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GEM or standard MBChB?

Hi, I'm in my final year of BSc Zoology at Exeter but I'm looking to study medicine after wards. I've had a look at graduate entry courses but they are rare and very competitive (often only for international or people in financial hardship - which I am neither)
So my thoughts are that maybe I should apply for the standard 5 year course instead. But I have some questions that I've struggled to find answers for;
- Is the GEM course more intense and condensed?
- Since I'll graduate from Exeter next year, will Exeter take that into account if I apply for a 5 year med degree there?
- id there anyone here that has done the GEM in the uk? How was the workload compared to other degrees and were there lots of mature students?

Any info or hearing others' experiences would be greatly appreciated! :smile:

Reply 1

remiro

First and biggest question is do you have the funds to pay for 5 years of tuition for the standard entry course? If your answer is no, then GEM all the way. If you’re able to self fund a second degree then it is worth considering your skill set and experience - some GEM courses will ask for relevant experience in healthcare like working as an HCA or nurse. You haven’t mentioned your predicted grade or your A levels, which are often relevant when applying for undergrad med, so it’s a bit hard to say from there.

GEM courses definitely take home students and students who aren’t in hardship. There are some unis like Cardiff and Surrey that have really specific rules on who can apply but a bit of digging will show you that most unis will take anyone. There is a caveat though - you said you’re doing zoology? Some unis will only accept a degree in biochem/biomed/medical sciences for a GEM applicant, so again, you’d need to be specific about where you apply. KCL for example wouldn’t accept your application, but Southampton might. It would be worth emailing the admissions team at Exeter and asking if they would take into account your degree at Exeter already but my suspicion would be that since you are on Zoology and not Biomed, they wouldn’t.

GEM courses are pretty much exclusively mature students given everyone has to have done a degree beforehand. The age range depends on the uni - some are more weighted towards younger grads, some are more diverse, but there’s no one size answer to that. All GEM courses are 4 years but the structure depends on the uni. Almost all of them condense the 5 years into a 4 year curriculum, so yes, they are more intense, and require a lot of your time. KCL I know do it differently and you have a 4 week crash course before being shunted straight into 2nd year with all other med students and you go on from that point, but you have to come from a relevant biosciences background.
You also need to consider things like entrance exams. Sitting the UCAT alone narrows your options as a non-biomed/biochem grad but the GAMSAT is hard work.

It sounds like you could benefit from having a bit of a dig through individual uni course pages - most of them for grad entry will be marked A101 or A102 but it will vary by institution. There are a lot of pages compiled out there that have the entry requirements and what your degree needs to be.

Reply 2

Chris1225

To add to the above, I completed BSc Medical Sciences at Exeter and as far as I am aware that is the only course that can lead you straight to an interview for the Exeter undergrad med course (no UCAT required, must have gotten a 1st I think). But I now have grad med offers from 3 other unis; the funding is far beyond doing undergrad med as a post-grad.

Reply 3

Claudia Moate

Original post by Chris1225

Thanks for your reply! Yes I’m definitely aiming for GEM and I’m able to fund with my savings from previous employment and some help from my family.
I had done some research on the unis that consider zoology BSc and they all rely on previous experience in HC and personal life (alongside UCAT and GAMSAT which I’m aware I need to prepare for).
I’ve found unis that allow my alevels (AAB Biology Law Psychology)
This summer I will be working as a care worker and shadowing a gp a couple days per week to aid my applications. I know it’s competitive and expensive but from reading other people’s experiences I know it will be be worth it

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