Reapplying to Medicine (UK) - A comprehensive guide

hey guys welcome back to the channel if you new here my name is Ellie and I'm a junior doctor working in Cambridge and this is the very first video in a new series called medical Monday's so basically when I started this channel initially I thought the audience would be almost exclusively medicine applicants and medical students but now thanks to like some of the videos it seems to expand a lot beyond that so I still want to be making like really niche videos for medical students and medicine applicants but I don't want to kind of confuse everyone else what is this channel so all of those videos are gonna be shot into Mondays into this new series called medical Monday's so with that intro out of the way this video is a really long and really nice video aimed exclusively at people who have applied to medicine in the UK and who didn't get any offers or who didn't make their offers and this is like a 30-minute long interview with my friend Antoine it was filmed a few months ago I completely forgot that it existed but we talked through quite a lot of really good stuff Anton reapplied to medicine he didn't any offers the first time around but then he got into Cambridge the second time around so he's got some pretty legit advice on what you can do if you're in that position of not getting any offers or not making your offer so that's my intro welcome to medical Monday's and yeah I hope you enjoyed this interview and everything of course is going to be in the timestamps in the description below so yeah let's roll this a fancy new intro and we'll get into me and Anton from like six months ago enjoy and Tony's a good friend of mine he is a fellow finally America in manual College and we're doing this interview because Anton has an interesting story in that he got into medicine second time around and we were chatting about this the other day when I was preparing another video about what to do if you don't have any offers that'll be linked up there and down here and everywhere Matalin see like really had some good practical actionable advice and I think from someone who's actually gotten in second time around I thought it would be really good for him to chat to you guys about it that's right that'd be absolutely fine I mean hopefully it's helpful for you guys too oh great so could we start if you won't mind sharing how you felt when you didn't get any offers first time around uh yeah I mean it was absolutely gutting you know and it takes a while because I kind of trickle in slowly and actually got one interview so I kind of had that one it was Nottingham and the rest were straight rejections I was just absolutely devastated then when the final one came through saying no you haven't got in and I remember thinking oh god what we're going to do what I'm going to do for the rest of this year you know what we're going to do for the rest of my life like is it worth it makes him worth it I think there was a lot of self-doubt that came in originally but how am I good enough you know if they see something in me that that I didn't see originally you know I'm just not going to be cut out for this course but you know I think friends family kind of pull you through telling you that actually you know you are good this these things happen and I think you just do have to remember that you know you're gonna get knocks in life and you just got to get back up and get back out there essentially but yeah absolutely gotta give yourself a week to kind of mope around I think god this is awful and then think right what do I do about it you better get back on be practical I don't think the first question you got to ask yourself really is actually do I want to do medicine because if you do the next year is gonna be quite tough and there's gonna be a lot for you to do and you know I had friends who did the same as me got four rejections and then they actually decided the mess and wasn't for that I'm going off to do other things and I think that's fair enough for some people definitely wasn't the case for me and I guess if you're watching this you're probably one of those people that thinks no you know what I definitely want to do medicine yeah initially terrible they feel crap okay you get over it right quickly hey thanks for sharing that sounds like yeah pretty terrible feeling initially but again you give yourself a week to mope and then you can make a plan yeah so yeah it's definitely about kind of getting on top of it getting a plan ready so can you tell us a bit about your plan and kind of what advice they give to people in who might be in that position yeah I guess I look today because it's actually you know must be it's a few months before the end of the academic year so you actually have more than a year if you kind of have you got about six months for the next application process roughly you know that you know personal statements are going to come around next September and it's actually kind of April I'm latest that you're going to find out and lost even not got in so you've got a few months there and you got to think what did I have wrong with my application that that is you know I can I can change so I can get better in this time and quite useful thing that we did I went to my school went to my senior tutor and said look what's wrong with ratification and he went okay we'll email the universities you've applied to you know you apply for for only got one reply but that one reply was was invaluable it was from Leeds and they sent me back a sheet of paper that essentially broke down water my application that they scored you out there forty points I think it was you had to get 35 or more to get an interview and I got thirty four so I knew that I was actually pretty close to even getting to interview I just had to change a few bits improve make a few tweaks here and there and the my main problem was my personal statement everyone's is going to be different slightly blind but but having said that almost all the points were available for personal statement it was out I think forty I think it was and only it was like ten Ron academics and about twenty five Ron personal statement so Stephanie where you can gain the most marks having a good personal statement okay so what kind of stuff did they ask you to put in your personal statement that you have first time around yeah good question I think the experiences were mainly with a big difference and what I mean by that is all that stuff that that hoop jumping that I thought was rubbish the first time around I thought oh you don't need to go and shadow a doctor for 12 months you don't need to have gone into a an old people's home or you know a care home gonna help children with learning disabilities anything like I thought what a load of rubbish you know that's not really necessary and then I think he only took me until actually being in medical school to realize quite why they do that and looking back on it now I see why they want you to have done that and so if you're sitting there thinking God you know that is rubbish it's boring and you know what am i learning from what am i gaining from going I think realistically you're probably not learning a lot it's definitely not learning MIT's and what they're doing is they're asking you to show that you're willing to sacrifice your own free time and your own kind of social hours that sort of thing to do something the kind I seen others really wanted to do let's be honest with ourselves you don't sit there and go yeah can't wait to go in and and it's the the care home and just serve tea it's boring you know you get there it's usually after your fun you know yeah I got this don't don't we pull why don't things it's the good fun really but they aren't there's a lot of dread going into them and fear like well you know you're gonna think fooling yourself or your tea on someone that sort of thing but what they want you to do is just show that you're willing to sacrifice your time your energy efforts all that sort of thing on something that you don't want to do because actually medicine is a lot about that I'm sure Ali all tell you do there's lots of times that I've been asked to do a rectal examination and I thought to myself this is not what I wanted to be doing but you know that's what medicines about it's about sacrificing and you know how many times have we had to give up weekend's annual events for something you know deadlines whatever and that's just it always such as proof of that so like it's it sounds like all of this this whole work experience just this jumping through hoops thing I've actually done a video about how to answer the question about what did you learn any work experience where I make the point that I personally didn't find work experience that useful because you don't really learn anything medicine related yeah but I guess what Anton is saying is that actually the point of work experience isn't necessarily that you're learning anything in particular it's at the very least just to show them that you have thought about this enough and you're dedicated to studying medicine enough to jump through all these hoops and given the tens of thousands of people applying to medicine having that as like a barrier to entry that you know we need someone to have done some kind of work experience some kind of volunteering some kind of charity work over a long period of time that's a good way of screening certain people out because everyone is gonna have good grades you know you need other things to block people from getting into medicine as bad as that exactly yeah much better said than I could only but I think just on on those points there's some other things that my personal statement I think second time around was better with some of the opportunities that came up in the year off I had and also what you do with your year I don't think it reflects particularly well on you if you just go and take daddy's money and fly off somewhere and spend the year away and they don't reflect particularly well on that in why I feel like they wouldn't anyway I wouldn't got a job because I thought well I'm gonna need money um and actually a lot of my interviews after that they quite liked that they were asking me you know what how do I find working in a bar I just picked at the pizza job I got quite lucky actually and I think it's another thing you could definitely try I approached my local GP and asked if they had any jobs and ended up doing an admin role in a GP practice which they thought was really good I was actually doing audits which I mean we didn't start doing until kind of fourth year of medical school but actually turns out they're quite important and I've done about 50 of them because it's my job okay and whereas we had to do like one a year you know so these are they look very favorable but I just stumbled on that it was it was accidental but I'd say you know go and do something with your time you've got a year and sadly as Amy said planning preparing for it knowing that you've got a year to think to kind of do something with I went away at the end of it but once I've done a few other bits as well you know you can't just run off go go see the world because you've got some time make sure that if you're going for medicine you go make up good and that's that means getting a job so you've got some life experience they quite liked that I mean doing this work experience and volunteering and it means kind of making sure your personal statement is well written you've got a lot of time to think about it okay so in terms of sort of tactical advice that we've discussed so far we've talked about number one spend about a week moping and then get over it and like you know make a plan yeah number two try and get feedback from universities if you can I think the really specific feedback that you've got from leads really helped your application so um