditions or
treatment. Teaching is heavily
lecture-based with some tutorials and labs (anatomy, physiology, etc). The idea is that you learn how a body should
work normally, then you learn how it behaves abnormally, and then, during the
following two or three years of clinical teaching (usually in a hospital or clinical
setting), how to fix it. Very traditional
courses like this are becoming rarer, but
Integrated Courses: Integrated Medicine courses teach the basic sciences and
clinical aspects concurrently. They can
be lecture based, involve Problem Based Learning (PBL), or a combination of the
two. The degree to which Problem Based
Learning is used varies, it is en vogue and many courses have some aspect of
PBL these days.
In
PBL, teaching centres on clinical problems which are solved in a group /
tutorial setting. The general idea is
that information sinks in better with a clinical peg to hang it on. This style of teaching is supposed to discourage
skimming the surface of a subject and hopefully recall involving real situations
will be better. There is a lot of
self-directed learning involved and students are expected to identify their own
weaknesses (particularly with the 4 year accelerated programs). Clinical contact begins very early on with
some of these courses (again, particularly with graduate courses).
Courses
such as the George’s and Nottingham GEPs or the
5d. Where
should I apply if I have a 2:2 or below?
If
you have a degree of 2:2, nearly no four-year courses will consider you -
except Notts and George’s for which you have to be
willing to brave the evil GAMSAT. If you
have a doctorate and your 2:2 is in the biological sciences, Warwick GEP may
consider you.
With
a degree of 2:2, you will likely find it quite difficult to get into medical
school. Many med schools will refuse to
consider your application. However, it
is by no means impossible, but you don't have much scope to be choosy about
which med schools you apply to!
The most important thing to
do initially is to write to each of the med schools detailing your situation to
find out if they will consider your application. If you have extenuating circumstances for
your degree result, make sure that you make this very clear to the
universities. You may be required to
furnish proof of this by providing a letter from your doctor or from your old
university as appropriate. Follow-up
letters and phone calls may be required to get a response that goes beyond
setting out the entrance requirements from the prospectus. You need to know whether it’s worth a UCAS
slot applying to this place!
The replies will vary
- some will simply not consider your appllication, some will consider applicants
with a 2:2, and some will consider applicants with a 2:2 only if it is
superseded by a higher degree (e.g. MSc or PhD).
Examples
of med schools which are 2:2-friendly are: UEA (need evidence of good science
background though), GKT, Keele,
If
your degree is in a non-science subject and you do not have science A-levels,
some universities may be prepared to consider you if you acquire those
qualifications (See following section).
In the absence of extenuating circumstances, you will likely be expected
to get top grades to show that your degree result was a fluke.
It’s
possible to ‘upgrade’ to a 2:1 by taking OU credits and gaining a 2:1 from the
OU. More details of this are available
on http://www3.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer/index.htm,
but it’s worth mentioning that nursing courses and some professional
qualifications may also be used for credit.
This is degree-level work and includes research projects, so this is not
an easy option by any means. Similarly, if you may be able to complete a degree with the OU if
you started it elsewhere and then dropped out.
It
goes without saying that you need to make your application stand out. Things that will go in your favour in this
respect are good A-level grades, a higher degree, an excellent personal
statement and reference and lots of relevant work experience.
This
applies even more to those with 3rds.
One other possibility is to take the GAMSAT and apply to
5e.
Alternative entrance methods
Those
who have tried to get into a
Please
be aware that if you get a degree from a non-EU university, you are required to
take further exams (the PLAB) to work in the
A
list of medical schools is available from the WHO: http://www.who.int/hrh/wdms/en/
5e1.
Private UK
Brunel University are thinking of hosting a private medicine course in 2006,
the med school will be called “The Hunter School of Medicine” and will be based
at its Uxbridge campus (reference: http://society.guardian.co.uk/NHSstaff/story/0,7991,1392332,00.html
and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4181579.stm). This would be a three year course, open to nurses and paramedics, with tuition fees
of approximately £20,000/yr.
University of
As
of 05/10/2007, all I can find is that these two proposed courses have joined
forces as Buckingham-Brunel and have applied for GMC approval,
please contact me if you have any further information.
5e2.
Overseas universities with a UK
There
are many foreign universities who have a
Things
to check:
·
Make
sure they are honest and open about the need to sit the PLAB in the
·
Ensure
the fees are clearly set out.
·
Stability
of the med school – how long have they been open?
·
If
possible, find any existing students (e.g. on the web) and see what they
think. All med students will have some gripes about their course, but
they’ll be able to tell you if they regret their decision.
5e3. Irish
universities
Application
is done through a system similar to UCAS, CAO: www.cao.ie.
Please
note that, since this application does not go through UCAS, the deadline is in
February of the applying year (e.g. Feb ’07 for 2007 entry).
