Unsure about my gap year and whether to do more A levels

I’m currently in year 13 and applied for dentistry. My AS level results were AAA in Bio, Chem and Maths and my predicted grades are A*A*A*. My ucat result was 1950-2000 in that range and band 3, I also had 4A*s,3As,2Bs and a C the A* were in all sciences and maths and a A in English lang. The point of this post is that I got rejected from all of my unis and was thinking about pivoting careers.

To do this I was thinking about going back to college on my gap year and take further maths and physics to go into engineering or maths as well as doing some super curriculars in those areas. Just curious about your opinion on whether this is completely pointless idea and a waste of time and that I should focus on more work experience. As well as tips to strengthen my dentistry application if I chose to apply again.

Reply 1

Mr7759820

Don’t waste ur time, get a job and work for a year.
get a job in health care if possible
I’d recommend a trainee pharmacy dispenser role

Then re apply to uni for the following year

Reply 2

UEA Rep Jas

Official Rep

Hiya!

I’m sorry to hear that your application didn’t go as planned.

If a career change is something you are genuinely interested in, I don’t think that this is a waste of time at all! Your grades are fantastic and this is definitely something that would be possible for you to do, even without going back to college. A lot of universities will offer a foundation year if you don’t have the right grades or a level subjects, and this can be a fantastic route into a different career path, though with a maths a-level, you may not need a foundation year if you want to do a maths degree.

I think taking a year out will help you to take a step back and evaluate what you’re really interested in, and you can explore your options without the pressure of being in academia. This is something I did and it was really worth it for me, I was able to think about what I enjoyed and ended up switching career paths and did this with a foundation year- it was a valuable experience!

If you do decide to stay in dentistry, I would contact some other universities and explain your situation, and see if they are able to offer you a place, or what they would need from you in terms of super curriculars/work experience in order to give you an offer! And like the other commenter suggested, doing some work experience could be a good idea too!

I hope this helps!

Jas :smile: