Lancaster Medical School has listed medical school places through UCAS Extra until the 7th May, so if you have been rejected from all of your medical schools then you may wish to consider this as an option.  We don’t anticipate that they will have places available for long so you must act quickly if you want to have a shot at being considered.  There are few things that you need to take into consideration though:

1. You can only use UCAS extra if you have have been rejected from all 5 UCAS choices.  So if you hold no medical school offers but you do have an offer from your 5th choice, you would have to reject it to go through the UCAS extra process.  So there is a risk involved, because you could lose your place on a course that you really like.  You need to balance this against whether you feel it is worth the risk to have an extra shot at applying to a medical school and this will depend on the following…

           a. do you want to go to Lancaster Medical School if they offer you a place

           b. why were you rejected from your other medical school choices?  If you have made it to the interview stage but been rejected after interview, it is likely that your interview technique is what let you down.  This means that you have a pretty solid chance of applying but you need some extra interview practice before you go to your Lancaster Medical School interview.

 2. Make sure that you meet the entry requirements that Lancaster are looking for.  This includes their BMAT score.  Lancaster are looking for students who have scored a total of 10 in the BMAT.  You must be available to attend the interviews week commencing 25th May 2020.

3. Reflect on your application honestly.  If you do apply, you will have to use the same personal statement and reference that you have already submitted for your application.  If you have not been called to interview for any medical schools this year, or maybe just 1, then it is likely that either your grades, personal statement or reference might be letting you down.  There is not a lot that you can do about this now, but it is worth emailing the universities that you applied to originally and asking for feedback.  This will help you to narrow down where you could  improve and it will certainly help if you end up re-applying next year.

4. Finally, if you already hold a medical school offer – DO NOT reject your offer on the chance that Lancaster would accept you.  It is not worth the risk, unless you absolutely cannot attend that medical school for personal reasons.  If you think you are in this position and want some advice first then ring the Chief Mentors on 01530 417 299.

For information on how to go about applying through UCAS Extra using your UCAS portal click on this link and it will walk you through the process:

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/types-offer/extra-choices

Good luck everyone and if you do have any experience or tips for potential students going through this process then comment below.  If you have any general questions you can post them too!