Choosing your University - the admissions process

Thought I'd start a discussion on here to get things going. I'm a medic at Queen Mary, University of London. In terms of the admissions process, they rank students by: "Applicants are selected for interview based 50% on UCAT score and 50% on UCAS tariff." You could really use the UCAS tariff to your advantage, especially if you do 4 A-levels (or the equivalent) and have amazing predictions/ already achieved top grades.

In addition, "Your UCAS tariff is made up of academic and non-academic qualifications, including some that don’t count towards our minimum academic requirements, like A-level General Studies. Make sure that all your qualifications are listed on your UCAS application so that we can take them into consideration.

As well as AS- and A-levels, tariffable qualifications include:

• BTEC level 3

• Cambridge Pre-U

• Extended Project Qualification

• International Baccalaureate

• Irish Leaving Certificate

• Music examinations

• Dance examinations "

This information is all found on the uni's website https://www.qmul.ac.uk/smd/undergraduate/courses/full-entry-requirements/medicine-mbbs/ but I thought I'd highlight this part for you guys.

I'm aware UCAS tariff points are an old system of ranking students but Queen Mary still seem to use it, so act smart when choosing your university to maximise your success - if you've achieved dance and music grades as well as done an EPQ this can all boost your score and get you that all important interview! If you want to know more about how UCAS tariff points work and also calculate how many points you have based on your qualifications/ predictions you can use the tariff calculator here https://www.ucas.com/ucas/tariff-calculator. Good Luck! 😉