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Graduate Entry Medicine 2017

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Reply 80
Hi there,

I am also joining this thread a bit late. My background is a bit different to all of you as I studied Finance and have since then obtained a couple of Financial professional qualifications and have built a career in Finance for the last ten years. I did not have the opportunity to study medicine when I started my studies, and Finance was the easy option. From there you kind of fall into a career.. However, I have never really let go of the desire to study medicine. When I heard about the Graduate programme I realised that this is actually a possibility for me and I am now seriously working towards a application for 2017!

My first step is work experience, I am starting to volunteer for St Johns and at my local hospital as a meal buddy. Through this I am hoping to also do some shadowing and see where it goes. I really want to get a good idea of the profession as this is not a decision and a career change that I will make lightly.

I am planning to do both the UKCAT and GAMSAT next year, St Georges will be my first choice so I really have to do well in GAMSAT. I am thinking of doing a course through Gradmed to prepare as it has been many years since I have done Science! Any thoughts on this will be welcome! Thanks.


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Reply 81
Original post by NiBo
Hi there,

I am also joining this thread a bit late. My background is a bit different to all of you as I studied Finance and have since then obtained a couple of Financial professional qualifications and have built a career in Finance for the last ten years. I did not have the opportunity to study medicine when I started my studies, and Finance was the easy option. From there you kind of fall into a career.. However, I have never really let go of the desire to study medicine. When I heard about the Graduate programme I realised that this is actually a possibility for me and I am now seriously working towards a application for 2017!

My first step is work experience, I am starting to volunteer for St Johns and at my local hospital as a meal buddy. Through this I am hoping to also do some shadowing and see where it goes. I really want to get a good idea of the profession as this is not a decision and a career change that I will make lightly.

I am planning to do both the UKCAT and GAMSAT next year, St Georges will be my first choice so I really have to do well in GAMSAT. I am thinking of doing a course through Gradmed to prepare as it has been many years since I have done Science! Any thoughts on this will be welcome! Thanks.


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I met a gentleman who was completing his GP training and had gone through the graduate entry medicine route having worked in finance with one of the big 4 earlier.

Consider taking the GAMSAT in March 2016 if not Sept 2015 as you'd then have your results prior to applying. If nothing else, a practice run would be quite beneficial if you can do it. The same can be said for the UKCAT.
Reply 82
Thanks, that is encouraging :smile: I might get the Gold Standard materials to work through for a March GAMSAT sitting, based on that result I can decide whether I need to do the course for the September sitting. Thanks for the advise!


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Reply 83
Original post by NiBo
Thanks, that is encouraging :smile: I might get the Gold Standard materials to work through for a March GAMSAT sitting, based on that result I can decide whether I need to do the course for the September sitting. Thanks for the advise!


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To be entirely honest, I wouldn't bother with the course or the gold standard.
Just grab what info you can online, the Griffiths GAMSAT review is reasonably priced and has most all the info you need about the exam then it's just a case of finding the material you want to learn and learning it.
There are a couple other forums with loads of information as well, Google is your friend :wink:

I only used the Griffiths book, A level revision guides and Acer material. Came out with a good enough score, as do many others. Gradmed and Gold standard are aimed at those who have money to burn.
Hi am also in the same boat but looking to sit in September. Had a look at the gold standard but just seems to be an Mcat book with the cover changed!

Am going to start working through the ACER papers and go from there I think
Reply 85
Hey guys I've been reading this thread but I'm confused about one thing. If the GEM programmes extend to five years to give full registration at the end of graduation does it mean that the foundation training is only one year now? I'm getting really confused about this lol. Please help me someone. I hope the four year programmes don't get scrapped since it's what I want to do after biomedicine 😭😨
Original post by Zorg
To be entirely honest, I wouldn't bother with the course or the gold standard.
Just grab what info you can online, the Griffiths GAMSAT review is reasonably priced and has most all the info you need about the exam then it's just a case of finding the material you want to learn and learning it.
There are a couple other forums with loads of information as well, Google is your friend :wink:

I only used the Griffiths book, A level revision guides and Acer material. Came out with a good enough score, as do many others. Gradmed and Gold standard are aimed at those who have money to burn.


Hey, what was your score? Retrospectively, is there any other prep you think you could have done to boost your score?

