The Student Room Group

Advice on grad entry or gap year!!!!

So basically im currently doing my final year in sixth form and in a couple of weeks im about to sit my final exams. I am currently doing chemistry, biology and maths at A2 and im on course for at least AAA but hopefully ill be able to get A*A*A (thats my aim). I have applied for biochemistry and received 5 offers of AAB, which in the end i accepted Nottingham as my firm and Sheffield as my insurance.

Im in a situation where i have not applied to do medicine and when i look back on it i slightly regret that decision. The reason i didn't apply for medicine was:
1)I didn't think ill be able to get the required minimum of AAA at A2 whilst i was in year 12!
2)Our head of sixth form discouraged students to apply for medicine if they didn't get like 7-9A* at GCSE level!
3) I really didn't know what i wanted to do at uni. So in the end i decided best not to apply for medicine if i knew i wasn't going to get in.
But after the January results i realised i had a good chance of getting in and regret not at least applying.

So the past few months ive been thinking about doing graduate entry for medicine. I've shared this idea with some of my friends and a fair few of them think im crazy! they believe with the grades i should get i should drop out of biochem and do a gap year and apply for medicine!

Now heres my dilemma :s-smilie:, i really want to go uni now and experience the "uni life". Also i am still enthusiastic about biochemistry and i would still like to do the degree before applying for med. But i also know that grad entry is extremely competitive, requires a lot of work and this route could cost a lot! Also if i did do grad entry id only apply for Warwick and Birmingham so it rules out living costs (Id live with my parents in Rugby which is basically in Coventry), preferably Warwick as its extremely close!

I personally don't really want to take a year out due to the fact id need to sort out all work experience and volunteering work (i havnt done any work exp or volunteering), id need to do a UKCAT/BMAT and im really scared ive wasted a year if i get rejections! But i know this is a much easier route, i should have the required grades (as long as my final exams go well) to apply and also it saves time and money.

You guys will all think im crazy but im 85% sure that ill do the biochem degree and try grad entry! I just want a little advice from people who have done grad entry/gap year and applied or just a general opinion from anyone as to what you think of my plans for the next 6-7 years of my life!

Thank you very much if you took your time to read this and reply, it is much appreciated :smile:
Reply 1
Original post by chan3002
So basically im currently doing my final year in sixth form and in a couple of weeks im about to sit my final exams. I am currently doing chemistry, biology and maths at A2 and im on course for at least AAA but hopefully ill be able to get A*A*A (thats my aim). I have applied for biochemistry and received 5 offers of AAB, which in the end i accepted Nottingham as my firm and Sheffield as my insurance.

Im in a situation where i have not applied to do medicine and when i look back on it i slightly regret that decision. The reason i didn't apply for medicine was:
1)I didn't think ill be able to get the required minimum of AAA at A2 whilst i was in year 12!
2)Our head of sixth form discouraged students to apply for medicine if they didn't get like 7-9A* at GCSE level!
3) I really didn't know what i wanted to do at uni. So in the end i decided best not to apply for medicine if i knew i wasn't going to get in.
But after the January results i realised i had a good chance of getting in and regret not at least applying.

So the past few months ive been thinking about doing graduate entry for medicine. I've shared this idea with some of my friends and a fair few of them think im crazy! they believe with the grades i should get i should drop out of biochem and do a gap year and apply for medicine!

Now heres my dilemma :s-smilie:, i really want to go uni now and experience the "uni life". Also i am still enthusiastic about biochemistry and i would still like to do the degree before applying for med. But i also know that grad entry is extremely competitive, requires a lot of work and this route could cost a lot! Also if i did do grad entry id only apply for Warwick and Birmingham so it rules out living costs (Id live with my parents in Rugby which is basically in Coventry), preferably Warwick as its extremely close!

I personally don't really want to take a year out due to the fact id need to sort out all work experience and volunteering work (i havnt done any work exp or volunteering), id need to do a UKCAT/BMAT and im really scared ive wasted a year if i get rejections! But i know this is a much easier route, i should have the required grades (as long as my final exams go well) to apply and also it saves time and money.

