[digitalis]

Yeah she will pretty much not get in through clearing.

maybe she'll consider doing something else.

That might explain why she didn't get a place this time around.

[Philosoraptor]

(Original post by digitalis)


That might explain why she didn't get a place this time around.

Are you saying because she's not 1 million percent committed to medicine?
I wasn't before either and I got in first time.
In fact, now I'm forced to read all the stuff for exams it's actually amazingly interesting and know I made the right choice but during the middle of the year was like meh...

[silver_dragon]

(Original post by digitalis)
That might explain why she didn't get a place this time around.

She is very commited to medicine and has wanted to do it for as long as i can remember. All I meant was is that taking another gap year probably wont do her many favours...and she might have to kiss her dreams goodbye or she could do a course similar to medicine like medical sciences then reapply to do medicine.

[digitalis]

To not get any interviews means she must have had a pretty weak paper application, PS or reference assuming her GCSEs/predicted grades were OK.

All I meant was is that taking another gap year probably wont do her many favours

Why not?

[silver_dragon]

She didnt have any predicted grades since she had already done her ALEVELs when she applied for this year.

I feel that doing another gap year wont make her look that good since she has already done one. I didnt think that universities liked it if you were out of school/college/education for more than a year...i could be wrong.

Basically the moral is that getting the grades doesnt necessarily mean that you have a place.

[digitalis]

Basically the moral is that getting the grades doesnt necessarily mean that you have a place.

Exactly the point I was making.

[ThePenguinMafia]

(Original post by digitalis)
She took another academic style course alongside her A-levels...well rounded? She should have spent more time looking into what admissions tutors really look for in applicants....

1.)Commitment to care and medicine
2.)Work experience to support this.
3.)Insight into the realities of practicing medicine.
4.)Understand the challenges of working as a doctor in the UK.
5.)Broad range of hobbies and ECs with adequate depth.
6.)Responsibilities in the community/school that demonstrate teamwork.
7.)Grades

These really do need to be put in bold, max size font and underlined.

A lot of medicine graduates don't become doctors. Repeat that over and over again. Now repeat the following: a lot of medicine graduates become apathetic doctors. Try repeating this too: a lot of people who get into medicine can't handle the work loads.

With so many applicants medical schools can afford to be selective. They want somebody who will become a good doctor and want to avoid the people who won't become a doctor at all, or worse, will become a bad doctor. If you tick the right boxes you really shouldn't get four rejections.

[ninety_nine]

Medicine is so much more competitive than even people on here make out! There have been several sterling candidates from our college this year with literally flawless applications who got one or two interviews, ending in four rejections. Every candidate has been well spoken, performed well in their admissions tests, and have no small circumstances going against them e.g. resits.

I think if you applied you'd end up with rejections, forcing you to either reapply or apply to do something else. The best thing you can do is apply for something like biomedical science/biology etc. at a good university and pass out with a second class/first and have an attempt at graduate entry (even though it's even more competitive).

[Fluffy]

(Original post by ninety_nine)
The best thing you can do is apply for something like biomedical science/biology etc. at a good university and pass out with a second class/first and have an attempt at graduate entry (even though it's even more competitive).

Erm - how is this better? Turn your back on what you really want to do, do any degree (a degree is hard enough if it's something you want to do above all else, I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be if your heart wasen't 100% in it...), and then apply for a course where the odds of getting in are even longer...

Sterling advice...

[nexttime]

(Original post by Fluffy)
Erm - how is this better? Turn your back on what you really want to do, do any degree (a degree is hard enough if it's something you want to do above all else, I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be if your heart wasen't 100% in it...), and then apply for a course where the odds of getting in are even longer...

Sterling advice...

i think he was saying that because based on what the OP has said it seems unlikely they will get in given the quality of most medical applications (sorry OP, but its the truth.), and biomed etc is a similar degree (content wise, i guess) so perhaps would cater for similar interests?

you could consider this route less risky, as at least if you fail you still have a degree, whereas the other path you run the risk of wasting one or even two years of your life and ending up with no further education. clearly, it may be more worth looking for another career path though as a career in biomeds may well not be 'up their street' at all. however, i know people doing just this because they like the biomed degree and what it leads to (though would rather do medicine, admittedly).

OP's choice, but its an option

[Fluffy]

It's much less damaging to your CV to have 2 "lost years" after A2 than to explain 2 years filled with odd, low paid jobs after first degree...

If you have the grades and want to be a doctor, apply early. Having the grades and doing "any degree" is a risk - you could end up with a 2.2 and close more doors than you open...

[ninety_nine]

(Original post by Fluffy)
Erm - how is this better? Turn your back on what you really want to do, do any degree (a degree is hard enough if it's something you want to do above all else, I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be if your heart wasen't 100% in it...), and then apply for a course where the odds of getting in are even longer...

Sterling advice...

So your advice would be to continue wasting year after year applying waiting for indefinite rejections? People on here seem to be reluctant to say that the OP's chances of getting in is very slim - so slim that it will likely just be wasted time. If their grades were average/above average for a medic then a gap year would be a good idea, but in this case I don't think it should be advised.

Courses like biomedical science will have a lot of similar content, and will surely have on it many other prospective postgraduate medics on it as well. Surely coming out with a great degree from a good university, building up their CV, scientific skill and communcative skills is better? The OP won't be in college during the gap year because resit students are rarely considered in the absence of extenuating circumstances.

Presuming they obtain AAB, then they could apply to a very respectable university to do the course such as Imperial, UCL, Bristol, Durham etc.

Maybe it's not 'sterling' advice, but it's far more honest and helpful than continuing to feed someone excessive hope. You're essentially setting them up for a fall.

[ninety_nine]

(Original post by Fluffy)
It's much less damaging to your CV to have 2 "lost years" after A2 than to explain 2 years filled with odd, low paid jobs after first degree...

