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What else should I be doing? (Medicine)

Hi,

I'm currently in Year 12, and planning on applying to medicine later this year. I was wondering whether anybody had any suggestions for any other things I should be doing at this stage (e.g. supercurriculars).

My GCSEs are 99999998886
I'm predicted A*A*A, and I'm doing an EPQ.
I'm currently volunteering at a food bank and at a care home.
I've had one lot of work experience, and I'm going to apply for another within the next few months.
I'm a part of a medicine society.
I'm writing an essay for a medicine competition.
I'm attending the KCL medicine and dentistry lecture series.
I've attended an online university lecture on gangrene.

Additionally, do you think that my stats are competitive enough when I eventually apply to medicine (providing I get a good UCAT)? At the minute, I'm thinking of applying to Imperial, Kings, Leicester and Nottingham.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

The Medicine forum gets a high volume of questions being posted, and some of these are already answered by the resources and Megathreads that members of the community and volunteers have created. This is an automatic post which is designed to highlight these resources. Below is a list of threads and articles that could answer your question (you should be looking in the original post of the megathreads). If one of the below threads is a more relevant place to ask your question, please post a reply in that thread to ask your question. If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked below, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Megathreads
(Please read the first post, before then posting any further questions you have within that thread.)
The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread
Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work

2024 Applicants :
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2024 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2024 Entry
GAMSAT 2024 / 2025 entry discussions megathread
UCAT 2024 Entry Discussions Megathread
Medicine 2024 entry for resit / retake / gap year applicants
A100 Medicine for International Students 2024 Entry
Medicine Interview Discussion 2024 Entry
2024 entry A100 / A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
Medical Schools Index 2024 Entry

2025 Applicants :
Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2025 entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2025 Entry
GAMSAT 2025 / 2026 entry discussions megathread
UCAT 2025 Entry Discussions Megathread
Medicine 2025 entry for resit/ retake/ gap year applicants
A100 Medicine for International Students 2025 Entry
Medicine Interview Discussion 2025 Entry
2025 entry A100/ A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
Medical Schools Index 2025 Entry

Other application years:
Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2026 entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2026 Entry

Useful Articles:
GCSE Requirements for Medicine
Everything you need to know about the BMAT
Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
Medicine Personal Statement Advice
Medicine Personal Statement Advice (Graduate Entry)
Interview Frequently Asked Questions
MMI Medicine Interview Tips
What to do after an unsuccessful first application
Funding medicine as a second degree

For Community Feedback:
Medicine Community Feedback and Suggestions

If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked above, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Reply 2

JazzyB796

What you need to do, and it’s gonna sound dumb, is take a slow down. These things will look amazing on applications, I have very little doubt that these university’s will invite you to interview with this. What’s important here is to slow down to not burnout, keep consistency, make sure you’re checking in with yourself. In my opinion, no more super curricular are needed, this should be enough for interview invite. If you like, regularly read articles on the NHS, understand the structure and read everything going on in the medical space through science magazines. This regular reading will do you wonders for your interviews. Read through famous NHS hot topics and find other who want to apply for medicine and discuss them and their ethical questions and what is means for medicine as a practice. The UCAT you do not need to worry about until summer of year 12, maybe have a look at what the different types of questions are, but study for UCAT isn’t needed until summer. This reading will also help with the UCAT Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgement sections. Alternatively, whilst I’m sure you’ve likely already done this, look at ur uni choices. Can you finance living in London? Is the big city where you want to live? How does the course teach? What facilities do they have? Are they located somewhere you are happy living? What’s their accommodation like? Do you need a 24/7 library or is one that’s open until midnight enough? What are their affiliated hospitals for clinical placements? Etc… these are all important questions. Make sure you understand why it is that ur aiming for THIS course and THESE universities. Also, apply strategically, especially when looking at UCAT cutoffs. But that won’t factor in until you start your application. In regards to your personal statement, I suggest keeping reflections of things that you experience in your work experience and in your volunteering that teach you valuable lessons, why the NHS is structured the way it is, examples of understanding how healthcare is struggling, examples of cool medical scientific moments eg, listening to a discussion about drug interactions between two professionals, or even examples of the multidisciplinary nature of healthcare. There’s much much more to a medicine application than what’s on your UCAS application. I wish you the best with your application, and well done on everything you have achieved so far. :smile: