Your Complete Guide to Reapplying to Medicine + My Experience

Getting rejected by multiple medical schools

My first rejection was in end 2020 – early 2021 and I was rejected by the UK schools to which I applied to because my predicted grades did not make the cut. I did not make it to the interview rounds and I was really upset because that meant that I only have 2 chances left, before I have to take a gap year to reapply to the various medical schools again.

 

Unfortunately, my score was less than NUS and NTU Medicine’s usual cut-off for normal admission. The pain I felt while watching the slides of 88RP-ers and 90RP-ers pass without seeing my name was immense. Having worked hard over the past 6 years just to get into medical school, I was devastated. All my hard work seemed to have gone down the drain. I still applied to NUS and NTU, but as expected, not a single interview was offered.

 

My thought process

Knowing that there was no point crying over spilled milk, I picked myself up within days and started to chart my direction:

1. Accept my second choice – Pharmacy in NUS and apply for transfer in year 2

2. Accept my offer from University College London to do Pharmacy

3. Apply to Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine

4. Take a gap year and reapply to medical schools all over the world

5. Sit for A Level H1 Economics (SEAB allows you to take only one paper if its H1 and not General Paper, unless you are reapplying to law school)

 

Well, I eventually chose options 4 and 5. Attending a local medical school was still my first choice because it’s closer to home and it’s cheaper. However, just to play safe, I thought it would be better to apply to medical schools overseas too.

 

Starting your reapplying journey on the right foot

Once you have decided that you want to reapply to medicine, do make sure that you plan early. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of planning your gap year properly. To some, a year off may be a huge thing because it means graduating one year later and losing one year’s worth of salary. Here’s how you can plan your reapplying journey:

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• Know yourself

As cliche as it may sound, you really really got to understand yourself. Are you an ambitious overachiever? Or do you prefer going slow? There isn’t a right answer. Although being a highflyer looks good in the eyes of others, sometimes, it’s better to go at your own pace to prevent burnout. Use your understanding of yourself to gauge how much you should do to prepare your portfolio for reapplying.

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• Think about your backup options

One big mistake I did during my pre-university days was to over-fixate myself on medicine. I know it’s a little pessimistic to think about being rejected at the start of your reapplying journey, but it is worthwhile to prepare yourself for the worst to prevent disappointments.

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It’s quite normal to not know your backup plans but it is never too late! If you are having trouble choosing your backup choices, write down the reasons why you want to do medicine. Is it because you enjoy patient care? Or do you like the research aspect of medicine? Once you are done writing them down, look for some courses that will satisfy these reasons. There may not be that one course that satisfies all reasons (hence, you are reapplying to medical school) but there may be similar courses that will interest you, for example, psychology, pharmaceutical sciences, etc.

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• Planning which activities/jobs you should be hunting for

It is actually not difficult to find opportunities if you are looking at the right places (unless the opportunities you are looking for are really rare). However, don’t sign up for positions or activities that you are genuinely not interested in because it will be very painful trying to make time to fulfill those commitments. Ultimately, these activities are not just to help you boost your portfolio, but also to learn more about yourself and provide a different perspective of life.

 

Here are some suggestions:

1. Finding clinic/hospital jobs: Indeed, Google, hospital job portals, and even calling your neighbourhood clinics if they need employees

2. Volunteer Opportunities: Telegram (just search ‘volunteer’), crimsonecl.com, Instagram accounts of organisations, Discord, Reddit (r/ECAdvice), Google

 

Note: Please make sure the jobs you are applying for are credible! You may have to keep checking those pages to get the jobs that you want. Do not settle for something that looks useful but you aren’t interested in!

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• Consider who and how are you going to fund your expenses

If your parents have willingly decided to fund your year off, this section does not really apply to you. However, if you have decided to fund your expenses, practise budgeting! I think it’s really useful to go by the 50-30-20 rule. Honestly, if you are a spend-thrift like me (rarely eating out, not interested in shopping), you’ll be surprised that you can save quite a bit!

