Medical School admission -International undergraduate student application

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Dear University of Nottingham,

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following data regarding the international student medical school application( undergraduate entry ) for the nearest 5 admission cycles ( unless specified otherwise ) including the 2015/2016. ( i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16 ). The data is preferably be categorized in table form in Word, PDF or Excel format if applicable.

1 ) How many international places are there for 2017 entry and in the previous 5 admission cycles for the undergraduate medicine program ?

2 ) Were these places also available for international graduate applicants to apply ? if so, how were school leavers and graduate applicants being handled during the process in terms of shortlisting and giving out offer ? Were there separate quota given to school leavers and graduate applicants for the international places?

3 ) How many international undergraduate applicants, meeting the minimal requirement, have applied for the past 5 cycles ? How many were school leavers ? How many were graduate applicants ?

4 ) How many of these international undergraduate applicants ( separated into school leavers and graduate applicants if any ) were selected for interview for the past 5 cycles?

5 ) How many of these international undergraduate applicants ( separated into school leavers and graduate applicants if any ) were given the admission offer ( separated into unconditional and conditional offer if applicable) and put into waiting list in the past 5 cycles ?

6 ) Was admission selection process being changed in the past 5 year cycles ? What and when the changes being made ?

7 ) How was international school leaver applicants being ranked and short listed for interview in the past 5 cycles ?

8 ) How and when was UKCAT score ( total ? individual selected section ? ) being used in the shortlisting for interview and in the final offer made after interview ?

9 ) What were the weighting % put into the UKCAT score, personal statement, reference, AS result, predicted A2 results and GCSE results in the overall ranking for shortlisting for interview and in the final offer being made ?

10 ) For interview assessment, what were the maximum score and what were the last 10 international school leaver applicants in each of the past 5 cycles being given the offer ?

11 ) What was UKCAT score ( minimal, 3rd quartile, median, upper quartile, maximum ) of those selected for interview and of those being given the offer ? If the above information is not readily available, what were the last 10 international school leaver applicants being selected for interview and of those being given the offer in the past 5 cycles? For these students, what were their respective scores in other parameters being used ( interview score, personal statement score, non working experience score etc )

12 ) For those school leavers applying using A level results, after appropriate ranking by your University, what were their A level results of the last 10 students being selected for interview and of those being given the offer in the past 5 cycles ? For these students, what were their respective scores in other parameters being used ( interview score, personal statement score, non working experience score etc )

13 ) How many international school leaver applicants ( separated into unconditional offer and conditional offer ) eventually entered into your medical school in the past 5 year cycle ? How many on the waiting list subsequently entered medical schools in the past 5 cycles ?

In case clarification of some of my requests is required, I would appreciate your earlier reply on the remaining items of my requests first.

I look forward to hearing from you promptly and would appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt of this request.

Best regards,

Mr. Keith Chendar

Br-Freedom-Of-Information, University of Nottingham

Dear Mr Chendar

Thank you for your request for information regarding the undergraduate Medicine admissions (which we have taken to mean our A100 undergraduate course). Your request was received on 30 August 2016 and is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We will respond to your request within twenty working days. Please note this is calculated from the following working day from receipt of your request.

I hope that this is of help. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any enquiries regarding this email.

Yours sincerely,
Karen Page

Information Compliance Officer – Freedom of Information
Registrar’s Department

Web: www.nottingham.ac.uk/freedom-of-informat...
Email: [University of Nottingham request email]

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Br-Freedom-Of-Information, University of Nottingham

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Chendar

I am writing further to your request for information regarding A100 Medicine admissions. A search of our electronic and paper records has been completed and I can confirm that the information requested is held by the University.

Please note that we publish a considerable amount of information regarding this course as we know that this type of information is very valuable for prospective applicants:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/stu...

In answer to your request:

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following data regarding the international student medical school application( undergraduate entry ) for the nearest 5 admission cycles ( unless specified otherwise ) including the 2015/2016. ( i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16 ). The data is preferably be categorized in table form in Word, PDF or Excel format if applicable.

1 ) How many international places are there for 2017 entry and in the previous 5 admission cycles for the undergraduate medicine program ?

25 places have been available over the previous 5 admissions cycles for undergraduate medicine and that figure remains the same for 2017.

2 ) Were these places also available for international graduate applicants to apply ? If so, how were school leavers and graduate applicants being handled during the process in terms of shortlisting and giving out offer ? Were there separate quota given to school leavers and graduate applicants for the international places?

Yes, these places were also available for international graduate applicants to apply for.

International applicants were split into two groups when screening for interview. School leavers who had taken GCSE’s or IGCSE’s had the highest 8 subject scored (A* = 2 points and A = 1 point). The subjects included the sciences, maths and English language. Applicants who took other qualifications at this level (including graduates), were screened to ensure their qualifications were similar to the other group at that level of study although they weren’t scored. The next stage for each group was to score the UKCAT (using the scoring system on the web – allowing for changes to the UKCAT test over the last 5 years). Up to 2014/15 entry applicants also completed a questionnaire and had their personal statements read at this stage and the scores totalled. From 2015/16 onwards, the next stage in the scoring process was the personal statement and the top 50% of applicants from each group went forward to have their personal statements scored. Scores were then added together again. In all years, the highest scoring applicants from each group were invited to interview. At interview, decisions on offers were made purely based on the scoring during the interview process.

3 ) How many international undergraduate applicants, meeting the minimal requirement, have applied for the past 5 cycles ? How many were school leavers ? How many were graduate applicants ?

