Haven't been on this forum in a while, the 4 rejections knocked me back a bit and made me doubt medicine altogether. I'm still a little unsure (lacking alternatives as well) but have planned my gap year around reapplying for medicine.
I'm going to take BMAT and UKCAT. Want to apply to Bristol, Oxford, UCL and Leeds if I get 4 A's which I'm on track for.
I have got a job working for a medical charity for 6 months, should be really interesting. I will continue volunteering at weekends. I then plan to go to Japan for 6 months to volunteer in a variety of Red Cross hospitals across the country.
Do you think this is all a wise use of my time? Any advice on other things I could get involved in? Thanks
Haven't been on this forum in a while, the 4 rejections knocked me back a bit and made me doubt medicine altogether. I'm still a little unsure (lacking alternatives as well) but have planned my gap year around reapplying for medicine.
I'm going to take BMAT and UKCAT. Want to apply to Bristol, Oxford, UCL and Leeds if I get 4 A's which I'm on track for.
I have got a job working for a medical charity for 6 months, should be really interesting. I will continue volunteering at weekends. I then plan to go to Japan for 6 months to volunteer in a variety of Red Cross hospitals across the country.
Do you think this is all a wise use of my time? Any advice on other things I could get involved in? Thanks
Sounds like a very enjoyable gap year & should give you lots to talk about in your PS/in interviews. I am particularly jealous of your 6 months in Japan! Depending on what work experience you have done in this country there might be some good points of comparison. Did you manage to get any feedback from the universities as to which areas of your application you could work on?
Haven't been on this forum in a while, the 4 rejections knocked me back a bit and made me doubt medicine altogether. I'm still a little unsure (lacking alternatives as well) but have planned my gap year around reapplying for medicine.
I'm going to take BMAT and UKCAT. Want to apply to Bristol, Oxford, UCL and Leeds if I get 4 A's which I'm on track for.
I have got a job working for a medical charity for 6 months, should be really interesting. I will continue volunteering at weekends. I then plan to go to Japan for 6 months to volunteer in a variety of Red Cross hospitals across the country.
Do you think this is all a wise use of my time? Any advice on other things I could get involved in? Thanks
First of all sorry to hear about those rejections, they do definitely hurt, I would know lol.
Seems to me you have enverything planned out Sounds much better than my gap year I kinda worked mine around the interview period which was rather restricting And it was impossible to get a job due to a certain economic crisis Buuuuuut I've still had fun as i've been to Mexico (no I do not have swine flu ) and will be off to Hong Kong soon enough
Hope you have an awesome gap year And at least a place
Those doubts are natural, but this gap year should hopefully help you decide if it is really for you
Sounds like an excellent gap year, and I'm sure if you reflect well on it all in your PS and at interview, you should hopefully be fine. I've just spent mine working full time as an HCA, good experience, but the novelty of washing/cleaning patients wears rather thin!
Haven't been on this forum in a while, the 4 rejections knocked me back a bit and made me doubt medicine altogether. I'm still a little unsure (lacking alternatives as well) but have planned my gap year around reapplying for medicine.
I'm going to take BMAT and UKCAT. Want to apply to Bristol, Oxford, UCL and Leeds if I get 4 A's which I'm on track for.
I have got a job working for a medical charity for 6 months, should be really interesting. I will continue volunteering at weekends. I then plan to go to Japan for 6 months to volunteer in a variety of Red Cross hospitals across the country.
Do you think this is all a wise use of my time? Any advice on other things I could get involved in? Thanks
Sounds good.
1. ENJOY your gap year
2. Don't worry, loads of people do the same thing, get into med school and are so glad they took a year out
3. Meet loads of new people
4. Save a little money for uni!
5. Enjoy!
6. Don't worry!
(I did some sums the other day and thus far its averaged roughly £10k a year, though go somewhere with cheaper rents and you can knock a good chunk off that)
The universities I applied to all said that my UKCAT score was too low (630 average).
Apparently I was also lacked insight into what medicine recquired and medical expereince. To be honest, it all seemed pretty tenuous, it's a numbers game and I think I was very unlucky.
You've all made me feel a lot better about my plans, I was worried I'd be bombarded with: "HCA'ing is the only worthwhile thing!"
The universities I applied to all said that my UKCAT score was too low (630 average).
Apparently I was also lacked insight into what medicine recquired and medical expereince. To be honest, it all seemed pretty tenuous, it's a numbers game and I think I was very unlucky.
You've all made me feel a lot better about my plans, I was worried I'd be bombarded with: "HCA'ing is the only worthwhile thing!"
Well...I would recommend it, just because I liked it, but any paid job that gives you some experience is worth doing. You don't have to HCA at all.
Can you speak Japanese? They don't speak much English in Japan, even in the hospitals.
I can't.....yet. I will be taking twice weekly evening classes after my exams are done, hopefully should be at a pretty reasonable level by the time I get out there.
I can't.....yet. I will be taking twice weekly evening classes after my exams are done, hopefully should be at a pretty reasonable level by the time I get out there.
Twice weekly is absolutely nothing. Try to study at least 2 hours a day, and concentrate on the spoken language, not written. Speaking Japanese is a lot easier to reading/writing it. I mean 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 months btw, then continue while your out there.
Twice weekly is absolutely nothing. Try to study at least 2 hours a day, and concentrate on the spoken language, not written. Speaking Japanese is a lot easier to reading/writing it. I mean 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 months btw, then continue while your out there.
Ok, I know I won't be able to do two hours a day, I'll know I can do at least 1. After the year is up I want to be pretty comfortable at holding decent conversation with a Japanese person.
If its of note a schoolmate spent four months there, and had a nightmarish time in the more rural areas. He was completely shunned by most people, and they wouldn't have anything to do with him. That said he claims this is the result of being half black, and as such automatically assumed to be a drug dealer there.
If its of note a schoolmate spent four months there, and had a nightmarish time in the more rural areas. He was completely shunned by most people, and they wouldn't have anything to do with him. That said he claims this is the result of being half black, and as such automatically assumed to be a drug dealer there.
lol i can actually imagine that happen in those parts.
if you;re not white or one of them, you arent generally accepted.
that's just how they roll.........................................
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Any advice for my gap year?
Sounds much better than my gap year 
I kinda worked mine around the interview period which was rather restricting 
And it was impossible to get a job due to a certain economic crisis 
Buuuuuut I've still had fun as i've been to Mexico (no I do not have swine flu 
And at least a place 
