the "Done the test, need results advice!" thread

[Artsie-Paws]

-sigh- everything has to be so complicated!
I think I've finally decided, though:

Cardiff, Liverpool, East Anglia and Southampton are probably the ones I'll be going for

[Randolf_Rolm1919]

Good choice!

[Giggy]

A word of caution with Birmingham, last year they wouldn't even look at candidates with less than 7A*. A ridiculous rule which puts the private/public school student at a strong advantage over the state school student but that's how they do it, needless to say I never applied.

Liverpool can also be sticklers over GCSE grades but in a sneakier way. I was told my GCSE grades were good enough to apply by the person who visited out college. After applying I then checked their website and saw higher GCSE grade requirements I just missed out on and was rejected shortly after. Needless to say whe you can only apply to 4 places the fact they gave me unreliable information annoyed me somewhat. I strongly considered filing an official complaint but decided not to because:
A. I had nothing to gain from it, best case scenario I get a semi-sincere apology.
B. If they had passed this on to other universities it could have jeopised my chances with other Unis.

I didn't apply to Bristol, I considered it but went for 3 places which took UKCAT and 1 which didn't as I had done quite well in the UKCAT last year. On reflection I wish I had applied there over Liverpool but that's hindsight for you.

These are just my findings though, if your GCSE grades are stronger than your UKCAT score then Liverpool and Birmingham are probably worth considering, Bristol definitely.

[cat_bach]

Originally Posted by Giggy

Liverpool can also be sticklers over GCSE grades but in a sneakier way. I was told my GCSE grades were good enough to apply by the person who visited out college. After applying I then checked their website and saw higher GCSE grade requirements I just missed out on and was rejected shortly after. Needless to say whe you can only apply to 4 places the fact they gave me unreliable information annoyed me somewhat. I strongly considered filing an official complaint but decided not to because:
A. I had nothing to gain from it, best case scenario I get a semi-sincere apology.
B. If they had passed this on to other universities it could have jeopised my chances with other Unis.

The strange thing about the Liverpool GCSE policy is an A counts for exactly the same as an A* in the way they grade the applications, so an applicant applying with 10A* would look exactly the same as an applicant with 10As. Its not a good place to apply to if you`ve got a few Bs but its brilliant if you (like me) narrowly missed out on quite a few A*s .
Prospectuses are seriously unreliable when it comes to GCSEs- last year, for example, the Cardiff prospectus just said that you needed 7GCSEs with a B in Maths English and AA in Science etc etc but the reality was that you needed atleast 3A*6A for them to even bother reading your personal statment and 6A*+ to have a decent chance of an interview. Its better to phone admissions and/or attend the open day to get some proper facts before you send your application off just to make sure that you`re okay.

[karljacko]

Newcastle said at the open day last year that they only interview the top 1000 ukcat scores, although that wasn't published anywhere. It's possible that it might of changed this year though because of the problems with the UKCAT last year.

[xalicex]

Prospectuses are seriously unreliable when it comes to GCSEs- last year, for example, the Cardiff prospectus just said that you needed 7GCSEs with a B in Maths English and AA in Science etc etc but the reality was that you needed atleast 3A*6A for them to even bother reading your personal statment and 6A*+ to have a decent chance of an interview....

Maybe not 6A* lol- i got 4A*s and 6As and got my interview. What I would say though is that Cardiff don't even look at predicted A2 grades, so it is definitely worth a shot with good GCSEs.

Well, they will look at them eventually, but to get an interview, if everything else is good, the predicted grades don't factor in.

x

[Bella90]

Hey just did my UKCAT today..scores arent too great but better than what i imagined when i was doing the actual test.
VR 490<-pulled me down rest were ok QR 650 AR 720 DA 630
Av 622.5
I have no idea what to do now. Do you think leeds or sheffield would accept me?? ( I need advice!!

[Pacific]

I went to the Newcastle open day in June and they still only bring the top UKCAT scores to interview.

[heyeyya83]

Do you get given your average UKCAT score at the test centre or do you have to wait? I thought the website said you had to wait two months?

I'm not taking mine until next Friday

[AimsRJ]

You get your results straight away at the test centre- no nervous wait!!