BSMS Reserve List 09 Entry

[pikasnOo]

any news anyone? has anyone recieved any interviews or been told that there are no interviews?

I called yesterday...admissions say they have no clue if there will be interviews...a decision is yet to be made...

[juniorDr.B]

I've just recieved a letter from BSMS that there will be no interviews, but they have an offer to give 1st year bsc students an interview if they have AAAB and 70% weighted exam results from semester/term 1.

do you think its a good option also theres the chance for an interview in year 3 of the bsc ?
by good option i mean the courses they offer, they are molecular medicine or medical neuroscience at sussex or biomed or Mpharm at brighton. are they good courses in general.

[sparkly sam]

Hey guys, I graduated from Sussex last july and I would massively recommend the BSc Molecular medicine course at Sussex over any of the others. I'm now a first year at Warwick Medical School on their 4 year graduate programme, and I got accepted to HullYork and BSMS too.

Basically the course is an excellent grounding for going on to study medicine. You get to do an anatomy module alongside the med students where you get to do dissection and see prosections, which interviewers love to hear about. You get to do a wet lab project in your 3rd year, which also looks excellent on your UCAS form. I did mine on human glioblastoma (brain tumour cells) and it was really interesting, medically relevant, and gave me a lot to talk about in my interviews!

My background is that I had a place for the 6 year medicine course at UCL, but bodged up my A level chemistry, so I was in the same position as you guys, and trying to decide one of the courses BSMS had offered. I actually picked Molecular Medicine at random because it had medicine in the title! But i'm glad I did because its been so useful, not only for getting into medical school after graduating, but also now I'm actually doing medicine, the information you learn over the 3 years is incredibly useful and relevant in a clincial setting. In particular, the immunology and cell signalling and cancer modules ave been invaluable.

Plus, the biochem department at Sussex is awesome, and has a really good reputation, so that also bodes well when applying to medical schools later on.

Well, I hope that helps! If anyone wants anymore info please just post on here, or I'm happy to email people.
My advice is go for molecular medicine at Sussex and good luck everyone!!! xxx

[pikasnOo]

I would suggest retake your A-levels if you did not do so well or take a GAP year and get some more work experience.

As a Biomed grad who's now, I'm not going to say, tried so many times to get into med school, the best advice would be to retake or take a GAP year. There is no guarantee that you'd get into BSMS for medicine if you did their BScs.

I know, you're thinking "but there's equal chance of me not getting into med if I resit/ take a gap year" - yes that may be true but at least it won't be 3/4 years until you get your next shot at medicine.

A cynical view is that it's good for BSMS or any medical school in fact, to get you onto their BSc, especially if they offer some hope of getting you into medicine, because at the end of the day they get money from you being at their school. The course gets filled, especially as many people don't often choose these courses outright because the prefer to do medicine, and they get the government's money to run their school/university.

I'm not saying that a BSc is a bad way to go...heck I loved doing Biomed at King's, but don't do it because you think it will be easier to get into medicine that way. Because it won't be. You still need to do extremely well with a 2:1 or above to get into most schools (except St Georges and Nottingham, if you get a 2:2 or above and do the Gamsat, which is tough, believe me).

Some people get lucky and get into the first year of medicine after outperforming in their first year of their BSc (again this is a small percentage, and you MUST get a 1st (over 70%) in your first year, which at degree standards is not always an easy feat. BSMS offer this option but it's not easy by any means.

So then ok, you don't get the 70% and you finish your BSc with a good 2:1 and you think about applying to grad schools because you can't stomach paying tuition fees (which are always on the up) for 5/6 years....so you apply to grad school (Although I suggest you apply to a mixture of grad and undergrad). Competition is FIERCE! Everyone has the minimum requirements (2:1 or above) and they are all going for a limited number of places (many grad schools have a quarter of the intake that many undergrad schools have e.g. Bristol, however Warwick is much better with over 150+ students). You may find that you don't make it that year and wonder why when you apparently tick all the boxes.

