Psychology Bsc then graduate Medicine help

Hello,

Last year I applied to do Medicine. Got an interview at Oxford but didn't get in there, or anywhere else for that matter. I had an evil masterplan to take a gap year and reapply, but then I got a B in Chemistry at A-Level, which makes it a touch impossible to apply at most universities. I decided to not bother to retake Chemistry and just apply to do Psychology Bsc, hoping to, in time, become a clinical psychologist.

However, recent events have shown me that I still very much want to do Medicine. So, masterplan 2.0 - do my psychology degree and then apply to GEM. I know this is relatively common, but I haven't seen many people write about their experiences and what they did during their first degree to boost their applications.

So, if anyone here got into GEM after doing psychology, a little write up of your experiences or tips would be extremely helpful. I failed to get in once, I don't want to fail again and I want to start doing things from the very first moment possible.

Thanks in advance.

P.s.: if I hold an offer from a uni that has a GEM course available, does it make sense to go do psychology at that uni?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

GEM is considerably more competitive than standard entry medicine. You would be much better off taking a gap year and resitting chemistry and reapplying than doing another degree with the aim of GEM. It doesn't matter where you do your degree for GEM though - universities do not privilege their own undergrads over others for GEM courses.

Also doing a psychology degree, you will realistically either a) need to resit A-level Chemistry again anyway or b) take the GAMSAT, which assumes A-level Chemistry (and then some, I gather) content regardless. You literally just spend 3 years of time and, crucially, student finance entitlement on a degree of little relevance to have to go through the same process of just sitting down and doing well in chemistry exam content anyway.

Reply 2

Scotland Yard

OP

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

20

Thank you for your opinion and, while you're mostly right, I like the comfort of having another degree first that I can use to still work in healthcare should I fail my application to GEM (which, granted, it's incredibly likely as the competition for GEM must keep applicants up at night). There's no need to resit Chemistry as the A-Level requirements for GEM are more lenient, and GAMSAT isn't a big problem. It's a test that I can work on, and it isn't a requirement everywhere.

In short, I like to have a back-up option and I'm a psychopath so I like to make my life stupidly harder!

Thanks for your input though. It helps.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Scotland Yard

Thank you for your opinion and, while you're mostly right, I like the comfort of having another degree first that I can use to still work in healthcare should I fail my application to GEM (which, granted, it's incredibly likely as the competition for GEM must keep applicants up at night). There's no need to resit Chemistry as the A-Level requirements for GEM are more lenient, and GAMSAT isn't a big problem. It's a test that I can work on, and it isn't a requirement everywhere.

In short, I like to have a back-up option and I'm a psychopath so I like to make my life stupidly harder!

Thanks for your input though. It helps.

Most GEM courses that don't require a science degree require either you to have taken A-level Chemistry and another science, or to take the GAMSAT. Also GAMSAT is considered to be very challenging from what I've read, not in the least because it's a ~6 hour exam and a poor score will rule out significant proportion of the GEM courses you could apply to with a psychology degree.

Frankly I think you need to do more research into this as some of this is fairly basic information which you seem to be completely unaware of. Like the fact that the universities that don't require the GAMSAT or the requisite A-levels normally require a STEM degree. You are taking the much harder route, and then on top of that cutting down your options considerably if you rule out retaking the A-level or taking the GAMSAT.

Such a blasé attitude is not going to get you a place on a medical degree, standard entry or GEM...it also makes zero sense to spend 3 years and as much funding doing a degree which you consider a "back up option" rather than just taking a gap year and getting yourself together to re-sit A-level Chemistry, a rather straightforward and arguably easy process. It's honestly an irrational decision, in fact, since by taking the gap year you don't even rule out your "original" plan (which is still bad).

Reply 4

Turning_A_Corner

15

Sorry but a psychology degree is not going to get you anywhere. You’ll be eligible to apply to a few extra jobs, only maybe one of which is exclusive to psychology graduate (I.e. the AP role) and these are ultra competitive. If this is your plan you may as well do an actual clinical degree that you’ll be able to leverage into a reasonable plan b career with some guarantee. I did this and it worked and I’ll be taking a pay cut to do medicine. Same couldn’t be said if I’d carried on with psychology back in the day.

Reply 5

Annie ouo

3

Don't listen to folks telling you, you can't do anything with a psychology degree! There are plenty of jobs you can get in and out of healthcare with a good degree in Psychology!

It's a pretty popular degree for graduate schemes as well. The stuff you learn is apparently great for jobs in places like the Civil Service and KPMG. I'm going into year 3 of my Psychology degree at KCL, last year my marks stood at an average of 78% and I've had a tone of offers from many companies to work with them.

But I've already got a chill job with the civil service and plan on going into Medicine through graduate entry after I graduate. According to past Psychology students from my uni, many have successfully been accepted onto GEM courses. It's entirely possible. You won't know how you'll do unless you try. Good luck!

Reply 6

greg tony

16

Original post by Annie ouo

Don't listen to folks telling you, you can't do anything with a psychology degree! There are plenty of jobs you can get in and out of healthcare with a good degree in Psychology!

It's a pretty popular degree for graduate schemes as well. The stuff you learn is apparently great for jobs in places like the Civil Service and KPMG. I'm going into year 3 of my Psychology degree at KCL, last year my marks stood at an average of 78% and I've had a tone of offers from many companies to work with them.

But I've already got a chill job with the civil service and plan on going into Medicine through graduate entry after I graduate. According to past Psychology students from my uni, many have successfully been accepted onto GEM courses. It's entirely possible. You won't know how you'll do unless you try. Good luck!

Possible and probable are two very different things.

The points raised above were not saying it was impossible, rather they were saying why decrease your odds significantly when you dont have to. Another way of saying this is, would you pay circa 27k (loan for undergrad, will be much higher in most cases) to halve your odds (higher on some courses) of getting medicine. Everyone believes they are an outlier, but the reality is most of us wont beat the odds. I think listening to the previous expert and lived advice is key for the OP, but understand its hard to be faced with hard truths at the same time.

Greg

Reply 7

dedicated-street

1

Hey OP it might be a bit late but I am in this exact position. I graduated this year with a BSC psychology degree and have 3 interviews for GEM coming up this month and still waiting to here back from another uni. I took the UCAT and GAMSAT (only have AS chem) and found the GAMSAT very difficult but still managed to get a good enough grade for 2 medical offers using it (the other was with a good-ish (2910) UCAT score). I think if you want to do this its definitely possible. Just make sure you get a lot of good quality (i.e. hands-on) experience in the health and social care field. All the best.

Reply 8

dedicated-street

1

p.s. I also have an offer for a funded-psychology clinical masters which has a really good starting salary. Psychology is poorely paid if you are working as a support worker, but once you get onto the clinical masters/AP roles/ research roles it can be well-paid.

Psychology Bsc then graduate Medicine help

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