This time last year it was all still a dream...
It occurs to me though that a lot of people don't get in to med school because in many ways it is a bit of a lottery. There is a huge amount of applicants for every place, so it's easy to see how some perfectly suitable applicants get "binned" due to the massively complicated and/or slightly bizarre application and selection process:
Criteria: Like you need a 2:1, but really they mean you need a first, or a 2:1 in science, but if you have a 2:1 and also a previous 2:2, then you are disqualified, or you need a PhD to make up for it, or you should have got better A levels 20 years ago when you weren't even thinking about medicine but rather wanted to be an astronaut or prime minister instead. Simple.
Entry Exams: The dreaded GAMSAT and completely unfathomable UKCAT. The GAMSAT is some kind of horrible endurance test based around several hours of physics/chemistry/biology exams all crammed into one hellish day. Sounds perfectly delightful, which is why I avoided that one like the plague. The UKCAT on the other hand is a multi-guess "aptitude test" which you can't revise for and if you poked blindly at the buttons you would probably end up getting a decent score, so a trained monkey could do it. (In case you're wondering I got a decent score)
UCAS: Simple form, fill it in online, all hunky-dory until you get to the bit titled "personal statement". So, sum yourself up and describe why you want to be a doctor and what qualities you have that will make you a good doctor, and what experience you have of medicine and medical environments, and also your extra-curricular activities in 3000 characters (including spaces). Well, that last sentence alone was 269 characters, so you can see how quickly you run out of room if you have actually had a life.
References: What is it about referees, even when you ask them miles in advance, they like to wait until two days before the form is due to be sent before they finally send you the reference??? Terrifying.
Interviews: It seems totally random as to whether you get called for interview or not. Example: I got interviewed by Oxford and Warwick, yet got a straight rejection from Leicester. No offence to Leicester, but I don't think anyone would classify them as a better (or harder to get into) university than Oxford! Furthermore, if I had gone to Leicester for an interview, it would have been a 20 minute chat, Oxford's was 3 30 minute interviews spread over 2 days, Warwick had a selection centre that lasted 4 hours. There's a massive variability in interview type and difficulty, therefore some candidates may be disadvantaged if their choice interviews in a way that does not play to their strengths.
In the end, clearly most people that get a place deserve it on merit, but the point is that many other good candidates (whom would go on to make good doctors) face rejection through no fault of their own, and ultimately may never enter the profession. The process should certainly be more transparent to ensure that selection is fair and level, and so the chosen candidates will be more likely to succeed at med school and make it all the way to becoming a doctor.
