Medicine application help

4

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.

Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

11

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

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 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
GANFYD's "Which medical schools accept retake A-Levels" list

2026 Applicants :
Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2026 entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2026 Entry
Medicine 2026 entry for resit/retake/gap year applicants
International Students for Medicine 2026 Entry (overseas students applying to the UK)
UCAT 2026 Entry Discussions Megathread
GAMSAT Megathread 2026/2027 entry
GAMSAT Megathread 2025/2026 entry
2026 entry A100/ A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
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Medical Schools Index 2025 entry

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Medicine UCAS Extra for 2025
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Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2027 Entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2028 Entry

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Increase in the NHS Bursary and expenses for placement
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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

SomehowAMedic

Universities Forum Helper

13

Original post

by stable-buckskin

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.
Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

Hiya, sorry to hear you have been through such a rough time. Honestly, it all depends on where you have applied- some unis rank your a levels and UCAT, others just the UCAT and many rank both GCSEs and UCAT.
Overall, your GCSEs (and maybe even a levels for some unis) are on the weaker end so you needed a heavy reliance on your UCAT. But your UCAT was not very high so you likely didnt receive interviews because of this, which I think is the main issue.
About getting rejected post-interview, this is rough. It does mean that you likely just just didnt meet the threshold that they wanted so it is impossible to say how you could improve on that front without being there.
Hope this helps

Reply 3

hhhqqqq

4

Original post

by stable-buckskin

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.
Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

Look at strategic applications I used this based on where I would be contextual and where I should apply based on my UCAT and band and it also tells you yhr highest interview to offer ratios. This helped me to get 4/4 interviews. I used medify for UCAT you do have to pay for that the UCAT website also has free resources which I would check out closer to your date. For work experience I would ask around at care homes, GP surgeries, donation and charity shops. I was also a reapplying applicant and I learnt I didn’t have the confidence or communication skills that I need to be successful in the interview process. So I had to get out of my comfort zone and start initiating conversation with people myself. 24 hours in A&E is a good documentary to watch I only watch an episode but it helped so much in my interview to refer back to and it just gave me an insight into the healthcare sector.

Reply 4

hhhqqqq

4

Original post

by stable-buckskin

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.
Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

If you don’t mind me asking what did you get in each individual section of the UCAT and what band did you get.
Also for interviews structuring your answers is a big thing try to make a point and expand on it based on experiences or anything you have read and why that is important or what would happen because of that (sort of like a domino effect).
Lots of websites have practice questions try to practice with family or friends or even recording yourself and seeing if you make sense (I did this and it was really humbling but I had to get used to it).

Reply 5

stable-buckskin

OP

4

Original post

by hhhqqqq

Look at strategic applications I used this based on where I would be contextual and where I should apply based on my UCAT and band and it also tells you yhr highest interview to offer ratios. This helped me to get 4/4 interviews. I used medify for UCAT you do have to pay for that the UCAT website also has free resources which I would check out closer to your date. For work experience I would ask around at care homes, GP surgeries, donation and charity shops. I was also a reapplying applicant and I learnt I didn’t have the confidence or communication skills that I need to be successful in the interview process. So I had to get out of my comfort zone and start initiating conversation with people myself. 24 hours in A&E is a good documentary to watch I only watch an episode but it helped so much in my interview to refer back to and it just gave me an insight into the healthcare sector.

Thank you, I'm in similar position as yours, did you get into medicine in your 3rd or 2nd attempt? If you don't mind me asking, how were your gcses and a levels and ucat score when you got in? and congrats for getting in

Reply 6

stable-buckskin

OP

4

Original post

by SomehowAMedic

Hiya, sorry to hear you have been through such a rough time. Honestly, it all depends on where you have applied- some unis rank your a levels and UCAT, others just the UCAT and many rank both GCSEs and UCAT.
Overall, your GCSEs (and maybe even a levels for some unis) are on the weaker end so you needed a heavy reliance on your UCAT. But your UCAT was not very high so you likely didnt receive interviews because of this, which I think is the main issue.
About getting rejected post-interview, this is rough. It does mean that you likely just just didnt meet the threshold that they wanted so it is impossible to say how you could improve on that front without being there.
Hope this helps

Yeah, I do think that. I will prepare more for the UCAT and focus more on it and interviews

Reply 7

stable-buckskin

OP

4

Original post

by hhhqqqq

If you don’t mind me asking what did you get in each individual section of the UCAT and what band did you get.
Also for interviews structuring your answers is a big thing try to make a point and expand on it based on experiences or anything you have read and why that is important or what would happen because of that (sort of like a domino effect).
Lots of websites have practice questions try to practice with family or friends or even recording yourself and seeing if you make sense (I did this and it was really humbling but I had to get used to it).

Thanks, I will do that. on my first try i had ucat of around 2300, with 500 in VR, 500 in DM, 700 in AR and 600 in QR and band 3 then on my second attempt, i got total of around 1800 with 550 in VB, 600 in DM, 650 in QR and band 2. on first attempt i had no interviews but on 2nd I got 2 interview (one of which was contextual which i just found in 2nd attempt and now im no longer contextual in it)

Reply 8

hhhqqqq

4

Original post

by stable-buckskin

Thank you, I'm in similar position as yours, did you get into medicine in your 3rd or 2nd attempt? If you don't mind me asking, how were your gcses and a levels and ucat score when you got in? and congrats for getting in

This was second time applying
I got 9988888666 in my GCSEs
I got ABB in my A-levels (I’m resitting this year)
In my first attempt at the UCAT I got
VR- 650
DM-690
QR-770
AR-630
Band 3

Then on my second attempt I got
VR-700
DM-640
QR-690
Band 2

I would recommend medify a lot and it can be a little pricey but it was worth it. Also there is medentry (I don’t know how expensive this is) but a lot people say using more than one source is better. Also i got better than my scores on medify.