The
rumour mill says that University College Galway and
** [AM - If anyone wants to expand this section with regards
to places available for UK students, fees, etc, let me know] **
5e4. EU
universities
If
you qualify within the EU, then you will not have to sit the PLAB exam before
practising in the
** [AM - Any further information or suggestions for this
section welcomed] **
5e5.
Further afield
If
you qualify outside the EU, then you will have to sit the PLAB exam before
practising in the
** [AM - Any further information or suggestions for this
section welcomed] **
6. Qualifications required
If
you have a degree you may find that these requirements are changed or
waived. If in doubt, it is strongly
recommended you phone your prospective universities and talk to them about your
qualifications and whether they would consider you. You may find that you can get away with
taking fewer qualifications than you had thought. Conversely, if your degree is an old one you
may find that they demand you show recent evidence of academic ability.
Some
med schools will accept Access to Medicine courses and some will accept Open
University qualifications in lieu of A-levels.
There’s more information about these in the appropriate sections below.
6a. Taking A-levels
The
A-level system has changed from the one that most mature applicants are
familiar with. Students now take the
A-level in two parts, AS in one year and A2 in the next. The difficulty of AS is gauged about that of
the old ‘O’ level, while the A2 is gauged a little above the old ‘A’ level. Since each has equal weighting, it doesn’t
take a genius to realise that you should knock yourself out to get as high a
score as possible on the AS portion.
How
you take the A-levels depends on your situation. There are a few options:
·
Evening
classes – the quality of teaching here tends to be lower, partly because there are
fewer teaching hours, partly because of the quality of the teachers, and partly
because the bar on who can enter the class can be very low.
·
Part-time
classes – some places do intensive courses where you can take the AS and A2
portion in a year. Some of these places
do one full day a week courses. These
courses often double as ‘retake courses’ for failed students. Cost ~£250/A-level as a mature student.
·
Full-time
classes – here you join the AS and A2 classes as a full time student, having a
few hours one day and a few hours the next.
·
Distance
learning or private tutoring – you will need a friendly local school which will
allow you to use their laboratory for the practical components of the course.
·
Private
colleges – these offer small group teaching and (usually) a higher standard of
teaching and facilities than available at most FE colleges. They are often more flexible than FE colleges
and, if you apply early enough, may be able to help you arrange classes around
your part-time work. Be aware that some
private colleges have no lab facilities and so you may have to take a practical
exam. The cost may be an issue, some courses will charge you anything up to £2,400 /
A-level. An example of a private college
used by a 2003 board member is http://www.mpw.co.uk
Which
will suit you best depends on whether you are in full-time employment or
not. The first rule is to confirm with
the universities exactly what A-levels you need. You may find that your old O-level (or GCSE)
Biology exempts you from having to take A-level Biology. You may find that AS Biology is adequate, or,
if you have a degree, that some universities will exempt you from their normal
entry requirements, and so on.
It’s
worth noting here that many mature students find A-level courses very
aggravating. The daytime courses are
geared towards teaching children and you must expect to be treated like a
child. If you don’t take an evening
class, you will be taking the course with many people who have absolutely no
interest in it. Moreover, the quality of
teaching is highly variable from one institution to another. The best approach, in my opinion, is to teach
yourself from the textbook and use the classes as revision sessions and to
answer any questions you have.
Whether
you should do the A-levels in one year or two depends on how many A-levels you
intend to take. Three A-levels in a year
is hard work, but doable. Bear in mind
that for medicine you will usually be required to get very good grades (e.g. AAB),
so don’t compromise your chances by taking on too much. Most matures should be able to get away with
one or 1 ½ A-levels (e.g. A-level Chemistry and AS Biology), which is no real
problem to do in a year with the right motivation.
6b.
Taking OU courses
Some
universities will accept Open University qualifications in lieu of A-levels,
including
There’s
enough variability in the requirements that it’s best to contact the unis to confirm, but they
usually require S103 (Discovering Science), SK277 (Human Biology) & any other
30 point Level 2 module, with a grade 1 (a distinction) in the Level 2 modules
(Level 1 S103 is not graded). If
you lack a background in Chemistry, you may wish to take a module like S205
(The Molecular World) or similar. A
problem with OU qualifications is that the courses start in February and not
September, so timing can be an issue. Results come out in December /
January, however, so it is possible to receive an unconditional offer based on
an OU course you are currently taking.
To
get a distinction in the level 2 modules, you must exceed 85% in both
coursework and in the exam – an average score which is above 85% is not
adequate.
The S103 course, "Discovering Science", is an excellent
"top-up" in the sciences for those who already have the requisite
qualifications for entry but need to get to grips with some biology, chemistry
and physics (there is also a bit of Earth Science in it as well for good
measure). Completion of just this module
leads to the OU "Certificate in Natural Sciences".
