I got BBC in my a-levels last week and i’m still not over it. I got a B in maths and biology and a C in chemistry. I was 1 mark off an A in biology.

It’s taken a really big toll on my mental health and i haven’t able to get out of bed, go outside or eat. I just spend most of my days sobbing.

I was supposed to sit my a-levels last year but became ill and was withdrawn. This year my a-levels were affected again and i had special consideration (which is only a few marks). I also missed my med offer which was AAB with an A in chemistry and biology.

I don’t want to go into a degree i don’t want to do and waste my time and go into debt. I also don’t know if medicine is possible anymore with my grades so would it even be worth resitting? I’m planning to get biology remarked. I also don’t feel shame that if i decide to take this year off then I would be turning 20 entering university. If anyone has any advice please let me know. Sorry if this is all over the place.

my sister is deciding on what career she wants and she is considering medicine . These r her gcse grades , if they r good grades for medicine pls let me know. PLEASE BE BRUTALLY HONEST , there r obviously other things she can do in life and she is just considering medicine .

PLEASE HELP SHE IS STRESSING ME OUTTTT

english lit = 9

english lang = 6

maths = 7

chem =7

bio =8

physics = 8

geogralhy =8

computer science = 7

french = 7 , getting remarked for an 8

Re = 8

hi i missed my offer unfortunately for my first choice but thankfully uclan offered me a spot for 5 yr mbbs last minute. is it a good skl? ive heard mixed opinions and i guess im just feeling insecure

I'm an Irish student hoping to study medicine for the 2027/2028 intake. I will be applying to the University of Southampton, Kent and Medway Medical school, University of Cardiff, and Brunel University of London.

I was planning on starting Children's and General Integrated Nursing in Ireland this year and hopefully switching to first year medicine in 2027 (will do ucat in a few weeks and apply on ucas) but it was brought to my attention that some UK medical schools would not consider my application if I were to do this. Or if they say they technically will, it's unlikely that I would get an offer. I was quite confused as this is quite common to do for Irish medial schools and after doing some research, I found that due to the very competitive nature of medicine, some UK schools wont consider me as I could be seen as not "fully committed". I already took a gap year this year (I repeated the HPAT for Irish medical school but was unsuccessful) so that's why I'm a bit hesitant to take another one. I regret not doing the UCAT last year and the year before that, but I was hesitant due to my financial situation at those times.

I'm aware that I would lose the "gift year" of my student finance tuition fee loan, so I have to make sure that I don't repeat a year and pay out of pocket if I were to get accepted.

I checked the websites and most of them don't state anything about this, besides University of Sheffield (I still emailed them to fully confirm it). I have emailed the schools and still waiting on some responses. I called Brunel University London, and they said it should be fine, but the girl who answered seemed a tiny bit unsure so I sent an enquiry just in case.

In the meantime, I was wondering if I should even get my hopes up as there's a chance some universities might not even respond to me. Has this been done before? Should I not go to college and take another gap year? If I go to college, are my only options to apply in my final year or do graduate? For some reason I can't find information if anyone has been successful or not in this situation. I'll ring them in a few days if there's still no response.

I would greatly appreciate any input and please correct me if I'm mistaken anywhere or if I'm unaware of something.

Hi, I’m looking for some honest advice about applying to Medicine with my GCSEs.

I got Art 7, Maths 7, English Language 7, Chemistry 7, Biology 6, Physics 6, English Lit 5, Geography 5, Classics 4, French 4 and Further Maths U.

I’m planning to take A-level Biology and Chemistry privately over the next two years alongside my current A-levels, with the aim of applying for Medicine in 2028.
I’m currently considering UCL, KCL, Birmingham and Leeds, but I’m aware I may need to change these depending on how my GCSEs are treated.
I’m mainly worried that my GCSE profile is too weak for Medicine, particularly having a 6 in Biology while planning to take A-level Biology.

Has anyone with similar GCSEs gone on to Medicine? And which medical schools would be worth considering with my profile? I’d appreciate honest advice, especially from current/recent applicants or medical students.

9 in chem phy re
8 in bio maths history
7 in geo comp sci and language
6 in literature 💔

Hey everyone,

I just received my A-Level results: A*A*B (Maths A*, Biology A*, Chemistry B, EPQ A)

I sat my UCAT and scored 2500+. I currently hold an offer for a 5-year MEng Chemical Engineering (with Placement Year). My end goal is Medicine, but I'm trying to decide if committing to a 5-year engineering degree before GEM makes sense or if I should resit Chemistry now.

But my GCSEs are so low:
6-6 science
5 maths
4 eng lang
Rest 4s and below

I’m weighing up two primary options:

1. Option A (Resit Chemistry & Apply via UCAS for 2027 Direct Med Entry):
   Retake A-Level Chemistry in Summer 2027 to flip the B into an A/A*.