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If you are okay with earning $500 a month, working on intern pay should be acceptable. Just make sure you manage your finances well and you should be able to survive.

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If you are not okay with earning intern pay and you somehow can’t get a full-time job because of your qualifications and your irregular schedule, you may want to consider working a few jobs. I remember working night shifts at the clinic and going to work twice a week, teaching piano on a few nights, and studying for entrance tests and H1 Economics. If you enjoy your work and you like to keep yourself busy, this arrangement will work for you. However, I would suggest being more kind to yourself and arranging your work schedule such that you have time to take a break and treat yourself.

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• Start aiming for the universities that you want to apply to

It is always good to have an idea of where you are applying to. If you are keen, do take a look at the medical school’s mission and vision statement and see the type of students they are looking to admit (eg. leaders in healthcare). Try your best to work your activities around the qualities they are looking for in their students, especially if you resonate with their mission and vision.

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• Consider if applying overseas is an option for you

Discuss with your family and give them ample time to process this option. Regardless of the outcome, remember to respect their decision because it is, after all, our parents who will most likely be paying our school fees.

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What I did to prepare myself for re-application

I spent a year serving the community, doing internships, and working. I did all that to experience working in academia and the medical field for the long term, just to make sure that I was actually interested in medicine. Trust me, working the same job for a year is really different from the short job shadowing or attachment that you do for a few days. Of course, a year pales in comparison to being in the same profession for a lifetime, but at least, it helps you to understand whether your dream profession really suits you.

 

I think, at the very least, you should get a job at a clinic or a hospital. This is important because if you get a chance at the interviews, it might be suspicious if you reapply to medicine without doing anything related to medicine. If you scroll through LinkedIn, you might see some people doing research and EVEN writing papers. Do not feel pressured to do research or work in academia, especially if you are totally not interested in it! The admission officers can see whether you are genuinely interested in what you did or not.

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Indirectly related to Medicine:

1. Interned at MOE Special Education

2. Led a STEM podcast

3. Volunteered at Meet-the-People session as a petition writer

4. Taught piano to children and adults

 

From what I’ve read and heard from seniors, admission officers are also very interested to see if you have a life outside medicine. I think it’s pretty important that you show this aspect because admission officers want to see if you are capable of having a good work-life balance when you eventually become a doctor. If you are genuinely interested in helping people, please do spend your time volunteering. It can be a form of relaxation or an activity to help you make good use of your time.

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Preparing for entrance tests

When applying overseas, it is highly likely that you will need to sit for admission tests. Here are some that I know of:

• Australia: International Students Admissions Test (ISAT)

• UK: BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT), University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)

• NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine: BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT)

 

Please take note of the application deadlines, registration dates, examination dates, whether or not you need to take leave from NS to sit for the examinations, and plan your revision schedule in advance because we no longer have anyone to spoonfeed us.

 

How to prepare for the International Students Admissions Test (ISAT)

Unlike the BMAT and UCAT, there aren’t many preparation materials for the ISAT. The ISAT is essentially a 3-hour computer-based multiple-choice test with 100 questions. This means you need to have the STAMINA to sit for a 3-hour paper and complete 100 questions. Here’s what you can do:

1. The least you can do: Look at the mock paper on the ISAT ACER website and familiarise yourself with the format

2. Do some BMAT section 1 questions as practice (can be found online FOR FREE)

3. Look up study materials online (you know where I am referring to)

 

The day before the exam: You have practised really really hard and do not over-stress yourself. I remember taking a whole day off to do anything but ISAT and it really helped to clear my mind.

 

How to prepare for the BMAT and UCAT

Thankfully, there are many past year papers and resources that can be found online for free, so make sure that you utilise them well! Similar to preparing for the ISAT, make sure you are familiar with the structure of the test. Both BMAT and UCAT require you to think fast since time is limited (especially the UCAT), so I will highly encourage you to do as many practice papers until you can complete most, if not all of the questions accurately within the time limit.

 

BMAT structure: a 60-minute test of Thinking Skills (section 1), a 30-minute test of Scientific Knowledge and Applications (section 2), and a 30-minute Writing Task (section 3).

UCAT structure: a two-hour computer-based test with five sections tested in order: Verbal reasoning, Decision making, Quantitative reasoning, Abstract reasoning, and Situational judgment.

 

How to prepare for NUS Focused Skills Assessment (FSA) and Situational Judgment Test (SJT)

SJT: A computer-based test (for now) with scenarios that are designed around hypothetical medical school situations. It is quite hard to prepare for this because it’s very hard to spot questions. However, it is rather similar to the UCAT Situational Judgment section so you can use those questions to practise for the SJT.

 

FSA: A session that lasts around 90-120 minutes where you will go through 5-7 stations. These stations include roleplay(s), a task-based station where you have to complete the multiple mini activities within a time limit, a group station where you will be discussing and presenting the given topic with your groupmates, and an interview station for you to talk about your motivations and share more about your portfolio.

 

How to prepare for the Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)

Most of the time, if your grades and admission test scores meet the cut, you will be offered an interview. Some medical schools use the MMI, for example, NTU Medicine. You may read online or hear people say that there is no point in preparing for the MMIs since everyone’s questions will be different. However, it is still advisable to prepare because the questions usually surround specific themes. We have to sign a non-disclosure agreement so I can’t tell you what my questions are but here are some preparation tips:

1. Study the 4 pillars of medical ethics: Beneficence, Non-maleficence, Autonomy and Justice

2. Look at question banks that can be found on websites like themedicportal.com

3. Check out r/premed on Reddit to look for resources posted by past applicants

4. Check the format of your MMI – number of stations, duration per station, number of questions to answer

5. Pick a range of questions – easy to hard (based on your perception) and practise with yourself or someone else

6. Watch Ali Abdaal‘s videos on interview tips (very very useful and interactive)

 

What if I get rejected?

Rejections are the bane of reapplicants’ existence and I have had my fair share of rejections. Give yourself some time to sulk about it, but remember to pick yourself up afterwards! Rejections are a great way to help yourself better understand what you are lacking. There is value in reflecting on your interview performance and making good use of that experience to turn yourself into a stronger applicant for your other interviews. Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

1. Was I confident during the previous interviews?

2. Did I prepare enough for them?

3. Was I unable to answer the questions within the time limit or was I speaking too fast for the interviewer to understand me?

4. Were my answers coherent? Did I show my thought process clearly?

5. (For ethics questions) Did I shape my answers around the 4 pillars of ethics/ other related themes?

 

Once you have reflected and identified the possible mistakes that you have made, work on them and make sure you do not make the same mistakes again!

 

Final words

After stressing about the applications and sitting for multiple exams, I finally received an offer from a medical school and I am extremely thankful for that. You may hear of many positive outcomes from reapplicants but do remember that reapplying does not necessarily mean that you will definitely get into medical school because the competition is very very high. As much as I wish every reapplicant will be successful in their application, many still get rejected and you should definitely take that into consideration to avoid huge disappointments. No matter the outcome of your reapplication, I am sure that the journey of reapplying will be rewarding as long as you put in the effort. Even though I eventually did not get into my dream school, the experiences I gained and the insights I gleaned have made me grow so much as a person and it has been helping me through university and the way I handle my mental health.

 

If you have just been rejected, it is okay to cry (do give yourself ample time to release your emotions). It is definitely upsetting that the achievement of our dreams is dependent on our score or even the several interviewers who can only judge us based on that one interview. Here’s what a teacher said that really inspired me during A-Level results day. We always want everything to fall perfectly the way we want but that’s life for you – you win some and you lose some. If you are reapplying to medicine, we wish you all the best and we want to reassure you that it is perfectly fine to take the longer route and give yourself another chance to achieve your dreams. Feel free to reach out if you require any help!