Chemistry A-Level for Medicine

Hi, i just wanted to ask, if i did drop Chemistry at the end of AS, would I be a less competitive applicant to universities that don't require Chemistry e.g. Newcastle? Also, have you or do you know anyone who has gone into medicine without doing the full A-Level in Chemistry?

If you want to make it easier on yourself and get into medicine then Ii would stick with chemistry. It is a requirement for 99% of medical schools and it teaches you great skills which are required as you will progress through your medical school career and become a doctor.

It wouldnt be great if you dropped chem because you would serverly limit your medical school options, and usually the ones that dont require chem require really high UKCAT scores, so your basically balancing on luck.

I didn't even do AS Chemistry, and I got a low UKCAT score. I still managed to get an offer to study Medicine. Different universities prioritise different things (e.g. how well you did in the interview), so I don't think it's fair to say that applies to all unis.

Plus most unis requre AS/A-level Chem but not 99% lol.

when I went through unis during my application process (last cycle not the one just gone) I found very very few universities that didnt require Alevel or at least AS chemistry. and If they did they generally required bucket loads of work experience or great GCSE grades or amazing UKCAT grades.

every uni prioritises how well you did at interview, thats how you get the offer, but to get an interview they look at whats on the paper, hence if your not as strong on paper, or are lacking certain qualifications you are less likely to get an interview.

I'm not refuting that you're limiting your options with AS/A2 Chemistry, & of course I would strongly recommend most med school prospects to take it. Personally I didn't take it because I ****ing hate Chemistry lol.

I don't know if anything's changed since I finished my A-levels (June 2015, same year I got my offer for Medicine obviously). But let me address the points you just made:
- I had 1 week's worth of work experience
- I had a very low UKCAT score, only just above the cut-off limit
- My GCSE grades were mediocre by med school standards (but again, the unis I applied to said they did not take into account GCSE grades into the application, just that you need minimum B in English or some ****)

And you didn't understand what I meant when I said if unis prioritise your interview. No sh*t they look at how well you did in it. What I meant is that for some universities, they look at UKCAT score & it has to be above the cut-off score.. then they look at your personal statement then they interview you. So the ultimate decision is based on your interview performance, you just need a UKCAT score above the cutoff limit to have your application properly considered.

Whereas some unis will only look at applicants with really high UKCAT scores, then they'll interview those applicants, and then they'll select the ones they want based on the interview performance. So here you need a high UKCAT score to even be considered in the first place. Make sense?

^^ That's a load of BS. My brother is in his 5th year of medicine and says A-level Chem doesn't help him with sh*t. Biology and biochemistry is a lot more relevant and important. It doesn't give you 'great skills' rofl. No disrespect but you come off and very young and naive to me.


Also no, it's not balancing on luck. It's balancing on hard work & effort in preparing for the UKCAT, having solid work experience & a good personal statement.

your actually really getting on my last nerves now, as I said before we have totally different experiences from different medical schools!
Alevel chemistry has really helped me through my first year, we do a lot of enzyme kinetics, pH calculations, and we needed to understand the chemistry basics and be able to apply them to many of our topics we covered. Yes biochem and biology also play a massive part, but so does maths, so does sociology and psychology. medicine branches many different disciplines and although you may not think chemistry is useful, the problem solving skills and the basic understanding of chemical processes was very important during my first year, and did come up in my exams.

I am a bit bored of your complete arrogance to the situation, are you even at med school yet? because if you are maybe you would understand me a little better, Funny how I come off young and niave when I have been through this application process myself once before, and helped countless amounts of people from my school also get into medicine by helping them apply to their strengths... to me you are just a very arrogant opinionated person who cant seem to understand that every medical school is different, and that keeping your options open is probably the best idea.

at your last statement, it did seem you balanced on luck rather than hard work, very little work experience, a ukcat which wasnt great according to yourself, no chemistry A-level. I just dont understand what comment your trying to make. Ask anyone who has applied and they will tell you that 99% of medical school applicants try their absolute hardest, and often getting an offer after interview can be down to pure luck on the day, as can getting an interview offer, some people apply blind with the BMAT, and hence more luck. Its more complex than you think and you dont seem to know a great deal about the application process to be honest.

your actually really getting on my last nerves now, as I said before we have totally different experiences from different medical schools!
Alevel chemistry has really helped me through my first year, we do a lot of enzyme kinetics, pH calculations, and we needed to understand the chemistry basics and be able to apply them to many of our topics we covered. Yes biochem and biology also play a massive part, but so does maths, so does sociology and psychology. medicine branches many different disciplines and although you may not think chemistry is useful, the problem solving skills and the basic understanding of chemical processes was very important during my first year, and did come up in my exams.

I am a bit bored of your complete arrogance to the situation, are you even at med school yet? because if you are maybe you would understand me a little better, Funny how I come off young and niave when I have been through this application process myself once before, and helped countless amounts of people from my school also get into medicine by helping them apply to their strengths... to me you are just a very arrogant opinionated person who cant seem to understand that every medical school is different, and that keeping your options open is probably the best idea.

at your last statement, it did seem you balanced on luck rather than hard work, very little work experience, a ukcat which wasnt great according to yourself, no chemistry A-level. I just dont understand what comment your trying to make. Ask anyone who has applied and they will tell you that 99% of medical school applicants try their absolute hardest, and often getting an offer after interview can be down to pure luck on the day, as can getting an interview offer, some people apply blind with the BMAT, and hence more luck. Its more complex than you think and you dont seem to know a great deal about the application process to be honest.

Hi, i just wanted to ask, if i did drop Chemistry at the end of AS, would I be a less competitive applicant to universities that don't require Chemistry e.g. Newcastle? Also, have you or do you know anyone who has gone into medicine without doing the full A-Level in Chemistry?

Drop chemistry and you restrict your options when attempting to attain a place in medicine.

Misinformation is dangerous either way

Do you know many on your course have not studied chemistry at A2?

I got an offer to study Medicine and I didn't do A-level Chemistry. I didn't even study it at AS

Given that i don't work in the office, no.

I do however have multiple friends who didn't take it.

Asking how many people have it is also not the best way to establish the importance given that most people take it anyway and did not apply solely to my medical school. The entrance requirements are published for a reason.