[Democracy]

(Original post by Doctor.)

All I ever hear from people/teachers/friends is..."It's near impossible to get in...you really have to stand out" -It really does make me wonder what WILL make me stand out then?

Unlike your teachers, I'm not just blindly speculating, I've gotten through the GEM application process successfully...and I can tell you for a fact that the OU modules will be a total waste of time. It clearly isn't "nearly impossible" to get in since hundreds of people do so every year, but the main thing is that these people understood what the process involved and didn't (cheers purplefrog!) "waste [their] time doing other things just solely for the sake of it and interpreting it in [their] head as something that will give [them] more credit when in reality it won't".

What can I honestly do to make myself stand out?! I have done quite a bit in the voluntary side. I will hopefully get help from the universities in getting some work experience -shadowing wise. (near impossible to get it otherwise ) But other than the normal stuff, what else could I do that will remotely help

Re-read my post re dissertations and group projects. It doesn't have to be anything fancy...just do well at what you're already doing! And anyway, most GEPs just want a 2:1 and aren't particularly interested in anything other than that as far as academics are concerned. So stop stressing and just enjoy your first year at university.

As a future applicant to GEM, there is nothing special you need to do in first year apart from make sure you settle into university well and get good grades at the end of the year (please note I said good, not outstanding).

[Doctor.]

(Original post by Democracy)
Unlike your teachers, I'm not just blindly speculating, I've gotten through the GEM application process successfully...and I can tell you for a fact that the OU modules will be a total waste of time. It clearly isn't "nearly impossible" to get in since hundreds of people do so every year, but the main thing is that these people understood what the process involved and didn't (cheers purplefrog!) "waste [their] time doing other things just solely for the sake of it and interpreting it in [their] head as something that will give [them] more credit when in reality it won't".



Re-read my post re dissertations and group projects. It doesn't have to be anything fancy...just do well at what you're already doing! And anyway, most GEPs just want a 2:1 and aren't particularly interested in anything other than that as far as academics are concerned. So stop stressing and just enjoy your first year at university.

As a future applicant to GEM, there is nothing special you need to do in first year apart from make sure you settle into university well and get good grades at the end of the year (please note I said good, not outstanding).

Thank you once again Just saved me a ton of stress and headache . I didn't really think of OU in that way, my bad

I'm going to stop talking to my teachers, they know nothing (one of them is a GEM reject - turned teacher lol).

New agenda for first year:

-Party
-get a decent grade in exams

Thanks again!

[degreeny]

I just stumbled across this while I was thinking of things to do to occupy my summer. What I would say, as an MPharm student, is don't do it unless you want to be a Pharmacist. It will be a waste of time, it is much more difficult than people expect - I find it tough and I got A's at A-Level, and there is a lot more to the degree and career than meets the eye.

What I would say is that the degree is fascinating - especially the Pharmaceutical science side of things; formulation science etc. If you want to do Medicine, take a year out and apply again. But Pharmacy is brilliant, but you will be expected to face very challenging Chemistry (in all aspects - bio, physical, organic etc), Physiology, Formulation Science and more - the quantity of content and range of content covered is immense.

I hope whatever you do goes well :-).

[confused dot com]

(Original post by Doctor.)
Hi everyone

I never did amazing in my A-level exams so I really want to show the universities that I am not just just an underachieving medic wannabe. My extra curriculum activities are fine (I think) but after a good look at my application I feel as though I am being thrown into the 'she won't make the grades' pile by the admissions tutors.

So to try and compensate for that I really want to improve my academic side of life. I don't want to do any extra A-levels due to exams being in Summer/Winter I wouldn't be able to cope with that.

What would help, even slightly make my academic side of my application sound better? I am thinking qualifications would be the best bet since they're life long!

So please, if anyone has any good ideas i would love to hear them Will +rep

Hey, I did a project with a local charity that involved me working with some older members of the community to record and edit interviews with them about their lives. This gave me a good insight to some of the issues the older generation had to deal with wrt health (as they all had something or another wrong with them ) and I got a communication skills qualification from AQA for taking part (you needed to fill a few criteria by completing a couple assignments along the way, but nothing major). Even if there isn't something exactly similar in your neighbourhood, check out the AQA website to see if they still do it and perhaps start your own little project to fulfil the criteria. Hope this helps

[angie6]

Have you tried Coursera, Alison, Saylor? They are free online courses, some offer certificates, short, can be taken at any time of the year and in your own time. https://www.coursera.org/ http://alison.com/ and http://www.saylor.org/.

I've completed courses with alison, even though they are introductory they provide plenty of information and most are equivelant to a levels apparently. Saylor don't offer certificates but they go through different levels of different disciplines, can be taken as and when you like. Coursera don't offer certificates either but they can forward your progress from your chosen subjects to employers/academias at your request and approval. These work with prestigious unis in the US, but all courses are open world wide and run 6weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks depending on what you do.

I hope this helps, and also if you are interested in the OU, I suggest that you look at the open learn site as you can do tasters of courses for free.