In the UK, those applying for medicine will not be able to apply for 5 medicine courses. They will be restricted to 4, with a 5th choice in a course not in medicine. I applied to MORSE at Warwick.
Deciding on the University
I was originally going to apply to Durham University - a highly respected university which also allows students to submit alternative personal statements. These are personal statements which can be different to the one your submit to UCAS. For a 5th choice, this is extremely ideal, as it increases the likelihood of the admissions officer considering your application, since the personal statement is actually relevant. If you're considering of applying to distinctly different courses aswell, look into universities which accept alternative personal statments. I would definitely suggest Durham university in general for this, as it is both well regarded and accepts alternative personal statements.
In the end, I decided to apply for Warwick instead. Warwick is a university regarded for their mathematics courses, often being held near to (perhaps not next to) Oxbridge and Imperial. While looking at statistics, I noticed that the offer rate for the Maths and MORSE courses was fairly high. So, I decided to give it a shot and apply to Warwick for MORSE. I didn't change a single aspect of my application to reflect this - I submitted my medicine personal statement to Warwick and hoped for the best. Sure enough, I got the offer. If you're feeling particularly competitive, I would suggest scanning through the offer rates of other universities such as Warwick and perhaps applying there if you feel you've got a chance, despite your personal statement.
Deciding on the Course
MORSE is a combination of Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics, and Economics. Had I gone into this course, I would have probably gone into software engineering, investment banking, or data science. I am very fond of maths, but I decided the I would be able to continue enjoying mathematics if it remained a hobby. So, I pursued medicine. This 5th choice was more for personal fulfillment, as it showed that I did have a chance had I applied for maths.
Universities to Consider
- Warwick - High acceptance rate and reputable for maths-adjacent courses
- Durham - Offers alternative personal statement, reputable uni
- Bristol - High acceptance rate, reputable uni