I need advice from medical applicants/students
10
Hello,
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
Reply 1
Original post
by caichalHello,
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
If you are really passionate about medicine - go for it.
Also how did you got work experience in community Pharmacy and Hospital pharmacy. Because I kinda have a bend towards pharmacy after deciding medicine will not suits me. Biology is kinda had for me and also medicine literally take too many years, I mean to do any specialization.
Reply 2
No one can know if it’s the right decision but you. The thing about decisions? They lead to a bunch of other ones. You choose to go for medical school, you commit to a load of other choices as well, some of which you can’t know about until you’re faced with them. If medical school feels right for you right now, assuming it’s an informed rather than a whimsical decision, then go for it. It won’t be a completely informed decision of course. You just have to be comfortable with unknowns. Just as an example, no one told me how much physics was involved in some specialisms of medicine. Given how terrible I am at physics and how frequently I would be confronted with something I don’t intuitively grasp in my first and second year, I have days where medicine feels very much the wrong decision. Until now I’ve been repeatedly deciding to ignore it as it’s something that feels surmountable, but that may become a decision I regret. I mention this just to illustrate that one decision begets another and another and another. You choose medicine, you have to continue to choose medicine over and over and over. It’ll be the sum total of those which will determine if it was right for you. Not one decision between pharmacy and medicine.
Reply 3
10
I don't know what the correct decision for you might be but as a Medicine applicant who is holding offers for this year I'll share some tips with you that I wish someone had told me when I was applying:
1) Look out for widening access programmes, most universities offer them and often doing them reduces the entry requirements greatly
2) This one is a given but work hard for your UCAT, sometimes with a high enough score getting an interview is almost guaranteed
3) Might be a bit late for this but preparing early makes it a ton easier
4) Make sure you get predicted AAA which is what most unis want, they don't really place much importance on them but AAA is the minimum requirement for some unis
5) Make sure your personal statement is great, get it checked by as many people as possible (preferably teachers and maybe people in uni) because in tie-breaking situations your personal statement would be looked at and some unis even score it
6) There are a bunch of online courses you can do that not only will enrich you application but also give you a feel for it, whether it's your type of thing or not and the thing with these is that even if you decide against Medicine I reckon they would help you out for Pharmacy as well
That long paragraph was stuff to help your Medicine application, however deciding whether you want to pursue Medicine or not is up to you. Obviously your siblings can tell you what Pharmacy is like so I would recommend asking people like medical students and junior doctors what Medicine is like so you can get a grasp of both sides. Also doing the Medic Mentor course will not only boost your application but also give you a feel for what Medicine is about, although it is 6 months long so I don't know if it would help you that much but I would still check it out. From my point of view if your 2 options are Pharmacy and Medicine then I would do as you said and apply 3 Medicine and 2 Pharmacy and when you hopefully do get the offers you can research the unis specifically and make a decision. One last thing I will say is that you will always have doubts but that shouldn't cloud your judgment, you should always remain clear-headed. Best way to avoid mistakes.
1) Look out for widening access programmes, most universities offer them and often doing them reduces the entry requirements greatly
2) This one is a given but work hard for your UCAT, sometimes with a high enough score getting an interview is almost guaranteed
3) Might be a bit late for this but preparing early makes it a ton easier
4) Make sure you get predicted AAA which is what most unis want, they don't really place much importance on them but AAA is the minimum requirement for some unis
5) Make sure your personal statement is great, get it checked by as many people as possible (preferably teachers and maybe people in uni) because in tie-breaking situations your personal statement would be looked at and some unis even score it
6) There are a bunch of online courses you can do that not only will enrich you application but also give you a feel for it, whether it's your type of thing or not and the thing with these is that even if you decide against Medicine I reckon they would help you out for Pharmacy as well
That long paragraph was stuff to help your Medicine application, however deciding whether you want to pursue Medicine or not is up to you. Obviously your siblings can tell you what Pharmacy is like so I would recommend asking people like medical students and junior doctors what Medicine is like so you can get a grasp of both sides. Also doing the Medic Mentor course will not only boost your application but also give you a feel for what Medicine is about, although it is 6 months long so I don't know if it would help you that much but I would still check it out. From my point of view if your 2 options are Pharmacy and Medicine then I would do as you said and apply 3 Medicine and 2 Pharmacy and when you hopefully do get the offers you can research the unis specifically and make a decision. One last thing I will say is that you will always have doubts but that shouldn't cloud your judgment, you should always remain clear-headed. Best way to avoid mistakes.
