Your journey to medical or dental school may, unfortunately, not be as straightforward as expected. Every year, perfectly capable, clever, and determined students receive the news that they have not been accepted to their universities of choice. In this article, we will explain why this is not necessarily the end of your journey and discuss how you can turn this news into a positive outcome. Although this may seem like a setback, you can still achieve your goals, just at a later date. There are many different paths that you can choose, which we will discuss. Furthermore, keep reading to understand how Future Doc can help you get to where you want to be.

You may be reading this feeling quite disheartened, with no idea what to do next. We are here to tell you that you have a few options. These include:

• Go through clearing.
• Reflect on your application, take a gap year, and reapply!
• Consider another degree and then apply for graduate medicine/dentistry.

Clearing

Clearing is something that happens every year after every results day. It is for students who haven’t received an offer to courses, including medicine or dentistry. This includes those who haven’t met their offer conditions, such as not achieving the required grades. On the UCAS website, you will be able to see where there are places available to apply for. It is an alternative way to receive a spot on your desired course. The university may invite you for an interview, and they may still review your UCAT/GAMSAT score. If you are extremely reluctant to take a gap year, this may be an option for you.

Tips for clearing:

• Be ready! Clearing comes out on results day so you need to be ready to apply. This means have your A Level results, GCSE’s (or equivalent) and personal statement ready.
• Some universities release how many clearing spots they have prior to results day, so have a look if you are interested.
• Be proactive. It is a tough day if you don’t get the results that you need. However, unfortunately, you must act fast with clearing, so therefore, you can't take the day to process the news. Instead, you have to act fast to secure a clearing spot.

Reflect and Reapply

If you don’t know why you have been rejected from a university, it is useful to try and get some feedback. You can do this by contacting the university’s admissions department to find out what it was that you were lacking in. This could be missed grades, poor performance at the interview or, for example, your personal statement could have been sub-standard. These are all examples of feedback that they could give you. If you do know what it was that held you back it is important to reflect on how this could be improved. For example:

• If academics have held you back, you may need to apply for less academically challenging universities. Alternatively, in your year off, you might need to be prepared to retake exams in order to achieve the required grades.
• Did your extracurriculars/work experience hold you back? If so, you need to have a look at your amount/quality of work experience, your volunteering experience, and extracurriculars, and think about where you could improve. If you haven’t carried out enough work experience, for example, this is something that you can easily aim to work on for your next application by reaching out to several different settings for shadowing and/or some practical experience.
• If your personal statement wasn’t well written, this could be off-putting for universities. The importance of a well-structured and informative personal statement is often underestimated. This is something that can be worked on for your next application. Take a look here for Future Docs advice on how to improve your personal statement.
• If you were rejected after interviewing it is likely that your interview performance was sub-optimal. Interviews are the last chance to come across as confident and showcase your excellence. They can be nerve-wracking and difficult. Preparation and good practice are essential to performing well.

Whatever it was that held you back, it is important to take note of it so you know where to improve when the time comes to prepare for your new application. Furthermore, it is important to use your year off or ‘gap year’ to your advantage. Universities may ask you what you did in your time, so it is important to have something impressive to talk about. This could be that you spent the year working. You can then you can talk about all the new skills you developed. On the other hand, if you decide to travel or do some regular shadowing, this is also useful. It is just important not to do nothing and instead use this year to do something useful.

Graduate Application

The final option is to pursue another degree at university. Perhaps you have received an offer for your 5th choice ‘backup’. If this is the case, you could complete that degree and then reapply afterwards to graduate medicine or dentistry courses. These graduate courses are often 1 year shorter; however, you still have to do a 3-year (on average) degree before. It is also important if you have a specific university course in mind to check that they firstly offer a graduate course and secondly that your undergraduate degree can be used to apply to the graduate course. Some graduate courses allow students who studied anything to apply, whereas others require a science-based undergraduate degree.

Future Doc

We understand that reapplying or taking a longer route can be frustrating. Therefore, we know how stressful the reapplication process can be. Here at Future Doc, we want to make sure that you are successful in this second application. With our team of expert tutors, we can help you reach your medicine or dentistry goals. Our 1 to 1 tutoring sessions are vital to improve your application. Click here to read more about our tutoring programme.

To conclude, it is vital not to be disheartened. No matter which route of re-application you have chosen, with the right resources, you are still in with a chance to excel in your chosen field and earn a place at your university of choice.

Written by Holly Davidson

Future Doc