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Do I have a shot at getting into medicine?

I've recently decided in about the last 3 weeks that I would like to study medicine at university however, that means that I've left myself with less than a week to apply for my UKCAT,less than 3 weeks to do said UKCAT and less than a month to decide on courses and write a strong personal statement first time round. Grades hopefully shouldn't be too much of a problem for me as I got 4 A's at AS however, I'm really scared about whether I actually have a chance of getting in or not as I know that demand for medicine is REALLY high! If I miss out this year, I can't really afford to take a year out next year but I don't really know what else I want to do. I initially wanted to do maybe something in research but after experiencing the actually environment of labs and experiments, I realised that it just doesn't have the human contact aspect that I would like in my degree. I have done a bit of volunteering and other bits and bobs over the last few years so I think I could string together a presentable PS but I don't know whether it will be good enough. I'm also really scared about doing the UKCAT with so little time for preparation. I won't know what to do if I fail/get rejected! Finally, one other problem (which I personally consider the least troublesome) is the fact that I'm pretty squeamish ie If they were doing surgery on the tv, I'd look away. Although if I were to be lucky enough to get in this year, I know I would get over that... Could some nice person, maybe also applying to medicine/already doing medicine help me out here and maybe give me a little advice, reassurance etc?

Thank you very much :smile:
Reply 1
Avatar for VonDoom
VonDoom
9
Original post by PirateEmily
I've recently decided in about the last 3 weeks that I would like to study medicine at university however, that means that I've left myself with less than a week to apply for my UKCAT,less than 3 weeks to do said UKCAT and less than a month to decide on courses and write a strong personal statement first time round. Grades hopefully shouldn't be too much of a problem for me as I got 4 A's at AS however, I'm really scared about whether I actually have a chance of getting in or not as I know that demand for medicine is REALLY high! If I miss out this year, I can't really afford to take a year out next year but I don't really know what else I want to do. I initially wanted to do maybe something in research but after experiencing the actually environment of labs and experiments, I realised that it just doesn't have the human contact aspect that I would like in my degree. I have done a bit of volunteering and other bits and bobs over the last few years so I think I could string together a presentable PS but I don't know whether it will be good enough. I'm also really scared about doing the UKCAT with so little time for preparation. I won't know what to do if I fail/get rejected! Finally, one other problem (which I personally consider the least troublesome) is the fact that I'm pretty squeamish ie If they were doing surgery on the tv, I'd look away. Although if I were to be lucky enough to get in this year, I know I would get over that... Could some nice person, maybe also applying to medicine/already doing medicine help me out here and maybe give me a little advice, reassurance etc?

Thank you very much :smile:


What did you get at GCSE?
Reply 2
Avatar for Nymthae
Nymthae
16
"a bit of volunteering" doesn't sound like an awful lot. I think that sort of thing will primarily be your fall down here. How much exactly are we talking? How much of it in a hospital/GP setting?

What sort of human contact would you like / what sort of environment (school experiment, industry/work experience) did you find that conclusion?

Spend around 21-30 hours in preparation for the UKCAT. This is the amount of preparation done by the highest scoring respondents to our survey.


Few days out of the few weeks there. Get focused on a PS, and then get it checked, and revise it, and get it checked, and revise it, and get it checked. If you let your school know you're a medical applicant then they'll prioritise you along with other medical/vet/dentistry/oxbridge hopefuls. The sooner you do it the better though.
Reply 3
Avatar for PirateEmily
PirateEmily
OP
5
Original post by VonDoom
What did you get at GCSE?


6A*s (English Literature & Language, Spanish, Art, Biology,R.E.)
4A's (Chemistry, Physics, History and Maths)
1B (Additional Maths)
what subjects did you take at AS??
Reply 5
Avatar for PirateEmily
PirateEmily
OP
5
Original post by StudyMunchkin
what subjects did you take at AS??


Biology, Chemistry, Spanish and English Literature
Original post by PirateEmily
Biology, Chemistry, Spanish and English Literature


OK. First of all congratulations on your results, they are excellent:biggrin:. Secondly, why didn't you take maths or Physics? and also, how long have you seriously been considering you want to go into medicine? Having said that, what were your other career prospects... on a side note are you or any of your parents Asian?:biggrin:
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 7
Avatar for VonDoom
VonDoom
9
Original post by PirateEmily
6A*s (English Literature & Language, Spanish, Art, Biology,R.E.)
4A's (Chemistry, Physics, History and Maths)
1B (Additional Maths)


