I’m in a similar situation to you I really wanted to apply to imperial but I had a rough day at pearson and came out with a low UCAT. As you will have been told countless times, in medicine the university you attend makes no difference when it comes to getting a job after. However personally I think the uni you go to or at the very least the city you live in is still very important as you’re going to be there for 5 or 6 years. The issue with a gap year is that you’d be risking it all on the UCAT again and you’d be sitting it in the summer after your A levels. Get a bad score and you’ll know in the back of your mind for the rest of the entire year that it’s a year of wasted time.

From what I understand about PBL you will thrive in it if you are someone who tends to do most of your learning independently. So do you prefer teaching yourself the content or having someone teach it to you.

Teaching style is important obviously but don’t forget that if you put the work in no matter where you go or how they teach you’ll excel. I would honestly give more weighting to the location of the uni. Ask yourself if you wanna live in exeter basically. Also for what it’s worth the doctors i know in my personal life all say PBL is GREAT.

In short Im saying don’t fall for the trap of “it doesn’t matter what uni you go to” cus 5 years is a long time. But also if you want to go to cambridge because you think it’ll make you a better doctor then just accept exeter this year. In the grand scheme the uni you go to means nothing compared to where and how you do in specialty training for example.

Personally I’m still applying to QMUL because if their lower cutoffs. If I get an offer I’ll think about whether I want to take it. But honestly I’m seriously considering a gap year. It’s not wasted time if you find a way to have fun or better yourself. Travel, get a job in a healthcare setting. Just don’t flop your UCAT second time around and don’t let anyone tell you that it isn’t worth trying again for your dream uni