Medicine reject after gap year.

Hey guys,

After not getting in to medicine, I decided to take a gap year and re-apply to medical school. During my gap year I was really excited about getting an interview from Manchester as it was my first choice, then after interview I was put on hold and rejected at the end of the cycle. I am very upset at this point and thinking of applying again next year as I was so close. However, my family and school are being very negative and telling me to stop wasting my life and head to uni to study something else. As a result, I have looked in to applying for Optometry through UCAS extra and I think it would be an interesting area of study and something I could enjoy, however, it's not something I would like to do long-term because medicine is still my passion. So I have come on to tsr to ask people for opinions on what to do from now. I feel like I am in exactly the same position as I was in one year ago so any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Hey guys,

After not getting in to medicine, I decided to take a gap year and re-apply to medical school. During my gap year I was really excited about getting an interview from Manchester as it was my first choice, then after interview I was put on hold and rejected at the end of the cycle. I am very upset at this point and thinking of applying again next year as I was so close. However, my family and school are being very negative and telling me to stop wasting my life and head to uni to study something else. As a result, I have looked in to applying for Optometry through UCAS extra and I think it would be an interesting area of study and something I could enjoy, however, it's not something I would like to do long-term because medicine is still my passion. So I have come on to tsr to ask people for opinions on what to do from now. I feel like I am in exactly the same position as I was in one year ago so any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

It annoys me when people say 'NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM' because sometimes, people have to.

What about your other three choices?

My advice is pretty much the same as Birterillo's. You need to find out why you were rejected, and see if you can actually improve your application. It annoys me when people say 'NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM' because sometimes, people have to. Did you choose the wrong universities? Was your personal statement not very good? How did your interview go? Do you struggle to talk about a passion for medicine? Have you got the necessary grades/experience? Basically, if you can improve eough, and you realistically think you could get in, then no, don't give up. BUT, if you don't think that you could improve any more - if your grades aren't good enough, for example, and you can't resit.

How would you suggest I improve my interview? I've had 4 interviews and 3 rejections xD waiting for my 4th one.

Well that depends entirely on what went wrong. Did you say the wrong things? Did you mumble and come across very shy and unconfident? Did you lie? Did you talk too much/too little?

How do you feel it went? And what has feedback told you?

I think I've been nervous and not very confident... that does sometimes lead to me saying the wrong things. Manchester's feedback was extremely general and I'm still waiting for the others' feedbacks.

Well then thats what you need to work on! Do more interview practise, and build up your confidence so that you can say what you really mean. I am not particularly confident in an interview stuation, but I think what got me through was that I managed to show that I was passionate and motivated, even if I did stumble on confidence and waffling a little. When I was struggling a little, at one of the interviews, the interviewer actually commented on the fact that I find it difficult to talk about myself - so it isn't just me imagining it!

I'll try to find a way to do that What did you do in your gap year?

I've got a job as a HCA on the staff bank (get paid more than permanent staff, and get to choose my own hours and wards - BRILLIANT) I'm learning sign language, and doing some volunteering. And more so now than at the start of the year, using the time to visit friends and enjoy myself - this is after all the only chance I'll get to feel this free for a very long time!

That sounds really fun! What does a HCA do? And is it hard to get that job? Ha yeah I agree after this it'll be a lot of work!

A run down of a day in life of a HCA:

Arrive at about 7 in the morning - shifts tend to start somewhere between 7 and half 7, I usually get there a bit before so I have time for a cuppa before we start :P Straight away, we have the nursing handover - basically telling us everything we need to know about each patient.

Then we go and give out the breakfasts, so if you haven't made porridge in years like I hadn't, its time to learn how to do that :P Once breakfasts are given out, eaten, and the trays collected back in, we need to fill out any food diaries and fluid balance charts.

Then its time to start washing, dressing and bed making. Some patients are self-caring, so we just give them a towel and some shower gel so they can go and wash in the ensuites, others will have a bowl of water at the bedside and just wash what they want to, and others are all care, so we have to do everything for them. We do a full bedbath, changing the sheets and putting on fresh clothes, changing any pads, then a bit of a mouthcare and possibly a shave (although I always try and find a man to do any shaves haha) and we're all done. We'll be checking for any pressure sores while we do that.

Once all those are done, the day varies a bit. We have care round checklists which need to be completed hourly (I know that this is something we started as a trust, but I've heard its also being implemented in other trusts too) We also do obs (blood pressure, temp, o2 sats, heart rate and respiration rate) whenever they are required, escort patients to theatre/x-ray/endoscopy/wherever they need to be, help patients with toileting whenever they need to (be prepared for lots of poo/wee/vomit) And if necessary, take samples of poo or wee, and sometimes do dipstick tests on urine (I don't like doing poo samples... but urine dipsticks are alright to do) We help patients with eating at mealtimes, and some HCA's will do blood glucose monitoring for those who need it (I'm doing this training next month )

There's also just generall support for the patients - some will be really talkative, and need lots of attention and just a bit of emotional support. And we're the first line of call when they ring their buzzer for that help. So yeah, its a pretty varied job. Basically, we do all the rubbishy jobs for the staff nurses :P But its soo rewarding sometimes, I come back with a good story pretty much every day

A run down of a day in life of a HCA:

Arrive at about 7 in the morning - shifts tend to start somewhere between 7 and half 7, I usually get there a bit before so I have time for a cuppa before we start :P Straight away, we have the nursing handover - basically telling us everything we need to know about each patient.

Then we go and give out the breakfasts, so if you haven't made porridge in years like I hadn't, its time to learn how to do that :P Once breakfasts are given out, eaten, and the trays collected back in, we need to fill out any food diaries and fluid balance charts.

Then its time to start washing, dressing and bed making. Some patients are self-caring, so we just give them a towel and some shower gel so they can go and wash in the ensuites, others will have a bowl of water at the bedside and just wash what they want to, and others are all care, so we have to do everything for them. We do a full bedbath, changing the sheets and putting on fresh clothes, changing any pads, then a bit of a mouthcare and possibly a shave (although I always try and find a man to do any shaves haha) and we're all done. We'll be checking for any pressure sores while we do that.

Once all those are done, the day varies a bit. We have care round checklists which need to be completed hourly (I know that this is something we started as a trust, but I've heard its also being implemented in other trusts too) We also do obs (blood pressure, temp, o2 sats, heart rate and respiration rate) whenever they are required, escort patients to theatre/x-ray/endoscopy/wherever they need to be, help patients with toileting whenever they need to (be prepared for lots of poo/wee/vomit) And if necessary, take samples of poo or wee, and sometimes do dipstick tests on urine (I don't like doing poo samples... but urine dipsticks are alright to do) We help patients with eating at mealtimes, and some HCA's will do blood glucose monitoring for those who need it (I'm doing this training next month )

There's also just generall support for the patients - some will be really talkative, and need lots of attention and just a bit of emotional support. And we're the first line of call when they ring their buzzer for that help. So yeah, its a pretty varied job. Basically, we do all the rubbishy jobs for the staff nurses :P But its soo rewarding sometimes, I come back with a good story pretty much every day

It annoys me when people say 'NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM' because sometimes, people have to.

Completely disagree. You have ONE life, why waste 50 years of it doing something you don't want to do. OP do not settle for anything but your dream.

And why waste however many years trying to do something that isn't going to happen? You can't put your life on hold for a dream if you know that its too far to reach.