Reply 4
10
Original post
by cuddlequeenIf you are really passionate about medicine - go for it.
Also how did you got work experience in community Pharmacy and Hospital pharmacy. Because I kinda have a bend towards pharmacy after deciding medicine will not suits me. Biology is kinda had for me and also medicine literally take too many years, I mean to do any specialization.
Also how did you got work experience in community Pharmacy and Hospital pharmacy. Because I kinda have a bend towards pharmacy after deciding medicine will not suits me. Biology is kinda had for me and also medicine literally take too many years, I mean to do any specialization.
To be completely honest getting work experience is much easier when you know people, try ask around if anyone in the healthcare field has links to a pharmacist.
Otherwise just approach them professionally and ask if they can take you on for work experience.
For hospital work experience I think you need to go through the NHS or maybe a local Hospital website and apply. This option is only for 16+ though I'm pretty sure due to some safeguarding guidelines or something like that, not entirely sure. You can still try and check
Reply 5
11
Original post
by Al345I don't know what the correct decision for you might be but as a Medicine applicant who is holding offers for this year I'll share some tips with you that I wish someone had told me when I was applying:
1) Look out for widening access programmes, most universities offer them and often doing them reduces the entry requirements greatly
2) This one is a given but work hard for your UCAT, sometimes with a high enough score getting an interview is almost guaranteed
3) Might be a bit late for this but preparing early makes it a ton easier
4) Make sure you get predicted AAA which is what most unis want, they don't really place much importance on them but AAA is the minimum requirement for some unis
5) Make sure your personal statement is great, get it checked by as many people as possible (preferably teachers and maybe people in uni) because in tie-breaking situations your personal statement would be looked at and some unis even score it
6) There are a bunch of online courses you can do that not only will enrich you application but also give you a feel for it, whether it's your type of thing or not and the thing with these is that even if you decide against Medicine I reckon they would help you out for Pharmacy as well
That long paragraph was stuff to help your Medicine application, however deciding whether you want to pursue Medicine or not is up to you. Obviously your siblings can tell you what Pharmacy is like so I would recommend asking people like medical students and junior doctors what Medicine is like so you can get a grasp of both sides. Also doing the Medic Mentor course will not only boost your application but also give you a feel for what Medicine is about, although it is 6 months long so I don't know if it would help you that much but I would still check it out. From my point of view if your 2 options are Pharmacy and Medicine then I would do as you said and apply 3 Medicine and 2 Pharmacy and when you hopefully do get the offers you can research the unis specifically and make a decision. One last thing I will say is that you will always have doubts but that shouldn't cloud your judgment, you should always remain clear-headed. Best way to avoid mistakes.
1) Look out for widening access programmes, most universities offer them and often doing them reduces the entry requirements greatly
2) This one is a given but work hard for your UCAT, sometimes with a high enough score getting an interview is almost guaranteed
3) Might be a bit late for this but preparing early makes it a ton easier
4) Make sure you get predicted AAA which is what most unis want, they don't really place much importance on them but AAA is the minimum requirement for some unis
5) Make sure your personal statement is great, get it checked by as many people as possible (preferably teachers and maybe people in uni) because in tie-breaking situations your personal statement would be looked at and some unis even score it
6) There are a bunch of online courses you can do that not only will enrich you application but also give you a feel for it, whether it's your type of thing or not and the thing with these is that even if you decide against Medicine I reckon they would help you out for Pharmacy as well
That long paragraph was stuff to help your Medicine application, however deciding whether you want to pursue Medicine or not is up to you. Obviously your siblings can tell you what Pharmacy is like so I would recommend asking people like medical students and junior doctors what Medicine is like so you can get a grasp of both sides. Also doing the Medic Mentor course will not only boost your application but also give you a feel for what Medicine is about, although it is 6 months long so I don't know if it would help you that much but I would still check it out. From my point of view if your 2 options are Pharmacy and Medicine then I would do as you said and apply 3 Medicine and 2 Pharmacy and when you hopefully do get the offers you can research the unis specifically and make a decision. One last thing I will say is that you will always have doubts but that shouldn't cloud your judgment, you should always remain clear-headed. Best way to avoid mistakes.
