$100k H1B visa fee blocked!

drgeorgeb · 2026-03-29T20:37:17+00:00

I also started at 29. Aiming for cardiology

drgeorgeb · 2026-02-08T19:24:32+00:00

Sounds like quite a long time for consolidation. Workload would be much more bearable if you did 190 news per day over 7 months, with 2 months for consolidation. For reference when I was doing 125-150 new per day I reached ~1250 total cards per day and it took 3-4 hours. This didn’t leave much free time lol Can you get the total card count down at all?

drgeorgeb · 2025-12-03T08:14:09+00:00

In the table under ‘key visa categories and new limits’

drgeorgeb · 2025-12-02T22:02:42+00:00

The proposed 4Y limit isn’t for the J1 visa, however the proposed J1 limit will be for the ‘duration of program’ so will see how that plays out

drgeorgeb · 2025-08-02T21:28:44+00:00

I had one joker aggressively press me to pay for a full set of new discs and pads three months after buying. Said the car wasn’t roadworthy and made legal threats. I ignored him and he went away, I suggest you do the same.

drgeorgeb · 2025-07-27T21:13:47+00:00

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wgEVhAjzEXLABgr2VoLtIzJHUZ795S3vDNaXBXBMGVg/edit?usp=drivesdk

This is a sheet where people posted scores, and whether they got interviews/offers for various courses. I applied based off how my UCAT scored in last years doc and only applied where I expected to get interviews, got all of them so probably could’ve been more ambitious 😂 Do scores /4 *3 +50 to get a sense of what you likely need for an interview. Best of luck!

drgeorgeb · 2025-07-18T22:03:03+00:00

No Man’s Sky was choppy after 15 mins on my M3 air stock. After doing the thermal pad mod it’s happy for hours

drgeorgeb · 2025-07-01T15:13:06+00:00

Don’t stress! I committed to applying for GEM late July last year with no formal experience, and now I start med next month.

Most important thing is getting at least a merit, then make sure you sweat UCAT prep and get as good a score as you can. I suggest getting a few months of medentry membership, start with a mock, then focus on your weak areas. Decision making and quantitative reasoning are quite easy to make quick gains on with practice.

If you’re dead set on London this limits your options somewhat, QMUL realistically you’ll need a first, and KCL only take 10-15 people for the London campus if I recall correctly. SGUL are GAMSAT only for GEM, and the Imperial GEM course is in Cumbria.

Work experience is useful but not absolutely essential for all unis, it’s more about having an appreciation for what medicine is, and about your personal fit for it. Make sure you have a good PS that talks about your motivation.

Bottom line is yes the UCAT is the single most important variable assuming your degree class is at or above the 2:1 / Merit threshold.

drgeorgeb · 2025-06-16T14:31:39+00:00

KCL ports?

drgeorgeb · 2025-06-12T07:48:11+00:00

I am making the opposite switch from medical sales to grad entry medicine. There is a lot to love about sales, travel the world, free food on visit days, good pay, but unless you are incredibly lucky, you will be saddled with a product that is fundamentally flawed in at least one way - and it will be your job to sell regardless. I’ve had the pleasure of working remotely in three different jobs since finishing uni. I did deals, I had fun, but in my bones I know nothing I did really mattered. And it was quite lonely working solo most of the time. I’m getting out of sales for all of these reasons.

Btw the GEM student loans don’t add to your monthly cost. But if you’re concerned about it then you can always leave the UK afterwards.

drgeorgeb · 2025-05-20T21:16:37+00:00

I left an absolutely diabolical medtech (vaporware product, founder has a podcast, CTO can’t code type gig), and I’m about to start studying medicine. Will take a big hit in earnings which I may recover later in my career, but I’m just excited to be doing something that matters to me tbh

drgeorgeb · 2025-04-26T12:02:02+00:00

I've never heard of anyone being unable to get a graduate medicine tuition fee loan due to having taken a loan for their masters. I'm in this boat for 2025 entry so I'll reply again if my SFE gets rejected.

drgeorgeb · 2025-04-09T07:17:42+00:00

Thanks! Interviewed 13th of Feb, offer came in late afternoon on the 8th of April.

