The Student Room Group

Funding for Medicine as a 2nd degree?

So, a little background:
I made a rather silly decision to apply for the 6 year Medicine course as my 2nd university degree- figuring the funding would be the same as that of the 4 year graduate-entry course, NHS pays half for the first two years, SFE pays for half. I had already confirmed that I could do this if I were to apply for 4 year Medicine and assumed that the 6 year version wouldn't be any different. Then today I found out that we're expected to fund the first 4 years of our Medical degrees ourselves and obviously I've already used up all my SFE loans on my first degree.
I have 0 money, zilch, nada, zip. Both my parents died when I was young and I've been independent since then so savings aren't an option. How the devil am I expected to pay for this now :frown:? Any ideas?

And yes, I am aware of how stupid I am for not looking into this more sooner, no need to remind me :c
Original post by Rehnskjold
Any ideas?


Beyond withdrawing your application and reapplying for graduate entry medicine courses? I've got nothing. Sorry, but that's just the way that it is.
gofundme
Reply 3
Original post by Hydeman
Beyond withdrawing your application and reapplying for graduate entry medicine courses? I've got nothing. Sorry, but that's just the way that it is.


It's bloody competitive though, it's why I originally went for the 6 year course.
Wish I had rich, non-dead parents. Would help in this country. . _ .
Original post by Rehnskjold
It's bloody competitive though, it's why I originally went for the 6 year course.
Wish I had rich, non-dead parents. Would help in this country. . _ .


Don't we all. :dontknow:

Look on the bright side: you have a whole 10 months now to get tonnes (and you'll need tonnes, believe me) of work experience in a variety of settings, which will make your GEM application more competitive.

If you do your research on which parts of the application each medical school emphasises, you should be able to apply where you'll have the best chance of getting in. It might take more than one go but as long as you're determined enough, it's possible. :smile:

Some starting points: What's your first degree (with classification)? How much verifiable work experience have you got? What were your A Level grades and in which subjects? Have you looked into the UKCAT/BMAT/GAMSAT?
Reply 5
Original post by Hydeman
Don't we all. :dontknow:

Look on the bright side: you have a whole 10 months now to get tonnes (and you'll need tonnes, believe me) of work experience in a variety of settings, which will make your GEM application more competitive.

If you do your research on which parts of the application each medical school emphasises, you should be able to apply where you'll have the best chance of getting in. It might take more than one go but as long as you're determined enough, it's possible. :smile:

Some starting points: What's your first degree (with classification)? How much verifiable work experience have you got? What were your A Level grades and in which subjects? Have you looked into the UKCAT/BMAT/GAMSAT?


First degree was a History and Politics degree, finishing with a 2:1 classification.
Worked in a hospital as a volunteer for a year, A-levels were ABBB, non-science subjects though. UKCAT was band 2 this year
Original post by Rehnskjold
First degree was a History and Politics degree, finishing with a 2:1 classification.
Worked in a hospital as a volunteer for a year, A-levels were ABBB, non-science subjects though. UKCAT was band 2 this year


Okay, so the first thing you want to look at is the TSR graduate entry medicine guide. Because your first degree is not in a science/health/life sciences subject, you're not eligible for all of them, but you are eligible for about six of them (would be seven if you had an A Level in chemistry), which is good enough if you play your cards right.

Read through the guide first, and then visit the course pages on the respective universities' websites and read through what's required (Warwick reportedly requires something like 70 hours of provable work experience), sort out some long-term work experience (and continue the hospital volunteer role if you're still doing it and if possible), start preparing for the relevant admissions tests and then, hopefully, you should be ready to make a competitive application in October. :smile:

Also, the Band 2 bit on the UKCAT only indicates what you got in the Situational Judgement section, which is typically less important than the total (out of 3600) of the four other sub-sections. What did you get on those?
Reply 7
Original post by Hydeman
Okay, so the first thing you want to look at is the TSR graduate entry medicine guide. Because your first degree is not in a science/health/life sciences subject, you're not eligible for all of them, but you are eligible for about six of them (would be seven if you had an A Level in chemistry), which is good enough if you play your cards right.

Read through the guide first, and then visit the course pages on the respective universities' websites and read through what's required (Warwick reportedly requires something like 70 hours of provable work experience), sort out some long-term work experience (and continue the hospital volunteer role if you're still doing it and if possible), start preparing for the relevant admissions tests and then, hopefully, you should be ready to make a competitive application in October. :smile:

Also, the Band 2 bit on the UKCAT only indicates what you got in the Situational Judgement section, which is typically less important than the total (out of 3600) of the four other sub-sections. What did you get on those?


This year I was confined to only applying to Manchester, which is thankfully one of the ones that accepts non-science degrees. And I'd be applying there again next year.
Oh yeah, forgot about that- haven't really thought about my UKCAT scores since I got offered a place. I was around the 750 mark.
I just really worry about not getting accepted again next year. I hate feeling like I've wasted time and I've wasted enough time studying this degree that I simply do not want, and now I've made a silly mistake again. gr.
Original post by Rehnskjold
This year I was confined to only applying to Manchester, which is thankfully one of the ones that accepts non-science degrees. And I'd be applying there again next year.
Oh yeah, forgot about that- haven't really thought about my UKCAT scores since I got offered a place. I was around the 750 mark.
I just really worry about not getting accepted again next year. I hate feeling like I've wasted time and I've wasted enough time studying this degree that I simply do not want, and now I've made a silly mistake again. gr.


One year is not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things. :smile: It's good that you've caught it in good time; the last thing you'd want is to realise that you can't pay for it and have only a few months to sort out work experience in time for the October deadline for next year.

Also, Manchester doesn't have a four-year graduate entry course... It would be a waste of a choice to apply there again unless you can fund four years of tuition and living expenses which, as you've said, you can't.

Just do a lot of research, and you'll be fine. Ask around in the Medicine forum on this website if you're unsure about anything.

Quick Reply

Latest