Alternatives to Medicine after strong A level results and no interviews

[nomoreforks]

So my YP applied for Medicine with good predicted grades and 9s/8s and GCSE. Got no interviews (UCAT was not amazing) and withdrew application. Has received A*AA in A level. Has no idea what to study and does not want to sit the UCAT again. Is feeling really lost about what to study and where. I studied English at University so I am of no help at all. She does not want to be a pharmacist. Does anyone have any recommendations?

If she really wants to be a doctor, the easiest route by far into medicine is via a medicine degree. Some people start a different degree like Biochemistry hoping to transfer after a year or so but the stats show that rarely works. If this were my daughter I would be suggesting they take a year out and reapply next year with achieved grades. As long as they are in the right subjects, it’s worth a second shot with those grades.

If she fails to get in 2 years in a row, only then should she be looking at alternatives.

What about Physiotherapy, Dietetics etc?

Very patient focused and generally without the on calls, weekends and ongoing (expensive and stressful) exams. Lots of different career routes to consider and opportunities to specialise

Two of my friends did nursing. One is now a GP and the other an A & E consultant. My friend who works in A & E said that doing nursing first has equipped her to be a better doctor.

Any details on how they made the transition from nursing to being a doctor?

UCAT, and stressing in application their NHS clinical experience. One friend had a diploma in nursing and a 2:1 degree in public health. The other a 2:1 in nursing and a postgrad in teaching.

Presumably she really wanted to do medicine? Why wouldn’t she have another go?

You have to go to medical school and do graduate entry.

Graduate entry is way more competitive than undergraduate medicine though which is already hugely competitive.

If OPs child only wants to do medicine (not clear) the undergraduate route is their best shot.

Why does she not want be a pharmacist? Hospital pharmacy is very clinical and ward and clinic based including prescribing (plus no nights after the first few years and minimal weekends) less stressful

That's a load of student debt to be saddled with. The best route would be a gap year to work - plenty of nursing homes need care assistants - whilst reapplying with a great set of grades. If they're serious about medicine, 6-8 months on the coal face of the elderly care sector will give them an awful lot of exposure to the realities of the NHS. The people living in those homes are the 'frequent flyers' of urgent care. Basically, they have the grades, now it's just about reapplying and adding some life experience so nothing will faze them later on, plus adding those soft skills of communication, teamwork etc.

Does she want to be a doctor? Presumably not or she would have been preparing to resit her UCAT this summer. In theory she could book a late sitting now and really commit to a four week sprint but it doesn’t sound as though she wants medicine any more. What UCAT score did she get first time round ? Was it very poor, or just mediocre and she applied to wrong medical schools with it?

So now look at other science degrees. No point talking about nursing and pharmacy - having wanted to be a doctor but no longer wanting to doesn’t suggest that a different patient-facing role would appeal as if it did, she would have reapplied , as many do, successfully.

I am puzzled that you have all left it until results day ish to think about this - the need to recommit or find a new path has been clear for ages. She could have applied to nearly anywhere for a top quality science degree to have that as an immediate option.

Two people I know who are now doctors did not do initial medicine degrees. One did politics and the other biochemistry. But all the others I know did do medicine. One got a place on their second attempt and took a year out and worked as a phlebotomist before re-applying.

I would give another crack at medicine now she’s got her grades.

Otherwise she could apply for biomedical sciences with the option to transfer to medicine. This is only available at some unis.

Natural Sciences is another option.

Thanks for the replies! I re-booked a UCAT in case she decided that she wanted to take this year. She says that she does not want to take the UCAT again and does not want to study medicine. Have suggested a few other courses to no avail (biochem, chemistry ) She just seems really down about it all. All her friends are going to university in September, and she seems to have no motivation at all. I don't understand it as I would have been over the moon with her A Level results.

Hi, OP -

An intriguing post. PPs have suggested several good patient focused career options, and I presume that DD also has the qualifications for a straightforward scientific degree of some kind. That can lead in many directions.

So I wonder if she is feeling lost because she is not ready to give up on medicine?

Do you as her parent think that the UCAT mark was the likely problem this year? Are her GCSEs suitable for medical school admissions? Because those are the only thing she is stuck with.

I know this is a long shot, but when you related that your DD said she does not want to sit the UCAT again I was reminded of several UG tutees over the years who have made similar pronouncements (eg ‘I’ll never take another course module in ——— area’ after doing badly in one, perhaps through not working very hard; or ‘I wouldn’t work for ——— firm’ when the only issue related to me is that their internship manager was a bit demanding). These students, like your DD, are very able and may be used to doing well with what they consider a reasonable effort.

