Graduate Medicine Entry - Non-Science Degree

Hi all,

I was hoping you could give me a bit of help. I am thinking of applying to start medicine. I am already 25 and studied a law degree, a masters and have been called to the Bar but have always wanted to do medicine. I did the necessary A Levels including Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics way back when but I am just getting to the stage where I feel that I have the courage to make the leap but I was hoping somebody might have some experience of the following:

1. How difficult is it to get funding without doing an accelerated degree?
2. Does anybody have any experience applying as a law student?
3. Does anybody have any more general advice?

Reply 1

username1539513

Original post by JStudent12

If you were to undertake the undergraduate route as a graduate you would have to find £36,000 plus maintenance and living costs so unless you are very rich or you have very wealthy parents you will be restricted to the graduate entry. If for some reason you are ineligible for NHS bursary you can apply to various charities (money4medstudents has more info) to cover the entire course cost but bare in mind these applications are very competitive. Alternatively you can ask millionaires of the Forbes lists for money but I don't know how successful this would be as a funding strategy.

Reply 2

munkie

If money is a problem definitely go for the graduate entry programme - advantages include shaving a year off your training, being with other people around the same age, and skipping a lot of the irrelevant stuff and getting straight to seeing patients earlier. Some schools accept any degree and don't look at your A' levels.

Reply 3

Marathi

As far as I am aware you can still apply for maintenance loans from SFE for the 5 year undergrad degree just not tuition fees. Though this was 2014 or 2015 when I last checked.

Reply 4

username1539513

Original post by Marathi

As far as I am aware you can still apply for maintenance loans from SFE for the 5 year undergrad degree just not tuition fees. Though this was 2014 or 2015 when I last checked.

Doesn't medicine count as a viable subject under the new 2017 government plans to fund second degrees for STEM subjects? I'd imagine this would mean you would have to study medicine part time instead of full time though

Reply 5

honeysugar

Might I ask what put you off law in general? I'm considering medical school when I've finished my chemistry degree.(when I'm 21). What's the difference between graduate and postgraduate entry??

Reply 6

JayAhm

You wouldn't get a tuition fee loan for the 5 year course. You would be eligible for the maintenance loan though.

If you do the 4 year Grad course, you only have to fund around £3.5k of year 1 up front

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Reply 7

JayAhm

Original post by honeysugar

Might I ask what put you off law in general? I'm considering medical school when I've finished my chemistry degree.(when I'm 21). What's the difference between graduate and postgraduate entry??

Graduate medicine is studying for medicine when you already have a degree. Any degree.

Postgraduate is what you'll study after you've got your medicine degree.

So in your case, you're looking at graduate entry medicine after your chemistry degree.

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Reply 8

username1539513

Original post by honeysugar

Might I ask what put you off law in general? I'm considering medical school when I've finished my chemistry degree.(when I'm 21). What's the difference between graduate and postgraduate entry??

I've just never been interested in it, the idea of it doesn't appeal to me in the slightest tbh. I'm more of a chemistry gal really. In terms of finance there is no difference, SFE won't pay your tuition fees if you undertake medicine as a second/ third/ whatever degree unless you apply for the accelerated GEM courses. Even then you have to find £3500 or so upfront. Graduate medicine refers to undergraduate courses in medicine for graduates. Post graduate medicine refers to medical courses for those who already have a degree in medicine (the MBCHB) such as specialised surgery/ oncology courses etc

Reply 9

honeysugar

Thank you for clarifying this! I just wanted to do something different first, like a chemistry degree, then go to medicine. Would you not pay the 9k fees and would I be eligible for a maintenance loan? My alevel grades are not the best. I got AAB. Would you suggest that I resit my biology alevel and then try and get a first in chemistry at BRISTOL.?

Reply 10

username1539513

Original post by honeysugar

Chemistry is very interesting indeed, I've done up to second year so if you have any questions I'm here :biggrin:

For GEM you find £3.5K upfront and then SFE pays the remaining for the first year. For the years after the NHS pays the £3.5K and SFE continues to cover it. During this time you are also eligible for maintenance loan and whatever bursaries you can get from your university.

As far as I'm aware most medical schools don't like you doing a-levels over 3 years and you will dramatically reduce your chances and the amount of medical schools you can apply to. You would have a lot more medical schools to choose from doing GEM

Reply 11

honeysugar

I'm super excited to do chemistry. Do you think I should do some reading before going to university? Like look up some textbooks.
Also, would they accept AAB for GEM? It's not the typical medical offer so I was hoping to bump my biology grade to an A so that it would be AAA.

Reply 12

username1539513

Original post by honeysugar

Don't worry about it too much yet, you don't get introduced to many new concepts in first year except maybe crystal structures in metals, molecular orbital theory and a few extra concepts and mechanisms in organic chemistry.

AAB is more than sufficient for most GEM courses, I think the minimum most want is BBB so you should be okay. That being said, I don't think you would be competitive at Oxbridge

Reply 13

honeysugar

Is there much of difference between msci and bsc?

Yeah. I was thinking Oxbridge so I was gonna email and ask them just to make sure. If not, I'll probably stay at BRISTOL. Would gem be through UCAS??

Reply 14

username1539513

Original post by honeysugar

A BSc would mean you would do a three years bachelors course in Chemistry, an MSci would be an integrated masters course where your fourth year is a masters.

I've emailed Cambridge already about this and they said a few unit resits was alright as long as you had EC's but applying with lots of unit resits is not recommended. I'm not sure about Oxford, I think they might be slightly more lenient in that regard but you will need a high % of A*'s at GCSE.

Don't forget that for GEM you still will have to do admissions tests, have loads of experience of a caring nature (some universities ask for as much as 70 hours) and a good personal statement and of course good interview performance

Reply 15

honeysugar

Thank you so much for this! I was planning on doing some volunteering at university anyway to meet other people who live in Bristol. Do you think I'll have enough time to revise for one exam (1 module of biology, I hope, max 2) whilst at university? I don't know how much free time I'll have. Do you think AAA or A*AA will be good enough for Oxbridge? Especially if I got a first!

Reply 16

username1539513

Original post by honeysugar

Biology is pretty easy and certainly in first year at least you will have quite a bit of free time. Please be aware though that obviously second year is very demanding, both intellectually and time-wise. As for grades, you're better off consulting the website of the university in question tbh. Please be aware though that Cambridge requires your third A-level to be in another science or maths subject for medicine. So whilst you might be able to get away with A-level biology and chemistry for Oxford you would need biology, chemistry and one of either maths, physics or further maths for your application to be competitive at Cambridge.

Reply 17

honeysugar

I did maths, biology and chemistry. Do cambridge still consider UMS marks as much when applying for GEM. I've emailed the graduate colleges and am waiting for a reply. When doing a chemistry degree, what do you typically do on a year abroad? Do you go to another university in a chosen country or do you work there?