I know I won't get into medicine... what to do? :(

Yep 100% sure, 4 of us applied for medicine in my year and only 1 put her AS grades on the UCAS application. I got offers as did a guy who didn't put down his AS grades, although, I think Birmingham, requested them from him via email as they were part of the minimum requirements.

Really? Ah, you don't know how much your post has made me happy. I've been told that this summer is my last chance to get straight As, if not then I can't get into medicine.

Are you SURE you saying that, if I apply NEXT year, I still get an equal chance of getting in with my improved, resat grades?

Okay so assuming I've got this correctly you're in year 12 now, taking your AS exams this summer but you've already calculated because of your ISA score the highest grade you could get is a B?

Well maybe it's easiest if I explain what happened to me and you can see if you're in a similar situation.

I got a B in my chemistry AS ( and AABC overall). My teacher refused to predict me an A for chemistry and as a result I was unable to apply during year 13 and decided I would have to take a gap year. I got myself a tutor who re-taught me the summer AS module which I then resat in the january of year 13 alongside sitting my A2 module. I ended up with an A as my final grade ( mainly thanks to a high ums on the resit) and A*AAc overall.

I applied last September and was treated as an equal candidate. As my A levels were completed in the two years none of the unis would have been aware I did AS resits. From an admissions office perspective you could have looked at my application and think either I had just simply decided to wait a year and take a gap year or that I was a reapplicant and had the grades but didn't get in first time round. On my ucas statement I tried to make it clear that a gap year was a personal choice but even if they thought I was a reaaplicant it shouldn't have disadvantaged me.

I got a lot of work experience and I'm spending this year working in the hospital. I have offers from Cardiff and Manchester

I'm pretty sure it's still possible for you to get in, you just might have to accept that a gap year might be necessary if you cannot get the predictions or justify on your application why you didn't get an A at AS

Why not do a foundation year? One of my friends isjust away to start it.

Thanks for your success story! (sorry to bring this back up after two days, lol)

So when you say you were "unable to apply during year 13", what do you mean by that? Do you mean you just 'skipped' that October UCAS cycle and didn't apply for anything? Or you applied for medicine but got rejected?

Also, Do many people take a gap year overall? If I take a gap year, will I be at any disadvantage at all? (I've had gap year in mind for a while now but been scared universities frown upon them)

Thanks for the info (and please answer)

I mean I just skipped it and didn't bother applying. I didn't have the predictions high enough to meet the entry criteria (my chem teacher would only predict a B) so as I would almost certainly be declined I didn't see the point in applying.

I don't know what the statistics are but I think it's more common that you imagine. At the two interviews I had everyone was on a gap year either by choice or rejection the year before. I think the universities want to know how a gap year is going to be of benefit if you're taking one so try and make it worthwhile. I'm not an admissions tutor but I don't see why it would be a disadvantage, the point of your ucas statement and interviews is to sell it as an advantage. I wrote a small end paragraph on the end of my personal statement explaining what I was doing and how I thought it would aid me.

So, would you think it's better to apply this UCAS cycle, and almost certainly get rejected, or just skip it this time round and try next time?

Hi,

My parents really expect me to get into medicine... and I really want to as well... but I know I can only get a B in my chemistry AS, because I got such a low grade for my ISA What can I do? Plus, I have almost no work experience

I'm such a failure...

Sorry for the rant.

Just came across this :P
I was told that even if you got a U in the ISA you could still get an A overall if you got A's on both exams, that's for AQA what exam board are you doing?
I'm in a similar position except with maths and it seems like I'm going to get an E overall So cheer up because a B is better than an E any day

Yeah I am AQA, and I did get a U on my ISA. but I also didn't get an A in unit 1, so I'm going to rely on unit 2 to bring it up to a B, or even a C
I decided a few days ago with my family that I am going to take a gap year after Year 13 in order to apply then with my full A-Levels (by then I would have hopefully had resits and have brought my grade up to As... fingers crossed!!) because without good grades the first time round (this October) there'd be no point as I would get rejected.
What do you think of this? Also do you know if many people are taking gAp years? Will it be a disadvantage?

That's exactly what happened to me I got a U in the ISA then a D in unit 1. I retook the ISA now I have a B and retook the unit 1 exam on tuesday so fingers crossed. Why didn't you retake unit 1?
See you're quite lucky in that sense, may parents don't really want me to take a gap year so I'm going to apply, get rejected then have to take a gap year anyway. But personally I'd rather take a gap year, and get some more work experience maybe do an additional language or something, so I can make myself stand out.
A lot of people take gap years tbh and I don't think it disadvantages them in anyway because I know a lot of people who have been rejected first time and accepted after a gap year
Sorry for the long post :P

Haha well tell your parents that there's no point applying first time round because you will get rejected. That's what I told my mum and as a result she let me do it.
Although, I really don't know what to do on my gap year. I know I can do some sort of work experience, but I don't wanna do something that's not worthwhile. So what do you think is best? Volunteering, maybe, but where? I was thinking maybe do it abroad in Egypt (I used to live there and I speak the language) for a year but then again I've already got a few days experience there. And I don't wanna go for the same place again.
Also, it just occured to me that the application send-in is in October. So we won't have begun our gap year yet. So what's the point, if we can't even put down our work experience since we haven't done it? So confused
Sorry I'm bombarding you with questions!