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Applying for medicine a year late or doing graduate medicine

Should I apply at the end of year 13 or just apply for another degree and do graduate medicine?
I'm applying a year late as I didn't feel as though I had enough work experience. With that being said, I'm not exactly the strongest candidate for medicine and a rejection the first time around is definitely a possibility. I did get 4As at AS in bio, chem, physics and maths but my GCSEs are at a much lower standard than most med applicant's; My average is 6.4 I think.

My senior tutor at college is strongly advising that I apply for another degree in the mean time and then, if I do feel like going straight into a med degree, just rejecting any offers I get. A problem I have with this is that I think universities will look at this next year and assume I'm not very dedicated to medicine. Is this likely to happen?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
there was no harm in applying in yr12 but oh well....graduate medicine is a possibility but you would have to go through virtually a tougher version of the admission process now (more applicants per place) and if you don't get in after completing your degree, then you are stuck with that degree (unless you keep reapplying every year)...

With 4As at AS you are pretty decent and you can get into a good non medical degree easily, and also would be perfectly acceptable for medicine 2016 entry.

I would take a gap year get achieved grades A*AA possibly, apply to 4 medical schools and 1 other degree at a respectable university.
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nigelh456
OP
Original post by solarplexus
there was no harm in applying in yr12 but oh well....graduate medicine is a possibility but you would have to go through virtually a tougher version of the admission process now (more applicants per place) and if you don't get in after completing your degree, then you are stuck with that degree (unless you keep reapplying every year)...

With 4As at AS you are pretty decent and you can get into a good non medical degree easily, and also would be perfectly acceptable for medicine 2016 entry.

I would take a gap year get achieved grades A*AA possibly, apply to 4 medical schools and 1 other degree at a respectable university.



Do you think applying to another degree this year would put me at a disadvantage? My senior tutor seems to be very set on me applying for another one and genuinely will not take "No" for an answer.
Original post by nigelh456
Do you think applying to another degree this year would put me at a disadvantage? My senior tutor seems to be very set on me applying for another one and genuinely will not take "No" for an answer.


Im not sure it depends on whether you get a 1st or 2:1 (anything lower will be a disadvantage), if u do a 3 year degree this year, you would become at least doctor 3 years late. Basically only do a different degree this year if you know you can get a 1st or 2:1 and are prepared to pay for another 3 years of tuition and are prepared to be stuck with the different degree if you were to be rejected from grad med.....if you can do all this then grad med could be for you...

My situation in summer was that the school wanted me to go to UCL to do biochemical engineering which i got offered from (rejected by all 4 med); as ive always wanted to do medicine and I couldnt be bothered to do grad med and go through all the same process again

Its up to you in the end..
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Helenia
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Original post by nigelh456
Do you think applying to another degree this year would put me at a disadvantage? My senior tutor seems to be very set on me applying for another one and genuinely will not take "No" for an answer.


Graduate entry medicine is MUCH more competitive than undergrad entry. If you can get AAA or better this year then it would be far more sensible to hold off and apply next year. There is no point applying for another degree if you have no intention of taking it, and taking a whole degree that you're not really interested in is really hard work.

You say your GCSEs aren't the best, but don't specify what they are. If they meet the minimum requirements for a reasonable number of med schools, I would definitely recommend applying next year.
Reply 5
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nigelh456
OP
Original post by Helenia
Graduate entry medicine is MUCH more competitive than undergrad entry. If you can get AAA or better this year then it would be far more sensible to hold off and apply next year. There is no point applying for another degree if you have no intention of taking it, and taking a whole degree that you're not really interested in is really hard work.

You say your GCSEs aren't the best, but don't specify what they are. If they meet the minimum requirements for a reasonable number of med schools, I would definitely recommend applying next year.


I meet the requirements for most medical schools. I got:
1 A* in physics
4 As in bio, chem, maths and lit
4 Bs in geography, RE, drama and English
1 C in history
1 E in IT

I went to a pretty awful high school and I guess I kinda had a bad attitude at the time.

Thanks for the help though! I think I will just take a year out and apply; it's what I wanted to do initially, but my tutor managed to convince me otherwise.

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