Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2025 Entry

Yeah basically I got BBB at Alevels and I really wanted to take a gap year so it would be easier however I was going through some domestic abuse which meant I couldn’t stay at home and therefore the best course of action personally for me was to go to University work on my mental health and apply to GEM. Are you sure most of the GEM unis don’t look at Alevels? I’ve seen they have entry requirements but I’m not sure whether they mean like “If you get higher I will look upon you more favourable” I just really wanna get in lol

I’m very sorry about what you’re experiencing. I understand, as I went through something similar.

The easiest route into medicine is standard entry. GEM will be much harder.

I agree with ecolier that you should try to take a gap year if you can. Is there any way you can put up with your circumstances at home for another year? Bearing in mind it’s just one year v potentially lifetime of regret from not being able to get into GEM.

Your well-being comes first though, if you absolutely cannot stay at home and can’t move out due to the constraints placed by some south Asian families, then GEM could be an aspirational backup. But keep in mind if will be extremely competitive. Make sure to get as much work ex as you can during your degree and work much harder on UCAT/ GAMSAT as well as interviews. You’ll have to make peace with the fact that it may not happen regardless of your best efforts though.

I wish you the best.

Thank you for the condolences,
It is a very hard decision to make even if I have any decision on it at all, I’m so so horribly depressed I used to be an A star student aiming for A stars in all my Alevels then my mental health got so bad I ended up blanking out in most of my exams if you understand and now I really really want to resist my alevels but then again at the back of my mind idk if I can risk myself getting any worse than I already am. If I was to do GEM what would be your biggest tips for getting in other than work experience and getting a really good UCAT/BMAT/GAMSAT cos honestly I need all the chance i can get

I’m afraid I don’t have any more advice than what ecolier mentioned. I didn’t get an offer for GEM, just a place on a waitlist so I’m off to do standard entry medicine. I have had 8 years to save up for it though and an incredibly supportive husband, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it.

I understand what you mean about mental health. If you stay it might get worse, making it impossible to deal with A level resits let alone medicine application. Are you getting help for this? Think carefully about whether you can make it through with the right support and medication in place. If not, It might be worth considering physician’s associate as a career. It’s usually a postgraduate course but I believe Reading do a 4 year undergraduate course. It might be easier to get into compared with medicine. You could then try for GEM, and if it doesn’t work out, you’ll still have a career similar to medicine.

Do u think I could privately message u the whole story lol

I’m looking to apply for GEM medicine after doing Biomedical science at York. My A-levels are BBB, should I bother resitting them or will it not affect my application so much? I have tons of work experience and I have a 1st class degree but my Alevels are just a bit messed up cos I have struggling with mental health issues at the time which I’m still annoyed about lol. I just want the best chance of entry as I know GEM is extremely competitive
Thanks for any advice given

I’m a current GEM student and I have noticed a lot of people saying that GEM is harder to get into than standard medicine. I don’t feel that they are directly comparable and I’m not sure how true it is to say that one is harder than the other. The student demographics applying are very different.

For standard medicine, most people have been working towards their application in some form for several years. With that in mind, only the people that are very well prepared and expecting good grades are going to apply. There’s not a lot to differentiate the students who are applying, as they’re all top students. So they have to look at things like personal statements and work experience more.
for GEM the applicant demographic is really different. People may be coming straight from uni, a lot of people are working, some people have had a whole other career before they apply. I think for that reason, people apply to GEM with far less preparation than would be needed to get into a standard course which might make it look like competition ratios are higher. It’s easy to differentiate between GEM applicants, because there is a lot more variation between them. GAMSAT score and work experience can count for a lot when it comes to securing an interview. Personal statements and A levels are barely used at all. At interview, the best applicants really stand out for their insight, experiences and soft skills that are developed more from life experience than anywhere else.

I didn’t do a single science a level, so there’s no way I could have got in from school, but GEM was accessible. I had 5 unis I could have to applied to that accepted my background, but if you have science a levels there’s a lot more options. I focussed on GAMSAT, did some varied work experience and reflected a lot. That helped a lot when it came to interviews.

As a side note, GEM students are typically better regarded by clinicians. We are trusted more and given more responsibility earlier. Life experience can count for a lot.

Rather than approaching GEM vs standard medicine as being harder, just think about which is the better fit for your position in life. It would have been impossible for me to go standard route and for a lot of people without the right grades, it would be the same, but GEM can be much easier if you’ve got some life experience behind you.

hi! I am a 1st-year biomedical science student and aspiring to study GEM. How can I prepare well enough to get into it? What sort of work experience do I need? How can I prepare for the UCAT?

Can you please tell me what was your experience with applying to GEM?