Primrose Kitten

If you didn't get any offers in medicine, or if on results day you didn't get the grades that you need to take up your place in medicine, then do not despair.

There are five different things you can think about doing if you don't get your place to study medicine. It's a little bit different from other degrees because you can't go through Clearing, and you can't really go through Adjustment, either. There are not a lot of changes you can make after you apply, because there just aren't a lot of medical places out there.

Firstly, there is that fifth choice on your UCAS application. So, you can take that up if you want to. If you don't want to take up that fifth choice, then there are a few other things you can do.

Think about if medicine is really the right career for you. Why didn't you get a place? Was it something that happened in interview, and did you get any feedback from the interviewers? Or if you didn't get your grades, are you so far below that even if you apply next year, you are not going to get the place? If so, you can apply through Clearing to do a different course entirely. There are a large number of medically related degrees that might be better suited to you (see previous section), and these other degree courses might have places available through Clearing.

If you want to continue on the medical path, then there are a few different things you can think about. You can think about going to study abroad. Europe isn't that far away, and Ireland is very close. The majority of these medical schools teach in English, so not being able to speak a foreign language shouldn't be a problem. But please be aware that they all have different application deadlines, so you should definitely do your research.

You can consider doing an undergraduate, and then go for medicine as a graduate entry. You'll be a little bit older, but you’ll also have much more life experience and confidence, which will put you in a better position when you apply as a graduate.

You could also take a gap year. I don't mean a gap year to go and work in the supermarket, I mean a proper gap year where you go off and get some amazing work experience, say volunteering in a hospital in a different country. Use this gap year to make your personal statements for your medical school application really shine. And then you can apply for the next year. The advantage of doing this is that you'll know what your grades are (and your BMAT and UKCAT scores, too), and you can apply to universities that are more likely to accept you based on your grades.

If your grades aren't quite high enough to go straight on to a medical degree, then you can have a look at doing medicine with a foundation year. This is just another year of study before your medical degree begins, and it provides with you the necessary information that you may have missed on your A-Levels. Then you can progress straight on to the normal medical degree. In some cases, but not all, the entry requirements for foundation courses are lower, so you can get in with all Bs instead of all As.

The other thing you can do is an Access course. A year-long Access course, either at college or at a university, can be linked to your medical degree. So if you are determined to become a doctor, but haven't got a place or haven't quite got the grades, then there are lots of other options out there for you.