Anyone else with no choice of medical schools?

[mikuro]

Sorry to be a pendant Ceih, but I've gone over all the information again and I'm positive it's not specifically kids with disabilities.

Medical students who need to remain in a geographical area for specific family, caring or health reasons to undertake their F1 training can apply to their medical school to be considered for pre-allocation on the grounds of special circumstances.

If you look in the appendix of the Special Circumstances Guidance it says this:

1. Applicants with children will be familiar with combining the demands of parenthood with managing a demanding full time course. In most cases they will therefore have worked through the majority of issues related to child care that they will face as Foundation 1 doctors.
2. Medical schools should discuss with applicants the differences between being a student and a doctor. These will include less regular hours, shift patterns and working nights.
3. Medical schools should discuss with applicants the longer term implications of their care commitments. It needs to be pointed out that pre-allocation on the grounds of special circumstances do not exist for specialty training, and that applicants should be giving some thought to how they will manage in the longer term. There are many sources of advice as the majority of doctors balance family and work responsibilities.
4. Medical schools should discuss with applicants whether flexible training would be an appropriate option.
5. Medical schools must explain that this criterion is related to childcare and that pregnancy will not be considered under this criterion.
6. Medical schools must explain that this criterion is based on an applicant’s current circumstances and current address.

From this I understood it is primarily to save you from moving kids from schools, childcare arrangements and friends. This is a pain in the backside to organise as a parent, school allocations are often difficult to get where you want and with young children change isn't always easy.

Saying that, it's not set in stone, if you don't score highly enough you won't go there regardless of approval for pre-allocation....

Every effort will be made to honour approved pre-allocations. However, if you do not score highly enough to be on the primary list, you will not be included in the initial allocation. If there are no places available in your requested UoA at the time you are allocated from the reserve list, you will be allocated elsewhere according to the places available, your score and your stated preferences. For this reason, it is important that you rank all UoAs in order of preference on the application form even if you have been approved for pre-allocation on the grounds of special circumstances.

This all may change by the time I get to FY1 however....!! First things first!

[mikuro]

And with regards to placements within the grad courses, when I spoke to Notts about this at their open day, they assured me I would be placed somewhere close enough to be able to juggle childcare etc. There was another single mum in year 1 I spoke to who said they'd been amazingly supportive and understanding with her, which is one of the reasons I am so enamoured with the place. I was so worried about how I was going to manage to do things that the other (non parent) students would have no problems with as they have less commitments, but to know that you are supported so well was a massive weight off my mind.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Lasagefemme,
have you considered Kings College London 5 year course? They will consider you if you have a degree in any subject plus EE at AS for Chemistry and Biology. Thats literally it!

[Fateemah]

Hello,

I would like some advice on what med schools to apply for, I am looking for those with lower grades, and since I live in London, I don't want to be too far from home?

Thanks.

[Martigan]

See when I read that I understood that to mean just having children that need looking after. 'Caring responsibility' is a bit vague. Disability isn't mentioned.

You are correct. This is written from a children's act point of view, where "residence" is the concept that most laymen understand as "Custody".

In the last few years, when parents separate, to help protect the child's access to both parents, "shared residence" orders have been coming more common.

However, just because the child has shared residence, it doesn't mean that the childcare is significant, as due to practical reasons, it may only spend alternate weekends with one parent. So while that parent has a "resident" child, their care responsibilities might not be considered significant.