Those
who take S103 are still required to exceed the distinction passmark
(85%) to be considered, and a letter from the OU to your uni
will be required to confirm that you have achieved this, even though S103 is ungraded and so cannot technically be passed with a
distinction. This has been confirmed for
Notts, and may apply at other universities.
Further
information from: http://www.open.ac.uk
** [Any further OU information welcomed] **
6c.
Taking Access to Medicine courses
Access
to Medicine courses are full-time one-year courses that can be used as entry
qualifications for some universities.
They are aimed at non-science graduates and at applicants without the
appropriate science A-levels.
They
have obvious disadvantages: there is a large amount of material that needs to
be covered, essentially covering an A-level syllabus plus a project in ten
months; they are more academically rigorous than A-levels but are accepted by
fewer universities; if you change your future employment plans, it will be
blindingly clear to any employer that you have taken a major shift in
direction. For all these reasons, taking
A-levels would usually be preferable.
On
the plus side, Access courses do generally have a very good applicant success
rate. The number of universities that
accept Access courses is increasing each year.
They also have the advantage that they are tailored to teaching mature
students and cover medically related topics that aren’t represented at A-level
at all.
Some
universities look very favourably on applicants from Access courses,
indeed, some actually prefer an Access course over standard A-levels. This is partly because students on an Access
course get no holidays and have to work very rigorously, so students who
succeed in these courses are likely to be strong performers at university.
There
has been some controversy on the forum of late whether Access to Medicine
courses are still as favoured, with the typical offer from some universities
being changed from a certain number of Distinctions to Distinctions in every
subject. There have been some claims
that preference is given to those who are applying to universities from nearby
Access to Medicine courses, disadvantaging those applying from elsewhere. [** AM: If you want to include an opposing
point of view, please contact me **]
On
the plus side, some universities such as UEA are very supportive of Access to
Medicine courses. If you wish to go the
Access to Medicine route, I suggest you talk to the colleges who are running
the courses to find what their placement rates have been, and what universities
they have found accommodating.
Other Access to Medicine courses:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/medicine/access.htm (
http://www.som.soton.ac.uk/prospectus/undergrad/WAMP/wamp.asp
(
http://www.readmedicine.com/pre-med.html (
7. Funding
Nearly all funding is
dependent on you having been ordinarily resident in the
For
most British citizens, funding will depend on whether you have taken a previous
degree or not (or, more precisely, whether you have previously received public
funding for a degree). The next section
deals with Scottish students, but the rest of the funding details apply to
English students only.
7a.
Scottish funding
The
fees for medicine in
Contact
SAAS for individual criteria for eligibility.
You are required to be ordinarily resident in
In
the 5th year, a graduate will be entitled to fee support and the health
department bursary, as well as a student loan throughout. Students over 25, or financially independent
for 3 years, will not be assessed according their parents. If you turn 25 during the course, you will be
re-assessed and may become 'independent' in subsequent years.
There
are no 4 year fast track courses in Scotland, and the Scottish Executive has
made no provision for Scottish students (i.e. who have not been ordinarily
resident in England or Wales for purposes other than education) on the GEP
courses in England and Wales to receive support equivalent to English and Welsh
domiciled students. Therefore, Scottish
residents should expect to pay full fees set by the university and will not
receive the bursary in years 2,3 or 4. SAAS recommend all individuals to contact
them for an assessment of your individual situation. It does seem very variable: One forum member
who is an EU graduate was offered SAAS funding; others have not been so lucky.
7b.
Tuition fees / top-up fees
There are two possible fees
that the universities can levy on their students to cover the costs of tuition.
Students who start their
course before 2006 are liable for a ‘standard fee’ of ~£1,175/yr throughout the
course. This document does not cover any
other funding information for these students since it is aimed primarily at
new medical applicants. For more
information check: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/ or http://www.studentsupportdirect.co.uk
Students who start in 2006
or later are liable to ‘variable fees’ (aka “top-up fees”). These fees will not be payable during the
course, however, rather students will take out a loan for these fees, repayable
once they start earning £15,000/yr.
It is notable that these
fees differ around the
The funding situation for
graduate applicants here is unfortunate.
People who already have received public funding for a degree are NOT
eligible for a tuition fee loan and will instead have to pay the £3,070/yr fee
up front. You may wish to view a report
on this at http://www.medschoolsonline.co.uk/docs/uploaded_documents/Graduate_Fees_Report.pdf. There is still pressure being brought to bear
to try to reverse this decision, and it is worth getting involved and adding
your voice.
It should be noted that none
of these issues affect mature applicants who don’t have a prior degree: it
affects graduates who had public funding for their previous degree.
There have been some rumours
that graduate applicants will not be eligible for student loans – this is
false. To clarify the situation, there
are several different categories of funding and people confuse them, causing
this kind of rumour to spring up. Check
the DfES website on http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/
for the word from the horse’s mouth.
