Predjudice against good A-level Scores

[Libosoulja]

Is it just me, or am i seeing good applicant getting rejected, with good A-level scores n good work experience, whilst those who just have the predicted grades at A2 and not even at A/s are getting interviews and offer. And for some reason i cn sort of see that the unis have some sort of connection in the admissions process when there not ment 2!!!!

[KatJ]

I don't really agree with any of that, lots of people get turned down, but there is usually good reason for that, someone else's application was slightly better than yours for that place at that uni.

[Starry_eyed]

Nah I wouldn't say so, really. But you've got to remember that grades aren't everything. Admittedly I do have As at AS level, but I'm sure people with As also do get rejections. I think, after having read other posts, that interlectual ability is only worth 20% of the total of what they mark your application on. You still have 80% left to fill with other attributes, such as 'leadership' and 'dedication to medicine'.

[KatJ]

I got ABBC at As level, and scored full marks in the academic section.......

[Starry_eyed]

Perhaps that's good enough then?

[simac]

I can see where you're coming from, but really i think your theory is wrong simply because we can't really judge what a 'good' applicant is. I got a's at AS.

[Bambi]

I don't think there is any truth to it really. A lot of people who have straight As just think that means they will automatically get interviews and therefore don't put in as much effort for the other stuff. Academic ability is marked out of 20 at Manchester so those doing well there but still not getting interviews must be lacking somewhere else. Connection is the admissions process? If you mean different unis talk to each other I can assure you they really don't. Manc get around 4000 applications. Do you really think they have time to ring every other med school in the uk about 4000 different people?

KatJ just out of interest what did you get at GCSE and what are you predicted?

[Ianl87]

Hi there,

I also dont believe that this is the case, I got 6A*, 2As and 2Bs at GCSE, AAABBC at AS level and AAAAB at A level.

Like KatJ said, if you didnt get an interview or an offer at a particular university, there must be other applicants who have better attribites and seem more attractive to the school and competition in this field is obviously very fierce.

Its true that you need some sort of intellectual ability to study medicine but other factors must be taken into account. Because manchester is a PBL orientated course, they like to see you have skills such as teamwork, leadership, dedication, motivation and a lot of emphasis is put on chilling out and having fun! We manc medics dont really have a strenuous timetable for the 1st couple of years =D

And anyway, even if you have fantabulous grades and heaps of work experience, you need to have the ability to put that across to the admisisons tutors in your personal statement and again in the interview. If you dont get an interview, maybe your personal statement wasn't as good as other people's?

[Huw Davies]

There's no plausible motive for medical schools' selecting against those with good grades, really.

[NV05]

Firstly AS grades are not ratified, therefore they are not generally put on you UCAS form (as they don't count as qualifications if they're not ratified etc etc) and so the medical school goes on your predicted A level scores and GCSEs. Its a prerequisite that you have good grades for any medical school (unless you're doing one of those jazzy access courses which I don't know much about) and there are thousands of people who get rejected without interview. If you don't meet the threshold on the given criteria (there are about 6) then you don't get an interview. They're not prejudicing you on grades, they're prejudicing you on more important criteria.