No Medicine Offers UK: Extra, Clearing or Reapply

No Medicine Offers UK: Extra, Clearing or Reapply

If you hold no medicine offers, UCAS gives you Extra from 25 February to 1 July 2027, one course at a time, and then Clearing. Neither is a realistic route into medicine. UCAS itself says it is "unusual" for courses with a 15 October deadline "to consider late applications because their courses are really competitive."

So the real decision is between your fifth-choice course and a planned gap year and reapplication. Make it on the feedback and the school rules, not in the week the last rejection arrives. This page sets out the dates, what each route does to your next medicine application, and a decision table.

Every UCAS and school page quoted below was checked on 7 November 2026. UCAS dates are for 2027 entry unless the page gives another year.

When you will know

UCAS's offers page sets the deadline for universities to decide: 12 May 2027 if you applied by 13 January 2027. UCAS lists 15 October as the date for "most courses in medicine", so that date covers you. It adds: "You can only reply to any offers once you have a decision back from all your choices."

That rule matters if your fifth choice is not medicine. An early offer there cannot be accepted until every medicine school has decided. You have time to collect feedback before you choose.

UCAS Extra

UCAS's Extra page describes the service:

"If you included five choices on your application, have received decisions from all five, and weren't accepted, or if you declined the offers you received, you will be able to use Extra."

The rules that matter to a medicine applicant:

• You must have used all five choices. If you did not, "you don't need to use Extra, you can just sign in to your application and add another choice, as long as it's before 30 June, and you've not accepted or declined any offers."
• It is one way. "If you use Extra to add another choice you cannot reverse this to go back to your original five choices."
• One course at a time, no insurance. "You can only apply to one course at a time, meaning you won't be able to have an insurance choice."
• 21 days, then move on if you want. If you hear nothing after 21 days you can add a new choice; universities "have until 15 July to make their decisions".
• Ask before you add. UCAS's own step two is "Contact the universities and colleges to check if they'll consider you."

Our view: use Extra only for a course you would actually take, not to look for a medicine place. The basis: UCAS says late applications to 15 October courses are unusual, and the medicine schools we checked say so for themselves. Birmingham: "We will not consider late applications under any circumstances, and we have not historically been part of UCAS Extra or Clearing." Manchester: "We are not able to consider late applications." Glasgow: "Late applications are not normally considered." Medicine also needs a current UCAT, and UCAT booking for 2026 closed on 16 September 2026 (UCAT test dates).

The countercase: if a school tells you in writing that it will consider you in Extra, the rule above does not apply to that school. Contacting the school before you add it, as UCAS tells you to, is how you find out.

Clearing

UCAS's Clearing page still shows the 2026 window: "Clearing is open from 2 July until 19 October 2026." It had not published the 2027 end date when we checked. The Extra page says: "If you don't hold any offers after 2 July, you will be able to add an additional choice using Clearing."

The same page says Clearing vacancies "will be shown from 2 July – it's the only official vacancy list", and that adding a Clearing choice "counts as you definitely accepting the offer". Do not add a Clearing choice to a course you have not decided on.

For medicine, Clearing mostly matters for one group: offer holders who miss their grades. That is a different page. The firm and insurance guide and the reserve list guide cover it.

Offers a medical school may make instead

Two schools say they may offer a different course when medicine does not work out:

• Glasgow: "Applicants unsuccessful post interview for A100 MBChB but who meet eligibility requirements for entry to the Gateway to Medical Studies (A900) programme may be made a change of course offer." It adds that this "is not automatically guaranteed" and depends on spaces (Glasgow MBChB interviews).
• Bristol: if applicants "are not invited for interview for the course to which they originally applied, we may offer the opportunity to be considered for an alternative course in a related subject area" (Bristol 2027 admissions statement).

If one of these arrives, read it as a fifth-choice decision. It is a different course, with its own route back to medicine or none.

Your fifth choice vs a gap year

The fifth choice is not neutral. Starting another degree changes when, and whether, some schools will look at you again.

