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Other choices when applying for medicine.....

Ok guys, so you all know you want to do medicine..but what's your back up??? See I personally want to do medicine but I have a bad feeling that i'm not going to get into medicine so i need to ask this question. Yeah , i know it sound stupid, but you've always got to be prepared for the worst!!

Also, on UCAS you have two other choices, and I don't want to waste them so what would you choose...

1) Pharmacy
OR
2) Biomedical science

or something else (if you can explained why that would be great)

P.S And i'm also thinking about doing a graduate entry into medicine....is it worth it ?

Thanks for your help :biggrin:

Reply 1

AEH

8

Personally I'd do cell biology or history, depending on what mood I was in. But that doesn't matter to you, seeing as you're not me. I would dodge choosing a supposedly graduate medicine friendly degree because it could be an expensive three years working towards another round of soul-destroying applications you may not successful in.

Reply 2

national

11

I applied for Chemical Engineering (great career, not too hard, heaps of money) and English Literature (love it)

:smile:

Really make sure that you would be happy to go to your backups because you might have to.
A good idea is to take medicine out of the picture and think of what you would apply to... of course, it has to be achievable - applying for Dentistry is no use :smile:

Of course, you don't have to send away your applications to your back up courses at the same time as your medical choices; you can send the 4 medical choices away for October the 15th and leave the two spaces blank then, when you've decided what to apply to, add your choices to your UCAS.
Very simple, I wish I'd done that.

Reply 3

Becca-Sarah

19

Although in the next UCAS application cycle, you only get one back up choice

Reply 4

Madprof

12

If (and it's a big if; you haven't even applied yet!) you don't get in, I wouldn't go for graduate entry straight away. I really don't think it's worth it after being rejected once at the age of 19 (unless the reasons you were rejected are going to take several years to sort out) - it's very competitive and involves spending three plus years of your life studying a subject that at best was only your second choice, when you can very easily take a gap year and reapply.

Having said that, I did put down backups though (NatSci at Bath and Durham, but like AEH says, I'm not you so you need to pick something you like the sound of), partly because I felt safer using up all my choices, and partly as an insurance in case I had a last minute panic about medicine. In reality though, in that situation, I think I would have reapplied, using all six slots for Biology/NatSci and applying to Cam's NatSci course* (which I couldn't have done along with my choices of medical school).

Having gone to open day talks about biomedical sciences, and reading prospectuses, I would avoid it as a subject, as it seems to be essentially 'pre-clinical sciences', with a huge proportion of people applying for medicine afterwards, rather than studying the subject because they enjoy it in itself.

*But shush, don't tell anyone I considered being 'one of them'...

Reply 5

digitalis

17

Or how about nothing as your backup...gap year, then reapply.

Reply 6

Becca-Sarah

19

I'd put a back-up anyway even if you intend to take a gap year before reapplying.. it'd be less demoralising to have one offer for your back-up than just four rejections.

Reply 7

username43584

8

^^^ Or worse to be like my mate who got six straight rejections (4 for medicine and 2 for her back-ups)

I went biomed because everyone else was and I really wasn't fussed. If I was at the start of the process again, I'd probably have put down English, half for the sheer craic of it, and the other half because it was something I always wanted to do since I was small so it seems right to keep it going until the end.

But in any case...I would have reapplied.

Reply 8

j00ni

9

I put genetics an chem eng down.

Genetics because I would hope to go for grad entry medicine, but more importantly I would have enjoyed the degree, and there are a number of opportunities psost grad.

Chem Eng on the off chance that I decided medicine wasn't for me (was never going to happen tbh, but the entry reqiurements were lower than genetics), and I think it would have been a degree/career that would appeal as it is challenging, well paid, and would satisfy my analytical brain

Basically I always encourage medicine applicants to use their 5th/6th options as it will be of no detriment to your medicine application. However, you have to actually be willing to do those things should you not get into medicine - ie have a backup plan which utilises the other degrees - because if you never intend to use them you will probably be putting both the uni and other applicants out.

Reply 9

Fluffy

15

1) Gap and reapply
2) Anything other than biomedical sciences...

Reply 10

Democracy

20

Gap year

Then if all else fails either go abroad to St Matthews or summat (not too keen on that) or get an MPharm.

Reply 11

national

11

Becca-Sarah

Although in the next UCAS application cycle, you only get one back up choice

Is this true or is this a nasty myth/rumour?

Reply 12

iceman_jondoe

18

Classic, Theodore.

Is this true or is this a nasty myth/rumour?

yeah i havent heard that before. IS that new?

Reply 13

e-lover

16

It's true. You will only have 5 places. Medicine will still be kept at 4 choices max but you only have on back-up! Yikes!

Reply 14

Becca-Sarah

19

I can't say for certain; school has started talking about the next UCAS cycle but seems convinced that nothing has changed and we will still have 6 choices, but online I've heard it's 5.

Reply 15

digitalis

17

No, I believe its true.

it'd be less demoralising to have one offer for your back-up than just four rejections.

I dunno, I thought if I did get an offer for a backup, with absolutely no intention of taking it up, that I would feel really bad about taking a place that perhaps somebody had a genuine interest in that course and might not get a chance to do it! :smile:

Reply 16

Becca-Sarah

19

But think that kind of course you'd be putting for your back-up - the biomed courses etc are not exactly oversubscribed, are they? I doubt you'd be taking up anybody's place by putting it as your back-up.

I feel a bit bad after your post, cos although I'll be applying for med in october, I'm actually in Year 13 and have an ABB firm to study Medical Genetics, which I'm hanging onto until results day, so I have a uni place if my results aren't good enough to do med with - my one redeeming thought is that if I reject it then I might make someone happy by opening up a place in clearing.

Reply 17

Madprof

12

This taking someone else's place ... universities can see your personal statemnt is for medicine, so when they give you an offer, they have a fair idea of how likely you are to take it, so they offer accordingly - if medical applicants didn't apply to their course, they'd just make less offers. Either way, they calculate based on previous years how many offers they need to make. So yes, in the short term you might be letting someone else have your place by declining an offer, but if everyone did that, they'd just offer less next year so there'd be no real gain.

Reply 18

Philosoraptor

18

Some biomedical courses certainly reject people... UCL for example. I'm not just saying that because I'm going there lol, 3 of my friends got rejected from there.

Reply 19

Becca-Sarah

19

Yeah I got told that Lincoln would reject me as a med applicant if I applied for their Applied Biomed course... Lincoln rejecting people - it's almost unbelievable.

Other choices when applying for medicine.....

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