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reapplying for medicine

Hi, I am a fourth year genetics grad from glasgow. I applied this year to (glasgow, aberdeen, dundee and edinburgh). I got interviews from the first two and then rejected, and rejected pre-interview from the latter two.

I have 2 weeks of shadowing experience, voluntary teacher at a weekend school for last 3 years, I have also been doing occasional respite care voluntary work (as much as I can with the degree and everything else) for more than a year.

I have a published research paper, and another one in the pipes. I have represented Glasgow university regionally in Lacrosse. I have recreationally played the piano for last 12 years. I have started an online academic journal, and I have been among the heads of a big society at university.

I think I want to reapply for medicine next year. What can I do to strengthen my application for next time, to show that I am still actively working towards medicine. Keep doing what I have already been doing? Also I may pick up a Masters, if I do that, what can I do in order to improve my application? Please keep in mind the time constraints that will be put on me if I am also doing a masters.

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Reply 1

username2300427

Hi, sorry for not mentioning that in the first place.

My degree is 2.1. I have 5 highers: AABBC and an A-level: A.

Honestly, I think my biggest failure was at the interviews. I had everything required and more but I didn't do the interviews well. I believe I spoke from my heart and not with my brain

Reply 2

username2300427

For example, Glasgow asked me for an example where I had seen a doctor who had behaved 'professionally', and I gave an example how I have always seen my dad go out of his way to help people.

It's the only thing I could think of in the moment, and in all honesty my dad IS the most important influence in me wanting to be a doctor. Then they kept probing me, asking why to everything I said to answer why I wanted to be a doctor (I wasn't prepared for the probing). In the end I just said 'because I want to help people'. That probs is one of the main reasons they rejected me.

I don't know though, they don't give any feedback

Reply 3

username2300427

naa not yet. the purpose of me trying to ask for help here is that, is there anything else i can do, on paper, to improve my application? in terms of extra-curriculars i mean, to show that I have not been wasting my time and improved my application from last time

Reply 4

AzureCeleste

Find a list of commonly asked interview questions(or remember some from ones you've done) and think of examples of how to answer which aren't necessarily related to your dad(or if they are don't say he's your dad).
Practice with people and get them to ask you questions. They are going to try and dig deeper into what you are saying so make sure you can back up.
And for why you want to be a doctor don't just say you want to help people(doesn't everyone?), give a bit more reasoning and depth behind it

Reply 5

username2300427

Original post by Volibear

Yes but are you planning to reapply to the same places? Your application on paper was clearly good enough to get interviews from two of them. Bar keeping up with whatever work experience you're doing, I don't see what adding a masters would do for that or anything else really. Do you know why you were rejected from the ones who rejected you without interview?

We can't tell you what you need to improve without knowing what it is that went wrong the first time round. For two medical schools, it was clearly your interview performance and that's what you need to work on. For the other two, what was it? Did you not have enough work experience hours? Did you not do well enough in the admissions exams? Do you actually meet their minimum grade requirements? Was it something to do with your personal statement? Medical schools probably aren't going to ask you what you've been up to since your rejection. It'll be a fresh application. In my opinion, there's no point trying to find something new to 'strengthen' your application, if you don't also sort out the weak area that got you the rejections in the first place.

EDIT: Aberdeen "Re-application to the MB ChB programme after an unsuccessful application: We are happy to consider an application from a candidate who has previously applied to our medical programme but was unsuccessful. However, we recommend that candidates who have been unsuccessful in their first application ask for feedback from the Admissions Lead to ensure that a second application addresses areas of weakness."
I hope you've done this.

all fair points. I know where my application failed and tbh i got interviews from where i thought i was gonna get them. edinburgh was pretty much a failed application anyways cause i had 2740 (685) but a band 3. the band 3 lost me 4 points out of 40. so thats clearly a point i will try to rectify for next time.

as for dundee, they are very unclear about how they score applicants, so I cant really say anything other than my high-school grades probably took me down.

Overall, i will try to improve my ukcat and get a better SJT band. I also want to do a masters incase i get rejected from medicine next year too.