And on gap years:

• Manchester: "Gap year applicants are considered in the same way as applicants applying straight from sixth form."
• Birmingham: "You will not be at a disadvantage if you apply via UCAS for deferred entry or apply after you have completed your school qualifications." It expects "your healthcare involvement must be on-going".
• Cambridge's outcomes page lists both paths: "accepting another university offer or applying to another university through UCAS Clearing", or "apply to Cambridge again next year".

The decision table

This table is ours. It is built on the rules above.

Our view: if you still want medicine and your feedback names something a year can fix, take the gap year. The basis is the table: a gap year keeps you a school-leaver applicant at Manchester and Birmingham, while a started degree delays you there. The countercase: a gap year with no plan helps nobody. Birmingham says your statement "must leave us in no doubt that you will be engaged fully in significant activity." If you cannot name the job or the volunteering you will do by March, the fifth choice may be the better year.

Reapplying

If you choose the gap year, do it in this order:

1. Ask each school for feedback at the time it answers. The feedback request email has the timing and a constructed template.
2. Check which schools will take you back. Birmingham does not reconsider anyone rejected there after interview, and Manchester caps consecutive applications at two. The reapplication policy table covers 10 schools.
3. Book the next UCAT. The UCAT FAQ says "You may only test once in any year".
4. Rewrite the statement last, around the year. The reapplicant medicine personal statement guide shows how.

If you are weighing your fifth choice as a real course, the UCAS medicine fifth choice guide covers how to pick it.

Questions about no medicine offers

Can I get into medicine through UCAS Extra?

Not at the schools we checked. Birmingham says it has "not historically been part of UCAS Extra or Clearing", and Manchester and Glasgow do not consider, or do not normally consider, late applications. UCAS says late applications to 15 October courses are unusual.

Is there medicine in Clearing?

Plan as if there is none for applicants without offers. Clearing mainly matters to offer holders who miss their grades. The 2027 Clearing dates were not yet on UCAS's page on 7 November 2026.

When does UCAS Extra open for 2027 entry?

25 February 2027, and it runs to 1 July 2027. You need five used choices and no offers held.

Should I accept my fifth choice or take a gap year?

Take the gap year if you still want medicine and your feedback points to something a year can fix. Take the fifth choice if you are unsure about medicine. At Manchester, starting a degree means you cannot apply again until your final year.

Will a gap year count against me?

Not at Manchester, which considers gap-year applicants "in the same way" as school leavers, or Birmingham, which says you "will not be at a disadvantage". Both expect the year to be used.

Review the writing you send next

If you take the gap year, your next UCAS medicine personal statement has to show what the year added. Get a free Quick Review of your UCAS medicine personal statement against GradPilot's UCAS medicine rubric. It reads how your study and experience outside school prepared you for medicine, and whether the three answers make one case without repeating the same evidence.

Every guide in this series is on the medical school essays hub.

Sources

Retrieved 7 November 2026, except where noted.

• UCAS, University offers (2027 entry): decision deadlines, reply rule.
• UCAS, UCAS Extra (2027 entry): dates, eligibility, one course at a time, 21 days, 15 July.
• UCAS, What is Clearing? (2026 window shown): dates, vacancy list, adding a choice.
• UCAS, Dates and deadlines (2027 entry): 15 October deadline, late applications.
• University of Birmingham, Entry requirements: Medicine and Surgery five-year programme: late applications, Extra and Clearing, degree students, gap years.
• University of Manchester, Medicine FAQs: late applications, gap years, degree students.
• University of Glasgow, Medicine MBChB and MBChB interviews: late applications, Gateway change-of-course offers.
• University of Bristol, Undergraduate Admissions Statement, A100 Medicine, 2027 cycle: alternative course offers, degree students.
• Newcastle University, MBBS Admissions Policy, 2027 Entry: internal transfer route.
• University of Cambridge, Application outcomes: options after no offer.
• UCAT, UCAT test dates and FAQs (2026 cycle): booking deadline, one test a year.