#medschoolfaq

I thought it would be a nice time for a little reflective piece, and a bit of a recap, on my journey to GEM, now that I’ll officially be starting in September!

Three years ago, I always intended and aimed to be in this position but I always had a bit of self-doubt, especially because I know how competitive GEM is. It wasn’t until the ucas cycle for GEM began that I really began to doubt my chances for this year and I guess luck came down to it in many ways, but I guess the take-home message from today is in line with all the cliches you hear - if you want something and work for it then things really do work out in the end. What’s important is to always see the bigger picture. Just because others are achieving things that you would want to much earlier than you have does not mean you have failed. Everybody gets there, in their own time.

A Levels

For me, the decision to study medicine was made quite late during school. I applied in Year 13 for undergrad medicine along with everyone else despite having no work experience, just to get a feel of the UCAS process. 4 rejections, but I was expecting that. I always had the intention of taking a gap year to explore more about medicine, gain more work experience and make sure it was what I wanted to do, and of course reapply for undergrad.

Gap Year

Results day rolled around and I had, disappointedly, missed the gold-standard AAA requirement for undergrad medical school by one mark. I achieved AABa in Chemistry, English Language and Physics and AS Biology. This was a turning point for me. I could have made the decision to resit Physics but I decided against this for two reasons: a) My options would be limited to reapplying to only 2 medical schools and b) I would have to achieve an A* (and I knew this was highly, highly unlikely for me).

So I decided to continue with my gap year yet instead of reapplying for medicine, apply for biomed. I had looked into GEM options and thought it seemed feasible, although I knew competition would be fierce. That would be a problem to deal with three years down the line, however! 

During my gap year I worked as a Theatre Support Worker, which is one of my most memorable experiences. I still think of it often, even now. I had initially applied for many healthcare assistant/nurse auxiliary type roles and was adequately overqualified but lacked in experience so missed out many times. (I have several posts written up about my interview experiences for these!). I also finished off Biology A Level during my gap year and visited family in India, as well as gaining work experience in various hospitals there.

Biomed

Three years later and here I am, having submitted my dissertation and reflecting on my time in London. I am so glad I decided to do biomed instead of jumping straight into medicine at undergrad. I’ve met the most incredible people, learnt so much about what I want to do and just overall had the best time at uni. Being so involved with the medics during my time here has definitely been a plus point, so for anyone considering GEM I would definitely look into doing biomed. Hopefully a lot of the course content will come in handy as well! I can’t say it has always been the most enjoyable experience and some of the teaching quality has been questionable but overall it’s the people that make it and for me, they certainly did. 

GEM application

As it had been a while since my gap year and realising I would need some relevant, up-to-date work experience (aside from the hospital & first aid volunteering I was doing at uni), I applied for bank work in Mental Health during my second year. This has also been an incredible experience and has definitely opened up an interest in psychiatry for me but I’ve decided to keep an open mind regarding specialties and not decide anything yet!

I decided to take both UKCAT and GAMSAT (eee scary) the summer before applying. I was mostly hedging my bets on UKCAT though and achieved a modest score of 680 yet this was far too low for GEM standards. Had four weeks to buckle down for GAMSAT cramming and, after what was potentially the worst exam of my life, actually managed to get a decent score (Well, it got me to interview!). I ended up applying to 1 UKCAT, 2 GAMSAT and 1 no entrance test uni and crazily ended up getting interviews (and subsequently OFFERS) from BOTH gamsat unis! I still can’t believed I managed it.

I guess the most important thing here was experience. I had so much healthcare experience in varying fields (mental health, rehabilitation, care of the elderly, surgery, first aid etc.) and being able to talk about it all at interview was the driving force behind my success, I believe. Don’t underestimate the power of work experience. You will never learn as much about working with people, some who will be at the most vulnerable points in their lives, than you will during hospital work. Shadowing is great too, but in all honesty I didn’t find it very eye-opening or helpful. For GEM I feel like you really do need an element of having worked for the NHS to gauge exactly what goes into it.

So here I am now, having just firmed one of my offers and planning the summer before I start med school! I received one conditional and one unconditional offer (I believe the latter must be a mistake though as I have yet to formally finish my degree...but shhh!). I am thinking of doing a little series over the summer of the various aspects of the application process for GEM (e.g. UKCAT/GAMSAT/work experience etc) and tips & tricks for each, although I feel like I have covered quite a bit in previous blog posts so don’t really want to get too repetitive. Please let me know if you think this would be useful, or if any of you would be interested in reading it! I am hoping to keep up this blog during med school however so stay tuned for future medic ramblings :)

Love and peace