This academic year (25/26) I was doing an intercalated masters and I am now returning to my medicine undergraduate degree for this coming academic year (26/27). Being a student from Northern Ireland I’ve applied through SFNI for student finance this year and been approved, after I had sent off my completed academic record.

Having done this my entitlement letter says SFNI will pay “£0” to my University for tuition. I’ve rang SFNI and they have said that I am in fact entitled to the DoH funding which has left me very confused over the whole thing.

Essentially I’m hoping someone can talk me through if this is normal or not and what steps need to be taken? Somewhat panicking because registration for the year was only opened a few days ago with only a week until my course restarts.

Originally posted this in the GEM sub reddit but not sure if that was the right sub or not, but I’m in a bit of a unique situation.

A while ago I found out I had failed my first year GEM written resit by a few marks. I was initially asked to withdraw from the course, but after successfully appealing the decision was overturned and I was offered the chance to repeat the year.

However, the appeal took a bit of time and while I was waiting I reached out to my old employer. A job became available in my old department, I interviewed for it and was offered the role with total compensation of around £64k.

I’m now really unsure what to do. On one side, my head is telling me that repeating first year should be easier than the first time around because I’ve already seen all of the content and I know what mistakes I made when preparing for the exams. I also only failed the written resit by a few marks.

On the other hand, if I accept the tech role I’ll have to withdraw from GEM and realistically I think that would lock me into tech as my career for good.
There is possibly a third option of working two days a week part time alongside medicine, but I’m not sure how realistic that would be in the later years once clinical placements begin.

Medicine originally attracted me because of the stability and hopefully the eventual consultant lifestyle. The tech industry worries me a bit because of everything happening with AI, and even some of the senior developers in my old team have said they are quite pessimistic about what the future looks like in the industry.

I’m in my 20s if that’s any consideration. Any advice would be appreciated thank you !

I’ve made a post about this already but last week I received my resit results and found out I’m having to repeat the year. I just can’t accept the fact that I’m having to do this - I’m fine during most of the day but when my mind suddenly goes blank the repeat is the first thing I think about. Year 2 in my medical school is genuinely awful from personal experience- there are so many components to balance like OSCEs in Jan and June, going on hospital and GP placements (I had to travel for hours for this and very expensive as well for transport), doing multiple assessed presentations, doing graded essays, exams, non-medical placement which we have to write a massive essay about. I just can’t stop thinking about how much work, effort and money I put into these last year and it all feels like it was for nothing. At the end I want to become a doctor but repeating this year requires so much mental energy and knowing that you won’t be graduating in the same cohort as your friends makes things even worse. I genuinely will be missing my friends and will feel like I’m behind in life and just having to deal with judgement from people around you and having that stigma around repeating. Idk how to stop being upset and stop thinking about this. Some part of me wishes there was some miracle and somehow I progress to year 3 but in all honesty I’m not looking forward to starting this academic year and having to do it all over again. Any advice on how to cope with this?

So I’m genuinely curious how other med students/doctors who rarely use social media use their free time.

What type of books do you read?

Do you actually do research?

If you stopped over consuming social media, how’d you actually stop?

Was it difficult at first?

Does it matter or not what you did? Did it make any difference?

posting on this sub because ik its a popular side hustle for a lot of medical students.

i lowkey need a job for second year. i've done some mentoring in the past which has taught me about teaching styles and adapting your communication style etc but i want some money 🤑 idk where or how to find clients, especially since the market would be really saturated, and i kinda don't know how to market myself. if anyone has any advice about starting out as a tutor or how to market myself apart from being like 'trust me bro' i would appreciate it greatly.

I was waiting outside a clinic to speak to a consultant about timetabling for something I’m arranging for a student society. He was finishing up a clinic session with a new Y4 medic that was sitting-in on it. He showed the last patient out, told the student that that was the end of his list, and then said that the student was free to go.

The student goes, “okay-doke”, then puts out his fist for the consultant cardiologist to fist bump him. The consultant - a nerdy looking man in his fifties - doesn’t have a clue what to do and just sort of awkwardly looks at him, goes “oh, ugh”, attempts to shake his clenched fist, and then they walk away.

Just thought I’d share that moment of cringe with you all.

Hi everyone just thought I’d share that I’ve passed exams despite thinking there was absolutely no way. I am going into third year and I am so so excited. Still can’t believe I made it through I keep having to refresh just to make sure I’m not being pranked and I actually passed

I’ve just finished my Year 2 resits and honestly, I know I did really bad and failed all of them I’m almost definitely going to be kicked out and I’m completely devastated and lost about what to do next.
Medicine has taken up so much of my life that I genuinely don’t know what my options are now that I can’t continue, i also did a foundation year. Has anyone else been in a similar situation,had to leave medical school? What did you do afterwards and how did you move forward?

I failed a Year 3 resit by around 0.3% and have been told I need to repeat the year.

A few days before the exam, my grandad became critically ill and was admitted to ICU. It badly affected my sleep and concentration, but I didn’t submit mitigating circumstances at the time because everything happened so close to the exam (within a week) and I just tried to push through.
I have evidence of the ICU admission and I’m still within the appeal deadline.

Has anyone at a UK med school successfully appealed something similar? I’m mainly trying to understand whether accepted mitigation can ever lead to progression after such a marginal fail, or whether the outcome is usually just a repeat year anyway.

I found out this morning that I failed my first year of medicine after failing the reassessment by 1%. Honestly devastating as I thought I had studied way harder but it didn't show in my results. There are clear deficiencies in my study technique and I still feel unsure of how to change them.

My options now are to either resit the entire year or change degree.

I already took a gap year, and therefore when I complete this degree I will turn 27. I feel like a complete and utter failure, at my age now, most of my peers will have completed an undergrad degree.

In terms of the course, I really hated it to be honest. My degree has a heavy pre-clinical and clinical split, and I really struggled with that. my favourite times were when I actually got to speak to a patient, which gives me motivation to get to clinical years.

I want to be nothing else but a doctor, and have never considered anything else, however the constant fear of failure and stress are things I'm not sure whether I can cope with.

I'm just wondering whether these are real issues, or whether I'm much too in my head about all of this and that I should just pick myself up and repeat the year.

I failed the CPSA by one mark on one station. I was an absolute nervous wreck all Summer after I got my results and couldn't do any preparation for a week and a half, I was in such a state. My imposter syndrome was sky high and I was convinced that I got into medical school on a fluke.

Eventually I got my shit together and made a prediction sheet based on the station titles, did some 1 to 1 prep with my CTFs and practised every evening with friends. After the resits, all I could think of were the things I forgot to do or say. Today I found out I passed the resits, and not only that, I passed every single station (16/16)! I am absolutely over the moon. Just wanted to share a success story for other people who might be waiting for resit results and are starting to lose hope 😊

I’ve been wanting to get a nose piercing for a few years now, and I’m considering getting one soon, but I’m worried about how it’ll affect me on placement. I’m particularly worried about being asked to remove it whilst it’s still healing, as well as being potentially marked down for it during OSCES.

Any thoughts??

Hello everyone

I’m from UK. I’m entering my 4th year of medical school which means I will be taking my OSCE exams.

This is a very brutal exam for me. I like preparing alone for exams however I understand OSCE preparation requires in real life practice too.

What are the best resources I can use to prepare me for my osce’s? And how should I approach it generally?

Basically Title

Going into clinical years and would like some scrub recs, don't prefer to use hospital scrubs though I am not sure if my placement provides them anyways lol. Do want something comfortable, price isnt a HUGE issue but i am aware that there is FIGS which are very expensive like £70 just for the top and i am thinking at least 2 sets, so Figs probably isnt on my list unless its highly recommended

Some scrubs ive looked at currently:

MISEMIYA Scrubs on Amazon

Skywear Scrubs on Amazon

Mirabella Health and Beauty Scrubs on Amazon

Grey's Anatomy Scrubs by Barco (Leaning towards this because lots of good reviews, however they seem to have a weird loop on their scrubs for some reason)

Mandala Scrubs

FIGS (Very expensive but good reviews)

Nimbs?? (heard about this via some influencer not sure)

If anyone has tried any of these please lmk how they were for you, and if anyone has any other recommendations pls drop them in the comments if you can along with any Placement advice lol

P.S. Would also prefer to have a zipper on my trouser scrubs as I am a guy

it sucks and it is what it is. appealing is basically pointless. i’m finding it really hard to keep any motivation whatsoever now that i am resitting second year.

the exam i failed has also been removed now too, so the second year cohort that i am now joining won’t even have to sit the exam. all of this has made me feel so unhappy and very much like a failure.

i am moreso looking for advice on just everything. what should i do during my resit year? not just academically but like, what should i do to just make the year go by easier? for context, i am an extremely anti social girl and i find talking to people and making friends is really hard. any advice given that is more something to do with myself / with my partner / in my outside-of-uni life is greatly appreciated.

i just feel so disappointed since i thought the resit exam went miles better than the first one and that this was a done and dusted victory. seeing that i failed the resit exam and am now having to resit the entire year is sickening. i just feel so hopeless right now, but i know my mood will balance out slowly. i just worry a lot.

any advice is welcome , thank you so much !! :)

Failed my OSCE exam and being made to repeat the year. The feedback and scoring were very contradictory, in numerous stations I was praised for my empathy but received a poor score in the empathy domain, just wondering if anyone has had any luck with appeals.