Also, many of their finance guides have moved to the Student Support
Direct website on http://www.studentsupportdirect.co.uk. They are quite comprehensive and worth
reading.
In summary, there are now
three main types of funding:
Student loan for fees: This
is a loan for the £3,070/yr tuition fees, repayable once you earn £15,000 or more per
year. This is NOT available for
graduates.
Maintenance Grant: This is a non-repayable means-tested grant,
which is NOT available for graduates.
Maintenance Loan: This is the new name for the old student
loan, and is also referred to as ‘student loans for maintenance’ to
differentiate it from the ‘student loan for fees’. Graduates are eligible for this loan, which
is essentially the same as the old student loan.
There are also additional
bursaries which are set by the universities and are likely to be in the region
of ~£300, although there will be significant variation between universities.
More information on each of
these sources of funding is given in the sections below.
It
is very important to be aware of what you are entitled to. The LEAs are not used to this new system, and
may well award you money to which you are not entitled. They will chase you up for this later on, so
to forestall being asked to repay £5,000 halfway through your course, you need to inform them of any errors they make.
7c. Student
loan for fees
This is currently NOT
available to students who have a previous degree which was publicly funded.
Those
who are eligible may apply for a ‘Student Loan for fees’ from their LEA. The £3,070/yr tuition fees are then paid
directly from the LEA to the university.
Once you are earning more than £15,000/yr, you repay it at the rate of
9% of your earnings above £15,000/yr.
For example, if you earn £20,000/yr, then you will pay your loan off at
the rate of £5,000 * 9% = £450/yr.
Those
who are not eligible need to pay the £3,070 tuition fees themselves each year.
7d. Maintenance grant and Uni bursaries
This is
currently NOT available to students who have a previous degree which was
publicly funded.
This grant is
non-repayable, and is means-tested; those with an annual income of £17,910 or
less are eligible for a grant of £2,765.
Above that threshold, the grant is reduced until at £38,330 no grant at
all is given.
The first
£1,230 of maintenance grant you are given is offset against the maintenance
loan; in other words, it has the effect of reducing your maintenance loan by
£1,230.
To complicate
matters further, there is a Special Support Grant which replaces the
Maintenance Grant for people who are on benefits; as far as I can tell, apart
from the change of name this is exactly the same as a Maintenance Grant but
will not affect the benefits you receive.
Quite why the Department of Work and Pensions couldn’t just have kept
the same name, I couldn’t tell you.
Also, any university
which charges you £2,765 or more per year in tuition fees must offer a
non-repayable bursary of at least £305 per year. The amount of this bursary varies from
university to university; you need to contact them to get the details. It is claimed that this will be an average of
£1,000/yr. My interpretation of the DfES documents is that those who are ineligible for a
maintenance grant will also be ineligible for university bursaries, but this is
not particularly clear.
7e.
Maintenance
loan (aka ‘student loan for maintenance’)
For the academic year
2007-2008, you may get a student loan of up to £4,510 (£6,315 if you are based
in
If you are lucky enough to
be eligible for a maintenance grant, the first £1,230 will be offset
against your maintenance loan, reducing your loan by £1 for
every £1 of grant up to £1,230.
Graduate-entry medicine
courses typically have longer academic years than five-year courses. A supplementary loan for each extra week
above 30 term-time weeks is available.
For 2007-2008, this is set at £79/wk (£100/wk if you are based in
Students entitled to DoH bursaries will be entitled to 50% of the student loan
in years they receive those bursaries.
7f. Extra
grants
Details
of all additional grants are available from the Student Support Direct
website. A summary of these grants
follows, extracted from the DfES booklet “Financial support for higher education
students”, but please refer to the Student Support Direct website for full
details, conditions, and current amounts.
|
|
|
|
Childcare Grant: for those with dependent children in
childcare |
Maximum of £148.75/wk for one
child; Maximum of £255/wk for two or
more children. (Total maximum of 85% of actual
costs) May not be taken if you get the
Childcare portion of the Working Tax Credit from HM Revenue and Customs. |
|
Parents’ Learning Allowance: for students with dependent children
who either receive a childcare grant or who have income below a minimum
threshold. |
Up to £1,435/yr |
|
Child Tax Credit: for students with dependent children |
Variable,
contact www.hrmc.gov.uk/taxcredits |
|
Adult Dependants’ Grant: for students who have adult members
of their family who depend on them financially |
Up to £2,510/yr |
|
Disabled Students’ Allowances: for those with physical or mental
disabilities, including dyslexia |
Complex. A general allowance of up to £1,640/yr. Specialist equipment allowance of up to
£4,905 over the whole course.
