Medicine Applications - 3 or 4 med schools?

I'm planning on applying for Med school for September 2027. I'm completing an Access to HE for medicine course so am a bit more limited with my options but my current choices are:

1.Edinburgh Medicine
2.Lancaster Medicine
3.Manchester Medicine
4.Glasgow Medicine
5.Lancaster Biomed

I'm considering changing my 5th Choice to Newcastle Biomed as a back up local uni (and dropping glasgow for Lancaster Biomed to be 4th Choice)

Glasgow is out of my distance range but I was advised to apply to 4 med programmes so that's what I had gone with so far. I just want some advice and if I'm shooting myself in the foot by only applying to 3.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Reply 1

Whatswhat

To maximise your offer chances, yes you should use all 4 choices for medicine …have you no other options apart from Glasgow as your 4th?

Reply 2

Lucifer25729

Original post

by Whatswhat

To maximise your offer chances, yes you should use all 4 choices for medicine …have you no other options apart from Glasgow as your 4th?

I'm a bit limited as I'm completing my access course online (I have a full time job rn) so a lot of uni's won't accept the course. I've also considered Anglia Ruskin but again it's just the distance thats a bit too far for me to feasibly be able to manage.

Reply 3

Whatswhat

Glasgow is around 45mins by train from Edinburgh so it seems a bit of a shame to discount it (and its pretty similar train /driving times to get there as Lancaster isn't it from Newcastle, if that's where you are based now?) At the end of the day it's whether you would refuse an offer from there or not if it was your only offer....many medics have to move around the country for work once qualified anyway, espcially in this current challenging time of securing foundation posts after uni.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 4

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post

by Lucifer25729

I'm planning on applying for Med school for September 2027. I'm completing an Access to HE for medicine course so am a bit more limited with my options but my current choices are:
1.Edinburgh Medicine
2.Lancaster Medicine
3.Manchester Medicine
4.Glasgow Medicine
5.Lancaster Biomed
I'm considering changing my 5th Choice to Newcastle Biomed as a back up local uni (and dropping glasgow for Lancaster Biomed to be 4th Choice)
Glasgow is out of my distance range but I was advised to apply to 4 med programmes so that's what I had gone with so far. I just want some advice and if I'm shooting myself in the foot by only applying to 3.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Hey @Lucifer25729,

It’s great that you’re planning ahead for 2027 and that you’re considering Lancaster for both Medicine and Biomedical Science.

One thing I’d definitely recommend is signing up to Lancaster’s Unibuddy platform. It allows you to chat directly with current Medicine and Biomed students, so you can ask honest, first-hand questions about workload, teaching style, assessments, and student life. This can be really helpful when comparing Lancaster with your other options and getting a clearer picture of what the day-to-day experience is actually like.

Since you’re applying via an Access to HE route, your options are more limited, so being realistic and targeted is a sensible approach. If Glasgow is genuinely outside your distance range, then swapping it for a Biomed backup that you’d actually be happy to attend is a very practical decision. It might also be worth thinking carefully about whether you’d be equally happy studying the Newcastle Biomedical Science programme, as your backup option should ideally be somewhere you’d feel comfortable committing to if Medicine doesn’t work.

While I haven’t been able to go into too much detail about Lancaster University specifically, if you have any questions, feel free to ask 😊

Rachel
Lancaster University Student Ambassador

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by Lucifer25729

I think if your goal is to become a doctor you should aim to apply to 4 medical schools and accept that you may need to move around - not only for medical school but once you become a doctor it's very likely you will need to move around during training anyway. Appreciate this may be difficult if e.g. you're a mature student or have caring/other commitments locally but it may be a broader thing to keep in mind it may be difficult to guarantee you stay in the area after graduating from your medical degree anyway :redface: