COWA Access to Medicine 2010/11

[khaa9666]

Hey guys. I am currently on the access course and I thought I'd write a wee note on some of your concerns.

Firstly RELAX! If you have an interview, theres a very strong you will get a place here. It is a very informal chat with one of the course staff and nothing like a med school interview. They just want to confirm you are who you said you are and possibly give you some advice on what you should be looking to do between now and the start date. You wont be asked about current medical issues, NHS organization, roles of a doctor etc. It will be more like 'why medicine?' and work experience. You probably wont get the 'why not nursing?' but theres a strong chance you will at a med school interview. If you dont have healthcare experience, you should probably say that you will be looking to get some in over the summer, they like that!

The course itself is very comprehensive. You will be cramming in a lot of work over the nine months which is all essentially A-Level but I would say biology goes a bit further with regards to histology which is really useful prep for med school. The course is well regarded by a lot of med schools and it does work if you put in the effort. So far I have 2 offers and an interview next Thursday :-)

With regards to Dentistry, you are in all the same classes with the exception of epidemiology, where you guys will be doing oral health instead. This cohort in much smaller with about 10 students.

As for finance, you need to be aware that there is not much work going here and your in classes 4 days a week, with one unfortunate group in 5 days a week at the moment. There is NHS bank healthcare assistant work usually going at the hospitals but you need to apply very early as the application process can be lengthy, waiting for a CRB to clear. Also the induction training is 2 weeks long and you wont be able to do that whilst on the course. Id recommend that you come early and do this as if is flexible work that you can choose when and how much to work and it looks good on your personal statement if you lack healthcare experience. What they dont tell you at the college is that if you have not attained level 3 (more than 1.5 a-levels) you can have your entire rent paid for you and also get ema/alg £30 per week. The fund available is limited and its first come, first served basis.

Any questions, please ask and I'll try to get back to you promptly.

And lastly, if anyone has yet to come for and interview and is needing somewhere to stay, we have spare bedrooms and we are beside the college. All we ask for is 3 fish suppers

Good luck!

I was in THAT class!!! gutted

[allypumba]

Hey Klowe,

Financially speaking, I am rich!! But seriously, it has been a big hurdle for many here. I'm guessing you have level 3 qualifications? So the paid accommodation and adult learning grant would not apply. The course fee of £800 can be paid in installments and everyone gets a £300 accommodation grant. If your living here, get a house with bills included in the rent. That way you dont have to worry about the extra charges especially in the winter. I pay £300 a month with all bills included, a large modern furnished room, right beside the college. So travelling expenses are nil and theres a Tesco in less than 5 min walk away. So living expenses are fairly cheap here. Like I said before, get a bank HCA job in the local hospital and you get around £9.5 ph on Saturdays and £11.5 ph on Sundays. You may have a frugal existence whilst here but remember its only 9 months and most people will be in the same situation as yourself. As for the interview, its basically a chat, and what a bloody long way I had to travel for that chat!!!

Good luck on the 26th!!

[klowe171]

mate your a star! good luck on your course and cheers for the help!

[renascer]

Hey All,

I just got an email from student services from COWA. They are quering my qualifications. Quote:

"Thank you for the information. Looking at your grades and having compared them to GCSEs, it would appear that your qualifications do not meet the standards required to get onto the course. Your grade in Maths appears to be lower then the rest of the subjects you have attained and Chemistry is the only science-based exam that you have undertaken.

Please advise if you have taken English Language as an exam and if so, what grade you have achieved."

Am I not correct that Scottish standard grades are equivilent to GCSE's? I dont think they are looking at my application correctly. It clearly states I have maths, English and chemistry and I thought you only needed once science? I even provided a word document, detailing all my qualifications at their request. Also I also though standard grade English was an English exam, unless I was tripping in it! I also have a bachelor nursing degree with distinction.

My main Standard grades are as follow

English=3
Chemistry=3
Maths=4

Bachelor of Nursing with Distinction CGPA 86%

Can anyone give me some direction? Am I eligible for the course? I dont want to give up on COWA, as I dont think the person dealing with my application is really paying much attention to it. Any suggestions?

Regards


Fejao

[allypumba]

Hey All,

I just got an email from student services from COWA. They are quering my qualifications. Quote:

"Thank you for the information. Looking at your grades and having compared them to GCSEs, it would appear that your qualifications do not meet the standards required to get onto the course. Your grade in Maths appears to be lower then the rest of the subjects you have attained and Chemistry is the only science-based exam that you have undertaken.

Please advise if you have taken English Language as an exam and if so, what grade you have achieved."

Am I not correct that Scottish standard grades are equivilent to GCSE's? I dont think they are looking at my application correctly. It clearly states I have maths, English and chemistry and I thought you only needed once science? I even provided a word document, detailing all my qualifications at their request. Also I also though standard grade English was an English exam, unless I was tripping in it! I also have a bachelor nursing degree with distinction.

My main Standard grades are as follow

English=3
Chemistry=3
Maths=4

Bachelor of Nursing with Distinction CGPA 86%

Can anyone give me some direction? Am I eligible for the course? I dont want to give up on COWA, as I dont think the person dealing with my application is really paying much attention to it. Any suggestions?

Regards


Fejao

Right where to begin!!

Standard grades are the equivalent to GCSE's. I have standard grades and thats what I got in with and a lot of NHS experience, which being a nurse you will have. They do ask for 5 standard grades at level 1-3 (one of those has to be maths, min grade 3) so you have to make sure of that first. If you do, you can do GCSE maths and english to get b's minimum to meet the needs of the med schools. Its free to do these subjects on top of your course and the maths serves as a double revision for the maths you'll be doing anyhows. Its really quite silly because many med schools wont look at you if you dont have at minimum a 3/C maths even though you are doing essentially already doing A-Level maths as part of the course.But if you do have 5 standard grades at this level, just explain that to them and tell them that you'll be wanting to to the GCSE maths when your here. Hope this is helpful AL

[renascer]

Hi AL,

So your essentially saying I dont have the qualification in maths? I thought the access course was used if you didnt have the relevance SG or Gcse?

Stow and Sussex downs have said I am eligible, so least I have something to go on there.

Looks like COWA is a no go :-(

Regards

Scott.

[allypumba]

Hey Scott,

Dont give up on it just yet! I'm just telling you what COWA state on the entrance requirements on the website. Like I said, give them a call and say that you would want to sit GCSE maths and it may swing it, it shows tenacity that you dont give up at the first hurdle. Besides if you look at all the med schools that take the access course, they still demand certian GCSE/Standard grades on top of the access course. All the Scottish universities require at least grade 3 in both english and maths, so it might pay to think about resiting you maths.

[Nurse1988]

Jesus. With a grade like that on your nursing degree too. Mad!

[renascer]

Hey Scott,

Dont give up on it just yet! I'm just telling you what COWA state on the entrance requirements on the website. Like I said, give them a call and say that you would want to sit GCSE maths and it may swing it, it shows tenacity that you dont give up at the first hurdle. Besides if you look at all the med schools that take the access course, they still demand certian GCSE/Standard grades on top of the access course. All the Scottish universities require at least grade 3 in both english and maths, so it might pay to think about resiting you maths.

Hey am not giving up, just dont want to be wasting my time applying and flying to places when I dont qualify.

I know universities want minimum qualifications, but since I dont have them, thats what I thought the access course is for.....was I wrong all along?

[allypumba]

I meant with regards to the COWA course, the dinnae gie up :-) If you got an interview at COWA, your pretty much already in! Yeah they seem to want us to jump through many hoops just to get in, but then they can do that!