Non-medical helper’s allowance of up to £12,420/yr. Additional everyday travel costs undertaken
due to your disability may be reimbursed.
Contact your LEA early if you fall into this category. |
|
Additional travel costs: if you have to travel long distances
for clinical training |
Means
tested, you are liable for the first £290 of any additional travel costs |
|
Assembly Learning Grant |
Welsh
ordinarily resident students only.
Depending on household income, you may receive a grant of up to £2,700. Check www.learning.wales.gov.uk
for details. |
7g. DoH
Bursary
This
applies for years 2-4 for English and Welsh students on four-year courses, for
the final year for students on 5-year courses, and for years 5 and 6 for
students on 6-year courses. Students
from
The
bursary is means-tested: your family’s income will be assessed, and your
bursary may be reduced depending on the total income. “Casual earnings” you make as a student are
disregarded up to £7,500. There is a
wide range of allowances:
|
Basic rates |
£2,672/yr
(£3,225 if you are based in |
|
Extra
teaching weeks above 30 weeks and 3 days |
£78/wk
(£100/wk if you are based in |
|
Dependant’s
allowance |
£2,510/yr
for an adult dependant or first child £512/yr
for each subsequent dependant child. |
|
Parents
Learning Allowance |
£1,239/yr |
|
Two Homes
Grant, for those maintaining a second home for themselves and a dependant |
£874/yr |
|
Practice
Placement Costs |
Variable
reimbursement for travelling to clinical placements, many restrictions. |
|
Tuition
Contributions |
The
tuition contribution of £3,070/yr will be paid on your behalf in any year you
receive a DoH bursary |
|
Disabled
Students Allowance |
Complex
– check the link to the DoH document. |
As
can be seen, the bursaries are very valuable and this is one reason why
competition for the four-year courses is so intense. In years when you receive a bursary, you can
get 50% of your usual student loan. I
believe that the bursary grants (e.g. dependant’s allowance) entirely replace
the LEA’s grants for those years, but haven’t confirmed this.
As
has been said, these bursaries are means-tested depending on your income or
that of your family. Current information
is available from the DoH web link above, but for
2007-2008 the parental/spousal contributions are calculated as follows:
For
dependent students: Parental contribution starts when they have a residual
income of £23,087 or above. It is
calculated from: £45 + (residual income – £23,087) / £9.50
For
independent students: Spousal/personal contribution is calculated using the
same formula.
These
contributions will reduce your bursary on a pound-for-pound basis.
7h. Charitable
grants
Many charities and trusts
may offer support for mature medical students in the form of grants or interest
free loans. Application is competitive
and you can expect a relatively low rate of return from a lot of time and hard
work. Although you are unlikely to be
able to support yourself solely on funding from charity sources, they may
provide a source of supplemental income to help toward specific living expenses. Understandably it is not recommended to rely
on this as a significant source of funding.
However, mature students, women, those with disabilities, those with families or in significant financial difficulty
and those studying medicine as a second degree may stand a better chance than
most of gaining awards.
http://www.scholarship-search.org.uk provides a search facility for grants, and seems quite
comprehensive.
http://www.egas-online.org/fwa/index.html will do an offline search for you.
The
Directory of Grant Making Trusts is available in libraries and at university
careers services. It’s also available as a searchable CD-ROM.
http://www.dsc.org.uk/acatalog/Grant_making_Trusts.html might be useful for London-based candidates. They offer training sessions on how to search
for funding.
http://www.scvo.org.uk/essentials/directories/grant_making_trusts/index.htm has a list of educational grants for individuals in or from
It’s
worth noting that many charities and grants seem to have early closing dates,
so this is worth considering sooner rather than later.
There
are hardship grants available if you run out of other options. Often the med school will administer a
hardship fund, but others are available.
An NHS hardship grant is available to holders of NHS bursaries, for
example. The Student Loans Company may
make you an extra hardship loan of anywhere from £100 to £500.
7i. Bank
loans
Many banks now offer
Career Development Loans to graduates and at a deferred or preferential rate of
interest. These loans are also available
to 5-year medics in the fourth and fifth year of their course. Terms of the loans vary; each big student
bank has its own deal.
HSBC offer
a “Postgraduate professional studies loan” which allows you to borrow £5,000/yr
plus tuition fees. If you’ve been
earning in the 12 months previous to your new degree, you can borrow 2/3rds of
your last year’s salary instead of the £5,000.
They also allow you to top up your loan throughout the year if you’re
running out of money, or if you need transport during the clinical part of your
course. More info on
0800 520 420 or at your local branch.
People report very variable experiences with HSBC, with some people
being rejected without good reason, and others being offered money very easily. If you have problems, you might want to try a
bigger branch that is familiar with medical students.
URL: http://www.hsbc.co.uk (under
Loans; Professional Studies Loan).
Natwest: Professional Trainee Loan – borrow up to £20,000, repayment
over up to seven years. http://www.natwest.com/graduates/
.
Barclays: Borrow up to £15,000, repay over 9 years, repayments
holiday 9 months after training ends. Rate is 2% above base rate. http://www.barclays.co.uk/
Lloyds TSB: Borrow up to £10,000 at a preferential interest rate. Repayments deferred for 48 months from
borrowing date, loan can be repaid over up to five years. http://tinyurl.com/cl0z
8. International applicants
I
have had many requests for information from overseas applicants, particularly
in regards to funding. Common questions
are answered in this section. The rules
regarding Overseas applicants can be complicated, so the golden rule here, as
always, is to contact the universities and your LEA (if applicable) to verify
the appropriate action for your situation.
I am not a legal expert and the following is only my interpretation and
my understanding of the rules which are, in any event, subject to change. Enough disclaimers? Then we’ll begin.
“Overseas”
and “Home” do not have the meanings here that they do in normal conversation,
which is why they are capitalised in this discussion. Home students are not necessarily
So, the basics. The universities levy tuition fees on their
students. Depending on whether you are a
Home student or an Overseas student, you are liable to
different rates of fees. Overseas
students can pay anywhere from £12,000 – £20,000 per year. Home students are usually liable only for the
tuition fee contribution (£1,175 per year for students who started before 2006,
£3,070 per year for students who start in 2008 or later). To be considered a Home student, you must:
a)
be
living in the
b)
be
ordinarily resident in
c)
be
ordinarily resident in the
If
you fail these tests then you are considered an Overseas
student. If there is any doubt, it’s
best to contact the LEA and universities as soon as possible to verify that
there is no possibility of being considered a Home student.
8a. Can I apply for GEP
courses?
If
you are considered a Home student, yes.
Although some GEP courses are said to consider Overseas applicants (see
“Where should I apply?” above), I strongly recommend that Overseas applicants
should contact any GEP course they are considering to ensure that they don’t
waste a UCAS slot.
8b. I am a UK
Not
necessarily. If you have been living
abroad at any point during the three years before the start of your course then
you may fail to meet the ordinary residence test. Most people will meet the test under the
“temporary employment” exemption, though.
See below for more details.
You
can also download the booklet “Student
support for students living or working overseas: a guide for students and their
parents who are, or who have been, temporarily
employed overseas” from: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/formsandguides/gui_guides.shtml
8c. What is ordinary
residence?
Ordinary
residence is a difficult concept to put over clearly. Basically, it means that you are usually
resident in a particular country and you are settled there. So if you go abroad temporarily, you are
still considered ordinarily resident in your home country. If you have moved permanently to the
You
must have been ordinarily resident in the
It
used to be that if you were in the UK during those three years primarily for
the purposes of education (for example, if you had come from abroad to read a
different university course or to take A-levels in the UK) then you would not
be considered ordinarily resident for that period. This is no longer the case if you are an EU
national or the child of one – discuss with your LEA for confirmation.
8c1. Exception:
Working/Studying abroad temporarily
The
key word here is “temporarily”. If you
(or your parents or your spouse) went abroad to take on a temporary post, and
you would otherwise be living in the
One
contributor had to go through this process, and suggested the following for
those who are now abroad, or are moving abroad for a job, but intend to apply
for medicine:
-
Get
something in your contract of employment that states the duration of your
employment. If not possible, get a letter on company letterhead from your
manager setting out your period abroad.
-
Keep
a UK bank account and
-
Write
to the universities you intend to apply to, explaining your situation, and try
to get something in writing from them suggesting that you will be assessed as a
home student. Often these letters are for guidance only, but help you make your
case to the LEA when applying.
-
Make
some trips back to the
-
Register
to vote in the
-
Try
and work out early on which LEA you will apply to. If you lived in London for
two years prior to going abroad, and paid council tax there, you can keep your
records of payments and proof of address and apply to that LEA. Alternatively,
if your bank account and driving licence and electoral register entry are all
in a different LEA (for example you may have kept these registered in the LEA
where you grew up / where your parents still live) then you can still apply
there.
8c2. Exception: Resident in the
EEA
If
you are an EU or
8c3. Further unusual
exceptions
The
three year requirement may be waived in the following situations. If you fall into any of these, I recommend
you contact your LEA for full advice:
·
You
are a refugee or an immediate family member of a refugee
·
You
have applied for asylum and been granted exceptional leave to remain, or are an
immediate family member of that person.
·
You
are an exchange student studying in the
8c4. My ears are
bleeding and I still don’t understand
You
can find more information at http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/fees_student_support.php If this doesn’t help
then I strongly recommend you contact your LEA and universities as soon as
possible to determine your fees status.
8d. Am I eligible for
the DoH bursary?
