Postgraduate studies during gap year, then apply again?

Hi there,

First of all sorry if this is not the right forum!
So I finished my BSc in biomed this year and was hoping to get into medicine this year. Well, despite 3 interviews I didn't . Not sure what went wrong there tbh but now I'm facing a dilemma:
So I want to do a masters degree and basically I'm trying to choose between molecular medicine and genomic medicine. Both share like 70% of the modules with the former offering more optional ones whereas the latter has more sequencing. However, I feel like the name of the degree matters which might eventually be limiting in case I don't get into med school. Then again I'd need a PhD so might not matter that much. Also, I'm not sure which factors to include in my decision: -interest? Well it's essentially the same course so not much of a difference. - course name in case I don't get into med school? -usefulness as a doctor? (thinking about genetic counseling here, which might be the future of medicine after all) -University reputation and city?

Anyone got experience with that, some advice or done something similar? Any input is much appreciated .

(Another thing I feel is extremely limiting with my choices is that some unis are delaying their start dates. With the courses having a duration of 12 months they would sometimes overlap with the start date of med courses, and you're not meant to be enrolled in 2 institutions at the same time. If anyone went through this could you please let me know how this worked out for you?)

Thanks in advance

Are you certain you want to do GEM? If so, I wouldn't stress too much about a) doing a Master's and b) what the exact name of the degree is. Neither degree you've mentioned will be directly hugely useful for medical school or being a (non-specialised) junior doctor. I would think about spending the year in some form of employment or volunteer work which will be relevant for GEM. A Master's may be worth an extra point on junior doctor's job applications, but it's certainly not essential and there is time to gain higher qualifications later on in your medical career.

Receiving three interview invites is an encouraging sign that your application met the criteria the med schools were initially looking for - hopefully you can get invites again this year and things will go more favourably. Did you receive any feedback as to why your interviews weren't successful?

If you're certain you want to do GEM I would be wary of going down the MSc + PhD pathway - you're far better off thinking about why your application wasn't successful and specifically targeting those areas rather than committing to years of study in a non-related field.

If you choose to go into clinical genetics (genetic counselling isn't a medical specialty), then having a postgraduate degree may be more important and the exact name relevant, which is in fact a good reason to possibly put off doing a Master's until you're more sure about what your ultimate end goal is.