You guys will all think im crazy but im 85% sure that ill do the biochem degree and try grad entry! I just want a little advice from people who have done grad entry/gap year and applied or just a general opinion from anyone as to what you think of my plans for the next 6-7 years of my life!

Thank you very much if you took your time to read this and reply, it is much appreciated :smile:


How sure are you that you would be interested in doing medicine? Have you done any work experience or is this just an "idea"?

I think if you are interested in medicine that your friends are absolutely correct. Spending £27K (just fees) alone on a biochem degree, of which you have no guarantee of getting a 2:1 (this is not an easy grade to get btw) and applying as a graduate, a process which is far more competitive than as a school leaver, is just really, really foolish.

You say you understand how competitive applying for graduate entry medicine is, but I don't think you actually do since you're only planning on applying to two schools! Most applicants will apply to four and maybe, if they're lucky, they'll get a single offer. And just FYI, Birmingham GEP wants a first. Where's your guarantee that you can get that? If you don't, according to your own plan, you will only have one medical school left to apply to. That's insane!

I can definitely understand why you're eager to go out and experience uni life asap, but do bear in mind that you are 17/18 and one year will not make a difference at all. You could even have fun, get a job, go travelling, etc. On the other hand, paying a lot of money to do what might end up being an irrelevant degree with a massive financial commitment might end up being a very bad move indeed.

To summarise, as someone who got into graduate entry medicine, my advice to you is do not underestimate the process. You are headed for the right grades to get into medicine next year. Go and think about if you actually want to do medicine or not, and if you realise you do, you'd be a fool to not apply with the grades in hand and instead risk a graduate application.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 2
Hi. I think you should definitely go down the gap year route. I was in a similar position, dying to go to university this time last year and on route to get decent grades. I too was worried in younger years and even up to as/a2 about getting the minimum AAA. I ended up with A*AAA. I wasn't the typical "always knew medicine is for me" kind of candidate either. Do a bit of work experience - regardless of what others say/think, I personally didnt get much from it, the internet was my best source of research. I did lots of voluntary work though - most of which i quite enjoyed (if it wasnt for the fact i had exams then too and felt i was "wasting" time by spending hours at old folks homes rather than studying.. etc) but all in all I did like it. This too didn't teach me much for the process, and in fact got me a rejection - at one interview i was told id make a fantastic nurse, despite having grades better than whats required for medicine they thought i was incredibly caring and should head down that route. Frustrating.

You seem to already know this but i want to reinforce: Graduate medicine is INCREDIBLY competitive to get into. Forget about uni life for a year, apply on a gap year. I did this in the end and turned down biochemistry. I now hold an offer for Medicine and start in Sept. Yes it will be hard hearing about what your friends are getting up to, seeing their facebook photo feeds etc.. but just think, you're doing the best thing for you. Even if you dont get in, atleast you'll not live in regret all your life. I know I would probably feel bitter about doctors forever :tongue: hehe. Definitely book your entrance exams, especially UKCAT and take the exam. If nothing else, this will help you to decide. You can always book it for September time after you get your A2 results.

Good Luck.
Reply 3
Original post by Democracy
How sure are you that you would be interested in doing medicine? Have you done any work experience or is this just an "idea"?

I think if you are interested in medicine that your friends are absolutely correct. Spending £27K (just fees) alone on a biochem degree, of which you have no guarantee of getting a 2:1 (this is not an easy grade to get btw) and applying as a graduate, a process which is far more competitive than as a school leaver, is just really, really foolish.

You say you understand how competitive applying for graduate entry medicine is, but I don't think you actually do since you're only planning on applying to two schools! Most applicants will apply to four and maybe, if they're lucky, they'll get a single offer. And just FYI, Birmingham GEP wants a first. Where's your guarantee that you can get that? If you don't, according to your own plan, you will only have one medical school left to apply to. That's insane!

I can definitely understand why you're eager to go out and experience uni life asap, but do bear in mind that you are 17/18 and one year will not make a difference at all. You could even have fun, get a job, go travelling, etc. On the other hand, paying a lot of money to do what might end up being an irrelevant degree with a massive financial commitment might end up being a very bad move indeed.

To summarise, as someone who got into graduate entry medicine, my advice to you is do not underestimate the process. You are headed for the right grades to get into medicine next year. Go and think about if you actually want to do medicine or not, and if you realise you do, you'd be a fool to not apply with the grades in hand and instead risk a graduate application.


Firstly thanks for replying!

Ok, well thats the thing i havent had any work experience yet! so my problem is if i did take a gap year and did some work experience and found out actually medicine isnt the right thing for me i would have completely wasted a year! So my initial plan was to do a biochem degree and within that three years i can get work experience and find out if medicine is my true passion. So now you are probably thinking something on lines of "if you dont know if you like be a doctor why are you considering doing medicine?" - well i do have a strong passion for caring for people and also ive watched some documentaries about doctors (recently been watching 24 hours in A&E on channel 4, which is awesome and i recommend it to everyone!!!) which really inspire me to become one too! But this is all second hand stuff i really want to see some first hand stuff so i know if my heart is really in it.

Also i do understand the competitive nature of this process and i know if i take this route im taking a much harder way of doing things, but this route gives me three long years to truly decide. Plus if i do fail to get into grad entry then i have something to fall back on with my biochem degree. Atm im only considering Warwick and Birmingham obviously coz they are close to home and it helps rule out maintenance cost. But im sure ill look into more unis if i do decide to take this route. So yeh atm this my "idea" of what my next 7 years might be...

finally if its not too personal, do you mind telling me what your A-level you took and what your results were? what first degree did you do, at which uni? and at which uni did you do your grad entry?

But really thanks for the advice i will definitely considering everything you said thoroughly after my exams :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by chan3002
"if you dont know if you like be a doctor why are you considering doing medicine?" - well i do have a strong passion for caring for people and also ive watched some documentaries about doctors (recently been watching 24 hours in A&E on channel 4, which is awesome and i recommend it to everyone!!!) which really inspire me to become one too! But this is all second hand stuff i really want to see some first hand stuff so i know if my heart is really in it.


Why not nursing?
I dare say that they have a lot more patient contact/care than doctors give
Original post by chan3002
Firstly thanks for replying!

Ok, well thats the thing i havent had any work experience yet! so my problem is if i did take a gap year and did some work experience and found out actually medicine isnt the right thing for me i would have completely wasted a year! So my initial plan was to do a biochem degree and within that three years i can get work experience and find out if medicine is my true passion. So now you are probably thinking something on lines of "if you dont know if you like be a doctor why are you considering doing medicine?" - well i do have a strong passion for caring for people and also ive watched some documentaries about doctors (recently been watching 24 hours in A&E on channel 4, which is awesome and i recommend it to everyone!!!) which really inspire me to become one too! But this is all second hand stuff i really want to see some first hand stuff so i know if my heart is really in it.

Also i do understand the competitive nature of this process and i know if i take this route im taking a much harder way of doing things, but this route gives me three long years to truly decide. Plus if i do fail to get into grad entry then i have something to fall back on with my biochem degree. Atm im only considering Warwick and Birmingham obviously coz they are close to home and it helps rule out maintenance cost. But im sure ill look into more unis if i do decide to take this route. So yeh atm this my "idea" of what my next 7 years might be...

finally if its not too personal, do you mind telling me what your A-level you took and what your results were? what first degree did you do, at which uni? and at which uni did you do your grad entry?

But really thanks for the advice i will definitely considering everything you said thoroughly after my exams :smile:


I'm really, really not sure you do understand the competitive nature of GEM. Trust me, please, if you have any other options (which you certainly do) then do them. For example, an undergraduate's UKCAT score which would be considered good is around 600-650. For a GEM applicant, that goes up to around 675 minimum, and you're only really safe when you get to 690-700.