To
be eligible for the DoH bursary you must be domiciled
in
So
for 99% of people, if you were born in
9. Entrance exams
There
are four major entrance exams for 2006: GAMSAT, BMAT, MSAT and UKCAT.
9a. GAMSAT
This
exam is required for the 4-year courses at Nottingham, Keele,
George’s and
GAMSAT
is an unpleasant endurance test. It is
an all-day exam, which has three sections:
Section I
- Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences (multiple choice) [100 mins]
- [20 minute break] -
Section II
- Written Communication (two 30 minute asssignments) [1 hour]
- [1 hour lunch break] -
Section III
- Reasoning in Biological and Physical Scciences - Biology 40%, Chemistry 40%,
Physics 20% (multiple choice) [170 minutes]
Your
final score is worked out in two different ways, your
score is whichever is higher:
[(%
score section I) X 1 + (section score II) x 1 + (% score section III) x1] / 3
OR
[(%
score section I) X 1 + (section score II) x 1 + (% score section III) x 2 ] / 4
Requirements
may vary for Peninsula, but for
Previous
cutoff scores for
2000: 61
2001: 62
2002: 64
2003: 59
2004: 61
2005: 62
2006: 62
2007: 61
Previous
cutoff scores for
2003: [** AM: Can anyone remember
what it was? I *think* 55 but am not
sure **]
2004: 59
2005: 62
2006: 62
2007: ?62
Other important things
to bear in mind are:
In the
Note that you must be
at the exam hall at 8am on the day; if you’re sick, if your train is delayed,
or any other such problems, tough, that’s it for you until next year.
Full details are
available on: http://www.gamsatuk.org
You
may find the forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/talk-gamsat/
useful for discussing GAMSAT preparation tips with other sufferers
worldwide. A detailed list of the types
of questions given in the Jan 2003
Tips:
- Get the
sample papers: though the content of the exam on the day will be
different, only looking at the sample papers will give you a feel for what
to expect. The papers cost
£37. You may be able to find
someone on the message boards that’ll sell you their old copies more
cheaply, but trying to take the GAMSAT without them is just foolish.
- As
general guide, if you already have A level sciences, A-level revision
guides will be useful to brush up and refresh your memory (it seems that
most first year science courses don’t venture THAT far beyond A-level
territory). If you haven’t done the
subject before, a full textbook (and greater time commitment) will be of
more use.
- It is
possible to succeed in the GAMSAT without doing any work on Physics and
just using intelligent guesswork for those questions. It’s doubtful it’s possible to succeed
without Chemistry. Biology
questions tend to revolve more around data handling than specific recall.
- Practice
the exam with exam style timing if possible. Timing is tight for both reasoning
sections. Get a feel for how
quickly you need to deal with the questions. And you’ll become familiar with the feeling ”If I turn the page and see another @#!$
question, I will bang my head against the desk and run from the exam hall
screaming”. Get used to it!
- Practice
essay writing: about HALF the applicants fail on the essay section. The questions can be very esoteric. The quality of ideas seems to be
rewarded more than structure, but avoid stream of consciousness style
writing. Also avoid overly
emotional or one-sided responses to the stimuli. Take a few minutes to plan out what you
want to say before launching (this can also put the brakes on any urge to
get carried away). Even if 30
minutes seems short, five minutes spent planning and a couple of minutes
spent pulling the threads together at the conclusion will be time well
spent.
- For the
science section, you don’t need to answer the questions in the order they
ask them. Play to your strengths. If
you know Physics is your weak point and you can deal well with the
Biology, leave the obvious Physics questions until the end… but be careful
to keep your place on the answer grid.
- Leave no
question blank - and yes, this does mean guessing
if you haven’t a clue or are running out of time. It’s a fair bet that the exam will be
normalised (i.e. approximately equal numbers of A, B, C and D answers), so
you can use this as a rough guide to guess the right answers if you truly
have no clue.
- Don’t
panic. You can still do well even if you don’t finish the reasoning
sections.
- Keep
things in perspective. The exam is designed to select all rounders.
Everyone out there has their strong and weak points. Maybe you don’t feel your science or
humanities background is strong enough for the exam. But how many science geeks are out there
who can tease out the finer nuances of a passage of a novel or write a
coherent and original essay in 30 mins?… and
visa versa.
- Recognise
the questions you can’t do. Even if
you have become embroiled in a question, if it’s a losing battle, make an
educated (or not) guess and move on!
Then forget about it. There
are plenty of other questions in the paper waiting for your attention and
they won’t appreciate you fretting over water under the bridge.
- Be
prepared for the sheer number of applicants: sitting in an exam hall with
1000 other people can be quite intimidating!
- Take
extra layers to wear, was absolutely freezing in Jan 2003.
- Bring
some food with you since the lunch that’s provided is rather frugal.