turn around if they basically told you everything they want to leave English no statement just be practicalities of that I mean I got my school to do it so don't know exactly who they email but I think it was the admissions office okay and I get I guess it's more legit coming from your school yeah then from a random person being on you having it in a bank I mean if you're not willing try it well you have no harm but yeah the school was much much yeah like actually well when I got my UCL rejection I emailed them specifically asking for feedback and they gave really good feedback which I will talk about some other time and we've talked about things you can do to improve your personal statement so just on that on that note Anton's got his both copies of his personal statement with him would you mind just taking us through some of the things that were different between the rejected one under the accepted one because you come into the second time around so you you must learn something right and there was a lot of differences I suppose I just over mentioned before the main one being the amount of experiences that I had so and just as a evidence of I'm sure how he'll bring all this up for you to see my kind of third paragraph in my unsuccessful one is all about how I help but I can't did some tutoring with a friend alright other lives out a few lines just because they were good personal to me but it was like a whole paragraph on this because it was one of my main experiences whereas in my successful one it became a single line in kind of the fourth or fifth paragraph that just said yeah I choose a friend because I had so little room by this point because of all my other experiences that first paragraph you know you start off with your intro paragraph writer just saying some kind of cheating lying about how much you want to do medicine whatever yeah and you can see mine but they actually changed quite a lot you can see how I just pound it out I realized that the intro is actually a lot more important than just a line my mission in life is to do something meaningful to be able to look back at the end and be proud of what I've achieved no profession other the meds will adequately fulfill that ambition for me that was it okay and then in your legit updated version you could you read that up for us and yes fashioned from the screens on my ambition in life is to accomplish something meaningful to be able to look back at the end and be proud of what I've achieved this goal together with my love of science eagerness to learn it designed to care for others motivates me to pursue a career in medicine initial interest in medicine came when I studied history giving me an insight to the work and influence of many great individuals so just Ignace similar ice and Ambrose a pyro they pioneered the use of ligatures invented the crows became these people inspired me and I hope one day to be involved in research or something as influential influential I can think of no more of no more noble or honorable profession it will be a privilege to practice medicine ah yes ok so that's just an example of the introduction and if it's alright with you if you don't mind if we put them up of course you know like leave them in the description so you can just have a look at the before after don't be ripping me off but please have a look and and see if you can pull anything from yourself even just like things like structure you can see that I've gone with quite a standard I think other nannies presumably done a video of you about your personal so we know yeah we have I went with kind of intro and then talking about experiences yellow way Australian either work yeah be yeah and you can see the difference between the experiences the first one I'm paddling out as much as possible because I've done very little I get into a GP for a few days and then shadow to surgeon I think and I made it into like a very wordy sentence that was like oh I've done so I'll read it I also shot a laparoscopic general surgeon in college to general hospital three days whereas the other one I've just kind of gone yeah I saw a surgeon it was much quicker major because I was just running out of room because I had lots of things you know I actually did a few other bits they're not even in my my personal statement that I thought were quite useful because they came up in interviews as well like I wouldn't found lots of unusual experiences like shadowing a corrala which okay it was quite interesting they just did it for like two days yeah and it's not something that you traditionally think of as medicine that will know now we get quite a lot actually Laurens real important cause Duke death certification and they go I like that I've found something unusual to see you know and didn't even fit into my personal statement I don't think there might have been a line of government but I don't think you did so yeah anything we'd like to end from the personal statement so when we were talking about earlier you mentioned that being a teen it helps with some of your experiences yeah yeah that I just found that when I was trying to get work experience in the hospital originally I was denied because I wasn't 18 and I don't know if that's a national rule or whatever that was just where I'm from that's what they said by I don't know but I was able to kind of get once I turned 18 I guess for some of you if you're born late in the year that might not be that useful in some ways they won't come a bit late but I was able to actually get a role in the hospital I've working in the x-ray department and I think that really helped actually see I was actually was help not just shadow around someone I was actually in the x-ray department helping move films because they still use two films about them and big plates such as to and fro on and help patients get in and out of the x-ray and it was quite nice just to be able to have that again extra and stuff that you can't