Graduate with low UKCAT

Hi everyone!

This is my first post, I'm a graduate, with a pharmacology BSc (Hons) (2:i), a distinction at MRes, and I'm currently finishing a PhD in cancer medicine which covers gene expression profiling, aspects of pharmacology & development of cell lines. Luckily during my PhD I've managed to gain much clinical contact as I've always had my eye on medicine!

Unfortunately my A levels aren't great, (BCC in the sciences), and whilst I have a B in GCSE maths, I only have a C in GCSE English.

Based on this I was looking to apply to some UKCAT heavy GEM courses. However today I completely fluffed it, getting 633 average 540, 670, 690, band 1. Hugely disappointed with my AR as I just didn't expect that after getting 700s in mocks!

Now I'm looking at alternatives. I am too late to book into the GAMSAT, but will be sitting the BMAT, this gives me a stab at Imperial (a101) and Cambridge (a100), but I see both as highly unlikely, especially the latter as they state most applicants have AAA at a-level for their grad entry, hopefully the PhD stands me in better stead for the a100!

Does anyone have any advice regarding my best option next? Has anyone been in this position?

I'd be very happy to get on to a regular a100 course, never mind GEM!


If you don't fancy reading the massive essay here's a quick summary:

What medical schools can I realistically apply with the following?

GCSEs: B maths, C English. The rest are all A or B grades.

A-Level: BCC Biology, Chemistry, Physics

University of Liverpool: Pharmacology BSc (Hons) 2:i, Pharmacology MRes distinction, PhD Cancer Medicine (predicted pass).

UKCAT: 540, 670, 690, Band 1 (633 ave)
GAMSAT: Cannot take this year, will take next year if in the likely event of no offer this year!
BMAT: Will take later this year

Work Exp:
- Vast hospital & care home experience, within and beyond the past 2 years.

Apologies for the long post!

Any help will be massively appreciated 😊

Hmmm because of your poor Alevel results, i'm not sure whether there are many other school you can apply to apart from those you mentioned.

Good luck with imperial though! Thankfully I got into imperial while they still had the 4 year GEP course, but provided you meet the cut off for BMAT at imperial, you certainly have enough experience, so work hard for the BMAT. I found the application process relatively simple for imperial, and panel interviews are MUUUUUCH nicer than MMI in my opinion!
Plus with your PhD, imperial would love you, something about them wanting to encourage students to go into research

Its a shame you decided to do your UKCAT late, if you had done it earlier, it would have given you a chance to register for the GAMSAT. If things doesn't work out this year and you choose to reapply next year, try to sit the UKCAT early to give yourself time to sit the GAMSAT too in the worst case!

Thanks to you both for your responses!

I had a feeling this would be the case, I'll just have to prepare well for the BMAT and see where that gets me!

I've heard that imperial love PhDs which is really great as I very much fancy going into research once I've completed my medical degree, I do enjoy science but I crave the clinical contact so much, being an academic clinician is very much my dream!

I foolishly thought I'd do well in the UKCAT I took it before I did my masters and got a 670 average without even preparing for it. This time I went on a course, and did countless hours of preparation and ended up much worse! Sod's law!!

If I'm not successful this time round I'll do GAMSAT early next year, hopefully do well enough, but if not I'll repeat GAMSAT in September and do the UKCAT early in the summer as you suggested. I've taken the GAMSAT before and really didn't want to do the 5.5 hour exam again!! Especially as my chemistry and physics are quite rusty now, something I'm going to sort out quickly with the BMAT on the horizon!

I suppose like most things, perseverance is the key! My PhD has taught me that on countless occasions!!

BE careful though, jsut becuase imperial likes students with research backgrounds, doesn't mean you'll get through the application process. In my class, only 1 person had a PhD out of 46 or so people