Thanks for the help


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Reply 87
Considering going for GEM for 2017 entry. I'm still very unsure if I have the right personal qualities to do it, so I guess I need to do some more work experience to figure out if it's the right thing for me. The courses/universities I'm interested in are:

Edinburgh (A100 5 year programme)-this will probably be my top choice. Love everything about Edinburgh and the course
Southampton (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Bristol (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Lancaster (A100 5 year programme)
Newcastle (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)

If anyone has any personal experience applying to/studying at those universities, I'd love to hear them! I have 10 A*s at GCSE and 4 A*s (maths, chemistry, biology and physics) at A Level, along with two weeks of work experience. I also just completed first year in biomedical sciences at a top russell group university, and obtained an average of 80% for the year.

I got four rejections last year-applied to Cambridge, UCL, Leeds and UEA. Got three interviews at Cambridge, Leeds and UEA. My UKCAT score was 707.5 and my BMAT score was 4.0, 5.8, 3.5A. If anyone needs any advice on the UKCAT/BMAT/application process I'm happy to help. Just need to have a long think now over the summer as to whether I can face going through the application process again.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by msewell12
Considering going for GEM for 2017 entry. I'm still very unsure if I have the right personal qualities to do it, so I guess I need to do some more work experience to figure out if it's the right thing for me. The courses/universities I'm interested in are:

Edinburgh (A100 5 year programme)-this will probably be my top choice. Love everything about Edinburgh and the course
Southampton (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Bristol (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Lancaster (A100 5 year programme)
Newcastle (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)

If anyone has any personal experience applying to/studying at those universities, I'd love to hear them! I have 10 A*s at GCSE and 4 A*s (maths, chemistry, biology and physics) at A Level, along with two weeks of work experience. I also just completed first year in biomedical sciences at a top russell group university, and obtained an average of 80% for the year.

I got four rejections last year-applied to Cambridge, UCL, Leeds and UEA. Got three interviews at Cambridge, Leeds and UEA. My UKCAT score was 707.5 and my BMAT score was 4.0, 5.8, 3.5A. If anyone needs any advice on the UKCAT/BMAT/application process I'm happy to help. Just need to have a long think now over the summer as to whether I can face going through the application process again.


You seem like a great applicant. If you've got to the interview stage, it's most likely your performance at interview that was the limiting factor. Did you get feedback from your interviews?

If you're open to applying for 5 year courses that may be a better option. GEM's future is currently so unreliable.
Reply 89
Original post by Absorbaloff
You seem like a great applicant. If you've got to the interview stage, it's most likely your performance at interview that was the limiting factor. Did you get feedback from your interviews?

If you're open to applying for 5 year courses that may be a better option. GEM's future is currently so unreliable.


It's funny you should mention feedback, as the feedback I got from two of the interviews is one of the things that's really putting me off going for medicine again.

Cambridge and UCL both rejected me on the basis of my Year 12 AS Grades (which were BBBC), which I was forced to declare, even though I was a post a level applicant. Cambridge also said my BMAT Section 1 score was weak compared to other applicants. I know I won't have to declare AS Grades if I went for GEM, so this isn't something that particularly bothers me.

Leeds and UEA on the other hand, is a completely different story. Both were MMI interviews, and I have to say, I found the MMI format atrocious. Leeds told me I got the worst score out of everyone who was interviewed, and UEA (after almost a year of waiting), told me I got the second worst score out of everyone who was interviewed. I swore to myself after this I would never apply to anywhere that did MMIs again, but as nearly everywhere seems to be switching to MMI, I think I'll just have to accept that I can't avoid them. I only got the interview scores for both, so didn't get any recommendations on where to improve. For Leeds, I think the nerves got the better of me-I got off to a very bad start on the first station. For UEA, I went into the interview with a very negative mindset. I knew I didn't particularly want to go there; it was a very last minute decision as the day before the deadline i found out my UKCAT score wasn't good enough for Newcastle (2013 was a year where the UKCAT scores were massively inflated and you needed 745 to get an interview at Newcastle). Plus I think the fact I was having so many doubts about whether I was the right person to do medicine really came across. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing :smile:
Original post by msewell12
It's funny you should mention feedback, as the feedback I got from two of the interviews is one of the things that's really putting me off going for medicine again.