Hello. May I ask which gcse grades you got? I’m in year 10 and I only achieved 5’s in my mocks and I’m so worried that unless I literally get all 8’s and 9’s I won’t get into medicine
Reply 6
10
Original post
by Ms3824Hello. May I ask which gcse grades you got? I’m in year 10 and I only achieved 5’s in my mocks and I’m so worried that unless I literally get all 8’s and 9’s I won’t get into medicine
I got 9s 8s and 7s, although the only 7s I had were English after resitting the next year. You've got ages to pull up your grades you just need to lock in and tbf apart from a minimum requirement you could still get in with not so great GCSEs. But of course you wouldn't want to risk it so I would say as an absolute minimum you need 7s in the sciences, maths and english and atleast 6 7s overall to maximise your choices
Reply 7
Original post
by caichalHello,
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
I’m in year 12 and for the whole of year 12 I’ve fluctuated on what career I’ve wanted to do. I was stuck between Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, and Pharmacy. I very quickly scrapped medicine off my list as I thought it would be too high stress for me to pursue. I set my mind on Dentistry for maybe 5-6 months, but then realised I genuinely stand no chance at getting in, as I don’t want to move out of London for Uni, and my GCSES weren’t good enough to get into a London uni for dentistry. I deemed Optometry as boring and decided I wouldn’t enjoy the mundane job.
So then, I had Pharmacy left. Both of my siblings currently study it, so I know quite a lot about it. I’ve heard mixed things about Pharmacy, but I decided that if my siblings do it, I might as well too. Many universities around me offer it, and I have a good shot at getting in. Also I have a lot of work experience in community Pharmacy and also Hospital pharmacy. However, I started to really think if it’s for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy my work experience at a Pharmacy at all, and realised I want to have a more direct impact on patient’s lives. And I also thought about, if nothing was in my way of getting into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. I’d choose Medicine.
So I think I’ve decided I want to apply to Medicine, however my GCSEs aren’t extraordinary, having achieved 7666666. So I don’t plan on applying to KCL, UCL, or imperial. I don’t even meet the requirements for QMUL. I made a list of realistic shots I have, and decided on Brunel, Medway, and St George’s. That gives me two other free options. I’ll definitely apply to Pharmacy as my other two free shots, and actually try to get in.
Do you think I’m making the right decision and going about the right way in deciding what course I want to study? I desperately need advice as I genuinely can’t decide and don’t want to end up depressed mid degree having wasted time and money.
I can’t comment on pharmacy as don’t know huge amounts about it but I’m holding all my med offers for this year so can give some advice based on that.
I was in a similar position to you, I wasn’t 100% sure on medicine and toyed with applying back and forth several times going between several other health related degrees like you have. I’m very indecisive however ultimately kept coming back to medicine. I was stressed that I would change my mind during the degree so I ended up applying for med,med,med, dentistry,neuroscience!! Which is kind of crazy looking back. I had quite a good ucat so was fairly flexible - part of the reason I was confused about medicine I think was because I had no self confidence that I would get it.
The week after I submitted my ucas I changed the dentistry option to another neuroscience course because I decided dentistry was never for me- it was more of an impulsive decision to apply!!
Have confidence that you can get into medicine (some way or another) and see if that factors into it- for me, once I got my first offer I was extremely regretful that I didn’t apply for four med schools and only applied for three.
While revising for interviews I decided that med was 100% for me and I was going to go for it even if I didn’t get in first try- genuinely the first time I’d felt set on it.
I ended up getting 3/3 med offers and 2/2 neuroscience offers and don’t regret applying for medicine at all, however I knew if I changed my mind I could. Honestly try not to overthink it and don’t doubt yourself!!! Everyone told me I couldn’t get it and I got into all of them with a lot of hard work. Medicine obviously isn’t for everyone so maybe get some work experience to decide if YOU like it- also could try to get some pharmacy experience and speak to students/open days.
Hope this helps a bit, let me know if you have any questions!!
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