Ŵill my medicine application be at a disadvantage with NO work experience?

yes, you need an insight into what a career in medicine involves and whether it is for you or not, and the only real way to do this is by getting work experience. especially with how competitive it is and that 99% of people will have work experience, you will be at a disadvantage.

On university websites they say it doesn't have to be in a hospital/surgery though and it can be in a hospice/caring environment ... :/

true, what you have done shows you care and like working with people however generally work experience and voluntary work is what most applicants will have. if you're applying after summer, why dont you get some work exp over summer and put it on your PS? it'll give you more to talk about and, from my experience, interviewers like to talk about work experience placements etc and what you've learnt from them about a career in medicine.

On university websites they say it doesn't have to be in a hospital/surgery though and it can be in a hospice/caring environment ... :/

I've been asking for work experience for weeks, I've asked 11 hospitals! It seems to be the only people that get any are those with contacts which is very annoying. Thanks for your help.

I know the feeling... Having no doctors/nurses in the family can make things a bit harder. I actually had to apply/search/beg for my placements, whereas my friends were like: 'Oh I'll just shadow my dad and uncle'. It is still possible to get work experience, though!

I remember you from another thread- aren't you someone who lives somewhere really rural? I'm sure one of the 11 will get back to you eventually.

I should think so. Putting aside what admissions may think, how do you know you want to do Medicine if you've got no experience of it?
Showing roles in caring capacities is good, but teaching children English doesn't show you've got a good idea of what being a doctor takes. Many people probably do work experience and still don't have a clue, but it's still a tick-box that they will look for.

As in absolutely 0 work experience in a hospital/GP surgery.

I have -

helping disabled children
two weeks looking after and teaching children English
nursing home

and also I helped my elderly neighbour two years leading up to her death. This is the reason I want to study medicine but idk if I could write this on my PS since I have no proof?

thanks

Yes it will, however I had no work experience, just volunteering and I got 3 interviews and a place at ucl my advise to you is to beg around see if you can get at least a day or two following a doc around, personally I think it's a waste of time, volunteering is much more valuable, but med schools really like it.

Hi yeah I am haha and I hope so!

would it be polite for me to directly email doctors? Because I have found so emails and that way I am addressing them directly instead of the HR Department

Thanks! Like I asked Pandabär, do you think it would be okay for me to directly email doctors?

It also isn't like they have a blacklisting of med school applicants where if you send an annoying email they will all share it and block you from getting any experience. Just write something along the lines of I want to be a doc and would greatly appreciate it if I could shadow you for a bit. Some docs will be worried about confidentiality but I know docs who would just be like meh why not. Try approaching the HR dept too but in my experience you will be entering a world of red tape. Shadowing really isn't a big deal, so while some docs will get arsey about it and med school seem to think it's really important all it really is is following around a doc on his job.

Hi yeah I am haha and I hope so!

would it be polite for me to directly email doctors? Because I have found so emails and that way I am addressing them directly instead of the HR Department