The total number of international applicants was:

2011 - 360
2012 - 391
2013 - 376
2014 - 395
2015 - 450

The information on the upload from UCAS onto our databases does not record whether an applicant is a graduate and therefore it would not appear on our databases. The only way we would be able to find out whether an applicant was a graduate would be to manually go through every paper application form (2400+ applications) to find the information. We estimate this would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request.

The Act sets a maximum cost of £450 for public authorities responding to requests for information. This represents the estimated cost of one person working for 3.5 days in determining whether the information is held, locating it, and retrieving it. Under Section 12 of the Act the University is not obliged to comply with a request that would exceed the appropriate limit and we will not be processing this part of your request further.

4 ) How many of these international undergraduate applicants ( separated into school leavers and graduate applicants if any ) were selected for interview for the past 5 cycles?

The total number of international applicants selected for interview was:

2011 - 86
2012 - 112
2013 - 49
2014 - 50
2015 - 79

We estimate that to separate the data into school leavers and graduate applicants would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation).

5 ) How many of these international undergraduate applicants ( separated into school leavers and graduate applicants if any ) were given the admission offer ( separated into unconditional and conditional offer if applicable) and put into waiting list in the past 5 cycles ?

The total number of international applicants who received offers was:

2011 - 54
2012 - 50
2013 - 21
2014 - 31
2015 - 28

We estimate that to separate the data into school leavers and graduate applicants would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation). Information in relation to a waiting list is not held as we did not keep a waiting list.

6 ) Was admission selection process being changed in the past 5 year cycles ? What and when the changes being made ?

See answer to question 2.

7 ) How was international school leaver applicants being ranked and short listed for interview in the past 5 cycles ?

See answer to question 2.

8 ) How and when was UKCAT score ( total ? Individual selected section ? ) being used in the shortlisting for interview and in the final offer made after interview ?

Please refer to scoring system on-line:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/stu...

The UKCAT has always been used at the stage outlined in the system and in the same way. There have been changes to the UKCAT over time, with the introduction of the SJT , which was not used until the 2015/16 cycle.

9 ) What were the weighting % put into the UKCAT score, personal statement, reference, AS result, predicted A2 results and GCSE results in the overall ranking for shortlisting for interview and in the final offer being made ?

AS results and predicted or achieved A2 results were not scored. An initial screen was carried out on receipt of application to ensure applicants were predicted or had achieved AAA at A-level in Biology and Chemistry, excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking. As explained in the answer to question 2 above, decisions on offers were made based on interview performance. The scoring system outlines the selection process from 2015/16 onwards.

Prior to that, applicants were still assessed in groups and the academic and UKCAT scoring was the same. However, applicants completed a questionnaire (maximum 11 points) and all had their personal statements read (maximum 12 points), the scores were added together and the top scoring applicants in each group were invited for interview.

10 ) For interview assessment, what were the maximum score and what were the last 10 international school leaver applicants in each of the past 5 cycles being given the offer ?

Unfortunately, it is not clear what information you are requesting. If you require a further response, please could you clarify your question.

However, please note that we would be unable to identify data in relation to school leavers only as this would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation).

11 ) What was UKCAT score ( minimal, 3rd quartile, median, upper quartile, maximum ) of those selected for interview and of those being given the offer ? If the above information is not readily available, what were the last 10 international school leaver applicants being selected for interview and of those being given the offer in the past 5 cycles? For these students, what were their respective scores in other parameters being used ( interview score, personal statement score, non working experience score etc )

The information on the upload from UCAS onto our databases does not record the median and quartile ranges for AS level grades, GCSEs, IB predictions or predicted A level grades of applicants or accepted applicants and therefore it would not appear on our databases. The only way we would be able to find out this information would be to manually go through every UCAS paper form for 2014/15 and record the information on a spreadsheet, which we estimate would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request.

The Act sets a maximum cost of £450 for public authorities responding to requests for information. This represents the estimated cost of one person working for 3.5 days in determining whether the information is held, locating it, and retrieving it. Under Section 12 of the Act the University is not obliged to comply with a request that would exceed the appropriate limit and we will not be processing this part of your request further.

However, we can confirm that for 2014/15 all applicants would have been predicted, or achieved, AAA or higher at A-level. Applicants predicted higher than AAA were not at an advantage over applicants predicted AAA. The lowest grades of a student receiving an offer would have been AAA at A-level.

As above, please note that we are unable to identify data in relation to school leavers only as this would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation).

12 ) For those school leavers applying using A level results, after appropriate ranking by your University, what were their A level results of the last 10 students being selected for interview and of those being given the offer in the past 5 cycles ? For these students, what were their respective scores in other parameters being used ( interview score, personal statement score, non working experience score etc )

As above, we are unable to identify data in relation to school leavers only as this would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation).

13 ) How many international school leaver applicants ( separated into unconditional offer and conditional offer ) eventually entered into your medical school in the past 5 year cycle ? How many on the waiting list subsequently entered medical schools in the past 5 cycles ?

As above, we are unable to identify data in relation to school leaver applicants (separated into unconditional and conditional offers) as this would be over the limit for a Freedom of Information request (see response to question 3 for full explanation).

However, we can confirm that the total number of international students who registered (as of our 1 December census date) was:

2011 - 19
2012 - 22
2013 - 17
2014 - 19
2015 - 23

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled and wish to request a review of our response or to make a complaint, please see the attached information sheet and form.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any enquiries regarding this email.

Yours sincerely,
Karen Page

Information Compliance Officer – Freedom of Information Registrar’s Department

Web: www.nottingham.ac.uk/freedom-of-informat...
Email: [University of Nottingham request email]

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