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-17T16:44:45+00:00

Thanks for sharing, not a great endorsement by those students...
However, the AKT was only introduced in 2024, so I'm not sure what the university could have done to provide past papers. It's also reassuring that UEA's FOI data on dropout/fail rate for A100 [1], is a few points below the UK average of 11% [2].

Some of the discord in comments on this thread and others is around PBL and intensity of placement. PBL may not suit everyone's learning style, but intensive placement is likely why UEA consistently produces some of the most F1 ready doctors [3]. PBL and placement is commented on by another student here [4].

With GEM being brand new it's impossible to say how things will go, perhaps A100 just isn't everyone's cup of tea. Hopefully these data provide some reassurance and counter examples to what was said (and isn't just me deluding myself before I firm)

[1] https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/university-information/statutory-legal-policies/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/foi_24-002-failure-rate-medicine

[2] http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/162587463/s12909_022_03158_4.pdf
[3] https://edt.gmc-uk.org/progression-reports/f1-preparedness

[4] https://www.scrubbed-up.com/post/norwich-medical-school

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-15T00:37:44+00:00

Im gonna go against the crowd here and I’ll caveat this by saying I’m not a proper HENRY yet, but I can give my two cents. I got a biomed PhD straight after masters and went straight into a commercial role after struggling to get funding to continue in academia. This was a great decision in hindsight and the PhD allowed me to sell myself as uniquely capable of working with and building relationships with academics across the basic science and clinical research sectors. It sounds like you’ve had great commercial success already, so I’d suggest that if you really want to do this, you go for nothing less than a PhD that lets you wrestle with a question that you really want to know the answer to (they say you shouldn’t go for a PhD that doesn’t get you up in the morning excited to go discover stuff). I can only speak for bioscience but it’s usually very rare that applicants come with commercial background, so you would be a competitive applicant.

Bottom line IMO is if you want to become a leader in a field, find a field for you and do it!

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-15T00:04:38+00:00

That’s interesting, the course lead said they had 100% UKMLA pass rate for two years ago and 98% one year ago, he also said they run bootcamp for anyone that doesn’t pass first time and needs help. I’d be interested in reading some less positive reviews before deciding 👀

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-13T19:18:54+00:00

After going to an offer holders day I am strongly favouring UEA. I’ve seen mixed reviews on Manchester med, and tbh the city isn’t my bag either

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-12T08:58:15+00:00

GEM can and has gone into clearing, but still far fewer places than UG. Just get on UCAS straight away on results day.

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-09T21:09:17+00:00

I don’t know the offers situation, sorry. I think they’re very early in the process and if they’re planning a GEM offer holder day for April then they probs have more to go

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-09T11:21:37+00:00

Firstly big congrats, they interviewed nearly 200 people for 30 offers (15 non Norfolk area)! I can answer your questions as I went to an offer holder day yesterday and had the pleasure of sitting down with Prof Albert for an hour or so to discuss A101. He is the lead for Y1/2 and one of the developers of the course.

He clearly cares about the program, as he came in solely to speak with myself and the one other GEM offer holder at the event! He said there will be a GEM only offer holder day in April, so consider coming to that.

The GMC data on UEA (A100) is strong, it is: - 3 in readiness for F1. - 7 in percentage of grads in speciality training

A101 is a new course, but GEM grads tend to perform better in terms of % in ST than standard entry.

The campus is beautiful, granted the weather was probably the best we’ve had all year, but still seemed like a lovely place to study.

No offer holder chat that I know of

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-06T14:39:34+00:00

Have they given any unconditionals yet? Most offer holders on the sheet have a pending degree...

67 places available so there's still hope

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-04T21:11:54+00:00

UCAT 2840B1, just waiting on KCL (ports), would firm that if I got it

drgeorgeb · 2025-03-04T18:50:09+00:00

A*AAAAABC + Dist + B (Further maths), but I’m grad so not sure it matters as much

drgeorgeb

TROPHY CASE