The BIG UKCAT choices thread.

[Smeane]

This is why its so important to ring up medical schools and ask!! Otherwise your wasting precious choices. If your score is below the threshold of what most universities want, apply for uni's that don't require it at all. Or wait next year and try again.

[lexipower]

Hey
does anyone know where nottingham stands on the ukcat?

[raihyou]

I am not completely sure about Nottingham but someone on TSR went to the open day and said they don't consider applicants with UKCAT scores below the 40th percentile. I am not completely sure about this so I am going to ring them up and ask because I probably want to apply there aswell =)

Here's the link to the TSR post: empathy, UKCAT, nottingham and hyms - The Student Room

[Kinkerz]

Hi, I got 600 in my UKCAT and I'm trying for Manchester, UEA, Leicester and perhaps Aberdeen (not sure yet).

Highly inadvisable.

There's so much written on here about UKCAT but I reckon it's all scare-mongering.

It's not just here. The same is often written on university (formal) admission documents, and also on other forums, such as TheStudentRoom.

If you have a good academic record and work experience, why shouldn't you get an interview?!?

Different medical schools have different policies for issuing interviews. Some use the UKCAT as a heavy factor; Manchester, Newcastle, Durham and Sheffield are four that come to mind.

The UKCAT isn't the be all and end all.

At some medical schools, a "bad" score can be an application breaker and a "good" score an application maker.

Everyone on here seems to have really good solid UKCAT scores and alot of them are complaining and I just don't get it! If you have a score of 500-700 (the AVERAGE SCORE people get on the silly UKCAT) and you match the criteria the med schools are asking for, I say follow your dreams.

Okay, 500-700 is not the average score. 600 is the average, it's jus that the vast majority of applicants will score between 500-700. There is a subtle difference.
Again, different medical schools consider different scores to be acceptable. Some barely even use it, so virtually any score would be acceptable.
It's all well and good, following your dreams, but there's no point following them under false illusions.

If you have a score of under 600, why should that disadvantage you, you still have as much chance as everyone else with good grades and wide variety of decent work experience!!!!

A score under 600 would most certainly destroy any application at certain medical schools.

[magpie7]

Hey guys,

I was thinking... Do Durham use the UKCAT the same way as Newcastle? I know the schools are closely linked, and if you get a place in Durham, you eventually end up in Newcastle anyway.

When I phoned admissions she just gave me the good old "we don't keep records on such things."

Thanks!

[Kinkerz]

Hey guys,

I was thinking... Do Durham use the UKCAT the same way as Newcastle?

Yes.

[Medic2]

How do newcastle use the UKCAT?

[magpie7]

Thanks for the information guys.

I will put down that Durham use the same method as Newcastle then (I guessed they would have.)

And Medic2: They list all applicants in order of UKCAT score and interview the top X. 450 or so probably (>>Extremely rough estimation!<<)

[DigitalMythic]

The get the total number of applicants then they decide on a cutoff score from which they interview. I'm going to Durham and they did use the UKCAT score, my score was 630 or 635 cant actually remember!

[Medic2]

Cool im gonna also apply to Durham, thanks guys