Don't panic, is the short answer. Not succeeding in your medical school application may feel like a big blow as you’ll have most likely prepared for ages. As well as obtaining your A-Levels, you may have volunteered or worked in healthcare or completed other qualifications and the first important thing to remember is that these are certainly not wasted just because you didn’t get into med school straight away!
There are many reasons why you might not gain a place at the institutions you applied for, and much of those will be completely out of your hands and through no fault of your own. Remember that places in medical school are relatively few and far between in comparison to the level of applications that are sent year on year.
The longer answer is that you still have plenty of options available to you. If you missed out on a place prior to your exams, then the best course of action for you to take first will likely be to focus on getting the best grades you can and re-apply through UCAS Clearing - which is a part of the admissions site where universities post their leftover vacant spaces for courses. This way, you can gain entry into a similar course at a different medical school. The places available for med school entry this way are limited but have increased over recent years so it's no longer unheard of to get a place in medical school through UCAS clearing.
Should you decide to take the option of a retake year, or simply launch a second attempt in the following academic year, remember that work experience can really help you stand out from the crowd when competing for places. If you're motivated and focused, then the world is your oyster!
Re-sitting Exams
If you didn't quite get the grades you needed to enrol with your choices the two biggest options available to you is to resit your final year or apply for a similar course with the appropriate entry criteria through Clearing. If examinations were your downfall then the first thing to consider is re-sitting them and re-applying. If you missed the mark by a fair bit and dropped some grades to high B's then this is definitely worth considering but do check with the universities you’re applying to - many simply don’t accept resit students. Missing your grades isn't the end of the world when it comes to applying for med school, you can still make a success of it next time around.
Apply to another degree course
You’ve come a long way and if you’ve picked up even half of the grades and experience you need for med school then you’re equipped with the qualifications and ability needed to get into many other well-respected degrees. With a strong degree in a medicine-related course, you can try and enter med-school as a graduate. You’ll often be able to take a 4 year fast-track course, too. The most obvious course for this path is biomedical science but physiology, anatomy and pharmacology are all very useful too and can either prepare you for post-grad med school or another career in medicine and healthcare.
If you go down this route, you will have ample time to pick up as much medical work experience and medicine volunteer work as possible and this will go huge lengths in supporting your graduate entry medicine application.
Transferring
There are a fair few courses which allow you to transfer from the first year to med-school. This is risky and competitive - you don’t want to be stuck on your course for 2 years if you don’t succeed with your transfer. One thing to bear in mind is that if you take this route and can’t transfer, failing to finish the whole degree will likely negatively impact your chances of ever getting into med-school. You need to illustrate your commitment - finish your degree and try to apply to med-school as a graduate. For this reason, it is essential you choose carefully. Those who are successful will excel in their first year at university and will get involved in as much work experience and other voluntary work as is possible.
Here are some courses which will allow transfers:
Biomedical Sciences at Newcastle University
Biomedical Sciences at St. George's
Clinical Sciences at The University of Bradford
Medical Pharmacology at Cardiff University
Biochemistry/Genetics/Microbiology/Physiology at The University of Leicester
Biomedical Sciences or Molecular Medicine at The University of Sussex
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