I recognise that DD may have struggles you wish to keep private; obviously that’s fine. But given her A level results, do you think there is any chance that the less than stellar UCAT score is the result of something she would rather not think about? (Not a question necessitating a public answer.) Perhaps she was experiencing a crisis at the time, perhaps she did not prepare, whatever - the reason doesn’t matter.

My point is that she could be at a loss now because she is still committed to medicine with only UCAT in her way. If this is true then being honest with herself, retaking it, and planning a gap year to enhance her extracurricular qualifications, might be the way to go. How to help her see this, rather than putting her back up, would become the question.

If she has changed her mind about medicine that’s a different scenario.

What A levels does she have? I only ask because it affects career options. If she has Physics & maths then Medical Engineering is a good NHS career and she would be based in a hospital.

But it sounds like she needs to just take some time out to process what has happened. It must be hard when you feel like you’ve failed something despite getting amazing grades. But a year out is nothing… which she will realise when she’s older.

How bad was the UCAT?

@poetryandwine that' s an interesting reply. Her UCAT was fine and probably just under the threshold for an interview and I am not sure that she applied very strategically. She worked hard for her UCAT but did not really challenge herself.I think that she isn't really mature enough to know what she wants to do. She is at the stage of life where she wants to travel and have fun with friends. I would say that it is social media that has really put her off studying medicine the most (lots of reels from burnt out doctors leaving the NHS) and her attitude is that she would rather do a job that is 'easier' to make money. I think that she just wants to begin uni with her friends in Sept and is a bit daunted by the prospect of a gap year without routine and support of school and friends. She will work it out I'm sure.

Why not take a gap year? One of My DDs is doing that. She's got an au pair job in Paris and she's excited to be working with children, taking some art and culinary classes and refining her French. She'll make the big uni decisions with grades in hand and some distance from the pressure of sixth form.

Uni is so expensive and medicine is such a huge commitment. It's a good idea to take some time and see if she truly wants it.

If not, consider some medicine-adjacent options like optometry, podiatry, radiology, etc. Midwifery?

Crossed with your post of 14.55, OP.

Well you have given her the UCAT option, Gently, it is striking that once again you’ve put it first: ‘…she does not want to take the UCAT again and does not want to study medicine’. It does sound possible that UCAT is a barrier in her mind.

However succeeding on the medical
pathway is not easy and it is fine to want something less demanding. The trick is knowing whether this is really true.

Almost every YP can benefit from a gap year and I wish more of them would take one. As only a minority do, it is expectable that watching their friends go off to uni is difficult.
Within a few years, typically the gap year will have paid off in that it will have created more mature, disciplined and therefore successful students. Meanwhile the lives of friends who went straight to university will have unfolded in various ways. That doesn’t make it easy now.

She’s still processing it all. I wouldn’t rush to do it all again. A year of part time work, volunteering and holidays or travel will fly by tho of course it doesn’t feel like that to her just now.

DD must have some friends taking a gap year no? My DD was expecting to go to Exeter this year but exceeded her grades and has now decided to take a year out and apply to Oxbridge. Some friends are going straight but others are also taking a gap year.

I’m fine with gap years as long as they’re spent productively so the options are learn a language or work to save money for travel. Or a combination.

I went to uni all the more mature for having lived and worked abroad for a year.

Mature enough? She's no younger than any other medical school student who does know.

My ex partner had a 28 august birthday, so he started at medical school days after his eighteenth birthday and was still legally a child until a few days before he started his medical degree.

Some people are dead set on medicine and with her grades would be researching which unis/med schools to apply for again.

But it’s ok to be more equivocal - and want an easier life. My sister did science A levels but decided against medicine - that’s ok she earns a fortune in finance. And a friend of mine did a science degree + PhD first before deciding to retrain as a doctor.

@WeddingDressguest I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do at 18. i studied English and now have a career in something which is the complete opposite in every way. I think some kids have a strong inkling and others just don't. Well done to your ex-partner though. I think a gap year will really help her to work out what she enjoys and what direction she wants to take her life. Her UCAT was 1970 which was ok but not amazing. I have a booking for late September and will leave it up to her whether she wants to sit it or not. She has friends taking gap years that she can hang out with while at home but no one who she will be able to travel with as they already have friends to travel with and have made plans. I remember feeling that everyone else had their life worked out at 18 and I think she feels a bit like that. Thanks for replies x