Helped i missed my grades - What now?

[elz]

yea i think they take BBB for some of the foundation and 6yr medicine courses eg st georges. or u could retake ur a levels and just make sure u apply to ones that accept retakes and dont see it as a disadvantage. ie unis like manchester dont care too much as long as u can show improvement - or so they told me. u still did really well, so dont give up, it just might take a lil bit longer. i did a degree with the OU so it was cheaper, but the worst thing is having to do 3 years of something u really dont wanna be doing. whatever u do, get more experience and do whatever extra curricula stuff u can! i even found a distant learning course in anatomy th other day, hmmm.

[algy_lacey]

I'm a graduate, about to start the five-year course at Sheffield. I chose to do another degree first - I had no intention of studying Medicine back when I was 17/18. I really appreciate the extra maturity those few years have given me, and I feel a lot more confident that I have made the decision to study Medicine for the right reasons. You might think that I would therefore be jumping up and down and saying, if you missed your grades then do another degree and then apply as a graduate - but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. I especially wouldn't recommend jumping into another degree now while you're feeling vulnerable and unsure about your future. I did my first degree in a subject that I was passionate about, that I believed I had a real future in (and which actually guided me to Medicine, so I suppose I was right). I benefited from that experience.

If you do another degree first, in a subject you're not that into, just for the sake of being able to reapply for Medicine as a graduate, are you really going to be able to work hard enough to get a good result at the end of it? Are you going to be able to spend those three years dedicated to something else without resenting it the whole time? Are you willing to go about £21,000 into debt with the student loans company doing a first degree that you didn't even want to do, and then realise that means you have to pay your tuition fees for Medicine up front as a graduate...?

If I was faced with the very difficult situation that many people here are facing, I would take a year out. I would contact as many universities as possible between now and October 15th and find out who would accept me as a resit candidate (and there are some). I would also see if there were any access to Medicine courses that might acccept me. I would then dedicate that year to resitting my A-levels, bearing in mind that pretty much any university willing to accept a resit candidate would be looking for AAA. I'd also apply to a well-researched non-medicine course (like Biomedical sciences) as a back-up. It's a bit like gambling - there's a risk of taking a year longer to get into Medicine if you do end up taking the graduate route anyway (although if you then got onto a GEP, that would be cancelled out), but there's also a chance of saving two years and an awful lot of money.

That said, for some people doing another degree first may be the only chance they have of ultimately getting into Medicine. Do what you feel is best, but do it after careful consideration.

[~...arzoo...~]

hi guys, ye im same position gt abb thnx 2 chem cswrk. im already on gap yr coz gt 4 str8 rejections lst yr n declined offas 2 do pharmacy. nw im gna av 2 do gap yr n do phrmacy degree after that. tlk bout waste of a yr.

im seriously tinkn graduate entry nw bt my head of 6th form tinks im 2 dumb 2 do med neway so shud gve up but iv workd hard 4 med 2 gve up nw. it took me a hell of a long tym and massive arguements b4 parents agreed 2 lemme stay at uni 4 med. even if i dnt gt in2 grad dn hospital pharm closest im gna gt 2 being doc.

i tik if ur reali dedic8 2 med dn go 4 grad entry coz nt many uni's like resits wivout gd reason. bt bear in mind it still competitive n u mite nt get in dn eitha so do degree u'l b comfortable doin 4 rest of ur life. gd luck.

[Clarkey]

I think algy_lacey has taken the words right out of my mouth.

If you honestly believe you could get AAA if you resit, and you want to do medicine badly enough then maybe resitting is an option. There are places that would consider you.

Doing a different degree is another viable option and it can open up other avenues if you later decide medicine is not for you. I remember reading somewhere that if you are going for grad entry medicine that it is better to do something that stands out a bit e.g. anatomy, physiology etc rather than biomed, but i can´t find it at the moment so don´t do that just because of my say so! I respect people doing biomed because i could never do it myself, and would find it disheartening being on a course where so many people wanted to do medicine. At Southampton my friends doing biomed all applied for medicine at the end, and only one of them got in. However that isn´t to say biomed isn´t a good option, it prepares you very well for medicine.

If i hadn´t got in after resitting, i would have gone and one a midwifery degree if i had got in, or an english lit degree because i love both areas of study and could see myself doing well. The thought of having to get a 2:1 in biomed scares the beep out of me!

Good luck whatever you decide, at least there are people with different opinions here to help you

[noworries]

Don't really know what to do.
Missed the offer by a grade. A couple of marks actually. Getting the paper remarked but I don't have much hope.
SO where am I now?
Only want to do medicine. Biomedical science was mt backup but I don't think it's me. Can't get me head around the idea of spending 3 or 4 years doing a degree I don't really have any interest in. No offence meant to biomedical people there.
So do I resit a module or do I have to resit the entire 6?
Made a few phone calls. Some unis won't consider resitters. Some will only consider them if I applied to them before. I think there are only 3 I can apply to. And as someone said the AAB threshold moves to AAA. And they also want the 4th AS.
I have no idea what else I'd want to do. Next year there are 5 options instead of 6. There will be the UKCAT thingy again. And if I go down that route of reapplying for 2008 then I'd have to register for that fast. And this year there are new sections in it.
Spoke to my school to get one paper remarked but they aren't really helpful.
Just don't know what to do.

[wayne_rooney]

i really wanna get one of my bio papers i took in june to get re-marked as soon as possible......but my sixth form is closed. what should i do? please help me.


MARYAM and NOWORRIES, what are u guys planning to do? please let me know cos im in a similar situation too, except i wanna do dentistry.

[Kid_50]

hi all! congrats to all dat got xcepted and ma heart goes to those who didnt.
i missed out the criteria by ONE mark! and the university has made it VERY clear that they will not b takin me on board this year they have suggested that i get ma units re-marked and if i were to get it raised they would honour the change.

i was just curious wot are the chances of it being increased as i hav taken the DESPERATE route and paid to get 5 units re marked.
im fully aware it may happen but has n e 1 heard of a case whereby a paper was marked DOWN?

many thanks for takin the time out to read and i hope we all meet down the road in a few years time in our white coats

[wannabeemed123]

hey ev1. ive also missed the grades needed ...i got ABB and am realli near to the A's in both! i feel soo depressed and have no idea what 2 do! just want to say thanx to those who have taken their time to give advice it is very apreciated. im also in a similar position to wayne_rooney, i want to get one of my units remarked but my college is shut what shall i do??, also does anyone know if there is a deadline to get the remarks?? and also once the request for the remark is made does anyone know how long it takes to hear from the exam board?

To kid_50 i think i remember seeing you on one of the other forums..had u applied to the BM6 or BM5 at southampton? hopefully they will find the one mark you need.

[ab0cjh]

As far as I've heard marks can only go up if they are remarked. The worst that could happen is that you end up with the same mark as before.

Goodluck

[Miss Monkey]

I'm pretty sure you can go down with a remark, because one of my friends did with AS Geography last year. However if you're very close to the next grade up, it is highly unlikely that you will go down a whole grade! Good luck, I hope it all works out.