If you have no work experience then you have to take a gap year.
Reply 8
Avatar for 2018
2018
4
Id suggest taking a gap ear getting good A2s and preparing for your UKCAT. You need to gain some work experience as well. The issue is that you should not make a sudden last minute decision to study medicine! It's a long hard course and a lifetime commitment-you need to be 100% sure that it's what you want to do and part of this will come from experiences.
Reply 9
Avatar for PirateEmily
PirateEmily
OP
5
Original post by StudyMunchkin
OK. First of all congratulations on your results, they are excellent:biggrin:. Secondly, why didn't you take maths or Physics? and also, how long have you seriously been considering you want to go into medicine? Having said that, what were your other career prospects... on a side note are you or any of your parents Asian?:biggrin:


Thank you very much :smile: I didn't take maths or physics because I always found maths hard to understand and apply and at my school, the physics teachers are notorious for being terrible (my GCSE physics teacher didn't bother teaching us the final topic on our syllabus of earth & space and three pages on it came up in the exam). The other degrees that I was initially looking into were things like biochemistry, biomedical science, natural sciences.
...And no, neither of my parents are Asian :P
Original post by PirateEmily
Thank you very much :smile: I didn't take maths or physics because I always found maths hard to understand and apply and at my school, the physics teachers are notorious for being terrible (my GCSE physics teacher didn't bother teaching us the final topic on our syllabus of earth & space and three pages on it came up in the exam). The other degrees that I was initially looking into were things like biochemistry, biomedical science, natural sciences.
...And no, neither of my parents are Asian :P


Ok, That's good, it means that your parents haven't pushed you into it :wink:
It seems as though you want to go down the scientific route by your own choice.

As you already will know, Medicine is extremely competitive. Biology and Chemistry are a must but Maths and Physics are also very desirable. This could put you at a slight disadvantage because although you have top grades, there will be many applicants with similar grades including physics and Maths. Having said that, there are many universities that take people on for medicine with Biology and Chemistry.

To truly decide you have to ask yourself why you want to go into medicine? If the answer is for the money or because it is a good profession then you might want to reconsider...if you want to go into it because you genuinely like helping people then it is the right choice.
Reply 11
Avatar for em.d_4
em.d_4
17
Original post by PirateEmily
I've recently decided in about the last 3 weeks that I would like to study medicine at university however, that means that I've left myself with less than a week to apply for my UKCAT,less than 3 weeks to do said UKCAT and less than a month to decide on courses and write a strong personal statement first time round. Grades hopefully shouldn't be too much of a problem for me as I got 4 A's at AS however, I'm really scared about whether I actually have a chance of getting in or not as I know that demand for medicine is REALLY high! If I miss out this year, I can't really afford to take a year out next year but I don't really know what else I want to do. I initially wanted to do maybe something in research but after experiencing the actually environment of labs and experiments, I realised that it just doesn't have the human contact aspect that I would like in my degree. I have done a bit of volunteering and other bits and bobs over the last few years so I think I could string together a presentable PS but I don't know whether it will be good enough. I'm also really scared about doing the UKCAT with so little time for preparation. I won't know what to do if I fail/get rejected! Finally, one other problem (which I personally consider the least troublesome) is the fact that I'm pretty squeamish ie If they were doing surgery on the tv, I'd look away. Although if I were to be lucky enough to get in this year, I know I would get over that... Could some nice person, maybe also applying to medicine/already doing medicine help me out here and maybe give me a little advice, reassurance etc?

Thank you very much :smile:


Sounds like you'll be okay providing your ukcat is okay. Though I'd avoid anywhere heavy on the personal statement as your work experience and voluntary work probably won't hold up compared to others!
I'm about to start my course and I have a bit of a squeamish thing about needles but I'm sure it'll be okay once I'm used to it :smile:
Oh in terms of the gap year (which you're more than likely to have to take seeing as only about 35% of applicants get an offer) I don't understand how you can't afford it? A gap year would help your application massively and you could earn money! It might seem like a long time but what's one year in the grand scheme of things.
Places to consider if you can get the UKCAT and obviously depending on your stats overall (you should research these places) QUB (likely a really safe choice and lack of work experience won't matter), Glasgow and Southampton (high ukcat), Newcastle and Durham (very.high UKCAT), Barts (high ucas tariff and good ukcat), st Georges (another pretty safe choice). I mostly selected these to avoid your PS which is likely to be very underwhelming compared to those who've spent the last year or two on work experience and relevant voluntary work.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Thank you everyone for your advice. It's been really helpful :smile: After thinking long and hard about it, (obviously, seeing as the early application date has passed) I've decided not to apply for medicine. Instead, despite being unsure of exactly what I want to do in the future, I've decided to study more broad courses such as biological sciences at Queens University, belfast etc, and then hopefully I shall specialise more in my second and third year in areas that I (hopefully) will love.
Thank you again! :biggrin:

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