Applying to Medical School in 2020

[@dgbrearley]

Hey OB, hope all is well. Just a big thanks for your UCAT videos - very genuine and not full of absolute horse **** like some of the others out there. I sat the UCAT yesterday and scored 2750, Band 1 SJT. Keep up the good work!

[@OllieBurtonMed]

You're very welcome Dan, thanks for enjoying the content and huge congratulations on your score!

[@indersingh1212]

Good to see you've got a bit of colour back Ollie. You haven't even started working yet and you look like you've put in some serious hours on the wards!

[@25ahn]

Ollie always coming out with the relevant content 🙋🏻‍♀️🤞🏻 Do you have any videos on the different types of interviews specific universities use? Perhaps this would be a cool idea. Also, do you think schools will change any of their requirements due to coronavirus? How do they expect applicants to secure work experience during a time where even medical students are not able to secure teaching?

[@OllieBurtonMed]

My prediction is that work experience requirements will have to drastically reduce or be assessed in some other way (maybe by essay or factored into the interview somehow). I don't know for sure but the medical schools are obviously aware of this and the requirements will need to change to suit - I wouldn't worry

[@kyleheslin]

@@OllieBurtonMed Warwick hasn't changed it's 70 hour requirement this is of course for graduate entry as they say that all relevant work experience 3 years prior to corona is still valid this puts people like me applying for graduate medicine with work experienced for this summer that has been canceled in a hard situation. Wondering if you have an advise?

[@25ahn]

Kyle Heslin-Rees try and get other experience such as paid work, I took up care work (paid), no shortage of care roles especially as of now...

[@simxmina]

Very informative and helpful video. Thank you!

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Glad it was helpful!

[@joycetam3239]

i made the mistake of choosing maths as my 3rd a level. i thought it was necessary, and when i found out it wasnt, i was devastated. i really dislike maths. and that might just be me wording it differently to comfort myself. id much rather do religion, or english, or literally anything else. however, your words at the beginning are really motivating- "the only thing that will stop you being a doctor one day is you giving up. as long as you keep trying, there will always be a way to get into medical school." thanks for making this video!

[@OllieBurtonMed]

It's genuinely true, that's the nice part!

[@AlinaThinks]

This is brilliant! SO useful.

[@hamadkadventures5358]

What a top video, so glad I stumbled upon this before applying!

[@gavinturner5565]

Thank-you Ollie! Thanks for sharing your personal experience and knowledge guiding ourselves in this process. Best to you too😷😷😷

[@ChrisLovejoy]

Great video! Congrats on hitting 5K subscribers man :)

[@curismo5526]

What if you can't get work experience?

[@DrRumbi]

Amazing video!

[@nene-b6p]

The link is not working anymore. :(

[@jamesojinnaka]

You are a stud ollie

[@ellen7537]

I'm so glad I found your channel cant wait to see what other videos will be in this series. I've been considering studying medicine since I was 14 but when my school found out during A level subject day they were instantly trying to put me off as I haven't the best GCSEs with 1A*5As and 3Bs, I couldn't even tell you what my predicted A level grades for next year are, but medicine is something I want to do. I'm having a tough time deciding what universities to consider applying to, I've been researching since Christmas but all the universities that I think would suit me the best are difficult for me to travel to as I'm from Northern Ireland, but I don't really know how I should go about choosing universities that I might have a chance of getting into. I'd love to hear some tips on how you decided what university to study at and what factors should be considered when looking at universities. Keep up the great work, you've got yourself a new subscriber!!

[@N.C.2001]

Queens also allows entry to their medicine course but it’s 5 years with an undergrad degree

[@ellen7537]

@@N.C.2001 yeah I can't get into queens because my gcses don't add up to enough points and even if I get the tops marks in the UCAT I don't make the points cut off unfortunately:/

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Hi Ellen, thanks for the feedback - will definitely discuss the points you've described in a video. Always happy to chat further privately if you need a more rapid answer, keep me posted!

[@ellen7537]

@@OllieBurtonMed Thanks for replying, just reading the comment I made makes me cringe lol, I was having a bit of a confidence wobble and sort of got a little bit panicky and resorted to watching your videos and they settled me down so thank you :))

[@annatrela3394]

It's a wake up call that actually another UCAT is on its way. Here we go again So much respect for you offering us help for free, thank you!

[@trihardFTW]

Would be interesting to see what will happen if coronavirus is still an issue when UCAT examinations are supposed to start taking place (which I think is highly likely). Will they delay the examination dates? Will there be remote exams? Or will this year’s cycle simply not use them?

[@OllieBurtonMed]

@@trihardFTW I likely think a move towards remote exams, they're absolutely going to need some sort of test metric, especially given how unreliable grades will be as a marker. As much as we all hate the UCAT etc, they are validated tests so I think we can expect to see them deployed

[@guesswhoami4723]

Anna Trela Have you been rejected from Aberdeen?

[@annatrela3394]

@@guesswhoami4723 I can't really guess who you are but whaaaat how do you know 😂😂😂 put on a waiting list

[@phoebehafiz96]

Thank you so much for being so helpful this series is exactly what I was looking and hoping to find! I am a graduate in Biomedical science applying for graduate entry medicine and I meet all of the entry requirements but certainly do not exceed them - what would you advise I do to help the rest of my application? Also I have read some examples on people applying for 4 year graduate entry and being offered the 5 year course instead. Would you be able to shed any light on the financial support for both courses? Thank you again 😊

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Hi Phoebe! The only components that will 'excel' your score as such are a strong performance on the entry exam, and then the same at interview. Virtually everything else is mostly used as a formal checklist - honestly this means just doing really well on the UCAT/BMAT etc and then really practising hard for the interview, let me know if you ever want a mock. As for funding I've covered it more in other videos, but for 4 year programmes you receive a full tuition fee loan apart from an approx £3500 one off fee at the start. You also receive a maintenance loan and support from the NHS student bursary once your clinical years start. 5 year programmes as a graduate are largely the same, except you do not receive a tuition fee loan which makes them much more expensive for graduates and you'll need to find the full cost of the fees.

