sussex downs A2M

[speed skater]

Hello everyone
I am considering applying to the Sussex Downs access to the medicine course 2010 entry. I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can help me with!
I contacted the admissions who have been extremely helpful however I have been told that if I were to take A level chemistry in my spare time it would…"Help with my application although not necessary". My question is that I thought the access course prepares the student for access to university, by teaching chemistry biology physics ect? My next predicament is that I only found out about access to medicine courses whilst studying my hnd. I applied to Law school in Scotland where I have been given conditional offers however upon finding out about the A2M courses offered in England I now want study the access course and hopefully attain a place at med school south of the border. I have been told that the fact that I will be at my first year of university whilst applying to the A2M course it will be very unlikely for me to be given a place! is this true? Should I tell them that I am at university or keep quiet about it? Also with regards to Sussex downs how successful are students I attaining a place at BSMS? I have read a lot of information on the internet but I am finding it hard o figure what is relevant and what is not. Can someone please help point me in the right direction!?

[469er]

Hello everyone
I am considering applying to the Sussex Downs access to the medicine course 2010 entry. I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can help me with!
I contacted the admissions who have been extremely helpful however I have been told that if I were to take A level chemistry in my spare time it would…"Help with my application although not necessary". My question is that I thought the access course prepares the student for access to university, by teaching chemistry biology physics ect? My next predicament is that I only found out about access to medicine courses whilst studying my hnd. I applied to Law school in Scotland where I have been given conditional offers however upon finding out about the A2M courses offered in England I now want study the access course and hopefully attain a place at med school south of the border. I have been told that the fact that I will be at my first year of university whilst applying to the A2M course it will be very unlikely for me to be given a place! is this true? Should I tell them that I am at university or keep quiet about it? Also with regards to Sussex downs how successful are students I attaining a place at BSMS? I have read a lot of information on the internet but I am finding it hard o figure what is relevant and what is not. Can someone please help point me in the right direction!?

A level Chem is unnecessary. If your application is weak in other respects, it might be helpful. If your application is strong in other respects, you may get in without so much as a science GCSE (I did). The point, as you say, of the access course is to fill the science-shaped holes in your education. The Sussex Downs course will get you up to about AS standard in Chemistry, which is adequate for most, though not all, med schools (Cambridge, for example, insist on A level standard and do not recognise the SD course).

Are you already on the law degree course? Your post makes it sound as though you have an offer to start this autumn. If you are set on medicine, why start it? It will only make it harder to do all the things you need to do to make your application strong, e.g. voluntary work, shadowing, extracurricular activities to demonstrate your strengths and qualities etc. If you are set on starting it, or have already done so, I would think carefully about revealing it on your application. You will have some explaining to do at interview, and may not get that far if your commitment to medicine looks in doubt. That said, if you are concealing what you are currently doing, that may have an impact on how you present yourself too. As I say, I would consider carefully what it is you actually want to be doing, and commit yourself.

Regarding BSMS, the progression rate is good. Out of an annual cohort of 18, about 10-12 usually go on to BSMS. Not everyone gets in, and not everyone who gets in chooses to go there. Pretty much everyone gets in somewhere, though some take two admissions cycles to get there.

HTH

[speed skater]

A level Chem is unnecessary. If your application is weak in other respects, it might be helpful. If your application is strong in other respects, you may get in without so much as a science GCSE (I did). The point, as you say, of the access course is to fill the science-shaped holes in your education. The Sussex Downs course will get you up to about AS standard in Chemistry, which is adequate for most, though not all, med schools (Cambridge, for example, insist on A level standard and do not recognise the SD course).

Are you already on the law degree course? Your post makes it sound as though you have an offer to start this autumn. If you are set on medicine, why start it? It will only make it harder to do all the things you need to do to make your application strong, e.g. voluntary work, shadowing, extracurricular activities to demonstrate your strengths and qualities etc. If you are set on starting it, or have already done so, I would think carefully about revealing it on your application. You will have some explaining to do at interview, and may not get that far if your commitment to medicine looks in doubt. That said, if you are concealing what you are currently doing, that may have an impact on how you present yourself too. As I say, I would consider carefully what it is you actually want to be doing, and commit yourself.

Regarding BSMS, the progression rate is good. Out of an annual cohort of 18, about 10-12 usually go on to BSMS. Not everyone gets in, and not everyone who gets in chooses to go there. Pretty much everyone gets in somewhere, though some take two admissions cycles to get there.

HTH

Thank you for your reply!

