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Medicine Re-applicants 2017 Entry

Heya I've seen there was a 2016 thread but I wanted to make a 2017 one.
We can share ideas for gap year and help each other out on which med schools to choose and avoid :smile:

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What is everyone doing for a gap year?
I'm not too sure on how to start




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Hi all :h: so what are you planning to do in your gap year and how are you going to address this whole reapplying/gap year thing in your PS?

I'm currently volunteering in a hospital and in a care come as well as running a medicine-related blog, so I'm going to continue those. I'm also taking maths at my country's equivalent to A-levels and retaking biology. If I get a place in the UK, I'm hoping to also get a paid job for the rest of the year.

I'm not sure how much I should talk about my gap year plans and the fact that I'm reapplying in my PS, if at all! Discussing it in length seems like a waste of space, mentioning it briefly could give a bad impression, and not mentioning it at all seems a bit untruthful... :s-smilie:
Original post by Bloom77
What is everyone doing for a gap year?
I'm not too sure on how to start




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well i've got a couple ideas...get a job as a HCA, learning a language and i've made a medicine related blog and some trial stuff at my local hospital where they get makeup artists to make your face like a trauma patient and it's used for training junior doctors. Check around your local hospital to see they do anything similar (you get paid for it too!)
Original post by StationToStation
Hi all :h: so what are you planning to do in your gap year and how are you going to address this whole reapplying/gap year thing in your PS?

I'm currently volunteering in a hospital and in a care come as well as running a medicine-related blog, so I'm going to continue those. I'm also taking maths at my country's equivalent to A-levels and retaking biology. If I get a place in the UK, I'm hoping to also get a paid job for the rest of the year.

I'm not sure how much I should talk about my gap year plans and the fact that I'm reapplying in my PS, if at all! Discussing it in length seems like a waste of space, mentioning it briefly could give a bad impression, and not mentioning it at all seems a bit untruthful... :s-smilie:



ahhh i have no idea on this! i dont know where to start. I've had to remark a paper and so if it doesnt come back as an A i will have to retake and i will have to mention the need for retaking in my ps for liverpool. Out of interest, where are you from?:smile:
Original post by Kings_queens
ahhh i have no idea on this! i dont know where to start. I've had to remark a paper and so if it doesnt come back as an A i will have to retake and i will have to mention the need for retaking in my ps for liverpool. Out of interest, where are you from?:smile:


Finland! Ahhhh sounds stressful, lets pray that your grade comes back as an A! Thankfully my biology grade was already equivalent to an A and I'm just retaking it out of spite lol, probably going to put the original grade on the UCAS form and just ask my referee to briefly mention the retake.

So are you only applying to Liverpool or what's your situation? :smile:
Original post by StationToStation
Finland! Ahhhh sounds stressful, lets pray that your grade comes back as an A! Thankfully my biology grade was already equivalent to an A and I'm just retaking it out of spite lol, probably going to put the original grade on the UCAS form and just ask my referee to briefly mention the retake.

So are you only applying to Liverpool or what's your situation? :smile:


how come you're retaking it?! won't it put you at a disadvantage as you can only apply to retake unis in the uk?

well i can't decide any university choices until i get my remark back! if it's an A i'll have a choice of where i can apply as my ukcat is 710 but if it stays at a B i'll have to retake and my choices will be limited to 4 unis in the uk :frown::frown:
Original post by StationToStation
Finland! Ahhhh sounds stressful, lets pray that your grade comes back as an A! Thankfully my biology grade was already equivalent to an A and I'm just retaking it out of spite lol, probably going to put the original grade on the UCAS form and just ask my referee to briefly mention the retake.

So are you only applying to Liverpool or what's your situation? :smile:


also what's your blog called?
Original post by Kings_queens
how come you're retaking it?! won't it put you at a disadvantage as you can only apply to retake unis in the uk?

well i can't decide any university choices until i get my remark back! if it's an A i'll have a choice of where i can apply as my ukcat is 710 but if it stays at a B i'll have to retake and my choices will be limited to 4 unis in the uk :frown::frown:


Right, that sucks... :frown: It feels so unfair that just a couple of points in just one subjects could limit your options so much, but I guess they have to draw the line somewhere.

I've emailed many universities about my grades asking whether my Finnish qualifications are ok and they've all just said that they won't consider the retaken grade (ie they only take the original into account), so I should be free to retake it. My blog's address is www.anillnessaday.wordpress.com - I basically try to explain the causal mechanisms of illnesses in lay terms. :smile:
Original post by StationToStation
Right, that sucks... :frown: It feels so unfair that just a couple of points in just one subjects could limit your options so much, but I guess they have to draw the line somewhere.

I've emailed many universities about my grades asking whether my Finnish qualifications are ok and they've all just said that they won't consider the retaken grade (ie they only take the original into account), so I should be free to retake it. My blog's address is www.anillnessaday.wordpress.com - I basically try to explain the causal mechanisms of illnesses in lay terms. :smile:


aww thats great news then! good luck for your application and ooo okay i'll have a look - mine is hopeful-medic.weebly.com and i talk about the struggles of getting into medicine...
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Kings_queens
aww thats great news then! good luck for your application and ooo okay i'll have a look - mine is hopeful-medic.weebly.com and i talk about the struggles of getting into medicine...


Good luck with yours as well!! I'll go check your blog out too :smile:
I really wanna do medicine but I really don't want to reapply
The application process is so much pressure: ukcat, personal statement, interview and I if any one of them goes bad, then all of it would go wrong. Get what I mean?



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Original post by Bloom77
I really wanna do medicine but I really don't want to reapply
The application process is so much pressure: ukcat, personal statement, interview and I if any one of them goes bad, then all of it would go wrong. Get what I mean?



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have you done your ukcat yet? And have you done it before? Honestly if you don't want to go through it again why not choose another course maybe that has a link to medicine, biomed or medical bio chem? I think it's character building and it shows the uni that you really want to do medicine as most people give up after the first try
Original post by Kings_queens
have you done your ukcat yet? And have you done it before? Honestly if you don't want to go through it again why not choose another course maybe that has a link to medicine, biomed or medical bio chem? I think it's character building and it shows the uni that you really want to do medicine as most people give up after the first try


I've done it before
I got two interviews this year but unfortunately was rejected after both of them. I don't feel motivated to go through the process again, particularly because of the ukcat - it's a lot of pressure and I'm not sure how well I will do the second time as I didn't do exceptionally well the first time (610).




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Original post by Bloom77
I've done it before
I got two interviews this year but unfortunately was rejected after both of them. I don't feel motivated to go through the process again, particularly because of the ukcat - it's a lot of pressure and I'm not sure how well I will do the second time as I didn't do exceptionally well the first time (610).




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Don't worry I did it last year too and got 637.5 and redid it couple weeks ago and got 710. You know what to expect this year and we have an advantage because we have done it before!
Out of interest which medical schools did you get interviews from? I've got a score similar to yours was (610) and am really worried about applying :/
Original post by MariaMaria111
Out of interest which medical schools did you get interviews from? I've got a score similar to yours was (610) and am really worried about applying :/


Kings extended medical programme and Southampton BM6
I guess I was optimistic about the application process: neither did my grades (BBBd) nor my ukcat made my application disappointing
My personal statement was the strength of my applications and it was what got me those interviews.
My personal statement, not to sound big headed but j thought was better a lot of medical applicants because it was so different and unique and had a different style.
Make that your strength, don't worry about your UKCAT!
Apply to your strengths
See if our eligible for some of the medical foundation courses :smile:



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Original post by Bloom77
I really wanna do medicine but I really don't want to reapply
The application process is so much pressure: ukcat, personal statement, interview and I if any one of them goes bad, then all of it would go wrong. Get what I mean?



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Been through the application process twice, adding BMAT into the list.

I swore to myself the first time that I applied that I will never want to go through the whole ordeal again, but at the end of the day, we have to do what we have to do. There's always a chance of success if you re-apply, but none if you choose not to. You could potentially do much better this year since you have already went through the process once.
I got four pre-interview rejections when I first applied but am now happily about to start my second year at Imperial. If you guys need any advice about gap years/reapplying etc., feel free to drop me a message. :smile:
Original post by MariaMaria111
Out of interest which medical schools did you get interviews from? I've got a score similar to yours was (610) and am really worried about applying :/


i didn't get any interviews, but that's because i wasn't wise about my medical school options. I knew straight away that i wanted to take a gap year going into year 13 as i knew i could improve my ukcat a lot

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