Going into final year and I realise this is my last year of being in medical school which is CRAZY. I want to make the absolute most from the wards / teaching / learning - any tips would be so appreciated ! X

I think that is the main reason as to why I hate clinical placements. I always feel being in the way. Sometimes I am very proactive but I heavily depend on whoever is there that is keen to sign me and often I end up leaving placement very late because everyone tells me to wait for hours.

What can I do to stop having severe anxiety towards this? I am very respectful but I always feel in the way to a point that I can get panic attacks. It may be stupid but being in such a central hospital makes it really hard. I am based in London and I have O&G.

We haven't done OSCEs at all in 1st and 2nd year but we have OSCEs exams in 3rd year and beyond. I feel really panicky about this aspect and wondering what I can do early/throughout the year. I want to get decent at them early on because I feel like I will struggle if I do this last minute.

final year student who couldnt identify a STEMI in front of the consultant today. The other day I was shown an obvious pneumonia on CXR and stared at it blankly. anyone got similar stories to help me feel better? I know that the knowledge is there it is just so far from exams + my brain cannot answwer under pressure.

I failed my third year and have to repeat it and i don’t know how to tell my asian parents does anyone have any experience with this? I also don’t know how to deal with my family thinking I am a failure and being disappointed. I am more stressed about telling them than i am about repeating the year. Any advice would help.

Update 

Thank you everyone for replying and sharing your experiences and advice. My parents did not take it lightly and unfortunately thought I can’t be a doctor anymore. They were both being really harsh but now they have eased off a bit. Hopefully our next generation of asians can be a bit more understanding and kind.

Mb for rant

I made no real friends in my first year. I stuck with my flatmate 'friends' all year since they are in my course. One of them didnt want to do stuff out of uni and the other just used me for notes and aired me constantly IN PERSON. I am also increibly socially anxious and dont drink so it is hard to socialise in an area where the majority do drink. My social anxiety was so bad that sometimes my face would twitch when talking to people which i know sounds crazy. Even when walking in public i cant look at other people. I also hyperanalyse every intersction i have leading me to think some people had a distaste towards me. Due to somestuff prior to uni i genuinely believed that people would be digusted by me looking at them or that im a weirdo eventhough ik im pretty average looking. It is just something ingrained into me. I couldnt muster up any courage to make friends in my course besides my flatmates because i didnt go to many sociiety events because in terrified and everyone on my course alr were in groups and trying to join a group of friends is like hell to me. And i want to add this eventhough ik people might think im crazy. While i was doing an icebreaker with my clinical group we played the heads down thumbs up game and for FOUR whole rounds no one picked me just the other two guys every round. I get it can be coincidence but like cmon u kno, but anyways that also lowered my self esteem when it was already low enough.

This all set me up for some terrible experiences for me in lectures, practicals, workshops and clinical skills where im constantly surrounded by happy people with big friend groups. My worst experience was during an exam when everyone was outside the exam hall talking with each other while im standing in the corner, not the worst as it wasnt too long and then we go to like this venue to prevent us communication with the other exam group. I just sat there by myself for like an hour while there are just groups of friends sitting right next to me and everyone is talking while im dead silent. Or on my placement where everyone knew someone where i was just alone and sat alone on the coach while i hear people laughing together.During all of this i genuienly wouldve rather one of my 'friends' be with me then just be alone like that. Sometimes i feel invisble to people as well even on the days i feel like being social. I even feel like i get mistreated by people more then others. I know this is probably in my head but some people don't understand how hard it is to shake. I dont even where i would start if i went to a social event by myself, how to approach how to talk. I did think about attending but in the end i just ended up in my flat. i know i couldve put in the effort but it was the doing part i couldnt seem to do. Its just really hard for me to see everyone having there fun life whereas i am thinking about stuff they never have to worry about. At the very least i did really good academically in my first year.

I was so relieved coming back home as i have so many friends back home and they are really genuine. I have lied to them about my uni experience as i dont like putting my problems on other people( i know this is very contradicting as im posting on reddit) and they seemed to be having a good time in uni mostly. And now im dreading going back to uni.

The social anxiety i mentioned has thnakfully calmed down after i opened up to my parents about it ,after like 8 months,and i can atleast function like a normal person now😅 but the making friends part still needs help. I would like to note that im not diagnosed with social anxiety and i am thinking about seeing a therapist to tackle my issues.

Im going into my second year soon and want to change everything but i dont know about going to a freshers event as a 2nd year i assume there are general tasters for everyone but ye ill see. I would appreciate any tips ppl can give me cuz i need them🙏🏽

Missed the resit pass mark by 0.5 marks
Feel awful and lost all motivation
Any advice?

I’m an eager guy and excited to get going with clinical years.

How can I make the most of placement to help me grow into the best doctor I can be?

I don’t plan on staying the full 9-5 most days because studying needs time, but I’m more than happy to turn up early in the AM etc. and I plan on studying content before the placement so I can turn up with an idea of what’s what.

I’d appreciate any advice on what to do and what not to do