Graduate entry medicine programme

Hello! I’m currently in Year 13 and I am planning to do Nursing in September. My dream career is to become a doctor and I’ve searched about graduate entry medicine programme. Can you please tell me more about it? Many thanks! ☺️

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

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

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Reply 2

Scotland Yard

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by ioanaingrid18

Why are you not applying for undergrad medicine?

Reply 3

ioanaingrid18

Original post

by Scotland Yard

Why are you not applying for undergrad medicine?

I can’t apply for the undergraduate because I am doing BTEC health and social care, not an A-Level

Reply 4

Scotland Yard

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by ioanaingrid18

I can’t apply for the undergraduate because I am doing BTEC health and social care, not an A-Level

I see.

Well, I'm in the midst of applying myself to GEM so I'm happy to tell you my thoughts on my journey's been so far, but I recommend applying for undergrad medicine first time, because GEM is very competitive and also, very expensive. In the grand scheme of things, it will probably be easier to do A-levels and apply to the undergrad than trying to do another degree. I can't blame you if you don't take my advice - I got given similar advice after I left sixth form and I didn't listen, but if I could do it all again, I would have just redone my A-levels and saved myself all the extra hassle and stress.

Anyways, a good way to set yourself up for success in a GEM application is to do something Medicine-adjacent, so nursing is probably a good idea. Ideally I'd also try to choose for your nursing degree a university that also does Medicine - this wasn't something I planned when I accepted my uni offer, but having a university with a medical school has been an invaluable resource and help for me, because I've been able to speak with many medical students and gotten a very good picture of medicine, plus I've gone to a couple of medical student societies' events, and I may or may not have snuck into a couple of medical lectures :colondollar:

All of that has been incredibly helpful in my journey and, more importantly, keeping the dream and motivation alive whenever my degree has become a slog.

Work experience is also a must, although I assume that doing a nursing degree will make that incredibly easy via your placements.

The next big thing you need to know is about the entrance exams. One of them is the UCAT, which is the exam all the undergrad medical degrees use these days. It's not a pleasant exam, but it's not too bad. The UCAT website has got plenty of resources to help you prepare, and realistically you don't need to worry about prepping for it until a month or two before you need to take it. It's not really an exam you study for, you know? Except for maybe brushing up on Maths. The rest are skills you need to practice and hone by practice. The other entrance exam is the GAMSAT, which is a scary test, 6 hours long, and you do need to study for this one (you'll need to be very good on your Biology and Chemistry and confident on your Physics!). I haven't taken it because it sounds awful, but you might have to depending on which medical school you want to go to - not all accept UCAT. Your chances of being shortlisted for interviews will mostly boil down to how well you do in these exams, so it's important that you do well in them.

If you are lucky enough to get a place for GEM, it will be a dream come true, but then there come some complications: namely that you now need to pay for it. You do get student finance for GEM, but you don't get quite as much as you would do for a first degree, so that's very tricky. If you're lucky maybe your family can help you, but else, you might need to work for a couple of years before applying to save up money, or maybe take out loans. Or be crazy good at budgeting...

Also, first year of GEM is very intense. You'll have noticed that the graduate programmes are 4 years long instead of 5 years, and the way they manage that is by teaching you all of the year 1 and year 2 content in a single year, which doesn't sound like the most fun thing in the world. It hasn't stopped me from wanting to do Medicine, but it's certainly something to keep in mind.

Reply 5

ErasistratusV

Don't do another degree before medicine. There is no need and it doesn't benefit you in any way.

Take a year out, sit the A levels or complete an Access to HE diploma, work in hospital and then come back and we can consider how best to apply to medicine.

Nursing and medicine are very different professions and approach care from very different perspectives.

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