Mature student applying to top universities for engineering

Hi all,
I am a mature student thinking of applying for an undergraduate engineering degree at top universities this year as a means of changing careers. I took my A-levels in 2019 achieving A*,A*,A in Biology, Maths and Chemistry. I got accepted into medical school and went there for 5 years where I got average marks but passed everything in one go. Medicine being a pass/fail course, I simply have pass as my grade.
Now I have been working as a doctor for 6 months and if I apply this year, by the time I start my course, I will have worked as one for 2 years. I am well aware of the need to self-fund and my reasons for doing an undergraduate degree are clear.
The courses I would be applying to are:
Molecular bioengineering at imperial: A*AA requirement
Biochemical/chemical engineering at UCL: AAA requirement
I do not have time to do an access course as I am working full time with long hours and I do not want to quit my job at the moment.
Questions I have:
Do I have a good chance of getting accepted into engineering at imperial and UCL? I meet the requirements but I am just wondering if anyone has experience in applying with A-levels that were not done recently.
Does me having done medicine and experience as a doctor hold some weight in my application?

I would have thought so but the best idea is to wait until the admissions round has finished at the end of May and then call the admissions teams at the universities that interest you.

Thanks. Can I ask why I should wait till the admissions round finishes to call them? Can I not just call at any time?

You can call them any time but they tend to have more time free for meaningful conversations when the application round is finished but results aren’t out yet.

Hi all,

I am a mature student thinking of applying for an undergraduate engineering degree at top universities this year as a means of changing careers. I took my A-levels in 2019 achieving A*,A*,A in Biology, Maths and Chemistry. I got accepted into medical school and went there for 5 years where I got average marks but passed everything in one go. Medicine being a pass/fail course, I simply have pass as my grade.

Now I have been working as a doctor for 6 months and if I apply this year, by the time I start my course, I will have worked as one for 2 years. I am well aware of the need to self-fund and my reasons for doing an undergraduate degree are clear.

The courses I would be applying to are:
Molecular bioengineering at imperial: A*AA requirement
Biochemical/chemical engineering at UCL: AAA requirement

I do not have time to do an access course as I am working full time with long hours and I do not want to quit my job at the moment.

Questions I have:
Do I have a good chance of getting accepted into engineering at imperial and UCL? I meet the requirements but I am just wondering if anyone has experience in applying with A-levels that were not done recently.

Does me having done medicine and experience as a doctor hold some weight in my application?

Note that you can get funding for a second degree in STEM subjects if you're studying part-time. So you may want to explore part-time engineering course providers too, as that has a more favourable funding model. You might also want to explore degree apprenticeship options, since then you can earn and begin working as an engineer more directly while still completing the degree. Not sure how many such options are available for the biological/biomedical/biochemical engineering fields but for e.g. mechanical/aerospace etc there are plenty of high profile employers offering these (e.g. Rolls Royce, BAE, JLR, etc). So might also be an area to look into!
Otherwise you might want to instead look for masters courses open to students from medical/bioscience backgrounds in the area(s) you're interested in potentially to transition through that manner, since they're related to bio(medical) areas? For example the MSc Biochemical Engineering at UCL has two routes depending on whether students are from a science or engineering background and does not formally require an engineering degree. If you were looking at a complete change to e.g. aerospace engineering or chemical engineering or something then a new undergrad degree would probably be practically necessary, but in the biological/biomedical/biochemical engineering area you may have enough basic science background in the biosciences for entry at masters level already.
In terms of applying for undergraduate entry, since you meet the requirements and successfully completed your degree recently in principle I don't see any issues with applying, but you may want to contact them to confirm your qualifications are acceptable. They may for example have some reservations about you not having done any substantial maths for the last ~5 years or so, and since engineering degrees involve a lot of that they might like to see you have undertaken some recent study in that particular area (e.g. an A-level in Further Maths or an OU module or something). I'm assuming those courses don't require A-level Physics so that shouldn't be an issue but maths skills go rusty fast and they probably want to know that you can comfortably hit the ground running with all your A-level calculus from day 1.

Thanks a lot for the help. I really appreciate it. I think I will try to apply for a full undergrad degree if the universities accept my qualifications. But if they don't/I do not get accepted, then I will most likely apply for a masters programme. I do want to try and transition out of medicine into a more corporate role in something high finance although I know it is a difficult path.