If you have the grades and want to be a doctor, apply early. Having the grades and doing "any degree" is a risk - you could end up with a 2.2 and close more doors than you open...

Well that's the whole point! The OP barely has the minimum requirements to get in for Medicine. They've also decided to do this course relatively recently, therefore don't have much work experience at all. The vast majority of medics are rejected every year, most of whom far exceed the minimum requirements at GCSE/A2. What makes you think that the OP stands a chance of getting in for undergraduate medicine over the tons who have dedicated the last five years to it, and still have been rejected?

[Saffie]

Why are the OPs GCSEs so crap? Perhaps they can be slightly explained away in the PS.

Though bear in mind a B in English is a MINIMUM requirement for most unis- so this needs to be retaken or its an automatic rejection.

[theiloth]

I'm still surprised at the way this girl's situation has been simply explained away as normal....I really think that considering she had 4A's at A2 (guessing first time) she would at least be granted an interview someplace. Either the story is not complete or she's applying to the wrong places (i.e. BMAT unis, if she has a low score, or to places like Edinburgh where there's a steep GCSE A* requirement).

To say out of hand her situation is normal is definitely misinformed considering the number of people getting interviews without such stellar grades.

[silver_dragon]

(Original post by theiloth)
I'm still surprised at the way this girl's situation has been simply explained away as normal....I really think that considering she had 4A's at A2 (guessing first time) she would at least be granted an interview someplace. Either the story is not complete or she's applying to the wrong places (i.e. BMAT unis, if she has a low score, or to places like Edinburgh where there's a steep GCSE A* requirement).

To say out of hand her situation is normal is definitely misinformed considering the number of people getting interviews without such stellar grades.

Im assuming that you are talking about my friend? She seriously didnt get one interview and she got her A2s the first time. She didnt apply to the wrong places either...I know quite a few people who applied to do medicine for this year and all of them had the same experiance (the were all rejected without an interview). Most of them decided to do medical sciences instead and to hope that they got a good degree out of it so that they could reapply to do the graduate course.

Its a sad but true fact that medicine is a very competative field, so universities can afford to be picky and ensure that they accept 'the best on offer'. What i find particularily nasty is that some uni's (NOT ALL) dont tell you that they are not interested till around March time. This doesnt leave you with much time to reapply through UCAS.

[nexttime]

(Original post by silver_dragon)
Im assuming that you are talking about my friend? She seriously didnt get one interview and she got her A2s the first time. She didnt apply to the wrong places either...I know quite a few people who applied to do medicine for this year and all of them had the same experiance (the were all rejected without an interview). Most of them decided to do medical sciences instead and to hope that they got a good degree out of it so that they could reapply to do the graduate course.

Its a sad but true fact that medicine is a very competative field, so universities can afford to be picky and ensure that they accept 'the best on offer'. What i find particularily nasty is that some uni's (NOT ALL) dont tell you that they are not interested till around March time. This doesnt leave you with much time to reapply through UCAS.

my experience is the same. i was expecting to get in pretty easily, thinking that good grades are enough. they're not. i know 7 people that applied, all of which will meet the AAB offer first time, but all got rejected from all unis. some are taking gap years, some going for postgrad, some giving up.

[silver_dragon]

(Original post by nexttime)
my experience is the same. i was expecting to get in pretty easily, thinking that good grades are enough. they're not. i know 7 people that applied, all of which will meet the AAB offer first time, but all got rejected from all unis. some are taking gap years, some going for postgrad, some giving up.

What exactly did you do after your experiance?

[nexttime]

(Original post by silver_dragon)
What exactly did you do after your experiance?

ah i actually did get 1 offer (from oxford, ironically). this was mainly based on the 5 academic interviews and BMAT score though, not the application as a whole. the three other unis all rejected me despite my 'good grades' (two without interview, one after an interview that i thought went really well and could not have gone better), which is what i meant by saying that good grades are not enough.

and to think that i nearly didn't apply there because i thought it would be too hard to get in. really does illustrate that oxbridge look for different things in candidates than other medical schools. still gotta meet the offer though, first exam monday!!

i'm just pleased that i got in anywhere

[Wangers]

(Original post by ninety_nine)
Medicine is so much more competitive than even people on here make out! There have been several sterling candidates from our college this year with literally flawless applications who got one or two interviews, ending in four rejections. Every candidate has been well spoken, performed well in their admissions tests, and have no small circumstances going against them e.g. resits.

I think if you applied you'd end up with rejections, forcing you to either reapply or apply to do something else. The best thing you can do is apply for something like biomedical science/biology etc. at a good university and pass out with a second class/first and have an attempt at graduate entry (even though it's even more competitive).

No.

Of the people I knew who got in, they're not perfect. They have very good applications, but they're also very human.

There is a world of difference between what makes a good doctor, and what is proportedly a good applicant. The strongest applicants are often not people with sterling grades - they're (IMHO) people that have been through a lot - they have shown, can show but deal with their weaknesses. They're often not the type of person that worries about a low A grade for a module. Why? Not because they are geniuses, but because theres much more to life then grades. Very often, these are the people that don't pander to expectations, that have the courage and conviction to do their own thing.

When I had my interview, it was one of the hardest things I'd ever (and probably ever will do). It boils down to what makes you tick - Looking back on it, you end up telling 2 complete strangers some of your most vulnerable momments. What your weaknesses are, being tested on decisions you've made, how you spend your time, and ultimatly - your perceptions and capacity for self awareness. I don't really know how to describ it, but its designed to test who you are and what you are. Not whether you're intelligent (otherwise you wouldn't be there).

To steal a line, its to test whether 'His eyes should flash with an inborn fire'

At the end of the day, you're only being tested on who you think you are.