Graduate Entry Programs (A101)

[zhangyuzhi]

Lol 14-20 spots...that sounds more like what it is supposed to be...damn
Yeah, I've been cutting and cutting my PS down. It sucks though. 4000 characters? Cmon man... how lazy can the admissions get? AMCAS allows 5500+ I think

this is because high school students and we graduates are using the same UCAS system... so we are literally downgraded to their standard (lol no offense).

[zhangyuzhi]

Hey, thanks for the info.

When you said I have to send in my transcripts, I'm assuming this has to be the official document sent by my university and high school? Or can it be an unofficial, electronic version? I'm waiting to hear back from UK NARIC, I hope their letter of comparability will clarify most things.

I've had my share of troubles calling UK medical school admissions haha. Some schools refuse to do any sort of interpretation over the phone!

Imperial will want an official transcript send to the admissions office, so I assume for this school, it means paper document send via mail.

NARIC will help to resolve most matter in that regard, I agree.

true that emails and phones could both be useless in some circumstances esp. now it is the hot season for application-related enquiries. It usually took me 1-2 weeks before hearing back from them for UK schools (and I am studying there already...). Phonecalls sometimes resulted in standard answers which i can get on their websites..

[zhangyuzhi]

I've sent my transcripts to some schools already, for a "pre-application" review, to see if I'm eligible to apply or not. This means that they already have my transcript..I wonder if I can just tell them to check their e-mails again and pull up my records haha

I guess its good to hear that they will request a transcript once they receive my UCAS. Will they notify us through e-mail?

UK NARIC is an agency in the UK, which you can obtain a letter of comparability by sending in all your qualifications (high school, university transcripts, resume, CVs, etc). You tell them why you need the letter (so for me, I told them I want to know my eligibility). The reason why I did this is because I was so tired of all the mixed response I received from the schools. Some don't even read your e-mails carefully! The UK schools themselves have the resources to compare and interpret non-UK qualifications obviously, but again, I was tired and I felt like this final letter thing would clarify stuff. But I did it too late so...I don't know.

I'm thinking of Liverpool and maybe Bristol, which I just learned do not need the UKCAT for lol...

KCL, Southampton, Newcastle are among my choices. What is the difference between GEP and the regular 5 year medicine courses?

GEP are for graduates like in the US system. 4 years with the first year being equivalent to 1st+2nd year in the normal 5 year course (i.e. condensed). The normal course is primarily for high school applicants (i.e. A level students) but these days graduates also apply to those too. The course is longer (5, or 6 including one year intercalated BSc degree), and preclinical years being 2 instead of 1 in GEP.

There are more places in the normal course so it is generally believed that it is easier to enter.

[zhangyuzhi]

it's pretty disconcerting to see a second upper class degree in UK leads to such a variable range in GPA scale isn't it?

also the fact that each school can only allocate 7-8% of places to non-EU students, with the Parliament constantly debating whether to ban overseas clinicians altogether.

[krazyfish]

Thanks for the quote-reply zhangyuzhi, greatly appreciated. Wait so, zhangyuzhi, are you applying to medicine courses this year as well?

So I guess I can conclude that if the school contacts me for my transcripts, after receiving my UCAS application, they have interest. If not, then I guess its a rejection. There really is no way to indicate courses/grades on the UCAS huh..I don't know if i should bother calling UCAS and asking.

When I get NARIC'S letter, is it acceptable to make photocopies of it or scan and e-mail and send it to schools?

[zhangyuzhi]

Cheers krazyfish! yes I am applying for 2010 entry (Imperial and Oxford as top choices, others not interested, filled in just to feel better). I also apply to PhDs so if it works out, I will try to do this integrated MB PhD thing (similar to MD PhD in US, but UK does not offer this kind of thing, and I have to build it myself). Being international, this means [fierce competitions]^2. Let's hope for the best.

If I were you, I will just send my transcripts to each of the universities applied, alongside NARIC letter photocopies. It does not cost much extra. That's what we can do, and everything else is left to them. finger crossed.

For Imperial and Oxford I know, they do not want original documents but rather prefer photocopies. So this makes life easier. It's good to keep the originals on our side.

[krazyfish]

Hmm good point. So technically, I can start sending my transcripts by post because it will take like a week to get to the UK (I'm in the US). By the time it gets there, I should have sent my UCAS already...

[zhangyuzhi]

I think so.

[Kam14]

So I guess I can conclude that if the school contacts me for my transcripts, after receiving my UCAS application, they have interest. If not, then I guess its a rejection. There really is no way to indicate courses/grades on the UCAS huh..I don't know if i should bother calling UCAS and asking.

Don't bother, I tried that and they didn't really understand what I was talking about. UCAS are the middle-men, its not their job to interpret anything we send them they just pass it along. Just enter what you can and the med schools will ask for the rest. I highly doubt they will reject you before seeing your transcripts because looking at a UCAS form isn't a fair way to assess our grades/subjects taken.

[krazyfish]

Yep, I'ved learned to realize that.
Did you apply? Have the schools asked you to send them anything yet?