GEP- At wit's end!

I wonder if anyone can offer any insight/advice please!

I have a first class B.Sc from India, an M.Sc in Genetics from University of Leicester. I have a good job in the Biotech industry. I have been applying to do medicine for the past 2 years for a variety of reasons. I am also a very active first aider with BLS training, a volunteer at a clinical intermediary care home, a patient facing interpreter, and have done a week's work experience at an NHS stroke ward. My UKCAT score this year was overall 2640. And oh, I am classed as a home student.

However I have not even been short-listed for interviews over the past 2 years. Every feedback seems to say there isn't anything wrong with my application, and they had to turn many excellent candidates away. A few universities have implied that so many PhDs have applied that it was natural for me to lose out.

Would anyone be able to give me an honest opinion on:
Is my lack of Phd a drawback in GEP applications?
How can I improve my work experience?
Where am I going wrong?
Is my job outside the NHS seen as a negative?
Is my UKCAT score too low?
If you were me, what would you do differently?


I look forward to hearing from you.

Do you have a British passport? Or at least indefinite leave to remain?

Edit: Your UKCAT score may be low, look through the Graduate medicine thread to compare results.

Hi Winter Mute

Yep I have a British passport. I thought as much about my UKCAT score but what confused me a lot was my phone conversation with Oxford where they said my UKCAT score was not below their "cut off" for this year.

I wonder if anyone can offer any insight/advice please!

I have a first class B.Sc from India, an M.Sc in Genetics from University of Leicester. I have a good job in the Biotech industry. I have been applying to do medicine for the past 2 years for a variety of reasons. I am also a very active first aider with BLS training, a volunteer at a clinical intermediary care home, a patient facing interpreter, and have done a week's work experience at an NHS stroke ward. My UKCAT score this year was overall 2640. And oh, I am classed as a home student.

However I have not even been short-listed for interviews over the past 2 years. Every feedback seems to say there isn't anything wrong with my application, and they had to turn many excellent candidates away. A few universities have implied that so many PhDs have applied that it was natural for me to lose out.

Would anyone be able to give me an honest opinion on:
Is my lack of Phd a drawback in GEP applications?
How can I improve my work experience?
Where am I going wrong?
Is my job outside the NHS seen as a negative?
Is my UKCAT score too low?
If you were me, what would you do differently?


I look forward to hearing from you.

I wonder if anyone can offer any insight/advice please!

I have a first class B.Sc from India, an M.Sc in Genetics from University of Leicester. I have a good job in the Biotech industry. I have been applying to do medicine for the past 2 years for a variety of reasons. I am also a very active first aider with BLS training, a volunteer at a clinical intermediary care home, a patient facing interpreter, and have done a week's work experience at an NHS stroke ward. My UKCAT score this year was overall 2640. And oh, I am classed as a home student.

However I have not even been short-listed for interviews over the past 2 years. Every feedback seems to say there isn't anything wrong with my application, and they had to turn many excellent candidates away. A few universities have implied that so many PhDs have applied that it was natural for me to lose out.

Would anyone be able to give me an honest opinion on:
Is my lack of Phd a drawback in GEP applications?
How can I improve my work experience?
Where am I going wrong?
Is my job outside the NHS seen as a negative?
Is my UKCAT score too low?
If you were me, what would you do differently?


I look forward to hearing from you.

Haven't you already posted this once?

Just because the UKCAT is not below the absolute cutoff doesn't mean you will get an interview. A low/borderline UKCAT score, which to be honest yours is for GEP, combined with an application or PS they see as average might not result in an interview. I'm not any sort of expert or even a medical student but it seems to me really your UKCAT is low for a graduate applicant and you might want to focus applications on places that don't look at it very much, i.e. no Kings/newcastle.

have you tried schools like Peninsula? Your UKCAT is letting you down a little bit for a GEP medic but it's not a complete disaster... like someone said, apply to schools that don't place too much emphasis on UKCAT an also make sure that you have the most amazing personal statement EVER. it may be an idea to get it checked out by someone who writes professionally? and have you already had rejections for this year? if not, don't despair, they often interview until April, at least it was the case for dentistry....

You have to believe that you will get into medicine, and then you will.

Bee-lieve in yourself.