How to boost your application as a Graduate
There are always many things to consider and balance when applying for medicine. As a graduate the entry requirements are more competitive and balancing these along with a degree or job can be challenging. There are a wide range of ways to boost your Medical Degree application that we will discuss below but for more specific help reach out to our expert tutors who can guide you.
Our best tips:
1 - Look specifically at the university requirements
Each university has different requirements for medical applicants and values certain areas more than others. For example, some universities will put a lot of focus on the UCAT (e.g. King's College London) and some universities will care more about your Degree classification or work experience (e.g. Cardiff). It is also very important to check for each university what specific degrees they will accept. Some universities like students who have studied Nursing or Psychology and some universities will not consider these degrees to be 'Bioscience' so you cannot apply. Check the specific entry requirements for each university and compete our quiz which will give you a specific list of all university options for you based on your ALevels, GCSEs, Degree subject and classification and entrance exam scores. Many students are rejected from medicine, not because of their actual grades, but because of poor choice in application.
2 - Get a lot of work experience
It is essential to distinguish yourself from the other graduate applicants. Graduate-entry medicine is highly competitive so you need to aim to distinguish yourself from other applicants. The main way to do this is through showing a strong 'motivation to study medicine' which involves lots of work experience/volunteering and also completing related courses/reading for medicine. It is essential when you do these courses/work experience to reflect on what you learnt so you can talk sensibly about this in both your personal statement and interview.
3 - Be willing to apply to both grad and non-grad entry unless you have a very strong application
The more options you have for your application the better. If you plan to apply for both grad and non-grad entry then you have more options. If you do well in GAMSAT but not UCAT you can apply for only graduate entry. If you score highly in both UCAT and GAMSAT then you can tailor your application more specifically. But as normal entry is typically less competitive, it is a good idea to apply for both normal and graduate to maximise your chance of getting in. It is important to remember that if you apply for normal-entry to medicine your degree will be a year longer than graduate-entry, so you have to decide if you are willing to study the course.
4 - You can resit the GAMSAT
You have the option of taking both the March and September exams and applying with whichever score is higher (this is not possible for the other entrance exams). It is worth noting that it costs almost £300 to sit the exam so this is not a cheap option - but it gives you the option if the March GAMSAT does not go well.
5 - Also take the UCAT
We recommend you take both the GAMSAT and the UCAT. This allows you to see which areas you score a higher percentile in and apply accordingly. Some graduate-entry courses will take UCAT and some will take GAMSAT (one even takes both!). The downside of this is that there is a lot of preparation needed for the different exams so if you score highly in UCAT or GAMSAT it may not be worth sitting both - however it will allow you more freedom in where you apply in particular allowing you to apply for both Grad-entry and normal entry as discussed above.