[@phoebehafiz96]

PostGradMedic A mock would be amazing help I will definitely approach you nearer the time - thank you so much!! ☺️

[@hbh7868]

Very nice

[@emmahalahan1173]

Hi Ollie - thank you, this channel is super useful! I think I have seen you talk before about using volunteering on a helpline in your app (sorry, if I am mistaken!). I was wondering whether you found Warwick GEM counted helpline experience as hands on for their 70 hours? I would imagine not, but I thought I would see as I wanted to add some variety to my app and love the reflections my helpline experience have given me. Did you just mention it in your PS/interview instead?

[@beni3175]

I’m from Nigeria how do I apply

[@stevengrant6619]

Just to be nitpicky @3:55, almost all the universities don't consider chemistry to be a life science degree, even medicinal chemistry (learned that the hard way).

[@OllieBurtonMed]

That's certainly a valuable nitpick, thanks for letting me know!

[@Pete-da-peter]

I have read being mortal, and I read Do No harm. I'm curious what is the other book about "this is goin to hurt"

[@domgoddard3106]

It’s a great book, by an ex doctor called Adam kay. It’s exerts from his diaries as a doctor

[@lucyd25]

I’m applying to GEM this year! I took the UKCAT Back in 2016 when I applied to undergrad medicine and did pretty badly so I’m scared I won’t do well again! Last time I didn’t do much preparation as I was told it’s hard to prepare for! Do you think with practise you can improve your score ? And could you do a video on the best way to improve ? Thanks love your videos, they inspired me to change my course and pursue a biomedical sciences degree in order to apply to GEM! Hope ur staying well x

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Best of luck Lucy! You definitely can improve with practice, it's just a case of little and often. More hours does not necessarily mean better performance, it's more about being used to the test and the types of questions. And yes absolutely, I'll do a video on how to tackle each section of the test in detail with strategies etc so hopefully should be useful!

[@physiosheffield7554]

Hi Ollie.I have a degree in Physiotherapy (4years from Greece). I was wondering If I could skip the 1st year? Many Thanks for your advice and help.Much appreciated your time helping us 🙏

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Hi Anila! I'm afraid there are no ways of skipping any of the years in medical school on account of previous knowledge. You could apply for 4 year accelerated programmes which would save a year of the course, but there is no way to directly skip the first year as such. Hope that helps!

[@katerinaberhami3770]

I’m a graduate in psychology I’m trying to apply for medicine. Medicinal student who offers his services to help others told me that my choices are limited specially cause I don’t have English and maths gcse B or above and he also said I’m limited because of the fact that it’s psychology and not a lot of uni take that for gem .... so told me to maybe to consider one year college to do access to medicine course .... my gcse were c grades. So I dont know what to do now he said I can still try apply but my options will be limited cause they look at your gcse and few unis consider psycholgy bsc as a science. Please can anyone offer any advice?😭

[@OllieBurtonMed]

Hi Katerina, Warwick is definitely an option for you as they don't require science A levels, give their website a look!

[@Visibleright]

oh my god , so am i too late to apply ?? i just saw this al i knew was that application submitting starts on januaryy

[@OllieBurtonMed]

For this cycle I'm afraid so. Next applications will be October 2021 for 2022 entry.

[@almunea2003]

i plan on applying for medicine in the UK this month as i plan on entering university by September 2021. i currently only have my IGCSE and UCAT grade. I plan on completing my AS, and if necessary A2, subjects by june 2021. i would really like some advice as to if i'm eligible to apply .

[@m.i.s3524]

Is studying biology in high school mandatory for entering medical school? What if I only studied chemistry, math, health science and physics in high school, is it enough for me to enter medical school? Anyone plz answer

[@abdullahdelab1075]

It most definitely isn't. I actually did chemistry, physics, maths and further maths to keep my options open for medicine and engineering. Although some universities don't require biology, some do, so you may not be able to apply to some medical schools. You may want to look up the entry requirements for the medical schools you would like to apply for.

[@gxtlb4892]

@@abdullahdelab1075 did u get in because I do the same a levels as you and want to get into medicine?

[@abdullahdelab1075]

@@gxtlb4892 I actually went for Engineering in the end. But if I wanted I could have applied for medicine too, and I still have the option for graduate entry medicine open for me too if I chose.

[@kawaiicharlie9650]

I am currently doing a degree in health science with open university. If i get the grades would this be accepted for medical school? I also dont have tje right a levels for med school. Would i need to re do these or will my degree mean that the a levels are not requiered?

[@robertsawallesh1021]

USF Tampa Health Sciences Library: Help make this dangerous intersection more safe: Go to www.gopetition.com/petitions/remove-the-danger-highway-intersection-at-usf-and-tampa-veterans-hospital-campuses.html.

[@haris2724]

Thanks for the great video! I’ve got two questions: A*/A in 8 subjects and 1B GCSE. I’m worried I’ll be scrutinised even though the B was in P.E I know you get to only apply to 4 medical schools. If i decided I don’t want to study anything else could I just leave my fifth choice open?

[@OllieBurtonMed]

You won't be scrutinised, don't worry about it re the PE grade, they honestly will not care. And yes to the second point, you absolutely can leave it open. I would advise putting something in there because it costs you nothing to do so and gives you an extra option but you really don't need to if you don't want to.

[@haris2724]

PostGradMedic thanks

[@AJ-rz3cf]

I got b's in business and English language, will I be heavily scrutinised