Hi all,
I am a mature student thinking of applying for an undergraduate engineering degree at top universities this year as a means of changing careers. I took my A-levels in 2019 achieving A*,A*,A in Biology, Maths and Chemistry. I got accepted into medical school and went there for 5 years where I got average marks but passed everything in one go. Medicine being a pass/fail course, I simply have pass as my grade.
Now I have been working as a doctor for 6 months and if I apply this year, by the time I start my course, I will have worked as one for 2 years. I am well aware of the need to self-fund and my reasons for doing an undergraduate degree are clear.
The courses I would be applying to are:
Molecular bioengineering at imperial: A*AA requirement
Biochemical/chemical engineering at UCL: AAA requirement
I do not have time to do an access course as I am working full time with long hours and I do not want to quit my job at the moment.
Questions I have:
Do I have a good chance of getting accepted into engineering at imperial and UCL? I meet the requirements but I am just wondering if anyone has experience in applying with A-levels that were not done recently.
Does me having done medicine and experience as a doctor hold some weight in my application?

I mean if your goal is finance...there's no reason you can't just directly apply now. You don't need an engineering degree to work in investment banking (or similar things like management consulting) - any degree is acceptable. They usually look for graduates from target universities although perhaps a medical degree would even the field even if you didn't go to a target uni. Doing a whole extra degree (or even a masters) seems actually a bit superfluous for that goal!
Unless you want to apply to a particularly technical and/or mathematical area in finance (e.g. quant finance, actuarial roles, etc) then I don't think it's going to matter. Also if you wanted to go into quant finance realistically you would probably want to be doing maths or CS or something similar rather than engineering (which may not be quite mathematical enough), and you'd realistically need at least a masters if not a PhD in the area for that side I gather.

What made you change your mind from being a doctor to engineer?

Thanks a lot for the reply again. Yes, I did not go to a target uni, went to a russel group but not a top 10. I think it holds me back a lot so I figured doing a quantitative degree at a top uni would remove that obstacle. Maybe medicine does overcome such barriers but I still thought having a top uni on my CV would be better. I would not want to go into quant finance, most likely investment banking/consulting.

Investment banking and consulting don't require a quantitative degree. Any degree is sufficient, although ideally from a target uni as non-target uni applicants may get sifted before interview. However a medical degree might be sufficient to pull you out of that.
Have you done any kind of internships in such roles/employers since leaving medicine and/or have you tried applying regardless right now? Since per your plan it's going to not be until the next application cycle that you actually submit your UCAS application so you may as well try your luck in the meantime and see if you get any traction without such a degree.
Also as far as getting a target uni on your CV a masters may be sufficient rather than a full undergrad degree (and again, that need not necessarily be in a quantitative area, although it might be sensible to pursue it in a relevant field even if not necessarily quantitative - e.g. management, finance, an MBA etc).
Unless you actually want to work as an engineer I don't think doing an undergrad engineering degree is necessary - I think you can achieve your goals with a masters degree or just directly going into things potentially?

That makes a lot of sense. I did do an internship last year at a life sciences VC firm, a very prominent one which I am quite pleased about. I haven’t actually applied to any jobs in the field so I don’t actually know where I stand.

I suppose I should do that before I think of doing another degree. The only reason I state a preference for engineering is because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do but my parents pushed me to do medicine. I suppose a masters would help satisfy that itch though?

That makes a lot of sense. I did do an internship last year at a life sciences VC firm, a very prominent one which I am quite pleased about. I haven’t actually applied to any jobs in the field so I don’t actually know where I stand.
I suppose I should do that before I think of doing another degree. The only reason I state a preference for engineering is because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do but my parents pushed me to do medicine. I suppose a masters would help satisfy that itch though?

Perhaps, but if it's always what you wanted to do why not continue looking for ways into engineering but to actually...work as an engineer? Instead of as a platform to go into finance. You could always work in finance for a couple years to save some money up if you wanted.
I'd definitely suggest applying to a few positions in the meantime - I can't see you have anything to lose by doing so, and you have some time until you have to consider stuff for applying to a new degree (undergrad or masters) anyway for 2026 entry!

In your position I think you'd be best off trying your luck writing/applying to the big blue chip companies and doing one of their graduate courses. If they want you to have specific qualifications they might be prepared to finance your training for a particular role.
Completing a medical degree despite having no real interest in it is just mind-boggling to me. I admire a person who can find focus in the face of no real anticipated reward and despite having basically no interest in the content.

Explore consulting and when you are ready, speak to some companies. If you can't get into consulting with a completed medical degree, then you aren't suited to consulting and no further degrees will change that. There is a well trodden path from medicine into consulting.

Definitely, my issue is whether I can get passed the screening process for interview having gone to a non-target school, I understand medicine might surpass that but it still worries me. I haven't actually tried to apply for any jobs yet so I will see how it goes.