So, you DIDN'T get into medical school...

I'm writing this thread as a sort of flipside to my other one now that offers and the unfortunately inevitable rejections will begin arriving. I am hesitant to call this advice but, well, it's my experience of the situation, let's say that.

First up: I will qualify my comments by stating from the outset, that I myself was totally rejected in the first time around- I am talking zero offers for even a single interview. Not a single one. So I totally get what it is like to know rejection, I really do.

So I know exactly what it feels like. I was totally crushed and it seemed grossly unfair at the time. All of my peers were going on to their respective University courses and I felt as if I was going to be 'left behind'. I don't feel embarrassed to say that I raged at myself and probably at the world in general. I felt pretty depressed and despondent and I couldn't believe that the college course I had absolutely worked so hard for from day 1 and sustained for an entire academic year to achieve the absolute maximum grades possible had all apparently been done for nothing.

Anyway, that is enough of that. What matters is what I did after this.

After a time- probably a month- of introspection and much soul searching, I stopped being angry and began to try to 'own' my failure. I began to look at why I had failed and how I would fix it. I reasoned that in another year I would be a bit older, a bit wiser and know what to expect. I'd be forewarned and be better equipped to make an another attempt. And in the meantime, I took on another rather more challenging healthcare job which turned out to be by far the best job I have ever had to date and my experiences there really helped shape me as a person and I truly believe made me a better applicant as well.

So for those of you who unfortunately get the same result that I had the first time around. Don't be too hard on yourself. It is ok to be angry, in fact I would argue that is more useful that despair. Instead, try to turn it around and into something productive. You've got a year to go travelling, a year to hit the gym and shape yourself in mind and body, a year to learn an anatomy anki deck, a year to learn to drive, another year to learn more about medicine for the interviews, a year to earn money ready for Uni (very handy for the wild first year you have in mind), a year to gain some very useful experience of the clinical environment (get a bank HCA job, trust me on this: you will learn a lot of things at a very accelerated rate) and what is more you will have greater insight and maturity when you get into school in the next application cycle. All of this is going to:

-Improve your performance at medical school
-Foster personal resilience which is so important at school and beyond
-Make you a better person
-Make you a better clinician by the end of it

And it is this final point that really actually matters. Not the fact you're graduating one or more years behind a person you went to school with. You're running your own race with the aim of becoming a doctor. The more experiences that you build into that process of growth, the better that end result will be.

I can tell you now -honestly- I am actually glad I was rejected the first time around. I'm actually glad I had to retake my first year. If these events hadn't happened, I would have missed out on basically near 24 months of some serious self improvement.

One last thing:

So many posts on this forum seem to be based on concerns surrounding age and numbers and worrying about starting Uni at age 22 or similar. It pains me to see it because I don't want (in particular, young) people to even percieve any kind of limitation on their potential being placed on them due to their age or when they started Uni. Life is far more than a neat little process revolving around how many times you have been around the Sun and what age you graduated or got married at or if you were earning 60K per annum by the age of 30. No biological process I am aware of relies solely on neatly calculated integers as a way of measuring time. A tree doesn't give up on life at the age of 30. A flower doesn't decide to grow when the soil temperature is exactly 7.8 degrees. Neither do you. You have time on your side- don't place artificial constraints on yourself.

PS If you want to read some motivational material, I'd recommend reading about a man called David Goggins.

Take care. Feel free to post rants or groans on this thread. Feel free to post your successes on it, too.

E.

This is a fantastic post. So motivational to the many that will be in the position you were in. Thank you x

I'm writing this thread as a sort of flipside to my other one now that offers and the unfortunately inevitable rejections will begin arriving. I am hesitant to call this advice but, well, it's my experience of the situation, let's say that.
First up: I will qualify my comments by stating from the outset, that I myself was totally rejected in the first time around- I am talking zero offers for even a single interview. Not a single one. So I totally get what it is like to know rejection, I really do.
So I know exactly what it feels like. I was totally crushed and it seemed grossly unfair at the time. All of my peers were going on to their respective University courses and I felt as if I was going to be 'left behind'. I don't feel embarrassed to say that I raged at myself and probably at the world in general. I felt pretty depressed and despondent and I couldn't believe that the college course I had absolutely worked so hard for from day 1 and sustained for an entire academic year to achieve the absolute maximum grades possible had all apparently been done for nothing.
Anyway, that is enough of that. What matters is what I did after this.
After a time- probably a month- of introspection and much soul searching, I stopped being angry and began to try to 'own' my failure. I began to look at why I had failed and how I would fix it. I reasoned that in another year I would be a bit older, a bit wiser and know what to expect. I'd be forewarned and be better equipped to make an another attempt. And in the meantime, I took on another rather more challenging healthcare job which turned out to be by far the best job I have ever had to date and my experiences there really helped shape me as a person and I truly believe made me a better applicant as well.
So for those of you who unfortunately get the same result that I had the first time around. Don't be too hard on yourself. It is ok to be angry, in fact I would argue that is more useful that despair. Instead, try to turn it around and into something productive. You've got a year to go travelling, a year to hit the gym and shape yourself in mind and body, a year to learn an anatomy anki deck, a year to learn to drive, another year to learn more about medicine for the interviews, a year to earn money ready for Uni (very handy for the wild first year you have in mind), a year to gain some very useful experience of the clinical environment (get a bank HCA job, trust me on this: you will learn a lot of things at a very accelerated rate) and what is more you will have greater insight and maturity when you get into school in the next application cycle. All of this is going to:
-Improve your performance at medical school
-Foster personal resilience which is so important at school and beyond
-Make you a better person
-Make you a better clinician by the end of it
And it is this final point that really actually matters. Not the fact you're graduating one or more years behind a person you went to school with. You're running your own race with the aim of becoming a doctor. The more experiences that you build into that process of growth, the better that end result will be.
I can tell you now -honestly- I am actually glad I was rejected the first time around. I'm actually glad I had to retake my first year. If these events hadn't happened, I would have missed out on basically near 24 months of some serious self improvement.
One last thing:
So many posts on this forum seem to be based on concerns surrounding age and numbers and worrying about starting Uni at age 22 or similar. It pains me to see it because I don't want (in particular, young) people to even percieve any kind of limitation on their potential being placed on them due to their age or when they started Uni. Life is far more than a neat little process revolving around how many times you have been around the Sun and what age you graduated or got married at or if you were earning 60K per annum by the age of 30. No biological process I am aware of relies solely on neatly calculated integers as a way of measuring time. A tree doesn't give up on life at the age of 30. A flower doesn't decide to grow when the soil temperature is exactly 7.8 degrees. Neither do you. You have time on your side- don't place artificial constraints on yourself.
PS If you want to read some motivational material, I'd recommend reading about a man called David Goggins.
Take care. Feel free to post rants or groans on this thread. Feel free to post your successes on it, too.
E.

Just read you post.
Everyone seems to talk about not getting in first time round but not second.
I’m not med but dent.
Last year got four post interview rejections.
This year got 3 interviews and so far been rejected by two. Still on hold at Bristol.
I thought I had done everything I could to improve my application.
Got a job dental nursing. Did some more volunteering. Practiced my interview techniques.
Got my grades.
I am lost. Not sure what else I could have done and still I hold no offers.
Thanks for your post by the way.

If you are going through hell- keep going. I know someone who was successful on their fourth attempt to medicine. You are getting interviews so you can do this. The first time around for med I had zero interviews.

Thanks for all the advice.
Just unsure what to do to improve my application if I try again (not that I’m saying there isn’t room for improvement). Any suggestions would be really welcome. Thanks

Do you have feedback from your rejections?

Thanks for all the advice.
Just unsure what to do to improve my application if I try again (not that I’m saying there isn’t room for improvement). Any suggestions would be really welcome. Thanks

Thanks. Not sure yet.
Thought I had improved my interview skills from last year’s rejections. Did lots of prep.
How would you suggest I improve further?