KES B'ham results - Nervous Wait!!

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Dr Jalal
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:03 pm
Location: Birmingham

KES B'ham results - Nervous Wait!!

Post by Dr Jalal »

Well we're nervously awaiting the outcome of the KES results next Friday. Time seems to be dragging since the 23rd of January, when my son had to attend a scholarship interview. Is anyone else out there in the same boat?

I was wondering if anyone can allay my fears with regards to rumours that Universities are discriminating against students from Independent Schools (something to do with Government quotas for students from State schools) or is this just another urban myth??? I know of a couple of straight 'A' students who weren't able to secure places at top Universities to study Medicine. Indeed one of them ended up doing Pharmacy at De Montfort, even after taking a year out! This is one of the reasons both my wife and I are having second thoughts about sending my son to KES (that is if he manages to secure a place).

Any feedback or discussion would be greatly appreciated.
Dr Jalal
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

Hi

I think you will find that "top universities" have an absolute surfeit of straight A students wanting to do medicine. I have inteviewed med students at one of the universities and there was little to chose between all the academically good students we saw. Straight As are not all that are needed to get in - when I went to London University (OK so a few decades ago) to read medicine the standard offer was CCC although most got more than this.
There are lots of med schools now and they are more flexible in what they are looking for - have had colleagues applying to York - Hull / Leicester - Warwick and Notts Derby - mainly as mature students with degrees already.
Anway I suspect that the rumours about them taking more state school children are urban myths - would be incredibly difficult to do anyway????
Hope your son gets into KES - along with KEHS it is an excellent school.
jah

Post by jah »

My understanding is that you need to have someting extra to offer when applying to popular courses to show that you have a keen interest in the subject (not just after the money!!!!). People drop out of medical courses too.

I know candidates who have taken jobs in nursing homes, hospices etc in order to bulk out their applications, and this does seem to help. Otherwise, your contact studying Pharmacy can still try to get on one of the graduate medical courses that are available at various universities. And in the meantime get vacation work to demonstrate how committed they are to medicine.
Dibble
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:23 pm
Location: Dudley, West Midlands

Re: KES B'ham results - Nervous Wait!!

Post by Dibble »

Dr Jalal wrote:Well we're nervously awaiting the outcome of the KES results next Friday. Time seems to be dragging since the 23rd of January, when my son had to attend a scholarship interview. Is anyone else out there in the same boat?
Yep.
I've been pretty sanguine so far but this last week is dragging somewhat.

Fortunately we had a very generous offer from Wolverhampton Grammar through the post today, so that relieves the pressure a little.

We shouldn't have had that offer until 9th Feb BTW, so perhaps we (or someone at least :-) will get our KES offers early too?
I was wondering if anyone can allay my fears with regards to rumours that Universities are discriminating against students from Independent Schools (something to do with Government quotas for students from State schools) or is this just another urban myth???
I think you're asking yourself the wrong question there Dr Jalal. What you need to know is 'what the admissions policies/pressures will be in seven years time'. There's just no way the know - is there?

I've completely discounted it from any calculations. If I was going to worry about that then I think there would be far too many other unquantifiable/low probability factors to consider. Part of the reason our children are in such an advantageous position is that we do worry and try to plan ahead, but this one is well beyond my abilities.

My son's very keen on KES too; it was entirely his idea to apply to the school, having taken his KEVI Grammar exams there. They seemed to organize an incredibly good test day and interview which, I think, led them straight to the top of his preferred list.

I'd be interested to know what the other reasons, besides any financial considerations of course, you had for not preferring KES?
Dibble
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:23 pm
Location: Dudley, West Midlands

Re: KES B'ham results - Nervous Wait!!

Post by Dibble »

Dr Jalal wrote:Well we're nervously awaiting the outcome of the KES results next Friday. Time seems to be dragging since the 23rd of January, when my son had to attend a scholarship interview.
Any Luck?
Dr Jalal
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:03 pm
Location: Birmingham

Great News

Post by Dr Jalal »

Well I'm ecstatic to report that my son obtained an Assisted Place Scholarship/Bursary from the KES. As you can appreciate we have been celebrating since Thursday, so we didn't have time to post something on the forum. Having consulted a lot of friends and colleagues and of course my son, we have decided to send him to the KES. How can one pass up the opportunity of sending a child to one of the top public schools in the country? So the outcome of the KE Grammar schools on March 1st is now purely academic. It feels like a great weight has been lifted off our shoulders and our relief is certainly palpable.

I hope others out there have had some good news with regards to the KES and would very much like to read about their success stories.
Dr Jalal
Guest

nervous wait

Post by Guest »

Congratulations Dr Jalal to you and your son. I have just started using this forum to prepare my child for the KES exams and can't help feeling pleased that someone's dreams have come true.

All the Best.
:D
Guest

Post by Guest »

We and our friends all got our results on Friday (?)
Dr Jalal
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:03 pm
Location: Birmingham

Delays in post

Post by Dr Jalal »

To the Guest Contributor who received their KES results on Friday - I assume the delay in getting your results were down to the inefficiencies of the Royal Mail service. A lot of our friends, including a few that had got scholarships/bursaries all received their letters on Thursday.
Dr Jalal
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