European Medical School or Neuroscience & then Grad. Med??

obviously I dont know how to really improve other than get A*s..

Is there any way I can apply to Med again while I'm in my first year of Neuroscience? or do unis frown upon that?

You should have tailored your application more towards your strengths. If you had applied to Barts and Newcastle this year, you would have gotten guaranteed interviews (due to your UKCAT). Nottingham and Southampton are very risky choices, and applying to Sheffield with a UKCAT of only 690 is quite a silly move as it wasn't much below that last year.

You need to improve by applying to appropriate universities and improving your personal statement - these are your weaknesses. If you reapply and use the resources available to you on TSR, you have every chance of getting an interview for 2012 entry. I wouldn't recommend studying abroad under any circumstances, and using GEM as a back-up (even as a reapplicant) isn't a particularly clever move. Do you have a genuine interest in neuroscience? It's going to be difficult to motivate yourself in a degree which you're not really that passionate about when the chances of actually getting a place in a graduate-entry medicine scheme at the end of it are extremely slim.

In summary, as Helenia said, reapplying again is the lesser of three evils.

What work experience did you have?

in my opinion the best option is to re-apply

I did try do quite a lot of research into Unis, and I applied to Sheffield because they asked for AABb and me having AAAb, made me feel quite safe to apply there.

I did get a Barts interview, unsuccessful due to being completely honest and not being diplomatic to the question "why didn't you get a place in medicine last year?"

Say if I was to apply again, what would be quite 'safe' unis to apply to with my grades?
And of course possible improvements on my UKCAT scores..
Thanks so much for your advice btw.

I'm not trying to be brutal, but you didn't do enough research.

A-Level grades mean naff all in medicine admissions, if you have AAAb you can apply pretty much anywhere but Cambridge, so you should cross off Cambridge and then look for other factors.

Sheffield's UKCAT cut-off last year was 680-something, so applying with 690 is very dangerous as (on average) it increases by 15 points every year - but incidentally it increased 40 points (!!) this year and the cut-off was 720ish.

I doubt you were rejected from Barts because of your performance on a single question - I was brutally honest on many of the questions I was asked at Barts (including 'What do you know about the area?' and 'What do you do to relax?') and I still got an offer. It is likely that your performance generally wasn't up to scratch.

You need to tell me you GCSE grades and then I can give you a bit more tailored advice, but most of it relies on your UKCAT score, which obviously you'd need to resit if you're going to reapply. But I can tell you one thing: FORGET about your A2 grades, they mean NOTHING. As long as you meet the minimum requirements of a university, that's it - no extra consideration is given to grades up and above this.

Assuming you get around 700 on the UKCAT next year, I'd say apply to Newcastle and Barts - which should give you interviews (but bear in mind that policies change year on year, as do UKCAT cut-offs). You need to improve your interview performance, as that is one thing that is obviously sorely lacking if you received a rejection post-interview.

I really like the brutal honesty because it helps keep my head grounded lol.

Yes, more interview practice + better UKCAT is a must, totally understand that.

I got 6As & 6Bs in my GCSEs, not impressive at all, I know. As in Double Science + Maths + English.
But it was at a secondary school with a 19% GCSE A- C rate (I dont know if that changes anything)

I'm definitely not thinking of applying to Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial. Will there be any issues with me applying for the 3rd time though?

May I just ask what did you need for Newcastle?

Thanks again for the help btw.

Not amazing GCSE's but they're not terrible. They'd be fine for Newcastle - they only need something like 5C's, but require a high UKCAT score.

There are no issues with applying a third time - a handful of people have this year (2011 entry) that I know of and they have got places.

You clearly seem to know a lot about what unis want etc. Do you have a table/chart that you could send me by any chance?

I might even undertake Neuroscience and then apply in my first year, I know that restricts my choices but the link you posted to me earlier does have me quite optimistic.

And what unis did these handful of people get places for?