The Student Room Group

What to do after being turned down by 5 universities?

Hi! I am a high school student from Bulgaria and have/will have the following examinations/certificates: Diploma za Sredno Obrazovanie (predicted grade: Excellent 6) - in there are included my Biology and Chemistry grades which are sure to be a straight 6, CAE - Grade B (or 197 out of 210 points), UKCAT 2300, some unpaid work experience I cannot provide a certificate for and around 20 other certificates which I have from various competitions - most of which are speech and debate tournaments, seminars, IT-related and others. I have NONE of the "supplementary " (through which you gain more UCAS points) certificates/examinations such as IB etc.
So, I applied for Medicine for the 2016 year of entry to University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, King's College London, Queen's University Belfast and later University of Birmingham (as an Extra). I got an offer for an alternative course from Nottingham, attended an interview at Queen's and later received a "we are sorry" e-mail from Queen's.
I am really confused at this point as you may guess. On UCAS Track it is written that I may now either decline all offers or make the only offer that I have my firm choice. If I decline all offers, to how many unis will I be able to apply? Declining the offers really seems like the thing I will probably do but even then I have no idea where to apply. Maybe some of you here could share their experience if they have been through something like that and maybe you could suggest me a university that I am at least a little bit likely to get an offer from. And one last thing, I have decided myself that I will study Medicine as opposed to many who have been pressured by their families to do so. Medicine is my thing. I am sure of it!
Can't wait to see some replies. ^^
Original post by christian_otaku
Hi! I am a high school student from Bulgaria and have/will have the following examinations/certificates: Diploma za Sredno Obrazovanie (predicted grade: Excellent 6) - in there are included my Biology and Chemistry grades which are sure to be a straight 6, CAE - Grade B (or 197 out of 210 points), UKCAT 2300, some unpaid work experience I cannot provide a certificate for and around 20 other certificates which I have from various competitions - most of which are speech and debate tournaments, seminars, IT-related and others. I have NONE of the "supplementary " (through which you gain more UCAS points) certificates/examinations such as IB etc.
So, I applied for Medicine for the 2016 year of entry to University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, King's College London, Queen's University Belfast and later University of Birmingham (as an Extra). I got an offer for an alternative course from Nottingham, attended an interview at Queen's and later received a "we are sorry" e-mail from Queen's.
I am really confused at this point as you may guess. On UCAS Track it is written that I may now either decline all offers or make the only offer that I have my firm choice. If I decline all offers, to how many unis will I be able to apply? Declining the offers really seems like the thing I will probably do but even then I have no idea where to apply. Maybe some of you here could share their experience if they have been through something like that and maybe you could suggest me a university that I am at least a little bit likely to get an offer from. And one last thing, I have decided myself that I will study Medicine as opposed to many who have been pressured by their families to do so. Medicine is my thing. I am sure of it!
Can't wait to see some replies. ^^


If you go through Extra, you can apply to one course at a time, but this really isn't relevant to you as medicine is not a course available through Extra or through Clearing. Your options are to take the course you have been offered, or take a chance on reapplying next year, before Oct 15th.
Reply 2
If you can't get into medicine apply for biomedical science courses through clearing. A lot of people on my course are applying/have applied for graduate medicine courses after they have finished the biomed course as they were rejected for medicine
Original post by ab0014
If you can't get into medicine apply for biomedical science courses through clearing. A lot of people on my course are applying/have applied for graduate medicine courses after they have finished the biomed course as they were rejected for medicine


I wouldn't recommend this option unless you didn't score the grades - graduate entry medicine is much more competitive and expensive than the 'normal' route.

OP: I don't know what the entry requirements are for the Diploma etc. but if you've met those, I'd suggest taking a gap year and then reapplying. Try to get feedback from where you applied too to see if you can fix those parts of your application (your UKCAT is quite low, so perhaps that was a factor). Make sure to apply strategically too. :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by christian_otaku
Hi! I am a high school student from Bulgaria and have/will have the following examinations/certificates: Diploma za Sredno Obrazovanie (predicted grade: Excellent 6) - in there are included my Biology and Chemistry grades which are sure to be a straight 6, CAE - Grade B (or 197 out of 210 points), UKCAT 2300, some unpaid work experience I cannot provide a certificate for and around 20 other certificates which I have from various competitions - most of which are speech and debate tournaments, seminars, IT-related and others. I have NONE of the "supplementary " (through which you gain more UCAS points) certificates/examinations such as IB etc.
So, I applied for Medicine for the 2016 year of entry to University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, King's College London, Queen's University Belfast and later University of Birmingham (as an Extra). I got an offer for an alternative course from Nottingham, attended an interview at Queen's and later received a "we are sorry" e-mail from Queen's.
I am really confused at this point as you may guess. On UCAS Track it is written that I may now either decline all offers or make the only offer that I have my firm choice. If I decline all offers, to how many unis will I be able to apply? Declining the offers really seems like the thing I will probably do but even then I have no idea where to apply. Maybe some of you here could share their experience if they have been through something like that and maybe you could suggest me a university that I am at least a little bit likely to get an offer from. And one last thing, I have decided myself that I will study Medicine as opposed to many who have been pressured by their families to do so. Medicine is my thing. I am sure of it!
Can't wait to see some replies. ^^


Sorry that you didn't get in this time. I really think you need to do more research in to which universities you are applying to. For example, applying to Newcastle with a UKCAT of 2300 is complete nonsense. You could have found out how they select for interview (they publish this information on their website) and you would have found that they use a UKCAT cut off score and 2300 is well below it.

I would suggest declining your offer for a different course, spend the year getting work experience and researching which universities you have a good chance of getting in to. Then, try and improve your UKCAT score.
Original post by christian_otaku
Hi!.....UKCAT 2300, some unpaid work experience I cannot provide a certificate for and around 20 other certificates which I have from various competitions - most of which are speech and debate tournaments, seminars, IT-related and others.... ^^


Hello!

We're sorry to hear you didn't get into medical school this time round. It is highly competitive, especially for overseas students as there are only a limited number of places.

Now, you've said that 'Medicine is my thing'. Because you're passionate about wanting to be a Dr, we think it would probably be better to take a gap year, and use the time to strengthen your application. Then reapply next year, instead of taking the alternative course offered to you at Nottingham.

One thing that stood out in particular in your original post was your UKCAT score of 2300. This was probably a limiting factor for many universities.

In order to maximise your chances of getting an offer next time round, you need to try and get a better UKCAT score. We'd recommend focusing on your final school exams now, but as soon as they're done, get going on some UKCAT revision! It may be tough, but it'll be worth it if you're successful!

You could try using the following learning and practice tools:

- Use EVERYTHING in the UKCAT Candidate Toolkit (i.e. watch the video tutorials on each section, and try and do as many past questions as possible).
- Use our 50 free UKCAT practice questions.
- Check out this free blog on UKCAT Verbal Reasoning (the section that many students find difficult)

Regarding work experience, definitely use our year out to get some great medical/health work experience, and try to do some valuable work experience.

Try to find out what kind of work experience certificates/documents you need for specific universities so that you can prove you've done some! Most of this information should be on the university websites.

In general, have a read of this blog to see what you might be able to do in your gap year. Although it was written by a UK student, she was also rejected from all 4 universities. However, she took a gap year, boosted her application, and got 4 offers on reapplying!

We hope the above helps,
The Medic Portal

Quick Reply