Graduate Entry Medicine 2017

Hi all. I have a question regarding the UCAS application for GEM.
I am filling out the education section and am entering my GCSEs, A-levels and my degree. I was just wondering if we absolutely have to declare all GCSE grades? I have one bad grade in a non-core subject which I do not want to declare as I am worried it might (even though it is back in school days) affect my application? I know that for GEM they look at your degree with a great lot more preference than anything else but this one little thing really bugs me...

Also, when do we actually get a reference? I am applying as an individual and I know who my referee will be and have spoken to them to let them know, but when do they actually write a reference? I was thinking to submit my application at around the start of October to give my referee a couple of weeks to get the reference in before the deadline. Is this the right way forward? Or do they have to somehow get notified to write a reference before I submit my application? Would really appreciate some help here. Thanks


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Hi everyone!

I applied last year with an average of 670 and was unsuccessful (I knew my UKCAT was too low really). I sat my test again this year and got 697
VR: 630
QR: 790
AR: 670
SJ: Band 1

One more question right and I'd have been over 700!! Obviously, I don't want to get ahead of myself as my UKCAT might not be high enough again. However, struggling with where to put my options with no chemistry A level. Realistically is Barts/Warwick an option?
Any advice would be amazing and all the best to you all!

hey, for your reference, when you fill out the referee details on the UCAS form, it will ask you to click a button and that will send a notification to your referee via email (so make sure u put the correct email of ur referee!). Once the referee has put in their reference, it will notify you and only then can you submit the app

As for GCSE's it is best you put everything down Many GEM courses do no not care about these anyway.

how are your other stats? degree and a level wise?

My A levels aren't amazing - BCC in PE, Maths and Biology respectively.

Pulled my act together and got a first class degree in Human Physiology (I got a first in every module for the 3 years) for which I also won the course award.

For GEM, do you not require such a high UKCAT score to be offered an interview if you have a masters?

Does it kinda make up for lower UKCATS? At the places that consider masters obviously, such as Warwick and Kings.

I would say you will still need 680 plus?

I have an MSc from Oxford, and got a crappy 650 ukcat last year- and 4 rejections x

ah ok thank you. I start my masters later this month and was just wondering if you could subsidise some of the UKCAT with it.

Are you re-applying this year and already done your UKCAT?

yes i am re-applying. uKCAT IN 12 DAYS ...

Thanks for that - I'll keep my fingers crossed for Barts then. Really really good luck for your UKCAT - hope you get it this year

Hello everyone!

Had my UKCAT yesterday scores (average 637):
VR 580
QR 710
AR 620
STJ band 1

I'm a graduate with a first class Master of Pharmacy degree (MPharm). My Alevels were Chem A, Bio B and German A.
I've got some experience to go with this such as volunteering/working in pharmacy/hospital experience.

I'm pretty sure I stand no chance for graduate entry because of my UKCAT score being pretty low. However what do you think are my chances for the 5 year course? Where should I apply? Any 5 year courses that have low UKCAT cut off...

Thanks in advance!

Cambridge: No entrance exams, wit AAB and 1st class.. you stand a decent chance
Birmingham: They love 1st class degrees
Aberdeen: Academic attainment/predictions (30%)
UKCAT Score (20%)
Edinburgh: The breakdown of our selection weightings for applications received by 15th October 2014 was as follows:
50% - academic30% - non academic (15% situational judgement section of the UKCAT test and 15% personal statement/reference)20% - UKCAT score (excluding situational judgement)

Hope this helps...
Do you have any tips for the UKCAT??
Was it similar to mocks?
How was VR? and AR?

My GCSEs were pretty average 11 A*-B (2 A* 2A and 7Bs) so I'm not sure if it would be competitive enough for Cambridge or Bham.

Thank you so much that really helped! Will look into those unis.
My GCSEs were pretty average 11 A*-B (2 A* 2A and 7Bs) so I'm not sure if it would be competitive enough for Cambridge or Bham.

For the UKCAT have you got a medify subscription? I found this to be much more useful than the books as you get to practice on a computer, you get lots of practice que and the questions in the 600/1000Q book are much harder than the real thing! It really comes down to practice so just keep practicing as many questions! The mocks on the medify and the actual UKCAT website are very similar to the real thing so just practice those.
For VR/AR it really depends on the questions that come up on the day. I found I struggled with them but it's mainly due to the time restrains. I would advise you to just select an answer and move on if you can't figure it out whereas I was spending more time trying to figure it out and then ended up just guessing the last few where I could've spent time finding the answer.
Hope that helps and good luck!!

The preliminary UKCAT mean scores have been released. From what I understood the mean total score is 1931, so 644 average. However, the decile ranges are different, so I'm assuming that meant that to be in the 10th percentile you had to get an average score of 1680, so 560, but to be in the 9th percentile (so what I think that means is top 10%) you needed a score of 2190, which is 730. Not sure how that compares to previous years so if anyone else wishes to contribute further that would be most helpful

Here is the link from the UKCAT website:
http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/App_Media/uploads/pdf/2016%20Preliminary%20Mean%20Scores%20150916.pdf