Undergraduate entry medicine for grads

Advantages

• Standard entry medicine is less competitive than GEM, although not by much. This can still make a difference though and considering most medical schools that offer standard entry also allow graduates to apply, then it can be worth considering if you have been unsuccessful when applying for GEM in the past
• An extra year can be beneficial because the first two years of content will not be condensed into one - if you have a non-scientific background this might give you more time to adjust
• You will have more medical schools to choose from when applying, because not all medical schools offer GEM - only about a third do. This means there is more choice and you can do more research into the university and course before choosing
• Although it is 5-years compared to 4-years on the accelerated course, it is only one extra year and in the long run this will matter very little given that medicine is a lifelong career
• Undergraduate medicine courses still have a fair number of graduates/mature students, so don't think you will be alone with school/college leavers
• For the first two years at least, the holidays will be longer because GEM often has a longer academic year in order to fit the content in - this is good if you want more of a break during the summers

Disadvantages

• Obviously with GEM, you save a year - they allow you to qualify as a doctor aged 25, assuming you have gone straight from your undergraduate degree at 21 into GEM. This is only two years behind a school leaver who started at 18, plus you will have done a bachelor's degree and potentially had more experiences
• Funding is also available for GEM - at least more of it than applying for standard entry as a graduate. More on this will be explained below, as the financial implications may be a potential problem for some
• GEM courses are more likely to have people from all walks of life applying, simply because everyone will have done a degree or worked already - this means the course is potentially more diverse than standard entry medicine, although both are likely to be full of interesting people!
• You qualify older with undergraduate entry medicine as a graduate - especially if you have worked or done other study before pursuing medicine, you can often be in your late twenties before qualifying as a doctor
• It is almost like starting from scratch again - you may find that you are going back to basics completely with some of the content you have to cover in the pre-clinical years, particularly if there was overlap in a degree you did before. This does however mean it might just be a knowledge refresh for you

Finance

Funding for GEM

Finance might be one reason not to consider studying standard 5-year entry medicine as a graduate. There is less funding available for standard entry medicine than GEM - substantially less in fact. Student Finance England and the NHS both offer financial support, along with other organisations should you need it.

Year 1

During the first year of GEM, you have the pay the first £3,465 yourself of tuition fees. The NHS doesn't pay anything. A non-means tested loan is available from SFE for the remaining £5,785. You can also get a means tested maintenance loan (after the first £4,422) for living costs.

Year 2 and onwards

After the first year, the NHS bursary scheme pays the first £3,715 of your tuition fee. You can then get a tuition fee loan from SFE for the remaining £5,535. This means that for GEM, the only cost you will need to pay towards your tuition fees are the £3,465 in the first year. Similar to year 1, you also get a maintenance loan - however this is reduced to £2,534 which is non-means tested. This is reduced in your final year. Apart from this, the NHS bursary scheme can give you a non-means tested grant of £1,000 - anymore is means tested, with the maximum available being £2,643.

Bear in mind you can also get other grants from the NHS such as dependents allowance and childcare allowance, whilst the amount you get for maintenance loan also depends on whether you are living in London, outside London, or with your parents. The above only applies to students from England - it is by and large the same for Welsh students, whilst for Scottish students if you are studying on the ScotGEM programme, your tuition fees are entirely funded, but otherwise you will have to pay yourself. Northern Irish students will have to pay the full tuition fees themselves.

Funding for standard entry medicine as a graduate

Years 1-4

Unfortunately, doing standard entry medicine counts as a second degree and it means you cannot get access to a tuition fee loan from SFE for the first four years of medicine as a graduate. This means you have to fund these first four years yourself. You can however, still get access to a full maintenance loan, which is means tested.

Year 5

In the fifth year of study, students can apply to NHS student bursaries for a tuition fee grant, which covers the cost of tuition for the final year. Students can also apply to NHS student bursaries for an income assessed bursary and a grant (non-income assessed) of £1,000. In years where you get an NHS bursary, you can also apply for a non-income assessed reduced rate maintenance loan, which again varies depending on if you are living at home, away and in London or not.

How might you fund standard entry medicine as a graduate?

Clearly, the main disadvantage to studying 5-year medicine as a graduate is managing to fund the first four years of tuition fees yourself, probably in addition to it being a year longer than GEM. There are ways you can manage to do it, although it is obviously not going to be straightforward. One way is if you have worked for a few years and perhaps had another career before doing medicine, then you can use money saved up for paying tuiton fees. Now this will be expensive and you may have to consider living costs as well (although maintenance loans can help with this). If you have a partner or another source of income during your time studying then this might be viable.

You could also use your maintenance loan to pay off most of the tuiton fees, especially if you get the upper end of the maintenance loan. To offset living costs, you could choose to live at home and apply to medical schools nearby, or live with friends/family you might have nearby the medical schools you have applied for. To pay for day to day expenses, you might choose to work during your time studying. Whilst this can prove difficult in later years, during the first two years it is entirely possible and for ideas on what part-time work you can do, please see my article on earning money as a student.

Other financial support

There is also a range of other financial help out there for graduates who want to pursue medicine. There may be scholarships and bursaries available from your medical school - these normally depend on various eligibility criteria, such as household income, age, background. Check with your medical school to see if they offer it. You can speak to your the university financial or student services for help and advice with this.

For example, St George's have the Opportunity Fund Grant, which supports students from lower income backgrounds. They make this assessment on students when they apply for student finance. Oxford also have the Oxford bursary, which also helps students from a lower income household studying for either a first degree or GEM, by offering an annual Oxford bursary that is dependent on household income - you can get up to £3,200. Medical schools will usually have a section dedicated to bursaries and scholarships, often together with financial support.

There are also other bursaries available - disabled students' allowance, adults dependants' grant, childcare grant, several to help parents with children who are studying, as well as charities you can apply to. These organisations provide other further options for financial support.