Aspiring UK medical students in limbo because of exam fiasco

LONDON (AP) — Chris Byrne and Khadijah E. Olonade worked hard to get into medical school, but the computer said no.

The teenagers are among thousands of graduating high school students scrambling for spots at British universities following the government’s disastrous decision to award final grades using an algorithm.

The process was intended to replace exams cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but unfairly lowered the marks of many students — and froze them out of their chosen schools.

While the programme was ditched after an outcry and affected students had their grades raised, universities and families are still picking up the pieces.

Many 18-year-olds don’t know if they will be attending college in the fall.

Aspiring doctors are particularly in limbo because the hands-on training medical schools provide means the number of slots can’t easily be expanded to accommodate those turned away by the algorithm debacle.

“I’m stuck waiting,” Byrne said.

“There has been no word about if there’s going to be enough medicine places for me to get in this year. There’s just a lot of uncertainty about what’s going to happen.”

COVID-19 has upended many aspects of life, including the UK’s complex admissions system for higher education. Universities offer final-year high school students places based on grades predicted by teachers, but admission is contingent on final exams, known as A Levels.

This year, with schools largely shut since March and exams cancelled, education authorities in England attempted to standardise results by running students’ teacher-predicted grades through an algorithm that compared them with their schools’ past performance.

High-achieving students at under-performing schools, many in deprived areas, ended up with marks downgraded, while students at above-average schools kept their predicted grades.

Amid anger from students, parents and educators, and growing unease within Britain’s governing Conservative Party, the government-backed down this week and said students who were downgraded could get their predicted grades.

That brought relief but hasn’t ended the uncertainty, because some students who now have the grades they needed to go to the universities they applied to have been told the courses they hoped to take are full.

More than 600,000 16-year-olds received results Thursday for GCSE exams that help determine future studies. Grades were awarded on the same revised basis as A levels and on average are higher than in previous years.

However, results for technical qualifications known as BTECs have been delayed hours following a last-minute change to address concerns about unfairness.

Universities — caught between a government in damage-control mode and students demanding fair treatment — have formidable choices to make.

Medical schools, which already have far more applicants than spaces, face their own constraints. Becoming a doctor takes five to seven years, and involves a blend of classroom, lab and practical training. It’s not simple to squeeze more students in.

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