If you are reading this because the news was not what you hoped for, I am sorry. I am an NHS GP and I have been with families through this for fourteen years, and it is one of the hardest moments of the whole journey, for them and for you. A rejection from medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine is a setback, not the end of the road. Many students get in the second time around. This page is about supporting your child now, and the routes that are still open when they are ready.
Reviewed by Dr Akash Gandhi · Last updated: September 2026
It is natural to want to jump to solutions. For a teenager who has spent years picturing themselves as a doctor, dentist or vet, though, a rejection can feel like a judgement on who they are. If the first thing they hear is a list of back-up plans, it can feel as though their feelings have been passed over.
Many parents find it helps to start with the feeling: letting them know you can see how much this hurts, that it is okay to be devastated, and that you are as proud of them as ever. The plans can wait a day or two. In my experience they go down much better once a young person feels heard.
Please look after yourself too. Your own disappointment is real. It can help to have somewhere to take it, a partner or a friend, so your child does not feel they have to carry your worry as well as their own.
There are more ways in than most families realise. Here are the options, by subject, with the guides that explain each one.
Reapply next cycle, stronger
The most common route. It helps to change what held the first attempt back: a higher UCAT, a better-matched university list or more interview practice. Our how universities use the UCAT and where to apply with a lower UCAT guides help with the next list.
Graduate entry
A degree first, then a graduate-entry course. Useful to know about early, because it affects which undergraduate degree to choose. See graduate entry medicine and graduate entry dentistry.
Clearing and a related degree
On results day, places can appear through medicine clearing, dentistry clearing or veterinary clearing and gateway courses. A strong related science degree can also become a route in via graduate entry.
A purposeful gap year
A year to resit the UCAT, gain richer work experience and reapply with more maturity. Used well, it gives your child plenty to write and talk about. Our personal statement guide helps with a fresh draft.
Not sure which route fits your child’s grades and situation? A free strategy call can help you both think it through.
When the time feels right, it helps to understand what held this year back before starting again. On a free call, a doctor, dentist or vet can look through your child's UCAT, statement, choices and interviews with you, and talk through whether reapplying makes sense.
Something many families find comforting: a first application involves a lot of guesswork. Students apply with an untested personal statement and no idea how an interview will feel. The second time round, they know their score, which universities suit it, and what interviews are like.
That is a big part of why second applications are often stronger. Once you know what held the first one back, the second can be better targeted and more confident. You can read where lower-UCAT applicants should aim in our where to apply guide, and compare every school in our UK medical schools tool.
Yes, they can reapply, and reapplicants get places every year. Most universities treat a second application like any other, though a few have their own rules, for example about applicants they interviewed last time, so it is worth checking each university's policy. What matters most is that the second application is stronger than the first.
So the useful question is what to change. A higher UCAT, a better-matched choice of universities, more interview practice or stronger work experience can each make the difference, and we are happy to help families work out which.
There are more than most families realise. Reapplying the following cycle with a stronger application is the most common. Graduate entry medicine is an option after a relevant degree. Some students take a degree in a related science and apply again, or use a gap year to build experience and resit the UCAT.
Clearing can also open up places on results day. The right route depends on your child's grades and what happened this year, and a calm second opinion can help at this point.
It depends on the course and on your child. A clearing place at a good university for a related subject can be an excellent stepping stone, and some students grow to love a different path. Others would rather take a year and reapply for medicine. Both are good choices.
Most decisions can wait a day or two after results day, which gives everyone time to talk it through. We are happy to talk it through with you too, if that would help.
Letting them feel it first usually helps. A rejection from medicine can feel like a verdict on years of effort, and moving straight to a plan can feel as though the hurt has been skipped over. Saying out loud that it is hard often means more than any plan.
When they are ready, you can be the steady one, helping them gather the facts and look at the options together. Plenty of wonderful doctors started a year or two later than they hoped.
No. Even on or after results day there are options, from clearing places to planning a stronger reapplication for the next cycle. There is no rush to decide everything at once, and a short conversation can help when you are both ready.
Not usually. A well-used gap year can strengthen an application. It gives your child time to resit the UCAT, build more work experience, grow in confidence and write a stronger personal statement, and a year they can talk about with some reflection gives them plenty to draw on at interview.
Graduate entry medicine is a four-year accelerated medicine course for students who already hold a degree. It is not easier: places are very competitive, and some courses use the GAMSAT instead of the UCAT. It is still a well-trodden route into medicine for students who do not get in straight from school, and choosing the undergraduate degree with it in mind keeps it open.
Sometimes. Quite a few medical schools accept A-level resit applicants, though the rules vary: some ask for higher grades second time, some only accept resits with extenuating circumstances, and a few do not accept them at all. So it depends on which universities your child would target. Our A-level resits and medicine guide lists which schools accept them and on what terms.
If grades were the main barrier, resitting can make sense. If the UCAT or interviews held them back, the year is usually better spent there.
We start by looking at what held the first application back, then build the second attempt around it. Through the Ultimate Package your child gets a practising doctor, dentist or vet as a personal mentor, alongside UCAT and interview coaching from our team and current students who recently sat these exams. A free strategy call is an easy way to talk through whether reapplying is right for your child.
From UCAT tutoring and personal statement editing to interview coaching and our all-in-one Ultimate Package, we support reapplicants at every stage. Tell us what happened this cycle and we will suggest what might suit your child.
Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.
“Harry got my UCAT up to 2,590, working through the sections I kept dropping marks on week by week. Gemma then ran my interview practice so the MMI stations didn't catch me out, and Dr Akash mentored me the whole way through. I'm off to King's for Medicine.”
“The interview prep was the part that actually moved the needle. Proper mock MMIs, not just lists of questions, and feedback that was honest about what I was getting wrong. I ended up with four offers and firmed UCL.”
“The Ultimate Package kept me organised from UCAT through to interviews. They knew what dental schools actually ask and tightened up my personal statement. Four offers in the end, and I'm going to Birmingham.”
“Vet applications come down to the written SAQs as much as the interview. Dr Rebecca went through my SAQs line by line, sharpened my answers and prepped me for the panels. I came away with four offers and chose the RVC.”
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