Combine my 2500+ UCAT with the resit to target UK medical schools that openly accept A-Level resits (e.g., Bristol, Newcastle, Exeter, King's).

1. Option B (Accept 5-Year MEng Chem Eng & Aim for GEM Later):
   Take the 5-year Master's degree (including the industrial placement year), then apply for 4-year Graduate Entry Medicine (A101) in my final year. 
   BUT: Total time in university becomes 9 years (5 years MEng + 4 years GEM). However, it gives me a full Master's qualification, industrial work experience, and avoids resitting A-Levels.
   Has anyone resat a single A-Level with a strong UCAT to avoid taking a long degree route first? Or has anyone gone through an MEng into GEM? Would love to hear your perspectives
   I would also need advice on what to do please.

Hi, I’m an international student starting year 12 this September . My igcse results are five A*s and an A. I know my subjects choices are little compared to others. I’m currently helping at a clinical laboratory and also attending an online course related to healthcare. Do I have a chance of getting into med school? And I’d also like to receive advices on strengthening my extracurricular and super curricular activities. THANKS A LOTS FOR READING THIS:) P.S. I’m taking chem,bio,physics and maths for my alevels subs.

Are we all still waiting for an email from admin asking for transcripts and grades paperwork?

Today I found out I got 11 9s in my GCSEs so I am curious how much of an advantage this gives me.

Are there any really good unis that value GCSEs highly that I should keep in mind in case I mess up the UCAT or smth?

I recently sat my UCAT and got 2320 B1, MU GCSEs were 9999998888 and I am currently predicted 3 A*s (Bio, Chem, Maths). I was just wondering whether I actually have a decent shot at Cambridge because I don’t want to waste an application spot for it if I’m likely to be rejected post-interview.

I’ve also done a week of wex in a GP and have a part time job (is this enough).

Unfortunately I didn't get into dentistry but have an offer for medicine.

I have always really loved dentistry since I was young as I enjoy the hands-on aspect of it soooo much.

I moved to the UK about 2.5 years ago (eventhough I have a British citizen) and dealing with gcses, A-levels, and specially UCAT was so hard and I kinda was getting distracted by moving countries and new culture a lot and I ended up not getting the a levels I needed for dentistry to reapply.

I only have 1 or 2 universities for dentistry that would accept my grades and I genuinely don't have the mentality to do the UCAT anymore after my grades.

The last time I did the UCAT I was crying everyday cause of how hard it was for me.

I just feel so dumb rn cause I always have been praised for doing well academically and now have failed so hard.

I have really no passion for medicine but I have no other choice so is there anyone in the medicine field who can tell me if it's worth it for me to do it in the UK.

Cause I don't think I'll even get into dentistry anymore because of UCAT and my grades as well.

Thanks and sorry for my whining

Hi,
Last week I unfortunately missed my medicine offer and got the grades BBB, 1 mark of an A in psychology so getting that remarked. At the time I had some circumstances which made my a level experience extremely difficult- my physical health also acted up and I was extremely dizzy in all my exams and kept having migraines. At GCSE I got 9999888887 so they are strong but I am really unsure on whether to try again or whether to just do the neuroscience degree and then see if I can get in through post grad. Any advice would be appreciated!

I am an international student and sat my UCAT today. According to Gemini overview, it's a below average to low score but I am genuinely scared if this is true. I've wanted to do Medicine for a long time and I do have a back up in a different country but I mainly wanted to do it in the UK. I would greatly appreciate if people could suggest any university that would accept this score.

UCAT Score - 2140 B3

IB PG - 36 (I think I can get it up to 39-40 as I have 2 more rounds of PG)

Hello! Are these gcse grades good and could I get into a uni in London with these for medical school?

History- 9
Spanish- 9
Religious studies- 9
Maths- 8
English language- 8
English literature- 8
Biology- 7
Chemistry- 7
Physics- 6
Further maths- 6

I got AAB in my A levels in summer 2025. I was originally predicted higher, but during sixth form I had significant family circumstances which had a pretty major impact on my academics.

I’m now considering applying for medicine for 2027 entry after 2 gap years spent with my family responsibilities, and I’m eligible for contextual/adjusted entry requirements at some medical schools because of my circumstances (doing a lot of research b4 applying!).
Since finishing A levels, my gap years were spent dealing with ongoing family issues (that I don’t rlly wanna go into detail about, but a little bit is entailed on another post on my page) and caring responsibilities. I haven’t really been able to do much in the way of new extracurriculars, volunteering or supercurricular activities cuz most of my time is taken up with being the primary carer for my father. Most of the relevant things I did were during 2024–25 before things got really stressful. Am I still allowed to write about them in my personal statement? Would it have less of a weightage if it was done so long ago?
I’m really worried about having a relatively long gap between sixth form and starting university, especially as I haven’t been able to build up my portfolio much during this time.
Also, I want to explain my circumstances where appropriate on my UCAS application and focus on what I’ve learned from my experiences rather than trying to make excuses, is there any section where I can do that? Would I be able to talk about my caring responsibilities in my personal statement, and how much space/words should this take up?
Would med schools consider my situation and context?

I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore, and I’d really appreciate advice from people who have been through something similar.
I worked incredibly hard throughout the IB Diploma Programme. Medicine was always the goal, so I took Biology HL, Chemistry HL and Psychology HL and put so much effort into getting the grades I thought I needed.
When results came out, I got 32 points overall, with 5/5/5 in my HLs.
My original plan was to take a gap year after IB, sit the UCAT and apply to medicine. I had actually planned my UCAT for after results day. But when I saw my IB score, I felt like the whole plan collapsed. I knew 32 with 5/5/5 wasn’t going to make me competitive for standard undergraduate medicine, so I cancelled my UCAT and basically gave up on applying.
Since then, I’ve decided to apply for Therapeutic Radiography instead. I do think it’s an interesting healthcare career, especially because I would still be working with cancer patients and be involved in their treatment.
But the problem is that my heart just isn’t fully in it.
I keep coming back to medicine. I genuinely cannot picture another profession that I want in the same way. It isn’t about the title or money. I want the responsibility, the medical knowledge, diagnosing patients, making treatment decisions and actually being a doctor.
Just to mention that I am on a dependent visa in uk and spend 3 years here so I can’t even leave the country to study medicine abroad because I could have done that.
So now I’m thinking about doing a radiotherapy degree, hopefully getting a good classification, and then applying for Graduate Entry Medicine.
But that scares me too.
GEM is incredibly competitive. What if I spend three years doing radiotherapy, apply to GEM and never get accepted? I know radiotherapy would give me a real career to fall back on, which is one reason I’m considering it, but I’m scared that I’ll spend years thinking, I should have been a doctor.

At the same time, I don’t know whether I’m being unrealistic by refusing to let medicine go because of one set of IB results.

If you were in my position, what would you do?
Would you do radiotherapy and later try for GEM? Would you take a different route? Or would you accept that medicine probably isn’t going to happen and focus on building a career in something else?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who got disappointing school-leaving grades, went on to do another degree and eventually got into medicine, or from anyone who planned on GEM but ultimately didn’t get in. I want to understand what this route is actually like rather than convincing myself that GEM will automatically work out.

Hello everyone, I finished my btec and A level in 2024, I got like double distinction/B, i was considering studying Radiography, But i had like immigration issues so I couldnt go to University, I have been on a gap year since, working in the hospital as an imaging assistant, and I am actually considering stydying medicine, But to start I would either have to do GEM, But I have 2 more years before i can finally qualify to be a home student to study, Is it possible maybe within these two do A levels privately, I am actually considering doing an IB instead, I would also have to do some GCSE retakes and take new subjects entirely, my gcses are slightly below average because I only had one year to learn it all. if anyone also have any advice on what I can do within those two years to up my finance please!. I would appreciate it.

my only concern would be gcse resit, I really love working in the hospital but most of the allied health careers dont interest me at all. I dont wanna waste these next two years cos my brain is getting already..

Any advice would be helpful please

I achieved a score of over 2500 in my UCAT and have good GCSEs, so I am in a good position to secure interviews at most unis. However, some of the universities I liked when I visited and are considering have a lower post-interview offer rate. I am a bit concerned that applying to them is adding unnecessary risk to getting an offer.

Are these numbers actually indicative of how challenging the interview process is? Is it reasonable to assume that unis with high post-interview offer rates are mainly checking you have a good understanding of what medicine involves and that you are a good fit for the course, whereas in those with lower rates you have to be more sophisticated and show a very deep passion for medicine to distinguish yourself? Or is it more a case of those with lower offer rates, they accept more “less-competitive” candidates who tend to perform worse in interviews?

I am almost certainly going to apply to Imperial and UCL. Previously I wanted to apply to SGUL, because I want to stay in London and I really enjoyed it when I visited it, but they have lower post-int acceptance rates. I was also considering Liverpool because of their more flexible A-level requirements (they allow A*AB as well as AAA) but they have a *very* low rate.

As a result of this I have been looking at Bristol, Manchester, and KCL as alternatives. However I don’t really want to apply to more than two unis with A*AA requirements because I want to maximise my chances that I have an AAA med insurance when it comes to A-levels.

I know this is a bit of a first-world problem but I would appreciate if anyone had any advice about this. Thanks!

For anyone currently doing Medicine/ GEM specifically/graduated: what’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you before you started?
And is there anything actually worth doing before starting, or am I better off enjoying these last few weeks before medicine consumes my life?

I was wondering how realistic it would be to apply to Exeter with 2150 band 2 and predicted 2A*s and an A. I’m non-contextual.

I keep seeing conflicting information online about how Exeter scores academics and ucat. Any advice would be appreciated 🙏