You also need much more work experience as a graduate entrant.

I'm confident that if you took the year out and did voluntary work, you will find it rewarding (especially if you get some in a hospital where you can also, simultaneously, arrange to shadow doctors). You have the right background and if you get the right experience, you shouldn't have too many problems getting into medical school next year.

I appreciate you'd like a backup option, but if you're truly considering medicine then unfortunately you have to take risks like that.
Reply 6
Just my opinion OP- I definitely think that you should go down the gap year route, I fully agree with what the others have said so far. Applying for 2013 entry with your grades in hand would be, in my humble opinion, the best way forward. Yes, all your friends will be heading off to university, I totally understand when you say that you want to experience the "uni life" now…

…However, you have to be brutally blunt with yourself- do you truly want to study medicine and become a doctor? I would say that you don’t sound sure at all at the moment. The way forward is to study like crazy for the exams, if you get AAA or better then take that extra year to apply for medicine…if you do this you must approach it with 100% commitment.

Just having top grades will not guarantee you anything and you will be competing with other students who are as certain as they can be that they want to train to be a doctor. Don’t do it half-heartedly, wishing you were a fresher somewhere and living the life of your friends- you will likely not succeed.
Re GEM I think you need a harsh reality check- it is SUPER competitive to get in!

You can widen the net by applying for 5-year courses but as of Sep 2012 you will need to come up with 9k tuition fees for the first 4 years, without the help of a tuition fee loan. I started medical school in 2006 (5 yr course) when the 3k top-ups came in, believe me it was a struggle paying that in full for 4 years. I would not have been able to afford it if the fees were 9k.

Focus on your A2 exams for now, then once you are free I would make plans to do more work experience e.g. apply for a stint as a healthcare assistant in a hospital. Results day will ultimately determine which path you go down, however, it doesn’t hurt to start preparing a med school application, assuming that is truly what you want to do. Good luck with everything.
:smile:
Reply 7
Pretty much what others have said - generally more chances for gap/re applicants to get in

you don't have to decide until your received your alevel results (or even until the start of whichever uni you applied to)

focus on your exam first then try to arrange some shadowing / work experience before oct so that you can include something related in your ps

good luck
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 8
thanks everyone for replying! Iv taken all your advice on board and for the time being im gunna keep it off my mind as exams are in 3 weeks! so after exams ill have a proper look at myself and see what i really want to do! thanks again for the advice!
Reply 9
DO A GAP YEAR.

Aside from the fact that GEM is expensive and horrifically competitive but "uni life" will be there in a year (and you'll have 5+ years of it).

Also a gap year is a chance to travel and do things that you will not have time to do if you spend 7+ years at uni, medics don't get nice long summers like everyone else and they go straight into employment for most of them as FY1s.

I was in a similar position. I know that a gap year was 100% the best thing I have EVER done.
Reply 10
Hi again, just a little update seeming as you all gave me some advice... basically i did well in my exams and got into Nottingham to do biochemistry with AAA, which im really pleased about :biggrin:. As for my final decision... and you all going to think im a fool and mad etc. but i have decided to go through with my original plan and do a 3 year biochemistry degree first and then consider GEM. the main reason for this is i really like the course that i have applied to do and i feel personally this is the right choice as i wanted to do this course since about year 11. As well as that i have yet to decide if i want to do GEM after my biochem degree anyway. Also Nottingham was the uni that i really wanted to go and i felt like i could let this opportunity go. Finally if i had taken a gap year and applied for med i would be devastated if i didnt get in whereas if i applied for GEM and didnt get in at least i have something to for back on. So yeh there you go, in the end i just followed my gut instinct and did what i felt was right for me. you all probably going to slate me but i hope you respect my decision lol. And if you think im mad my mate got 4 A*'s and is going to do biology and then maybe do GEM! Anyway thanks all the people that replied way back in May :smile:

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