Yeh I do have a uni place this September… the reason for this is that I had only found out about access courses after I had applied to ucas and received all of my offers. However the lure of medicine is too strong for me to ignore…. I know that in the long run I would be happier in a medical career and also the long journey that I will have to endure to get to that point. However I am worried about the application process to Sussex Downs and to med school as I am unsure as to what they are looking for?…I get that I have to do work experience and I have been actively seeking to find a place that will allow me to shadow. I have also signed up to the BMJ student website to educate myself in medical issues and news. I do have other potential opportunities that may help with an application in the pipelines but its hard to decipher what is the right plan of action to take!…. Do you have any advice on what else I should be doing to help with my application? This may sound like a silly question but did u do the access course at Sussex Downs and get into med school?

[469er]

Thank you for your reply!

Yeh I do have a uni place this September… the reason for this is that I had only found out about access courses after I had applied to ucas and received all of my offers. However the lure of medicine is too strong for me to ignore…. I know that in the long run I would be happier in a medical career and also the long journey that I will have to endure to get to that point. However I am worried about the application process to Sussex Downs and to med school as I am unsure as to what they are looking for?…I get that I have to do work experience and I have been actively seeking to find a place that will allow me to shadow. I have also signed up to the BMJ student website to educate myself in medical issues and news. I do have other potential opportunities that may help with an application in the pipelines but its hard to decipher what is the right plan of action to take!…. Do you have any advice on what else I should be doing to help with my application? This may sound like a silly question but did u do the access course at Sussex Downs and get into med school?

Sussex Downs do information days about 4 times a year when they go into some considerable detail about what they look for in applicants. If you call the Access office on 01273 402261, they should be able to give you the dates, and also some informal advice. SD probably has the best progression rate to medical school of any of the access courses, but you should not rule out the others, most obviously COWA and CCN in Norwich. There is a stickied thread at the top of this forum that lists them all. There are also a couple of premed courses at or linked to specific medschools which you could look into. There are only 18 places at SD each year, so it would not be smart to put all your eggs in that basket.

There is a wealth of information on this site about what kind of experience, qualities and application strategies are needed to be successful in getting into medicine, and I would strongly recommend that you read, read, read over the next few weeks to try and get a sense of whether this is what you want and whether you can realistically expect to be successful, so that you can decide what to do about that law degree. If you are serious about medicine, and can be a serious contender, I would personally recommend that you don't start it. Perhaps you could defer it, so that you can see what happens re access applications? If you're certain you don't want to do law, though, I cannot see how starting it helps you, and may, as you have guessed, hinder.

It is hard to give generic advice about who can get successfully onto an access course, still more so on to a specific course, as applicants typically come from very diverse backgrounds. It seems to me that there is always a selection of other healthcare workers - nurses/physios/paramedics etc - but in my year, for instance, there was also an editor, a police officer, a TV producer, someone who had worked in travel, a computer programmer, an engineer, a bar manager - you get the picture!

[469er]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone who has got into Sussex downs could answer a few questions for me.
After applying for Sussex Downs and getting invited for an interview,are your GCSE,A level or Degree grades checked?Or do they just take your word for it.
I know this is a very competitive course,so would a graduate with weak GCSE or A level grades be less likely to get an interview on the course,than someone with really high GCSE and A level grades?
What is the experience of people who have been accepted on this course?Were you a A* student at A level and GCSE's?Or were u pretty low on the grades(e.g.C and D grades)
I look forward to hearing your views.

I actually can't quite believe you asked this! What do you expect anyone to say? 'Oh no, put what you want on your application form - no one will ever check it...' - ?? Even if that were true - and it would be extremely imprudent to count on it - what kind of doctor are you going to make if you're (a) prepared to lie to make yourself look good and (b) prepared to do something reckless and dishonest on the recommendation of others (indeed, strangers on the internet!). Furthermore, any lies you tell on your SD application will have to be replicated on your UCAS form (or you'll have some explaining to do) and are at risk of coming out all over again with a medical school place in the balance. You should also consider the possibility that there are people here whose path you may go on to cross in real life.

In any case, it's a risk without any point to it whatever. Previous Sussex Downs students and applicants have an extremely broad range of previous attainment, some rather chequered indeed. Everything that's happened in the past, including failures (in the exam hall or elsewhere), is part of what makes you who you are. Not only is that of more interest to the selection team than your history as a high flyer, but any sense of dislocation between who you are on paper and who you are in the flesh will be very apparent.

HTH

[Jesse]

Boimed:

You're posting the same question on multiple threads. Why?

[meezie]

you go 469er!!! couldn't have put it better myself!! xx