Foundation Application System 2006

Foundation Application 2006- MTAS

Here's the most up to date information on the up and coming Foundation Programme Application process for medical students this year.... it opens on Wednesday 25th October!

MDAP

Last years Foundation Programme Application system was for the first time an online process- called MDAP (multi-deanery application process). Medical students filled in a national application form which asked the student to demonstrate specific things and back it up with an example and then reflect on it- all in 75 words. The sections included:
* 2 examples of an academic achievements (in 75 words each)
* 2 examples of a non-academic achievement (in 75 words each)
* 2 examples of teamwork (in 75 words each)
* 2 examples of leadership (in 75 words each)
* Picking 2 of the 7 GMC principles- give examples where you've demonstrated them (in 75 words each)
* Give your personal reasons for applying to your first unit of application (job) (in 75 words)
* Give your educational reasons for applying to your first unit of application (in 75 words)

Students applied for up to a maximum of 40 jobs or tracks. Their score determined how successful they were in getting their most preferred choice.

What happened to MDAP?

MDAP (multi-deanery application process) has been scrapped this year and replaced with......... MTAS- Medical Training Application Service.

This new system aims to be a much better designed and a more secure online application...with a lot more information available to the applicant (for example accessing the scoring guidelines online for each section as you fill it in). It also hopes to address some of the many criticisms of the old MDAP system, for example the lack of academic weighting to the application form (only 16% last time).

There are thus some signficant changes to this years system!

Your application for a start will be made up from just less than 50% (application form) and >50% academic ranking(from your medical school).

The MTAS and Your Medical School

First of all the medical school now plays an important role in YOUR application. Every medical student will be ranked according to their academic performance (how this is determined is up to the individual medical school- and most havent decided how yet), so that you are placed in to a quartile. The quartile in to which you are placed determines how many marks you get. Every medical student will be entitled to 30 marks. Above and beyond this every extra increase in quartile results in an extra 5 marks.

So those in the bottom 25%- 30 marks
those between 25-50% ranking- 35 marks
those between 50-75%- 40 marks
and those in the top 25%- 45 marks

The maximum mark available for academic ranking and thus just over 50% of your form is: 45.
The medical school will have done this by September (hopefully) and your ranking will be made available to you before you begin to fill in your online application.

Filling in the Online Application

On October 25th the online application will be open for applicants to start filling in their form. The exact nature of the application form isn't known (until you can access it on MTAS) but it is unlikely to be too disimiliar from last years- in terms of the sections e.g academic example, non-academic example, example of teamwork etc. It is more than likely that the word limit will be increased and the number of questions decreased....so rather than 'give two examples of teamwork' it might be 'give an example of teamwork' and are given 150 words to do it in.

One of the key differences this time however is that you apply to a Foundation school NOT a job. That is a Foundation school will be the Unit of Application and you must list all of them (theres about 26) in order of preference.

Many will probably put down the deanery/foundation school which their medical school is part of. For example in Manchester most will apply to the North West Foundation School (in the North West this = North West Deanery because we only have one foundation school- some deaneries have two: thus foundation school and deanery are not alway synonymous). It is not recommended that you put only a few foundation schools down (your application would not be accepted).

Your first choice of foundation school however is VERY important. Those with highest marks will be allocated first to their prefered Foundation School , if you dont quite get a high enough mark you will be put to one side. The MTAS matching system will then look at the second choice of Foundation School- but those who put that as their first choice (as opposed to it being your second) will get the job over you even if they score slightly less than you.

The online application will close sometime in Dec and they will be marked by trained and calibrated assessors in a panel- so all markers across the UK will have received the same training in terms of how to mark the forms. Each deanery/foundation school will have a panel and whichever you put down as your first choice of foundation school will be the one that scores your form. 1/3 of the panel involved in marking the form will be a lay people ie. non medical. It is important to recognise this when filling in the form.

Once you have your form marked your score is put back in to the MTAS system and you are matched to your chosen Foundation School (whether that be your first, second, 10th!).

Applying for Jobs within the Foundation School You've Been Assigned To

By the end of Dec every medical student should be assigned to a Foundation school and in January- February the allocation of specific jobs begin. This task is undertaken by the deanery/foundation school to which youve been allocated.

So in February students will be able to apply to the jobs that are available in the Foundation school to which they've been allocated and list thier preferences online. Allocations will begin again.
Each deanery will have its own policy in distributing its jobs. In the North West Deanery (Foundation School) for example they've decided that they will allocate their jobs based on the students' MTAS score and the order of preference for the job. They wont interview. Other deaneries may chose to allocate jobs in a different way e.g may interview.

So... in summary

The big diferences this year are thus:

* its called MTAS not MDAP
* your medical school has major input in to your application in terms of what quartile you are ranked in (academic ranking worth >50% of form).
* there's two rounds of application
- the first before christmas is to a Foundation school (successful allocation based on your MTAS score)
- the second , after christmas is to particular jobs within the foundation school youve been allocated to
*each foundation school will decide how it is to allocate its jobs.
- for some this may now include an interview

Hopefully there will be fewer problems experienced with the MTAS system than with the MDAP- but undoubtedly any new system will bring problems, only time will tell whether students are going to be as frustrated and let down as last year...

Some interesting sites for you to visit:

http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pages/home

- here you can access a power point presentation released recently detailing the Foundation Programme application

http://www.mtas.nhs.uk

- the actual MTAS site: it is not possible to view the application form as yet but you can browse the site and get a feel for it.

DATES FOR THE APPLICATION PROCESS 2006 *TAKEN FROM THE NW DEANERY WEBSITE BUT APPLICABLE TO ALL DEANERIES*

APPLICATION PROCESS for FOUNDATION TRAINING PLACEMENTS
commencing August 2007

Foundation Programme Application Process for August 2007



Timetable



September 2006

Eligibility rules for applicants published on MTAS

25 October 2006

Opening date for applications

5 December 2006

Closing date for applications


1 February 2007

Applicants are notified of their Foundation School allocation. Applicants will then have an opportunity to nominate programme preference with the Foundation School.


Closing date for choosing programme preferences will be according to local arrangements. (Details will be published at a later date)


29 March 2007

Applicants receive details of their programme placement

12 April 2007

Deadline for appeal submissions


Notes:


Candidates must check their eligibility and then provide an email address to their medical school. Medical schools will notify their UK deanery of their eligible candidates. (Only eligible candidates will be allowed to apply).


Applicants who have not undertaken their medical degree in English will be required to submit evidence of their English language skills (details to follow).


All applications must be made on line at www.mtas.nhs.uk .Only applications submitted by the closing date will be considered.


To help applicants with selecting preference for Foundation Schools, details of each schools’ available programmes (subject to change) will be on the website prior to the application closing date. When notified of their Foundation School allocation, applicants will be asked to give preferences for programmes/posts within that school.


Overall score will comprise an academic score provided by their medical school and the score relating to their application answers.


Further information for applicants will be available on the MTAS website in September 2006.


There will be a single UK-wide application and matching process for entry to Foundation training programmes which start on 31 July 2007.

The matching, by online application, will happen in two stages:

Stage 1 : Application/Matching to Foundation School

Stage 2 : Application/Matching to specific training programmes.

The period for making applications for Stage 1 is likely to be from the end of October to the beginning of December.

Applicants will be notified the results of Stage 1, by email, in mid January 2007.

Applicants allocated to the North Western Foundation School will then be invited to express their preferences online in late January/early February, with the results of the matching known before the end of February.

The precise dates will be published in the autumn.