swan open day

[studleyb]

Hi,
Is this an open day aimed at potential applicants for next year, or those who've got a place this year? Purely cos Im down having my medical on Friday, so might try to tag along if the tours arent full!

[Jools]

It's aimed at potential candidates, but I wouldn't see there being a problem with you tagging along. Check with Phil but I don't see why he'd say no.


Jools

[mysterious]

ive actually been to 1 last yr. does any1 know how many places ther will b for the coming yr? i think it was bout 70 last yr.
and also, wat do the students think of the course/struc? is it manageable? is there time to do leisure stuff?
thats really the main things i want to know.

[pipedreamer]

70, yes and yes!

You have to work reasonably hard and you have to put the effort in right from the start, rather than being able to leave it until exam time. However, if you organise your time well then it's perfectly possible to fit in leisure activities as well

[mysterious]

i sooo wish i could go to swansea.im so envious of all of u. i started looking at des oneill notes for GAMSAT but lost interest afta awhile.i better start lookin again!only got afew months left!
i no they jus ask for post GCSE experience in chem+bio but i jus passed bio but failed chem at alevel so i hope i wont instantly b rejected coz of that
had a high 2i in biomedical science and workin in hosp at mo (at the Heath actually,some of u may know it!).done lot of w.e so hopefully alevels will b overlooked.

oh, wat was the average GAMSAT score of those who got in previous yrs?i know theres no cut off mark

[pipedreamer]

i no they jus ask for post GCSE experience in chem+bio but i jus passed bio but failed chem at alevel so i hope i wont instantly b rejected coz of that

If you don't meet the admissions criteria then it's very possible that you could be rejected. I strongly advise that you check when you come to the open day to make sure, otherwise you might end up wasting a choice on your UCAS form. If something is stated as being a requirement then it almost certainly won't be overlooked, regardless of how good the rest of your application is.

However, that's not to say there aren't ways around it. If the chemistry you've done is not enough you could consider doing a part time chemistry AS level this year - a bit of a nuisance but it would at least help with the GAMSAT revision. Best bet is to talk to the admissions tutors and find out out what they will/won't accept.

I don't know what the average GAMSAT score is for successful Swansea applicants but it's worth noting that the GAMSAT is only worth 20% of your final score, with the interview making up 60% and your PS and quals the remaining 20%. A less-than-brilliant GAMSAT performance does not necessarily mean that you'll be rejected but a strong performance will definitely improve your chances of getting in.

I'm very familiar with the Heath having got lost there twice and thus spent a significant amount of time wandering the corridors

[Owen44]

I'd say you shouldn't worry too much about the GAMSAT as yet, and concentrate on the personal statement. From what I remember, they score your personal statement out of 36 (6 for each of the 6 core competancies), and you need to score pretty highly (about 29) in that to even get an interview. Write it, get others to check it, re-read it, get others to check it again and so on until you're completely happy. Then obviously the interview will be based around your PS, so a good Personal Statement will help you have a strong showing for 80% of the application criteria.

Then, as Pipedreamer said, a strong GAMSAT will help your chances, but an average one won't hurt them too much as it makes up for 20% of the application. For instance I got a 58, so probably just scraped in on the back of my interview (consider myself quite lucky actually). I have also heard of someone this year getting over 80, and not being offered a place, so even though it is important, it isn't everything by any means.

Good luck!

[pipedreamer]

Then obviously the interview will be based around your PS, so a good Personal Statement will help you have a strong showing for 80% of the application criteria.

That's a really good point. The interviewers will have your PS in front of them and will ask you quite a few questions about what's on it. You can use to your advantage by including things that demonstrate the competencies they are looking for and that you can talk about easily.

[mysterious]

thanx 4 the advice guys. so wat are the 6 competencies? is there anywhere i can get hold of them? bout the selectors-is it like UWCM where 4th yr students also rate ur p.s or is it all done by tutors/docs etc?

[Jools]

Have a look at this link

http://www.gemedicine.swan.ac.uk/howwedecide.html

At the moment, it is only tutors that review ps and interview. There was some talk about students being involved in the interview process, but nothing has come of this yet.


Jools