Cambridge and UCL both rejected me on the basis of my Year 12 AS Grades (which were BBBC), which I was forced to declare, even though I was a post a level applicant. Cambridge also said my BMAT Section 1 score was weak compared to other applicants. I know I won't have to declare AS Grades if I went for GEM, so this isn't something that particularly bothers me.

Leeds and UEA on the other hand, is a completely different story. Both were MMI interviews, and I have to say, I found the MMI format atrocious. Leeds told me I got the worst score out of everyone who was interviewed, and UEA (after almost a year of waiting), told me I got the second worst score out of everyone who was interviewed. I swore to myself after this I would never apply to anywhere that did MMIs again, but as nearly everywhere seems to be switching to MMI, I think I'll just have to accept that I can't avoid them. I only got the interview scores for both, so didn't get any recommendations on where to improve. For Leeds, I think the nerves got the better of me-I got off to a very bad start on the first station. For UEA, I went into the interview with a very negative mindset. I knew I didn't particularly want to go there; it was a very last minute decision as the day before the deadline i found out my UKCAT score wasn't good enough for Newcastle (2013 was a year where the UKCAT scores were massively inflated and you needed 745 to get an interview at Newcastle). Plus I think the fact I was having so many doubts about whether I was the right person to do medicine really came across. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing :smile:


That's harsh, there was no reason for them to say that. Did you apply to Cambridge and UCL for their undergrad programme, because I assume UCL puts weight on your A-Levels. If you solely apply for GEM, then most uni's don't care about your a-levels. MMI's are f**cking horrible. King's pretty much immediately rejected me but I got St George's which is MMI too.

I guess the only advice I can give is improving your entrance exam scores and more work experience. Don't be disheartened about not getting in first time, this is a brutal process and you've done really well to get 3 interviews.
Is anyone else planning on sitting the ukcat this year?
Original post by msewell12
Considering going for GEM for 2017 entry. I'm still very unsure if I have the right personal qualities to do it, so I guess I need to do some more work experience to figure out if it's the right thing for me. The courses/universities I'm interested in are:

Edinburgh (A100 5 year programme)-this will probably be my top choice. Love everything about Edinburgh and the course
Southampton (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Bristol (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)
Lancaster (A100 5 year programme)
Newcastle (either A101 4 year GEM or A100 5 year programme)

If anyone has any personal experience applying to/studying at those universities, I'd love to hear them!


Hey, I applied to both Newcastle and Southampton (both gem), got offers from both, and am heading to Southampton in september, so feel free to ask away about either/both!

Or hit me up in 6 months/ a year to find out about southampton's first year!



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Hii I'm also applying for 2017 entry as I think I have left it a bit late to apply successfully for 2016. I recently graduated with a 2.1 in forensic science and my GCSEs were really quite good a lot of As and Bs. My a levels however were just terrible honestly I cry when I look at them lool.

In terms of work experience I volunteered on a ward at a hospital for year before I started uni but I don't think this is enough to make my application stand out. Also I have been looking for HCA jobs but I don't have much experience in care and a lot of them are asking for at least a NVQ 2 which I dont have :frown:.

Does anyone have any advice on what sort of work experience I could add to this or what I could do to strengthen my application :smile:
George Osbourne is currently presenting the budget. Let's see if ther's any mention of GEMs.
I ended up banning myself from tsr so that I could study for my first year exams hence my lack of replies on this thread!!
Reply 96
Original post by JenniB22
Hey, I applied to both Newcastle and Southampton (both gem), got offers from both, and am heading to Southampton in september, so feel free to ask away about either/both!

Or hit me up in 6 months/ a year to find out about southampton's first year!



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Hey, thanks very much for your reply (sorry mine is so late). I'd love to hear your views on Southampton and Newcastle-also congratulations for securing offers from both! I love the look about everything at Southampton, especially the course (things like the HCA placement really appeal to me). It could well end up being my top choice, especially with the 2016 Holyrood elections coming up, and all the uncertainty as to whether the SNP will call another independence referendum in the next five years.

I'd be interested to hear why you chose Southampton over Newcastle. I haven't actually been to visit Southampton, but I've heard it's less vibrant than Newcastle, and also the university is a bit stuck out from the town centre. I have been to Newcastle before to visit the medical school, and I fell in love with the city. However, I should stress that nightlife is NOT important to me, and I'm not one of those people who enjoys going out/clubbing every night. I just don't want to be somewhere where I feel isolated.