One point I do want to clarify is that, Warwick asks for very specialised work experience (it has to be very hands on, eg, directly in contact with the patient in say a hospital, like bandaging or something). Thing is, its kinda hard finding/getting jobs healthcare assistant/support worker jobs like that, especially in Scotland. They (for jobs) also ask for a SVQ3 qualification in healthcare, which i obvs don't have, and to get that i will need to take an year out and i am not even sure they will let me in since i have a higher qualification already. So I don't know how to fulfil that requirement.

Reply 6

username2300427

Original post by Volibear

Why don't you do the masters next year?

So have you decided where you're applying this year?

As for Warwick, can you not find HCA jobs that will train you too? Or maybe consider training as a phlebotomist? Your local hospital will probably run courses that may be open to the public.

since i got interviews from glasgow and aberdeen i will reapply there, granting that i still meet the academic requirements for this cycle and i can achieve a ukcat of the same or better level. i also want to apply to warwick and edinburgh hopefully with better ukcat banding. these are universities where i have a strong chance of getting an interview with a decent ukcat again.

I am looking at HCA jobs but they all require a SVQ3 qualification in healthcare, which i dont have, and i dont have the time to do it either. but i will look into my hospital running courses open to the public. thanks for all your help btw

Reply 7

username2750786

Hi @singhaman

I thinkkkk I've seen you on Scottish medical school threads? Correct me if I'm wrong. I was in the same place as you last year and I'd like to give you some advice based on my own experience, take it as you will

What to do now: get that 2:1 or 1. Study now, and hard. Reapplying to medicine is not the priority now and getting either those classes in your degree will mean you meet the achieved academics for all courses. Once you've achieved either, relax, and think about the reapplication. Once you have that achieved result, you will automatically become a stronger applicant I believe, especially for Aberdeen.

If you were set on Aberdeen, it would be advisable to do a masters. Your achieved 2:1/1 will help with the scoring. A masters will add to this - but don't do it if it's not something you completely want to do.

Getting to the interview stage at Glasgow is quite an achievement and once you're there you are on level ground with every other applicant. So you have everything you need to get to interview stage. This is the time to shine.Take time to look back at your extra cirriculars and do some more insight. One thing that stood out for me was reading junior doctors memoirs books and the like, don't remember on top of my head but there's some really good ones. You can get these off amazon and I think they give an indepth and 'raw' scope of working in medicine, particularly in the NHS. Glasgow tend to ask questions that require quite a lot of thinking on the spot, such as professionalism views and what are expected of doctors. They will probe you, no matter what opinion you hold because they want to see your thought process. Remember the questions they asked you and research them, this helped me for my second try.

Practice the dreaded UKCAT again, use medify. Medify is life. It helped me get a much better score. You'll mostly likely get a better score this time round.

Remember that if this is what you want, maintain resilience, show them how you have reflected on your 'shortcomings' in this cycle and you're back as a stronger applicant. I guarantee you will be a stronger applicant next year. You're welcome to mail me if you have questions. :smile:

best of luck.

Reply 8

username2300427

Original post by Volibear

OP already has a 2:1.

sorry for the mis-understanding, i have a predicted 2.1, sitting my exams in less than 20 days

Reply 9

username2750786

Original post by Volibear

Oh. From the "My degree is 2:1" and the fact you say your a genetics graduate, I assumed you'd already graduated.

I guess we can't always assume right! 😁

Reply 10

username2300427

Original post by Volibear

Oh. From the "My degree is 2:1" and the fact you say your a genetics graduate, I assumed you'd already graduated.

I get it. And I apologised for it.

Reply 11

The Medic Portal

Original post by singhaman

Hi there!

There are many things you can do to strengthen your application - from undertaking more work experience to improving your UKCAT score.

The best thing to do would be to ask for feedback from the universities you applied to so you can see where the weakest parts of your application were - whether this is interview performance or test scores.

We also have plenty of advice on how to improve your application on our Reapplying to Medicine page.

Hope this helps! :smile:

The Medic Portal