No Medicine Offers, So I'm Studying Biomedical Science!

I Applied For Medicine And Biomedical Science

There are lots of different stages to the Medicine application process, and I found it quite stressful. I got my UCAT score before I applied, and although it wasn’t awful, it limited which universities I could choose. I later got a great BMAT score, but I had only chosen one BMAT university rather than gambling before I sat the test and knew my score.

I thought my application was good: I had plenty of work experience and volunteering, as well as very high GCSEs and predicted A-Level grades. But in the end, my UCAT score really brought it all down.

I ended up applying for Medicine at Oxford, Edinburgh, Birmingham and St George’s. I applied for Biomedical Science as my fifth UCAS choice.

I Didn’t Get Any Medicine Offers

Getting rejections is disappointing – particularly if you’ve been waiting months to hear back and you’ve been hearing about other candidates getting offers.

I think that if I were to do the same again, I wouldn’t change my application. No one should be put off from applying to their dream Medical School for fear of not getting in. However, it’s important to make sure you plan other options too.

My Plan B

Although I didn’t receive any offers for Medicine, I was lucky enough to get an offer for Biomedical Science at St George’s University in London! This prompted me to think about other ways I could still pursue my desire to have a career in the medical field.

The idea of taking a year out and reapplying for Medicine the following year felt unappealing, so I accepted the place for Biomedical Science. This way I still have the option to pursue Medicine again later, but I can also explore related careers in research, hospital labs and more.

Biomedical Science opens a range of doors that I hadn’t even considered when I initially applied for Medicine – some of which I might even end up enjoying more!

My Future Plans

At the moment, I’m thinking about applying for Graduate Entry Medicine at the end of my degree. I still want to work towards becoming a Doctor, even if it involves taking a slightly different route from what I had originally planned.

However, I’m also keeping an open mind about alternative careers, if I end up deciding later into my degree that Medicine isn’t what I truly want to do.

My Advice For Medicine Applicants

My top tips for Medicine applicants would be:

• Make sure you have a solid backup plan. Getting into Medical School is highly competitive, so it’s a really uncertain time.
• Pick a safe fifth option. For your non-Medicine choice, go with a course that you would still enjoy and could leave the door open to Medicine in the future.
• If you don’t score highly in UCAT or BMAT (or if you flunk all of your interviews), don’t lose hope. There are still plenty of ways for you to study Medicine – it just might take a little bit longer than you expected!