get access to without actually for us okay cool so again going back to practical advice number one and get feedback from universities maybe I'll get you school to get it so it sounds more legit number two sought your personal statement out do more more and more work experience more and more volunteering if that's what you were missing and I think I don't know if lead said that did I have any points for extra prickers anything like that yeah there was points to just you know be involved in your sports team and that sort of thing thanks they're not looking for a high level you know severe you know and then pick athletes I just played football for two teams yeah I mean I capped into both of them which probably helped in some ways but that was what I played football I think as long as you've got something that you do that you know yeah they do like you to have a life outside of mitts and they really like you to have a life outside of medicine and and actually on that note when when I was applying applying to medicine our head of a head of admissions to universities at school told us an interesting story it was he went to a private school because for some random social function or something and it was one of their getting into medicine talks and they had like 50 60 people applying to medicine and all actively getting in and what their head of Admissions said to everyone is that right hands up if you're not on a sports team for the school and a few people put their hands up and he was like right Johnny you're now on the dive Tom you're not in basketball outside it's just like you know it's it kind of goes to show how much of a game this whole medicine application thing is yeah it can be very much a game so I think like there is a tick box for extracurricular yeah exactly so you know if if you don't have a sports a sports thing on your on your on your personal statement you have a year to become interested in a sport join the local badminton club to all the local squash club they're very happy to accept beginners yeah yeah you know there's so much you can do to kind of get all these points in your personal statement because the personal statement is probably the thing that you can improve more than gold grades really yeah yeah definitely I mean cuz you can release it but I think by the time you've reset it's already too late you then kind of looking at just applying with predicted again what it's like because I didn't me say anything I always able to get a unconditional offer on are these notice sports as well you got to remember that there's probably most your friends or you mean depending what school you're at and stuff but they probably go off and do things right quite a few of them I go to uni which can mean it's quite lonely this year off in some way so joining the sports scene can be fantastic I just took up golf that was my thing because it was a I had a few mates around that you've got for you it always could be something to stay around there were three of us and we decided that we couldn't there was no sport we could play for three very well so we took up golf because you can play as a three it was purely logistical rather than I love golf not but I'm not very good but yeah it's taking a go join your local badminton club could just give you some people to go and see on a Friday night when all your friends aren't gonna be around there a turn okay um could you tell us a bit about kind of what what advice you'd give to people retaking exams or anything about I know that you didn't reset but you must have had yeah the two guys I was with both reset exams and it's easier because you're looking back on it but you're Layton you've got all the time especially going to pick one or two you know if you wouldn't reset the whole year you're looking at it just as hard as the first year but if you just pick the modules that you really needs to bump up you can actually do really well because you've got so much time to give to it and the only other commitments you have are you know a job or whatever but you can you can start off part-time if you need to you know I was lucky that my parents needed to make random things so I could live rent-free and stuff so it depends on your situations but I just went part-time for the initial bit and then increased my work to full-time as I got kind of more bored so guys okay and again when we were talking earlier you mentioned that having this that this kind of money that you made on your on your cap here oh yeah - you thought University could you definitely I mean I ended up working like a safe full-time because it's it's it was it was by fun for one thing work becomes a bit of something to do in there rather than just sitting around at home on your own so and I probably earn well over ten thousand pounds in the year working pretty much full-time with more than minimum wage and because the GP works pretty well paid actually yeah a lot of that I spent some of it going away that was really nice I went away for a couple of months just before coming to university with no stresses and pressures I have my place and my applications all done so it's really nice and I was already 18 accepting etc so it's really good time to go away at that point but then actually kept quite a lot of it and it's floated me definitely through universe - each year I just had this backup of quite a chunk of money that's just about run out I'd say but it got me through I don't know what I've done without it but you know it was always another way but it was really helpful really helpful to give me like a slightly more comfortable I mean I didn't have to work while I was here so if you're if you were to kind of hypothesize kind of had you gotten in first time around versus taking that gap here and getting in second time around do you think that overall you're glad that you took the gap here or would you did you still kind of wish that you've been at bay you're ahead yeah now I'm really good actually I think it worked really well for me I got into university that I didn't apply to Cambridge first time around thinking I definitely wouldn't get in whatever I needed on the whim the second time around and so that that was an improvement for me so that's in that sense you know it might not be perhaps Cambridge that you're looking at it might be some of the universities but you might be able to get one that you didn't think you were able to the first time around because actually a personal statement is loads better you've got that grade that you missed out on the etc you see that make sense so you're kind of able to go you know what actually I can push for say hi one maybe just one of your applications you know leave the other three yeah pretty much similar so that worked out yeah the actual life experiences were really good I think it's been very useful to have had a job you know you get perhaps you know as a doctor you're going to be treating the general public and it's quite nice to have been in there and see what a nine-to-five looks like and they were to understand it you know because we do very different very different additionally you know going away was was great and meeting all these guys was was pretty good as well if you're going first time we might have ever met yeah never of men yeah I it certainly wasn't you know it felt devastating when it happened that I didn't get in actually a year's nothing it really doesn't make a big difference and you know I don't think these guys think I'm ancient just yet although it was funny when a neffeteria that they told me she was the same age as me you know intercalate and that beer off oh yeah okay so final few things I wanted to talk to you about firstly you tell us about your fifth choice and your tactic for that yeah so I mean in my first application I I didn't bother with a fist choice because I thought I want to do medicine but I get it I worked on reapplying yes I already had that in mind and then even though when it happened I wasn't really didn't feel that prepared for it I'd already kind of in my head told myself I'm not gonna bother yeah so my decision was kind of clear I'm gonna reapply there the second time around I went with Newcastle to do things biomedicine could be biochemist remember exactly but I think biomedicine and the whole reason behind that was that they offer a transfer straight from the biomedical course to medicine and these are highly competitive once you're in the course but I kind of thought I'm not gonna have another year off I'm gonna accept it I'm gonna go down that route and try and get to medicine that way for the game another way okay so in terms of in terms of fifth choice then presumably there's there's like a list of universities that offer it as you know a segue and yeah I think there's four or five you know Newcastle Leeds few others economist changes will put a link in the description to the medic portal who are famous competitor six men will still link them anyway because you know it's getting cooler thing there's a so girl it's a girl article that they've done though there are many other ways in you don't have to go through their kind of and straight into undergrad and through a couple other ways okay awesome so fifth choice and probably you know practical up think about your fifth try to be tactical about it I mean and it really helped him in one of my interviews yeah okay then it was second year round with my Norwich interview one of the stations was what would you do if you didn't get in and one of the guy was what you didn't get it and I said well to be honest with you this is my second year of applying so if I didn't get in this time around I've got a fifth choice by this time actually would you knew that I had my place at Newcastle to do by okay if I meant or whatever and I said I would accept that I would try and transfer across to medicine and then if if that didn't work I'd finish the degree and I'd apply as a post graph and I think she quite like that also because it just showed you know I've thought of every avenue to get there wasn't gonna be any deterring me I was gonna get there eventually okay these cameras on the planet divided by the Sun okay that's good that's a good like defusing how did your interviews go second time around relative to the first time around is generally based on the experience that you had yeah I just think I remember being asked and a couple of questions in the first unsuccessful year and you know there was simple questions the ones that we were all supposed to prepare for you know why don't you medicine what sort of experiences have you got yeah and I just struggled to answer them at times because I found that I didn't have enough experiences to pull on yeah so they asked me you know I remember the specific questions but I remember thinking I'm using the same example here because I only had one or two examples so I could any Paul has just kind of twisting and forcing them into the same the different questions they asked him why don't you medicine are well you know I went to the GP and I really enjoyed it there okay so what sort of experiences you done to prove that you want to medicine well I went to the GP and yeah so it kind of tricks you out a little bit there and then the second time around you know I felt every question I haven't you know you prepare as we all do for interviews but some of the questions you don't expect you know you're not quite sure about but but I had enough experiences from that year off you know that actually I never felt stuck any point I was always had something different to say something new to add you know sometimes it leads a few jokes and stuff as well sure always good I remember at the Cambridge interview they asked me did I prefer working in the bar or I looked on the other job I did while working at the GP I did a bit of pharmacy work and they said well which one do you prefer the bottle of the pharmacy and I couldn't help myself but to say well that's like choosing between drugs and alcohol isn't it we did get a bit of a chuckle oh they must love that yeah so it sounds like your application it was a significantly stronger second time around and I think that's probably a fair statement to make generally it once you've taken a gap here provided you've done something useful with that gap here your application is very likely going to be better than most other non cap your applicants so yeah I think you just got that time you know to make it better and if you haven't made it better than you've probably wasted you gap here in that sense okay um had you not gotten in second time and let's say you didn't have your biomed offer from from Newcastle what would you have done would you agree applied to medicine ah tough question I suppose and because it certainly would have been something I never had to think quite hard on hmm I was absolutely fixed on doing medicine so I probably would have reapplied but I would have probably applied to something like like biological sciences thinking I might be able to get in that way do grad mitad I think rather than you know I think definition of insanity is trying the same thing they really expect some different results if I'm not willing the second time around I wouldn't expect to get in the third because I spent so long making my application better the first time around yeah that I mean I would have done all the same steps after feedback why didn't I get in what was wrong and if it been something like your interview technique was terror yeah it's better yeah you know just doing interviews but yeah actually on that point getting jobs is really useful for that because I had to do about five interviews to get a job okay you know they're different types of interviews but they weren't as scary when I went in yeah because I've done five or six okay by this point cool great so thanks very much for talking to us I always say it sounds like two if I can summarize what we talked about number one you mentioned that getting rejected was you know it was quite a blow but you gotta read up brother but we can decided that you're gonna make a national plan yeah you know I've had a vault yeah you know you actually plan involve getting getting feedback from the asking you school to get feedback from the University and that really helped you kind of mold your personal statement to the world what they wanted to in addition they gave the actual school gave me a bit of feedback on what they thought okay yeah and then some in in that gap here you what is you worked at a GP go experience that way you did some more work experience probably some more volunteering yeah then I start to work in bar just got a job generally made a bit of money took up golf as a side hobby continued with your football yeah so it made made quite a lot of use of care you know gap here and once you've got your cambridge offer which was unconditional because you had your grades then you just went on off traveling and had a great time pretty much yeah so yeah so like all of this stuff is it's it seems to be focused around around having a plan of action and making sure you make it the absolute most of this gap here as you can most people that I've spoken to who do have if I everyone I've spoken to taken it up here has been happy that they took a cup here and I mention this in the other video which you should drink watch out there and down here and everywhere else if you make the most of your gap here if you learn some new skills if you get more experience it'll just help you in life but also for your medicine application yeah and just on that point um if there's a DES another video called fifteen waves of like tips on how to prepare for your interviews and one thing everyone says is that you should make a list of talking points that if if I get asked about communication skills if I get lost about empathy teamwork why I want to do medicine you kind of have this Bank of experiences that you drawn from and you mentioned the first time around all you had was GP and you kind of get right to fishers Shubin invest every into everything which is pretty obvious when they've asked you for questions and you've got the same example for each one so I think this kind of goes to show that it's even more important to have this Bank of experiences that you can just they don't ask actively ask you about them you know it's it's obviously better to have variety yeah cool so any kind of potting advice for people who might be in your position where they're not gotten in yeah just you know keep positive it's it turns out to be one of the best best years of your life so don't get too worked up by if I get too stressed out that you didn't get in ultimately it's probably for the best you know I know these guys didn't perhaps but I wouldn't have met them all that all the stuff so yeah just keep your head up work hard you'll get it eventually really thank you very much hunter and guys if you have any questions for Anton just leave a comment down below and I'll get into I need you to excel and make a playoff reply to these comments oh yeah thanks forever thank you very much that was really really useful no I saw if you guys liked the video please give it a thumbs up if you haven't subscribed to the channel please consider doing so more videos about medicine application as always and as always more vlogs and stuff coming about life as a medical student if you're into that sort of thing so yeah thanks for watching we'll see you next time bye sick thank you so much that's like so so so you know boys says he's fun

Channel: Ali Abdaal

Views: 28,201

Keywords: reapplying to medicine, medicine reapplying, medicine gap year, applying to medicine, apply to medicine, medicine application, medicine application tips

Id: LYypqnPLOaM

Length: 30min 24sec (1824 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 06 2018