Help

Hello,

I am receiving my A level results in 2 days and I did not apply to university for medicine as my predicted grades were too low and no one had told me about the foundation year courses which I wish I could have applied to as I met the requirements, however at the time I did not know about them. I don’t know if I should take a gap year and apply to medicine through foundation year courses or apply through clearing for a different course, I’m worried that if I apply this year for 2024 entry and if I do not get in I will have wanted a year and could have done another course. What is the best thing to do?

I think this down to personal preference.

I follow a philosophy that if your heart is set on something, that you should go for it irrespective of the consequences (so long it's legal). Whilst you could do something else, you can later wonder what if and it could easily be one of those regrets that you have. Regrets are never really nice to have,
A degree and career in medicine is not an easy or short term thing, so you would be investing heavily in it. If you need to take a year out to think it over (relatively little considering the 14-16 years you would need to become a doctor), I'd do that than go into a 3 year degree that you end up not wanting to do.

If you do manage to get into medicine, you can end up telling a story about it. If you don't, you won't have any regrets about it.

You also don't get very good picks in clearing. Unless you desperately need a degree as soon as possible (for some strange inexplicable reason), then you should go into clearing.

If you do reapply to universities, you would need to check if they accept resits for A Levels, or if you are applying outside of a gap year whether they need your grades to be certain before considering your application. Some universities would also require you to have done the A Levels within a specific time period e.g. 2 years - 5 years, depending on the university. You would need to check the individual degree course pages to be sure.

If you decide to take a gap year, I would try to spruce up your personal statement for the course e.g. volunteer at hospitals/shadow doctors, MOOCs, etc. Reapplying with the same personal statement won't exactly help.

Thank you so much this was so helpful I’ve decided that I will take a gap year and apply to medicine this year, I will definitely add things to my personal statement, and I have my UCAT in 2 weeks time which I hope I will be able to get a good score in.
If you are a med student or applying to medicine, could I ask if you have done the UCAT, is there any tips you could give me for the VR and DM section? Thank you