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Applying for graduate entry to medicine after getting degree from bad uni

Hello, I wanted to apply for medicine this year but I didn't have good grades. I got offer from Anglia Ruskin University for biomedical science but it's far from me. So I am thinking to go for Biomedical Science at East London University. I know it's not a good uni but it's very closer to my home. Do I need to get my biomedical science degree from a good uni to get into graduate medicine? Or I can do my degree from any uni and I just need the good result. Do universities look for good uni and those who have graduated from a good uni will get more priority. Please help me I am so confused.
Thank youvery much
Reply 1
Original post by Ismat Hoque
Hello, I wanted to apply for medicine this year but I didn't have good grades. I got offer from Anglia Ruskin University for biomedical science but it's far from me. So I am thinking to go for Biomedical Science at East London University. I know it's not a good uni but it's very closer to my home. Do I need to get my biomedical science degree from a good uni to get into graduate medicine? Or I can do my degree from any uni and I just need the good result. Do universities look for good uni and those who have graduated from a good uni will get more priority. Please help me I am so confused.
Thank youvery much

Resit your A-levels. You’re making it harder to get into medicine. It doesn’t matter about your uni, it doesn’t even matter to have a science degree. For graduate entry medicine, you are competing with applicants from all degree disciplines depending on the uni you choose (like Warwick), much higher UCAT scores (like 3000+), most people have a 2:1/1st, a fair amount of NHS experience like working as an HCA.
You will significantly reduce your chances of getting into medicine applying as a graduate, to the point that many seasoned TSR medics literally say, assume you will not get in for GEM.
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 2
But I didn't do my ucat this year. So I can't apply for next year. Also my predicyed grades won't be AAA. If i resit privately it's too expensive. I have to wait two more years then and still it is not confirmed that I can get into medicine. So if this is the case I will just waste two years. I have also heard that next year medicine will be much more competitive because this year so many applicants got offer but they couldn't get into medicine because there were no space. So all of them are going to apply for next year+ the new applicants. So it's going to be very competitive. Can I apply to medicine to any uni after one year of biomedical?
Reply 3
May be like I will do biomed in east london uni and then after one year i will apply for medicine to any other uni like anglia ruskin because east london uni doesn't have medicine itself. And if i don't get anyoffer then I will apply for graduate medicine. There willbe two options. Is that possible to apply for medicine to a different uni after completing first year of biomed from a different uni?
Reply 4
Original post by Ismat Hoque
But I didn't do my ucat this year. So I can't apply for next year.

There's still time I guess, and also the BMAT exam. UCAT has an element of luck so you could be pleasantly surprised, some people don't need as prep much as others.

Also my predicyed grades won't be AAA.

Why not?

If i resit privately it's too expensive.

If you think sitting exams privately is too expensive, you're going to be in for a shock when you find out how expensive GEM is. You can't get a tuition loan from SFE as it'll be your second degree and the maintenance loan won't even fully cover the tuition fee.

I have to wait two more years then and still it is not confirmed that I can get into medicine.So if this is the case I will just waste two years.

Or you graduate and then it's still not confirmed that you can get into medicine and you're in lots of debt with a degree you never wanted. What a waste of 3 years! (and more if you have to keep reapplying for GEM)

I have also heard that next year medicine will be much more competitive because this year so many applicants got offer but they couldn't get into medicine because there were no space. So all of them are going to apply for next year+ the new applicants. So it's going to be very competitive.

Nowhere near as competitive as GEM. You're forgetting that GEM has far less spaces already and do you really want to increase your competition but applying alongside people with non-science degrees, PhDs, fantastically high UCAT scores, loads of work experience?
A 1st/2:1 is no guarantee, neither is having a biomed degree or even a high entrance exam score.
If you mess up your UCAT as well, you'll be limited by which GEM unis you can apply to with a BMAT, and a GAMSAT exam is ridiculously expensive £200+ and the prep materials also cost money.

May be like I will do biomed in east london uni and then after one year i will apply for medicine to any other uni like anglia ruskin because east london uni doesn't have medicine itself. And if i don't get any offer then I will apply for graduate medicine. There willbe two options. Is that possible to apply for medicine to a different uni after completing first year of biomed from a different uni?

You will have to put on your UCAS that you are currently attending a university (even if you're in your first year).
And the option of graduate medicine is much easier said than done. You're assuming you'll get into medicine at least for graduate entry if you don't after reapplying during first year of uni.
What will you do if you don't get into graduate medicine at all?
@asclepeion GEM students pay about £3500 in their first year, then after that it's funded by a combination of SFE loans and NHS funding. It's the standard undergrad medicine degrees that graduates can't get any tuition funding for. I agree with everything else you're saying. It's also worth noting that many GEM universities still have A-level requirements, so getting a 2.i degree or better wouldn't necessarily compensate for poor results and the OP would still need to retake her exams. Some students seem to be under the impression that GEM is intended as a sort of second chance for people who couldn't get in first time, as opposed to a route for career changers, which is possibly why they expect it to be easier than resisting A-levels.
Reply 6
Original post by Incidentaloma
@asclepeion GEM students pay about £3500 in their first year, then after that it's funded by a combination of SFE loans and NHS funding. It's the standard undergrad medicine degrees that graduates can't get any tuition funding for. I agree with everything else you're saying. It's also worth noting that many GEM universities still have A-level requirements, so getting a 2.i degree or better wouldn't necessarily compensate for poor results and the OP would still need to retake her exams. Some students seem to be under the impression that GEM is intended as a sort of second chance for people who couldn't get in first time, as opposed to a route for career changers, which is possibly why they expect it to be easier than resisting A-levels.

So the first year of a 4 yr GEM wouldn’t cover the full tuition with SFE loan, right?
But I thought that even for 4 yr GEM your SFE loans wouldn’t cover (or barely cover) the living costs and you’d have to figure it out. Because it’s a reduced rate loan for GEM or 5 year.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by asclepeion
So the first year of a 4 yr GEM wouldn’t cover the full tuition with SFE loan, right?
But I thought that even for 4 yr GEM your SFE loans wouldn’t cover (or barely cover) the living costs and you’d have to figure it out. Because it’s a reduced rate loan for GEM or 5 year.

GEM students are entitled to SFE tuition loans to cover the remainder of their first year fees. NHS funding and SFE tuition loans cover everything after that point. Your eligibility for maintenance loans varies with your personal circumstances. Nottingham explain how it works here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/support/financialsupport/studentfunding/fundingforgemstudents.aspx
Reply 8
Original post by Incidentaloma
GEM students are entitled to SFE tuition loans to cover the remainder of their first year fees. NHS funding and SFE tuition loans cover everything after that point. Your eligibility for maintenance loans varies with your personal circumstances. Nottingham explain how it works here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/support/financialsupport/studentfunding/fundingforgemstudents.aspx

Yeah I remember reading stuff about SFE for a second degree, back when I thought I was going to get into GEM years ago lol but then calculated I'd never get enough maintenance loan to cover so thought I'd cross that bridge if I come to it. PRSOM!

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