Acces to Medicine Application dates

**Henrik88** · 05-12-2008, 12:34 AM

Hi after being recommended College of West Anglia Access to Medicine, i decided to give admissions office a call, and what a great guy, he was very inspired of my story and told me exactly how to use it in my application form/ Personal statement, so i wrote down all his guidelines to my personal statement and told him i will write my application soon and send it off.

1.I was under the impression that i am way too early for the application deadlines but after reading some other posts it would seem not, i wanted to know how long time i have to write my personal statement before the actual deadlines.

Second off all i have danish graduation papers from the two graduations Danish pupils go through folkeskole and gymnasium, comparable to GSCE's and A-levels i think, but gymnasium is a broader scope but less specialized. These papers though are at my home in Denmark and not England, and im first counting on coming home to denmark in about 10 days i hope it is not too late to send the papers with my application by then?

Or maybe i should send my personal statement and application and make a note that my papers will be arriving a bit later?

I just came to think of two other important questions:

2.I believe UCAS is a part of the application for at least COWA, since i am looking to send of my application as soon as possible i want to know is this a test that COWA prompts me to do, or do prospects take the test independently, so that i am to send my UCAS along with the rest of my application?

3. Last question, i have been looking through the COWA Acces to Medicine Online Application form and it has a "REASONS FOR APPLYING AND INTENDED CAREER" section that is allowed a max of 250 characters this is not the section that the admissions officer was referring to when he said "personal statement" right ? because i assumed it would be longer than that. Is Personal statement a seperate paper that i send with my application?

Best regards from a hopeful prospectus

**giella** · 05-12-2008, 12:53 AM

Sorry, you made me smile with your use of the word prospectus. Brings back memories of ESL teaching. I shouldn't laught really though.
You've got till August next year to get in your application so don't worry too much. Also don't worry about your papers being at home. Worst comes to the worst, you can show up to the interview and explain. If they like you enough, they'll make you a provisional offer, dependent on you submitting proof of your attendance at school and grades.
Your personal statement for your COWA application is not the same one you'll submit to UCAS, so I wouldn't panic too much about that either.

So what is your story? Always curious to hear them.

**Henrik88** · 05-12-2008, 01:00 AM

Originally Posted by giella

Sorry, you made me smile with your use of the word prospectus. Brings back memories of ESL teaching. I shouldn't laught really though.
You've got till August next year to get in your application so don't worry too much. Also don't worry about your papers being at home. Worst comes to the worst, you can show up to the interview and explain. If they like you enough, they'll make you a provisional offer, dependent on you submitting proof of your attendance at school and grades.
Your personal statement for your COWA application is not the same one you'll submit to UCAS, so I wouldn't panic too much about that either.

So what is your story? Always curious to hear them.

Haha i am happy to hear i made you smile/laugh! I stuttered a bit at the point where i used prospectus, bear with me my native language is danish not english, but thought to hell with it hehe.

I am happy to hear i have so long till the deadline i will start writing my personal statement and i will clip on my papers when i return to denmark the 15th december and i will send it off and keep dreaming of becoming a psychiatrist.

Now it is my turn to smile Giella, because you should know my story, the person who referred me to COWA Acces to Medicine was you my dear -

A-levels and International (Danish) students

Also i will work on getting that UCAS taken as soon as possible and work hard to make sure i perform good.

**giella** · 05-12-2008, 01:03 AM

Aww, come on. I post about 5 times a day. I don't have to remember everyone's name do I?
I'm getting a little worried actually, as I've effectively become a recruiter for COWA. If all of you and me actually end up there, it's going to be a little surreal!

**Henrik88** · 05-12-2008, 01:06 AM

One last thing though Giella as i am starting to work on my personal statement i am still unsure of whether the Personal statement for COWA Acces to Medicine is a seperate paper with my application, or i should write my person statement under the online application box "REASONS FOR APPLYING AND INTENDED CAREER" (with a max of just 250. words)

I know i would owe you a thanks if i were to meet you at COWA and would be delighted too! for directing me to them

The best christmas gift i could have gotten

**giella** · 05-12-2008, 01:18 AM

Something tells me that things might have changed between my cycle and yours. There wasn't an online application form when I did it, unless you're talking about the document you download and fill in either by hand or on the computer.
The way I did it was as follows:
Filled in the application form. I think I left that section you're mentioning blank.
I touched up my CV and included it with the application form.
Wrote out a personal statement in the form of a covering letter. It was one page long and started with "To Whom It May Concern," and finished with "Yours Faithfully". It was in essence a personal statement, stating my reasons for wanting to do medicine, talking about my experience and how I thought COWA would help me achieve that.
So that was three things I sent them: CV, Covering Letter/PS, and application form. The application form is non-specific for any course at COWA, and that section you mention isn't really ideal for the Access to Medicine course, hence the covering letter/personal statement.

I'm rambling a little. But I think that's all the information you need.

**Henrik88** · 05-12-2008, 01:22 AM

It helped me alot, as i am danish i am not used too Personal statements and it helped to have it clarified what it actually is.

The section i am talking about is found here -
http://www.col-westanglia.ac.uk/admi...access2med.pdf

Their online application form

**giella** · 05-12-2008, 01:29 AM

OK, if you draft a copy of your personal statement, I can read it through and see if it makes sense. I'm fairly good at error correction. It's part of my occasional job. Also, I rub my hands with glee at the thought of being able to give advice!
Just looked over your original post and I'll just reiterate that you don't have to start worrying about UCAS until next September. The college will help you out with that.
Next summer you'll have to take the UKCAT. This is an aptitude test which forms part of the admissions process at many medical schools in the UK. You might want to buy a book or two to help you prepare for it.
I'm saying this on the assumption that you get a place, but I'm fairly sure you will.
Good luck.

**Henrik88** · 14-12-2008, 12:20 AM

Thank you so much for that offer Giella!

Yesterday i sat down with a laptop after having thought about it for a long time and i scribbled down my thoughts, here is the personal statement i wrote down

If others wish to help me improve my Personal statement, they are most welcome to do so, the document is attached to this post.

Yours Faithfully