For me, my biggest thing I needed to work on was my interviews.

Also would you be contextual for anywhere as I mentioned before definitely look at strategic applications just search it and it should come up.

Reply 9

hhhqqqq

4

Original post

by stable-buckskin

oh those are good stats, my gcses were 99877666 and a levels of AAA (already got them). I think it is my UCAT and interviews that I need to work on. Yeah, I will buy medify this time too and btw does the uni that you applied to accept a levels resits? I have heard most unis dont allow resits. I have already got a placement at local hospital for volunteering for around 5 months which I did in 2024 is well, do you have any more suggestion on what I could do for interviews? I'm going to buy medicportal cause it has a lot of questions to practise from but what did you do specifically to smash the interviews as my communcation skill aren't the best.

On strategic applications (if you search it, it will come up) it tells you which unis allow resits so I used that.

For communication skills I did like a week work experience at a GP surgery and I tried to talk to as many doctors nurses paramedics to get out of my comfort zone as much as possible and I watch a documentary before hand and I wrote questions that I wanted to ask. And one of those days I went to a care home and what I did was really pick up on interactions between doctor and patient and the skills the doctor showed and why that’s important in medicine and then I have an example of where I showed it. This is structure I used in interviews really helped as a framework.

Reply 10

Aquilegia

Universities Forum Helper, Clearing and Applications Advisor

13

Original post

by stable-buckskin

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.
Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

To be brief and to the point,
1) Most unis rank by UCAT - in both cases, your UCAT has not been competitive enough I'm afraid for most unis - but well done for getting 2 ints - out of interest which ones were they?
2) Try again with getting some healthcare work. I would suggest that it is easier to get care home work than HCA work. It is hard work but you will definitely benefit in terms of interview knowledge, and it will help you in terms of HCA applications
3) The thing not to worry about is 'getting behind your peers'. Plenty of people apply to medicine when much older than you.
4) One other option is to do a related degree and apply for Graduate medicine. This is still competitive, but over the last few years has become more accessible if you apply strategically, as new schools have opened up eg Portsmouth.
5) You can post in the Medicine forum to help with applying strategically.
Good luck!

Reply 11

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

17

Original post

by stable-buckskin

I calculated my average GCSE grade by adding up all grades and dividing by my number of GCSEs and I got average GCSE grade of 7
my achieved a levels are AAA in bio chem math
I applied first with ucat of 2400/3600 when prediction was A*A*A but had no interviews then after I got my A levels, i decided to take gap year then i got my a levels in august then i had to do UCAT again in September and got 1800/2700 then I got 2 interviews but got rejected from all post interview.
So currently, im in my 1 full gap year so I have like 6 months to prepare for UCAT so hopefully I can do better.
Could someone please help where I might be messing up my medicine application? This is my 3rd attempt and I'm really worried as I'm already 2 years behind my peers + i tried gaining work experience but getting no responses (just found somewhere to volunteer for like 6 months), I tried applying to HCA but didn't get accepted.
Could someone please help what I can do to improve myself and get into medicine this year? please im really worried

Hi @stable-buckskin,

I'm sorry to hear to that you've been struggling with your application to medicine. A few tips from me would be:

1.

Firstly, try not to compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own journey.

2.

Apply strategically - identify what your strengths are (eg, GCSE grades, A-level grades, UCAT) and apply based on where you are more likely to get an offer.

3.

Try and get work experience shadowing a Dr and another healthcare professional (nurse,HCA), so you compare between the 2 roles. I would check with family and friends if they know any Dr's or healthcare workers if you're struggling to find someone. Also check with your local GP.

4.

UCAT: if your struggling, look for external organisation or resources that can help. I personally used medology.global services (you can find them on instagram). They supported me throughout my entire application process from personal statement to interviews. I would highly recommend. With UCAT you have to give yourself at least 6 weeks to practice and be consistent with it.

I hope this helps! Please message if you have any further questions.

Khadija (3rd year medical student)

Reply 12

ar.mbchb

1

Hey, really sorry to hear you're going through this. Third cycle is tough and I can understand why you're worried, but nothing you've described is a dealbreaker. Let me give you some honest thoughts.
Your academics are strong. AAA with bio, chem and maths is competitive, and a 7 average at GCSE is solid. That's not where you're losing out.

The UCAT is almost certainly the issue. A 2400 in your first sit and 1800 in your second are both below the threshold most competitive schools are working with, which is roughly 2700+ for shortlisting. Six months of focused preparation is genuinely enough to move that score significantly, but it has to be structured. Get Medify for a 1-2 month block closer to the test, do timed practice daily, and track which subtests you're weakest in rather than practising everything equally. Verbal reasoning and decision making are the ones most people can improve fastest with targeted work.

On work experience, volunteering for 6 months is actually good. The issue is probably how you're writing about it in your personal statement rather than the experience itself. Admissions tutors want reflection, not description. What did you learn, what challenged you, what confirmed medicine was right for you.

On the post-interview rejections, that's a separate problem worth fixing. If you're getting interviews but not offers, the issue is interview technique rather than your application on paper.
Happy to help you think through any of this in more detail. I'm an incoming FY1 and have spent time as an MMI assessor so I know that side of the process well if it's useful when you get to that stage.

Medicine application help

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