Turning down a place at medical school to try again next year

You choose five courses on the UCAS form but only four can be medicine. The other needs to be something that makes sense in terms of your personal statement: Biomedical Sciences, for example. You can put something unrelated to medicine down (law, accountancy, etc) but the application will go in the bin when they see your Personal Statement which (presumably) says that you have thought of nothing but becoming a doctor since you first saw Casualty on the television when you were six years old.

Slightly confused about this UCAS thing, I'll probably start my application later this year for 2018 entry. I'm thinking of Medicine but I'll have to do a foundation course (6 years) due to incorrect A Levels for the normal 5 years. When you upload your personal statement, is it just ONE personal statement for all Universities? What if people apply to different course?Can you not upload multiple personal statements? This has just never been explained to me so sorry if sound really naive loool

don't do it unless:

1. you are confident you will get a spot in a medical school

2. you have other choices elsewhere and won't study in the UK if you don't get into med school

3. you are just joking

I applied to four medical schools this year and got interviews at three of them. But since I put my application in I have a bit gone off one of the three schools where I am being interviewed. I had thought that if I got an offer only from the school that I have gone off that I might turn down the offer and try again next year. However, I have been told that if you are offered a place at any medical school in the UK and turn the offer down all other UK medical schools will reject a subsequent application from you. Is this true?

Your jumping the gun a bit, especially seeing as there's a good chance you won't get that offer. But if you do it would be madness to turn it down, you know how competitive medicine is and you could be risking your career by turning down the chance. An offer this year does not mean you will get one next year.

My advice would be to look really carefully at the other courses and try and get some enthusiasm about them. You must have liked something about them to apply in the first place. It's hard, but try not to set all your sights on one university as if you don't get an offer then you'll be setting yourself up for disappointment. Getting in anywhere is a big achievement!

I am not so crazy as to think that I am likely to be offered a place at any medical school. I was simply trying to think through a situation where I was offered a place at a medical school that I wasn't madly keen on in the light of what I had been told. I fully understand that getting offered a place at ANY medical school is a very long shot.

I applied to four medical schools this year and got interviews at three of them. But since I put my application in I have a bit gone off one of the three schools where I am being interviewed. I had thought that if I got an offer only from the school that I have gone off that I might turn down the offer and try again next year. However, I have been told that if you are offered a place at any medical school in the UK and turn the offer down all other UK medical schools will reject a subsequent application from you. Is this true?

You can only write one personal statement for all 5 of your choices, even if you apply to different courses. It's usually advised you make your fifth choice medicine-related such as biomedical sciences just so that when they read your PS it will still be somewhat relevant.

Slightly confused about this UCAS thing, I'll probably start my application later this year for 2018 entry. I'm thinking of Medicine but I'll have to do a foundation course (6 years) due to incorrect A Levels for the normal 5 years. When you upload your personal statement, is it just ONE personal statement for all Universities? What if people apply to different course?Can you not upload multiple personal statements? This has just never been explained to me so sorry if sound really naive loool

This is slightly misunderstanding what I said. I am very keen on my other choices and not so keen about only one of the schools that I put down on my UCAS form. What to do if I get offered a place at the latter? I accept that any offer is very unlikely but I am just trying to think through the possibilities in advance.

@NeverLucky was a Tourism applicant for London Met

Oh, and Cambridge too :P

It only has an effect if you reject a university's offer one year, then apply to them again next year - apparently they blacklist you for doing that. That's what I always got told when I was applying.

No they don't.

Universities don't hold grudges...

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The whole point of applying through UCAS is that your choices don't know where else you applied.

Besides, if the only place OP will reject this year is the university they don't actually want to go to, I don't see why this is an issue anyway.

Not quite true. The universities know the full facts after a candidate has accepted/declined his/her offers.



The issue is that the OP might well not get an offer next time around. Any offer for medicine, from anywhere, should not be discarded lightly.

First point - correct me if I'm wrong,

You are wrong.

Just what my head of sixth form and my own university told me when I applied 3 years ago pal, don't shoot the messenger. It's not about 'holding a grudge'. Universities give out a limited number of places a year. They have a rigorous selection process. If you turned them down one year, they're not going to waste their time handing out another offer when it may just get rejected again, and when they have a whole new year's worth of applicants who are likely very eager to get a place. It's common sense really.

Besides, if the only place OP will reject this year is the university they don't actually want to go to, I don't see why this is an issue anyway. It has no effect whatsoever on the likelihood of being accepted at the other unis.