Medicine is hard to get into, we all know this, and it's not necessarily about being clever, the reason why it's AAA these days is because admissions have to raise the bar so more applicants can be deterred...so many people apply that to whittle 1000s of applicants down to 200 - 300 is extremely difficult, hence the introduction of UKCAT, BMAT etc....

By all means go for a BSc if you want to do it because you've decided maybe medicine is not the course for you. But if you are doing it because you think it will get you more kudos points, I'd resit/take a GAP year... the only thing you'll lose is a year compared to 3/4 and you won't feel like an old lumpkins like me wishing I'd started earlier.

PS: I know many older people start medicine in their late 20s 30s but decisions about starting on a 5/6 year course can get affected by life circumstances like children, money and location. Best to start medicine early when you're more likely to not have these factors weighing in on your decision. Best to have every available opportunity open to you.

[pikasnOo]

PS: BSc's aren't all bad, since graduating...I got an amazing job working as a medical Editor for a major corporation and earn a fair bob or two...so it's not all bad.

[juniorDr.B]

Hey guys, I graduated from Sussex last july and I would massively recommend the BSc Molecular medicine course at Sussex over any of the others. I'm now a first year at Warwick Medical School on their 4 year graduate programme, and I got accepted to HullYork and BSMS too.

Basically the course is an excellent grounding for going on to study medicine. You get to do an anatomy module alongside the med students where you get to do dissection and see prosections, which interviewers love to hear about. You get to do a wet lab project in your 3rd year, which also looks excellent on your UCAS form. I did mine on human glioblastoma (brain tumour cells) and it was really interesting, medically relevant, and gave me a lot to talk about in my interviews!

My background is that I had a place for the 6 year medicine course at UCL, but bodged up my A level chemistry, so I was in the same position as you guys, and trying to decide one of the courses BSMS had offered. I actually picked Molecular Medicine at random because it had medicine in the title! But i'm glad I did because its been so useful, not only for getting into medical school after graduating, but also now I'm actually doing medicine, the information you learn over the 3 years is incredibly useful and relevant in a clincial setting. In particular, the immunology and cell signalling and cancer modules ave been invaluable.

Plus, the biochem department at Sussex is awesome, and has a really good reputation, so that also bodes well when applying to medical schools later on.

Well, I hope that helps! If anyone wants anymore info please just post on here, or I'm happy to email people.
My advice is go for molecular medicine at Sussex and good luck everyone!!! xxx

thanks for the info, but i would like to find something, i have plenty of work experience, and have the grades so ill be doing a Bsc then re-applying to GEP medicine as i don't want to take another year out.

i would like to find out whether you did more voluntary work during your degree to show your motivation, and others too, do you need to do more work experience to show your dedication towards medicine, or will the work ive already done be enough im 19 now.

[sparkly sam]

Well, I did most of my main work experience before my degree too, and also volunteered for the NHS back home in Leicester. However, throughout my degree I continued volunteering for the NHS at the Royal Sussex Hospital, so by the time I graduated I had been volunteering for 5 years, and also gained a lot of insight into how the NHS works as a service. Thats the only extra experience I did though. It was really useful, and excellent to talk about in interviews because it shows dedication. I only used to do one afternoon a week, and I was able to observe all sorts of procedures once the staff got to know me. I'd suggest doing something like this because its not too time consuming. However, if you're gonna take the year out to work, then I'd definitely recommend working in a healthcare setting, to show that you've used your time to find about more about your chosen career. It'll look much better at interview than just doing a random job and a bit of volunteering. If you're gonna go travelling or something, also try and make it medically related. Basically, the more experience you have, the better, but if you just use the stuff you've already done, then make sure you can explain what you've learnt and how its further strengthened your decision to study medicine, and that'll be fine too. Its all about how you apply what you've done to showing how you've gained insight into being a doctor.
Hope that helps, sorry its a bit of a rambling message!x

[chloecasamenta]

I have an offer for Brighton's biomedical course, but it only wants 260 UCAS points BCD/CCC. That seems very low, I was wondering if anyone knew why it is so low? Southampton want ABB for the same course. Surely Southampton will be better recognised and more of an accademic course? Need help choosing :s