Medicine Admission Statistics (A100)

The request was successful.

Dear University of Aberdeen,

I am writing to make a request for the following statistics for the previous five admission cycles:

1) Total number of applications
2) Total number of interviews
3) Total number of offers
4) UCAT threshold
5) If there was no threshold: the lowest UCAT score
6) Interview scoring sheet
7) Weighting of each component (such as UCAT, Personal Statement, and GSCE’s) in offering an interview

Yours faithfully,

Younus Rahman

Foi, University of Aberdeen

Dear Younus Rahman,
I refer to your email of 16 August and, on behalf of the University, I acknowledge receipt and confirm that your request is being dealt with in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In terms of the Act, a reply will be sent to you as soon as possible and within the statutory timescales.

Yours sincerely,
Mary Sabiston
Information Compliance Officer
University of Aberdeen

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Foi, University of Aberdeen

Dear Younus Rahman,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST FOI 2021- 299

I refer to your email of 16 August 2021 requesting information relating to Medical School admissions.

Your request has now been considered under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, ‘the Act’.

The information you require is published on our website. I have added the link to the relevant webpages below each of your questions.

I am writing to make a request for the following statistics for the previous five admission cycles:

1) Total number of applications
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

2) Total number of interviews
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

3) Total number of offers
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

4) UCAT threshold
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

5) If there was no threshold: the lowest UCAT score
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

6) Interview scoring sheet
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

7) Weighting of each component (such as UCAT, Personal Statement, and GSCE’s) in offering an interview
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

Where we have indicated that the information you have requested is published on our website the information is otherwise available and exempt from disclosure in terms of section 25(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Information otherwise available.

Should you be dissatisfied with this response, you have the right to request a review. A request for review must be made within 40 working days of the receipt of this reply. It must include your name and address for correspondence and specify the request for information and the grounds for dissatisfaction with the decision. Please send your request for review to [University of Aberdeen request email].

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the University’s internal review, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within six months of the receipt of the University’s review response. Details on how to make an appeal to the Commissioner are available at www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. Should you be dissatisfied with the Commissioner’s decision, you have a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law.

Yours sincerely,
Mary Sabiston
Information Compliance Officer
University of Aberdeen

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Dear University of Aberdeen,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of University of Aberdeen's handling of my FOI request 'Medicine Admission Statistics (A100)'.

I am disappointed with your response; out of all of the FOI's I have requested, this is the most appalling one.

For Q4, you had not outlined the fact that a threshold had not been used; instead, you had just sent the same link. In addition, you did not provide the lowest UCAT for previous years nor did you provide me with any reasons as to why this information had not been provided.

For Q6, I had requested for the interview scoring sheet. With the link you had sent, the only part that is slightly relevant to my request is the section under 'How will answers be scored?'. However, this had not directly answered Q6. Furthermore, if I cannot obtain the interview scoring sheet, you had not provided the reasons as to why I would not be able to obtain it.

Aside from the complaint above, I do have one further query in response to Q7: on your website, the following is stated 'Adding the academic and UCAT score together, then inviting the highest scoring applicants to interview'. Please could you explain how the scoring works for adding the academic and UCAT score together? Considering academics are usually letters, such as A* or B (unless you had used GCSEs) and the UCAT score would produce a high number (unless, of course, you continued to use the high UCAT score produced) - therefore, was there a conversion table for the grades and UCAT score?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

Yours faithfully,

Younus

Foi, University of Aberdeen

Dear Younus,
I refer to your email of 13/09/2021 requesting an internal review of our original response to your request for information relating to Medicine admission statistics. I acknowledge receipt and confirm that your request is being dealt with by another member of the team. In terms of the Act, a reply will be sent to you as soon as possible and within the statutory timescales. If you need any further information in the meantime, please let me know.

Yours sincerely,
Mary Sabiston
Information Compliance Officer
University of Aberdeen

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Foi, University of Aberdeen

2 Attachments

Dear Younus Rahman,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 2021-229

 

I refer to your email of 13 September requesting an internal review of our
original response to your request relating to medical admissions
statistics.

 

I can confirm that the internal review has now been completed and we have
re-assessed our response to your original enquiry.

 

o For Q4, you had not outlined the fact that a threshold had not been
used; instead, you had just sent the same link. In addition, you did
not provide the lowest UCAT for previous years nor did you provide me
with any reasons as to why this information had not been provided.

 

Information on how we use UCAT, thresholds and previous data can be found
here - [1]https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

 

Highest and lowest UCAT scores are available from the same weblink and are
the lowest scores for the last five admissions cycles (and 2021 cycle) are
copied here:

 

LOWEST UCAT INVITED TO INTERVIEW

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  |2021 ENTRY |2020 |2019 |2018 |2017 |2016 |
| |(school |ENTRY | |ENTRY |ENTRY |ENTRY |
| |leavers) | |ENTRY| | | |
|-------------+------------+---------+-----+---------+---------+---------|
|Home Fees |2370 |2460 |2360 |2380 |1660 |2180 |
|-------------+------------+---------+-----+---------+---------+---------|
|Rest if UK |2650 |2490 |2340 |2440 |1920 |2420 |
|Fees | | | | | | |
|-------------+------------+---------+-----+---------+---------+---------|
|International|2600 |2420 |2300 |2580 |1850 |2210 |
|Fees | | | | | | |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

o For Q6, I had requested for the interview scoring sheet. With the link
you had sent, the only part that is slightly relevant to my request is
the section under 'How will answers be scored?'. However, this had not
directly answered Q6. Furthermore, if I cannot obtain the interview
scoring sheet, you had not provided the reasons as to why I would not
be able to obtain it.

 

Please find attached the interview scoring sheet.

 

Aside from the complaint above, I do have one further query in response to
Q7: on your website, the following is stated 'Adding the academic and UCAT
score together, then inviting the highest scoring applicants to
interview'. Please could you explain how the scoring works for adding the
academic and UCAT score together? Considering academics are usually
letters, such as A* or B (unless you had used GCSEs) and the UCAT score
would produce a high number (unless, of course, you continued to use the
high UCAT score produced) - therefore, was there a conversion table for
the grades and UCAT score?

 

Information can be found on our website at the following link:

[2]https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergradua...

As per our website above, we take the total UCAT score for each candidate,
rank, split into deciles and points are allocated based on ranking with 60
being the most points awarded and 3 being the least. 

 

A-Levels are scored as below.  A candidate presenting with AAA would score
75 points (25 points per A).   0 points are awarded for B grades.   GCSEs
are not scored.

 

We take the UCAT points and add the academic points e.g. 75+60.  Rank
these combined scores and then invite the highest scoring applicants to
interview.

 

Where we have indicated that the information you have requested is
published on our website the information is otherwise available and exempt
from disclosure, in terms of section 25(1) of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 – Information otherwise available.

 

A-Levels (or Cambridge Pre-U Subjects)

AAA (D3, D3, D3) at one sitting including Chemistry & 1 of Maths, Biology
or Physics plus 1 other, excluding General & Media Studies. 

 

  Score A2 Score Pre-U Number X by TOTAL

    D1   +2  

A-levels A* D2   +1  

(A2) A D3   25  

or Pre-U Achieved Plus 5

 

 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the University’s internal review,
you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner
within six months of the date of receipt of the University’s review
notice. Details on how to make an appeal to the Commissioner are available
at [3]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. Should you remain dissatisfied
with the Commissioner’s decision, you have a right of appeal to the Court
of Session on a point of law.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Jody McKenzie

Information Governance Officer

Information Governance Team

University of Aberdeen

 

 

 

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