Any Advice?

[want 2b a doc]

hey im going into yr 13 and im applying to imperial UCl, Kings but im not sure bout my 4th choice (prob bristol or birmingham) My first choice is Imperial(went to the Open Day and absolutely loved it!! )

Im really worried bout interviews etc ...could ne1 who's been thru the whole thing give me ne advice on questions they were asked/gd answers to the Q: So...why do YOU want to be a Dr??? Or generally ne handy tips on BMAT etc??

[Aki]

I applied to the same unis, my 4th choice was St Georges (but I didnt like it in the end (and they didnt like me lol))

For the BMAT test, do past papers. Not sure if you`re school keeps it but when I did it, they used the same questions again from the year before. So its likely that they will do it again.

[kpg]

The BMAT is new for this year for Imperial so I can't help you on that. Interviews aren't that bad. I only had a panel of 3 - one professor, a consultant and a 5th year student. They were quite nice. And the interview is quite short, about 10-12 minutes usually but it really does fly buy.

If you go back a few pages there will be lots of threads about interviews from the past year.

[zoë]

yay!!! i get to be on the interview panel this year

didn't have the BMAT in my day except for oxbridge so i didn't do it...

not really sure what sort of advice you want about general interview stuff, ask some more specific questions and i will try to help!

[beans]

heya, yeh i dont know too much about the BMAT cos we didnt have to do it, interview wise, out of all 4, the imperial interview was by far the best..not saying it was easy but they make you feel so comfortable you can answer questions better.
after my interview, i had my heart set on imperial. you could buy "how to get into medical school" MPW publishers i think, its pretty good and tells you how you can tackle the most popular medical interview questions and also has a medical ethics section..questions on medical ethics seem to be pretty popular.

[EP]

I did the BMAT for UCL, make sure you go over any of the three the sciences from GCSE you haven't continued at A Level (for me this was just digging out the old CGP revision guides and reading over them the night before...in hindsight, maybe do a bit more than that). Also, you might want to start practicing your essay skills now because it makes up a large part of the marks.

Go over the specimen paper on the website (not as difficult as the real thing but it's something) or any past papers if you're school has them. Oh, and if you haven't done Critical Thinking, it might be useful to get a textbook out of the library and try some of the questions in it, they're used quite a lot. Make sure you check out the BMAT forum aswell. Phew, I guess that's about everything I know about it!

[Helena]

I steered well clear of BMAT (It involves numbers ), but as for the interview it was fine. It was short at under 10 mins. The panel (4 people inc student) played their roles with one very excitable lady jumping at everything I said as if it were genius (she may have just had too much coffee), and one guy looking at the wall the whole time and scowling, then asking the 'hard hitting' ethial question! The student on my panel was president of the MSU and had been with us the whole day so it pays to be polite to everyone, all the time . There was a question you got 20 mins or so before to think about and then they asked for your views etc. Mine was 'should unhealthy foods be taxed'. It was slightly strange as the panel didn't challenge any of my views or points etc so I was slightly worried about that and the shortness (is that even a word?) of it all. I heard in 15 days. Best of luck. Keep calm and smile, but not too much - there were some girls walking around that day who looked botoxed for the occaision and no matter what you told them they would have beamed at you and this does look slightly odd, not to mind disoncerting!

[want 2b a doc]

thanx every1, that makes me feel alot better

BMAT sounds difficult...but mayb cos its the 1st year they wont rly put that much emphasis on it when deciding on places (mayb...hopefully ...oh who am i kidding??)

thanx for all the good advice ppl

zoe by interview stuff i meant examples of questions etc that u might ask (since ur on the panel!)

[lori]

Yeah like kgp go back a few pages on this forum for our interview experiences from last year. My Imperial interview was the most enjoyable, the most challenging too (maybe that's why it was so enjoyable ). I did feel really comfortable during it- there were the initial nerves when you come in but then you fall into the swing of answering questions and the time just flies by.

I did the BMAT last year for UCl too. My physics isnt too hot (wouldnt have done it for AS/A level for anything!) so wish I'd gone over some of that before I sat the exam. It's designed to be really difficult, few people finish both of the multiple choice papers (bit of a con to call it 'multiple choice') and the essay is generally fine.

[zoë]

i guess they can pretty much ask you anything at your interview, usually it's about stuff on your personal statement and what you're going to contribute to the medical school, why they should give you a place etc.

i have a few interesting questions up my sleeve but i'm not going to tell you what they are