Also, I've heard from people that the interviews at Southampton are much nicer and friendlier in comparison to Newcastle, where they seem to really *grill* you. I was wondering if there is any truth to this whatsoever? Everything I know who had an interview at Southampton seemed to say it was a very positive experience.

Fingers cross I get a high UKCAT score this time (I presume you need >3000 to apply for BM4/A101?)
Original post by msewell12
Hey, thanks very much for your reply (sorry mine is so late). I'd love to hear your views on Southampton and Newcastle-also congratulations for securing offers from both! I love the look about everything at Southampton, especially the course (things like the HCA placement really appeal to me). It could well end up being my top choice, especially with the 2016 Holyrood elections coming up, and all the uncertainty as to whether the SNP will call another independence referendum in the next five years.

I'd be interested to hear why you chose Southampton over Newcastle. I haven't actually been to visit Southampton, but I've heard it's less vibrant than Newcastle, and also the university is a bit stuck out from the town centre. I have been to Newcastle before to visit the medical school, and I fell in love with the city. However, I should stress that nightlife is NOT important to me, and I'm not one of those people who enjoys going out/clubbing every night. I just don't want to be somewhere where I feel isolated.

Also, I've heard from people that the interviews at Southampton are much nicer and friendlier in comparison to Newcastle, where they seem to really *grill* you. I was wondering if there is any truth to this whatsoever? Everything I know who had an interview at Southampton seemed to say it was a very positive experience.

Fingers cross I get a high UKCAT score this time (I presume you need >3000 to apply for BM4/A101?)


Well firstly I grew up in Southampton, so I know it well. I love the course and its structure, and it seems really well organised for graduates instead of just being a squished version of the undergrad course (which is how I felt a bit about Newcastle). Do bear in mind though that the hca work is only part of bm5, not bm4...

Both of my interviews were really lovely and pretty laid back, I felt like the interviewers at both were interested in me and what I had to say, the questions were interesting and I enjoyed them both to be honest!

Southampton as a city isn't all that pretty, but it's actually an advantage that the uni is not in the centre (it's only about 15 mins away though...) because the campus is really lovely. Also on bm4 you get to do clinical in Winchester, which is absolutely lovely! Southampton is also in a great location, with the seaside, new forest, South downs, and absolutely loads of stuff to do both in the city and around.

As for UKCAT score, it varies every year but it's a massive advantage to score highly for both Southampton and Newcastle as that's literally all they use to invite to interview (as long as you fulfil the minimum requirements). For reference, I got 815.


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Original post by msewell12
Hey, thanks very much for your reply (sorry mine is so late). I'd love to hear your views on Southampton and Newcastle-also congratulations for securing offers from both! I love the look about everything at Southampton, especially the course (things like the HCA placement really appeal to me). It could well end up being my top choice, especially with the 2016 Holyrood elections coming up, and all the uncertainty as to whether the SNP will call another independence referendum in the next five years.

I'd be interested to hear why you chose Southampton over Newcastle. I haven't actually been to visit Southampton, but I've heard it's less vibrant than Newcastle, and also the university is a bit stuck out from the town centre. I have been to Newcastle before to visit the medical school, and I fell in love with the city. However, I should stress that nightlife is NOT important to me, and I'm not one of those people who enjoys going out/clubbing every night. I just don't want to be somewhere where I feel isolated.

Also, I've heard from people that the interviews at Southampton are much nicer and friendlier in comparison to Newcastle, where they seem to really *grill* you. I was wondering if there is any truth to this whatsoever? Everything I know who had an interview at Southampton seemed to say it was a very positive experience.

Fingers cross I get a high UKCAT score this time (I presume you need >3000 to apply for BM4/A101?)


Oh and also one of the big factors in me choosing Southampton was that the grad course is a normal degree in a way, eg first two years are both 30 ish weeks of teaching as opposed to 40+ at Newcastle, which gives me more time to work in the holidays apart from anything else!


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Hi all, I'm a first year cardiac physiology student at Southampton and am currently setting my sights on graduate entry medicine for 2017, so far I'm looking at Southampton and Newcastle, kind of stuck for others to look at (won't go near anyone that uses GAMSAT - really hate that test), any suggestions on other uni's to look at?


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