Matt Cowdock, BSMS Student Recruitment Coordinator, reveals 7 top things to do ahead of the UCAS application deadline on 15 October.
With just six weeks until the 15th October deadline, it’s vital to ensure your UCAS application is everything you want it to be. Once you’ve dotted the i’s, crossed the t’s and submitted it, there’s often no turning back so it’s important to ask yourself: have I done everything I needed to do?
With this in mind, here’s our handy checklist of seven things to do before the UCAS deadline arrives!
1. (Virtual) Open Days
This might be step one for many people, but it’s a good idea to continue doing any research into each institution to whom you apply. The process of narrowing it down from over 30 medical schools to a choice of four can be arduous, particularly given how much there is to factor in, so being sure of your decision is critical.
If you’re still not sure at this stage, many medical schools will still have their virtual open day resources still available. These can help you make any final decisions – from teaching styles and course structure to NSS results and campus tours, you’ll get the clearest picture from a virtual open day.
2. Decide what to do with your fifth choice
Only being allowed to apply to four medicine courses is just one of the many quirks which defines the application process for medical school. As such, it also presents prospective students with a quandary: what to do with that fifth choice.
If you’re definitely only interested in medicine, you may want to leave your fifth choice blank. Some students put something science-related, like Biomedical Science, and some might even pick something completely different to medicine.
If you do the latter, you might need to check with that institution to see if you can submit a supplementary personal statement. Your medicine statement won’t do much good if you use your fifth choice for English Literature!
3. Widening participation/contextual data programme eligibility
Depending on the medical schools to whom you apply, you may be eligible for additional support during the application process. As such, ensure you check what the Widening Participation criteria is at the medical schools you are applying to and how to indicate your eligibility. Also, if you feel you will need extra support during the interview process eg accessibility requirements, contact the medical school to discuss what support may be available. You may also be eligible for financial support; therefore, ensure you have checked to see what is available on the respective medical schools’ websites.
The UKWPMED scheme means students who’ve completed one of the participating widening participation programmes are able to access certain benefits throughout their application process to those same universities. You can find a full breakdown of the participating universities, the eligibility criteria and their respective benefits via the link below.
Read more about UKWPMED here >
4. Ensuring reflection in your personal statement
From aspiring medical students to general practitioners, reflective practice is one of the key elements of any good personal statement. As such, you should make sure there’s plenty of it in yours.
Don’t just tell us what you’ve done which makes you suitable for medicine – tell us why you did it, what you learned, which skills you honed or developed and then finally how that’ll make you a good doctor.
5. Have someone else read your personal statement
There are only so many times you’ll be able to re-read drafts of your personal statement. So, before the deadline, it’d be a good idea to let someone else run the rule over it.
This might be a teacher or careers advisor, a parent, guardian, an older sibling or even a current university student (if you know any). The key thing is to let some fresh eyes see it because what makes sense to you needs to make sense to others!
6. Leave enough time to have your application reviewed
If you’re applying through your school or college, you must have your application reviewed before submitting. While fewer people tend to submit applications in October, your teachers certainly won’t thank you if you leave it until the deadline.
This is the last step of the UCAS process – what you send to your teacher cannot be amended once they’ve reviewed it, so make sure all information is relevant and correct and that the final draft of your personal statement has been uploaded.
7. Avoid any deadline day drama
Realistically, there will always be students who leave it until the deadline to submit their applications. Completing the UCAS application can be an arduous process and many will be tinkering with their choices and personal statement right up until the deadline.
If you are submitting on 15 October, ensure you have all the information you need! Getting your UCAS login details correct is key, as the platform can lock you out after too many attempts, while (if you’re paying for the application yourself) you’ll need correct payment details with the appropriate amount of money in the bank – you can get locked out after five attempts at this, too!
Wishing you all the best for your upcoming applications.
Matt Cowdock, BSMS Student Recruitment Coordinator
For more information on applying to BSMS and the application process, visit our dedicated application pages via the link below. Please note that for 2021 applicants, the multiple mini interviews (MMIs) will be held remotely using Zoom videoconferencing software. We are aiming to hold these in January 2021. More information will be added about these shortly so please check back for details.
Read more about applying to BSMS >