9b. BMAT
This
is a new admissions test which will be used by the five year courses at
The
exam is designed to assess academic ability and basic scientific knowledge (Key
stage 4 / GCSE Double Science and Maths).
Though it is going to be a “significant component” of selection, unlike
the PQA it does not try to assess suitability to practice medicine. Things like references and personal
statements and previous exam results will be taken into account.
It
is described as being “challenging” and “capable of discriminating between
candidates who have achieved the highest grades in school examinations”. How
much this should worry mature students remains to be seen. There are sample questions on the website, but
as of yet (May 2003) there is no complete sample paper.
The
exam consists of three sections:
Section I : Aptitude and
Skills (60 minutes)
Section II : Scientific knowledge (30 minutes)
Section III :
Written communication, essay (30 minutes)
Judging
from the specification on the website, the difficulty of the questions is
pegged to be harder than the old MVAT (previously used by
If
you have sat this exam and any of the other entrance exams, please contact me
so I can include some comparative difficulty information on it.
9c. PQA
PQA
is a test which was used for the GEP course at Queen Mary in 2003 and
2004. No GEP courses currently use it.
Applicants
are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. It consists of an IQ test, a personality
test, and a ‘morals’ test.
People
who have previously taken the PQA recommend trying to answer the non-IQ
questions honestly without trying to make a statement or stand out. In 2003, they seemed to select the people
who’d given very ordinary answers over those who gave more extreme ones but who
had higher scores in the IQ section.
Doing IQ tests may be useful in preparing for that section.
You should be aware that
there is some concern over the selectivity of this test. In 2003, approximately 1000 applicants sat
this exam, and 650 passed. QMUL then
randomly selected people from this pool for interview, causing much controversy.
QMUL’s
plans for 2004 involved randomisation before
people were selected for PQA.
QMUL have switched to using
the MSAT for 2005. This section will
remain in case any other university starts using the PQA.
9d. MSAT
MSAT
is a test which is used for the GKT, QMUL, and Warwick GEP courses. Information about it is available on http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/university/msat/intro.html
The
exam consists of three sections:
Part I - Critical
Reasoning/Problem Solving
Part II - Interpersonal Understanding
Part III - Written communication
In
general the style is very similar to GAMSAT, but the main differences are as
follows:
Part
I contains a bit less 'soft reasoning' skills and a bit more 'hard/numerical
reasoning' than GAMSAT. It seems to be testing general reasoning skills rather
than 'social/humanities reasoning'. It is a multiple choice test (MCQ)
Part
II is very much a test of emotional and ‘soft’ skills. It too is in the form of
a MCQ, with questions about how one would best deal with various scenarios and
situations, choosing from the options presented. It is quite hard to know what is the 'right' answer, since the options may range from
'confrontation' through 'negotiation' to 'passivity' and differing behaviours
can be the result of personality and experience in any given situation. Logical
reasoning and a thorough reading of the question (i.e. what exactly is the
desired result and how will each suggested action potentially
lead/not lead to it) can help a little with some of the trickier questions.
Part
III is essay writing similar to the GAMSAT, with 2 essays to be written in 30
minutes. The second of these is pretty much identical to the GAMSAT essays
where you are presented with a collection of quotations and a subject and have
to weave a coherent discussion from these threads. The first essay is very
different. You are presented with a collection of data items on a particular
subject (e.g. reports, tables, charts, graphs etc.) and are asked to produce a
coherent essay about it. Part of the challenge is to decide what
is a reasonable point of view to take from the data provided and how to
write about it. It may be that you are penalised for writing about the subject
from general knowledge without referring closely to the given materials, but
this is not confirmed.
9e. UKCAT
UKCAT is a relatively
new unified entrance exam used by most medical schools for 2007 entry onwards.
The website at
http://www.ukcat.ac.uk gives more information about the structure of the test and
its content.
A contributor
sat this exam in July 2006 and wrote that there were 4 sections, each 22
minutes long. Three sections had 40
questions and the other had about 60 questions, which works
out to approximately 30 seconds per question.
They also noted that they were videotaped during the exam, which is
worth being prepared for. Presumably
this is to monitor any potential cheating rather than anything else.
They described
the exam as follows:
Part One: Comprehension type exercise. 40
questions
They were
presented with a short passage of information and a statement related to that
passage, and they had to decide if the statement was true, false, or if they
couldn’t tell from the passage given.
There were 4
statements per passage and 5 passages in total.
The key to this is to read the passage thoroughly (though still swiftly)
first time around so you do not have to keep referring back to it.
Part Two:
Matching patterns. 60/65 questions
They were
given two sets of patterns, set a and set b, which
contained 6 different boxes with shapes inside. They were then given a box with
shapes, and had to choose whether it belonged to set a, set b or neither
set. The differences in the two sets are
not always as glaringly obvious as you might hope.