Medicine - do I need to face the harsh reality?

Hi I see what you’re saying, but do you think I will be at a disadvantage given that I will have reset my A levels 2 years after originally sitting them? So essentially I will have taken 2 gap years which is what I’m worried will affect my application?

Contact some unis and ask how you'd be considered for undergrad med if you retook now.

Any disadvantage is likely to be outweighed by how much more competitive grad entry med is. Plus it's longer and more expensive. Even if your odds were identical then undergrad is still probably your best route, (unless you genuinely want to do pharmacy as a career and med would just be a distant plan B).

Hi I see what you’re saying, but do you think I will be at a disadvantage given that I will have reset my A levels 2 years after originally sitting them? So essentially I will have taken 2 gap years which is what I’m worried will affect my application?

Hi I see what you’re saying, but do you think I will be at a disadvantage given that I will have reset my A levels 2 years after originally sitting them? So essentially I will have taken 2 gap years which is what I’m worried will affect my application?

I'm in a similar situation to you. ABCC at a levels due to some health issues in 2021- jumped right into a degree afterwards and dropped out a few months in because I simply didn't enjoy it and I knew I wanted to do medicine.
A lot of medical courses have strict requirements (If you'd like I can give you a list someone from TSR gave to me about med schools that may accept resits but I would suggest you contact those unis you're interested in directly explaining your situation to see if they will accept your application), but provided you have a competitive ucat, are determined to achieve the grades and show what you have learned in the last two years you will have no issues.
Depending on the uni (I currently have an offer for Barts and did this), they have extenuating circumstances procedures where you fill a form prior to application so you know for sure if they'll be able to accept an application from you before applying. No one discriminated against me for my two year gap and resitting and what they really want is for you to reflect on your experiences to show how they have prepared you for this potential career. If anything they were really interested in my journey at interview because of the resilience it showed. Everyone takes different paths and I remember and really still do feel really alone because I feel like no one is in a situation like mine but the reality is many applicants are resit applicants or gap year applicants or graduate applicants. The path isn't always straight and that's okay too.

Hi all,

So I need serious advice because I don’t know what I should do anymore. My dream as a child was to study medicine, and even now it’s still my biggest dream. But circumstances meant I couldn’t take my GCSEs because of COVID and consequently my GCSE results were below the average and not as competitive as I would’ve preferred.

Then I’ll take responsibility and say that my A level experience was pretty much a car crash, as I was going through a lot in the past 2 years (I know that no medical university will take account of though). I walked away with 3 Bs and I knew that it wouldn’t be good enough to apply so here I am now in my gap year.

I actually did apply for pharmacy this year, and my thought process was that if I still wanted to do med at the end of the degree, then I could maybe apply to do it as a postgrad degree? But I know how competitive this is too, so now I’ve been thrown off balance.

Ideally, I should have resat my A levels during my gap year but I didn’t really consider doing this at the time. My point is, would it be pointless taking another year out to resit my A levels and then applying for medicine? Or am I just better off pursuing the pharmacy degree?

I don’t really want to give up this time so I need advice on which path is the most viable. Advice is appreciated!