what should i do? (medicine all rejections)

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I know that's what you meant but I'd imagine that is the sort of stuff the OP did in his first GAP year anyway. I'd agree that the OP still has a chance but he would be two years behind and I'm sure he's not willing to wait another 18 months just for that opportunity. Many of the AAA universities may also see him as a 'resit' student because his grades first time round don't match that requirement- almost every medical school wants AAA+ for 2012 entry.

A*AB is by no means safe, but an 'A' prediction in the OP's A2 Biology will do. What else do you suggest? Graduate-entry is also very competitive and can lead to financial constrains; I think that the OP should give this one last shot. Also, I think the OP is eligible to apply to Brighton and Sussex Medical School (and a few others); their new typical offers being AAA or A*AB.

Reply 41

Duckasaurus

Original post by alia

thanks im planing on doing fraduate entry now tbh....anything i should know other than the comp because medicine being med is always gonna be darn competitive....

Yes, unfortunately there's something else: graduate medicine, either way you do it will be horrendously expensive. As a graduate, there's no way to get a student loan, only a maintenance loan and there aren't really any career development loans available anymore, either :frown:

If you do a standard 5 year course, you're looking at having to pay up front fees of £36000 pounds. (the NHS may or may not fund the fifth year, its up for review at the moment) Plus living costs.

For accelerated 4 year courses, at present only the first year has to be self financed, meaning you'd only have to pay £9000 in fees up front. However- at the point that you'd be applying, 4 years in the future, it's more than possible, in fact probable, that the NHS will not be funding the same amount on the GEM (and possibly standard entry), as the fees will be £9000 per year, if the NHS continued to finance years 2-4 it would have to shell out £27000, plus a bursary, for each pupil. Given the deficit and the reduction in the NHS budget, I'd doubt that they could continue to do this tbh. Admittedly, I'm not a financial expert, but I wouldn't base your life plans on the belief that funding will be available for you.

In short, aside from the competition, I'd think hard about whether you'd have the finances available to fund a graduate entry course. IMO it's something to be done as a last resort, rather than to be relied upon as a definite route. I believe there's a white paper due to come out at some point. I don't think anyone really knows when though :frown:

Reply 42

michael clayton

Original post by notepad

I honestly think that GEM is the best (and only real) option for the OP at this stage. BSMS do accept A*AB but they require Biology at A grade at A2 so again he may be seen as a 'resit' student. Keele and Glasgow are the only AAB unis for next year so both are going to be extremely competitive.
The reason I say he would be a 'resit' candidate is because.....
e.g someone is given an AAA medicine offer who is studying chem, physics and maths. He achieves AAB so misses his offer but then decides to take up Biology in his GAP year. I don't think AAA unis would accept that.

Reply 43

Tabris

Grow a pair.

Resit that A-Level and get that B to an A.

Work on your UKCAT technique and do some revision for it.

Reapply.

*Make sure the med schools are resitter friendly.

Reply 44

notepad

Original post by kbountra

Well, there are a few universities that accept resit applicants. You can see in the Resit-Applicant Success Stories thread that some students got in (although not many) with lower than A*AB. I think it's worth taking the risk.

Reply 45

michael clayton

Original post by Duckasaurus

If you do a standard 5 year course, you're looking at having to pay up front fees of £36000 pounds. (the NHS may or may not fund the fifth year, its up for review at the moment) Plus living costs.

For accelerated 4 year courses, at present only the first year has to be self financed, meaning you'd only have to pay £9000 in fees up front. However- at the point that you'd be applying, 4 years in the future, it's more than possible, in fact probable, that the NHS will not be funding the same amount on the GEM (and possibly standard entry), as the fees will be £9000 per year, if the NHS continued to finance years 2-4 it would have to shell out £27000, plus a bursary, for each pupil. Given the deficit and the reduction in the NHS budget, I'd doubt that they could continue to do this tbh.
Admittedly, I'm not a financial expert, but I wouldn't base your life plans on the belief that funding will be available for you.

In short, aside from the competition, I'd think hard about whether you'd have the finances available to fund a graduate entry course. IMO it's something to be done as a last resort, rather than to be relied upon as a definite route. I believe there's a white paper due to come out at some point. I don't think anyone really knows when though
:frown:

It will be interesting to see what they come up with because it would be strange to have undergrads paying £36k and GEM students just paying £9k. I think they are looking into some kind of a loan for GEM but as you say, everything is still up in the air!

Reply 46

Duckasaurus

Original post by kbountra

Yeah, it's really strange. I can't see the SLC stepping in to fund the GEM course- the government budgeted for an average loan of £7500 per year, it's already looking to be far above that, meaning budgets are going to have to be rewritten, I can't see them accepting additional GEM responsibilities as well, they're already at risk of a major deficit. But at the same time, I can't see the NHS continuing funding. They've already got bursaries to fund and since there's talk of them even scrapping the tuition payment for year 5 of standard entry, if that's the case, GEM funding is almost guaranteed to go.

It's a bit of a mess really, nobody seems to have considered graduate entry medicine funding properly. I'm insanely glad I got an offer for an A100 this year. Otherwise, with my degree I'd have to pay fees, and there's no way I'd be able to get £36k to pay up front. The situation wouldn't be so bad if there were ways of getting funding from the private sector. But it's essentially impossible to get a career development loan nowadays. Apparently the only bank that still does them is Barclays, and the total amount available is £10k, which is a drop in the ocean of possible fees. Even then, only in very rare circumstances, like the 5th year of a med degree, if you're a stellar student.

It's quite daft. Because of an apparent oversight, a lot of able candidates will get utterly priced out of the market. And that's an awful shame. Fortunately, for the rich, who can afford it, I think competition will drop enormously, there really can't be that many 20-30 something year old graduates who have £36k, plus costs squirreled away in the bank. :frown:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 47

anon2010

clinical science at Bradford could be an option for you.

Reply 48

anon2010

Also you could start a degree in september and apply to med again after first year (some unis let you do that, there is a wiki page on here somewhere). If you dont get in next year again then you can carry on with your degree and go for GEM.
Just keep trying every year.

To be honest though you have a really really low UKCAT and if you improved that your application would have more chance at succeeding.

Whatever happens good luck and dont feel down about it. Not getting in does not mean you a bad person. Medicine is ridiculously competitive and a lot of very good candidates dont get in every year. Your not bad your just fighting against very difficult odds.