[Hippokrates]

Just wondering what people think about 5th choices.

[Alexandra's Box]

If it all goes wrong

[James A]

I'm no future medic here, but this goes without saying, if your gonna do medicine you have to be fully committed, there's no point trying to bail out with a fifth option (this ain't monopoly)

Mainly that 5th option is pharmacy, biochemistry, biomedical science etc but you should leave those to people who have a genuine interest in the subject. No point firming pharmacy, biomedical, biochemistry(if God forbid you get rejections from medicine). Just take a gap year and improve your personal statement, grades and work experience

BUT if you start to like the fifth option once your on the course, then it's all good and I don't see much of a problem in that

WHY am i getting negged? Is the truth hard to swallow for some?

[y-y]

To fill the gap

[Phil90974]

Just seen this thread and would somebody be able to clear this up for me: Are you allowed to use all five options for medicine if you so wish?

[grad_dentist]

(Original post by Phil90974)
Just seen this thread and would somebody be able to clear this up for me: Are you allowed to use all five options for medicine if you so wish?

You can only use 4 for Medicine, UCAS won't let you put down a 5th Medicine choice.

[DH3498]

Exactly as James A said, if you're going to apply for such a competitive course like Medicine, go all out for Medicine. Most people who I know who got 4 Medicine rejections didn't accept their 5th choice - unless it provides an alternative route into Medicine. For example some courses allow you to apply after just one year in that 'other' course.

If the admissions team sense at all that you're not fully committed, you'll never get any offers.

So what I've said to students applying for Medicine/Dentistry/Vet for 2013 is just focus on that. Get your application as perfect as you can, then you'll have a great chance of getting offers(s). And if you want it so much, you'd never consider a different course and you'd reapply next year.

Good luck!

[stroppyninja]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
Just wondering what people think about 5th choices.

Apply for something else that you would feasibly enjoy doing. I arrogantly didn't put down a 5th choice and just left it blank, I got rejected from all 4 places.
The next year I got in, but I DID fill my 5th choice in. There's nothing to loose by putting a 5th down, and it doesn't matter what degree you apply for. I went for biology as my 5th, because if it were to go tits-up for a second year running, then I would abandon my aspirations to study med.

[fletchdd02]

The only one I would put down would be, Clinical Sciences at Bradford.

Only because the top 25 students in the first year move to Leeds to complete the further 4 years in medicine. The first year is exactly the same at both Leeds for medicine and Bradford for Clinical sciences.

[SaintSoldier]

(Original post by Phil90974)
Just seen this thread and would somebody be able to clear this up for me: Are you allowed to use all five options for medicine if you so wish?

No - You can only choos 4 Medicine choices.

But you can use your 5th choice to apply for a non-medical course (most medics go for Biomedical Sciences), just in case something (or a lot of things) goes wrong while you are applying.

[Hippokrates]

I know it sounds bad but I'm thinking of putting UCL biomed as my 5th choice so that if I get 4 rejections I can say I turned down UCL so I feel a bit better about myself. It's pointless but I'd like to be able know whether I'm capable of getting into a prestigious uni. I have no intention of doing anything other than medicine. If all went wrong and for some reason I couldn't apply for medicine I would do midwifery but obviously you can't realistically put that down as a 5th choice.

[DH3498]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
I know it sounds bad but I'm thinking of putting UCL biomed as my 5th choice so that if I get 4 rejections I can say I turned down UCL so I feel a bit better about myself. It's pointless but I'd like to be able know whether I'm capable of getting into a prestigious uni. I have no intention of doing anything other than medicine. If all went wrong and for some reason I couldn't apply for medicine I would do midwifery but obviously you can't realistically put that down as a 5th choice.

That's pretty harsh because you're taking a place away from someone who actually wants to do that course. If you have no intention of doing it, don't bother applying for it. Just hope you get offers, if not reapply next year in a better position.

[Glacier]

(Original post by James A)
I'm no future medic here, but this goes without saying, if your gonna do medicine you have to be fully committed, there's no point trying to bail out with a fifth option.

Mainly that 5th option is pharmacy, biochemistry, biomedical science etc but you should leave those to people who have a genuine interest in the subject. No point firming pharmacy, biomedical, biochemistry(if God forbid you get rejections from medicine). Just take a gap year and improve your personal statement, grades and work experience

BUT if you start to like the fifth option once your on the course, then it's all good and I don't see much of a problem in that

The vast majority of medical schools don't accept any resits beyond year 13 without extenuating circumstances, and the few that do often require AAB at the first attempt or A* in resat subjects, so resitting might not always be a good idea for people who don't get AAA. Apart from that, I agree with what you're saying.

[Elwyn]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
x

(Original post by James A)
x

(Original post by DH3498)
x

It's all well and good saying that you should be 100% dedicated to medicine and that putting a 5th choice down would 'steal' a place from someone else. But, bear in mind if you don't put a 5th choice down then miss your medicine grades (with a medicine offer or not) you'd have to take a gap year and still not be able to apply to medicine (yes I know there's some medical schools that accept resits but I'm being realistic). If you had a 5th choice at least you'd have something to fall back on if the worst did happen.

[James A]

(Original post by Elwyn)
It's all well and good saying that you should be 100% dedicated to medicine and that putting a 5th choice down would 'steal' a place from someone else. But, bear in mind if you don't put a 5th choice down then miss your medicine grades (with a medicine offer or not) you'd have to take a gap year and still not be able to apply to medicine (yes I know there's some medical schools that accept resits but I'm being realistic). If you had a 5th choice at least you'd have something to fall back on if the worst did happen.

No offence but they should be meeting their predicted grades/offers without a struggle.

Something to fall back on to? But will it be something they want to do for the rest of their lives? Or will they try graduate entry for medicine?

[carcinoma]

(Original post by James A)
I'm no future medic here, but this goes without saying, if your gonna do medicine you have to be fully committed, there's no point trying to bail out with a fifth option.

Unless you had already applied to direct entry medicine multiple times and decided that GEM would be the only alternative.

Therefore a 5th choice would be a viable alternative degree with the hope of entering medicine as a graduate.

[Elwyn]

(Original post by James A)
No offence but they should be meeting their predicted grades/offers without a struggle.

Something to fall back on to? But will it be something they want to do for the rest of their lives? Or will they try graduate entry for medicine?

I'd think you'd have to be a pretty arrogant medical applicant to assume you're going to get 3 As at A2. I'd already decided that I would have to take up my insurance as I was convinced I'd missed my offer.

Very few graduates who apply for medicine actually get in, it's more competitive than normal entry. I'm not saying they should put down a 5th choice they have no interest in. My 5th choice was Pharmacy, which I was more than happy to do. But I don't think they should be so narrow minded as to assume they're going to get a medicine offer and a 5th choice is not needed.

[James A]

(Original post by carcinoma)
Unless you had already applied to direct entry medicine multiple times and decided that GEM would be the only alternative.

Therefore a 5th choice would be a viable alternative degree with the hope of entering medicine as a graduate.

That's what i mentioned directly above your post

[James A]

(Original post by Elwyn)
I'd think you'd have to be a pretty arrogant medical applicant to assume you're going to get 3 As at A2. I'd already decided that I would have to take up my insurance as I was convinced I'd missed my offer.

Very few graduates who apply for medicine actually get in, it's more competitive than normal entry. I'm not saying they should put down a 5th choice they have no interest in. My 5th choice was Pharmacy, which I was more than happy to do. But I don't think they should be so narrow minded as to assume they're going to get a medicine offer and a 5th choice is not needed.

Good point. I'm sure there are many people who got really good AS grades and are on target to emulate the grades at A2 level.....

[Rob da Mop]

I didn't put down a fifth. I decided that I didn't want the pressure to go to my fifth choice if I didn't get medicine offers when I hadn't looked properly at what else I might want to. I decided that I'd rather do the year out, get some experience and work out what I wanted to do with my life.