4,000 unplaced Medics for UCAS 2012 entry

UCAS data seen by The Complete University Guide indicates that over 4,000 UCAS applicants for Medicine at UK universities did not have a firm offer of a place by the main deadline of early May.

This is almost a quarter of all unplaced applicants so far.

There could be many reasons for this. Students may have received rejections from their four Medicine choices, they may have decided that a career in medicine is not for them, or wish to try again next year with their results in the bag. These students are now placed into the UCAS Extra system which is like a pre-Clearing process.

Our advice is to take sound guidance from school/college tutors and HE guidance advisers and to be realistic in future choices. Medicine is highly competitive with non-academic as well as academic qualities required. Maybe it is time to cast your net a little wider? It could be that other related options might be just as interesting and career focused. For example some graduates in Chemistry, Biology and Biomedical Science go onto graduate entry medical school – an additional four years of study. These subjects and career areas are also highly rewarding in themselves. Graduates are able to follow their interest in life and health sciences to go into research, drug development, disease/infection control and education or into industry. Visit the Graduate Careers pages for more insight other career paths. Your strong A levels in Maths and/or Physics may allow you to be snapped up by competitive courses in these areas too.

Health care in the UK and beyond has a plethora of key roles with Pharmacists, Speech Therapists, Biomedical Scientists, Optometrists and the wide range of Nursing and Diagnostic professionals.

These courses attract high achievers with typical offers of AAB–BBB at A level. Doctors are only a small part of the story. Perhaps it is better to be a successful Scientist of Health than become demotivated about having failed to get into Medical School.

The vast majority of courses and universities are still accepting applications this year for non-medicine or dentistry programmes. Take a look at the Complete University Guide subject tables and the UCAS Extra website for more information on what else is out there. Suggested rankings include Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Other Subjects Allied to Medicine, Nursing and Physics and Astronomy. Above all, don’t panic and best of luck.