Medical School - IB or A levels?

Hi, I am currently taking my IGCSE exams and I will be moving to a new country shortly after I complete them. I have the oppurtunity to decide between IB and A levels and was looking for some opinions on the matter. My sister completed the IB and scored a 39, I am actually quite interested in the IB course but I heard that A-Levels is much better for Medical School.

IB Subject Choices - HL Chem, Bio, Psychology. SL Maths, English Lit, Spanish Ab

A-Level Choices - Physics Bio Chem English Maths.

Thanks

I also did IGCSE and GCSEs like you, got 5A* 4A 3B 1C. I've completed my IB this year and was looking at Medicine in the beginning. I also had the same issue as you - didn't know whether to take IB or A levels. IB was hard for me since I didn't manage to perform well and even though I received a predicted of 39 points, it wasn't enough for universities. Especially due to the fact that I applied to the UK as an international student and that I did Maths Studies instead of Maths SL or Hl (HL is definitely preferred). However, I pushed through even though I was also struggling in HL Chem and Bio.. BUUT, when I applied to Singapore (my home country), I applied for courses like Business, Law, Architecture, Accountacy (mainly those whose entry requirement didn't require Maths much or at all - TAKE SL MATHS or HL but maths studies seriously restricts your options...) at prestigious universities like top 15 in the world and I GOT SHORTLISTED for Law and Architecture which was so surprising!!!! This would be one of the benefits of the IB, to be able to branch out if a certain course doesn't work in your favor I guess Plus, tbh, if you reallly study during the two years, it's not that hard and can be pretty fun too! SO, that;s my story.

Personally, I would say take the IB if your grades are pretty strong at GCSEs and if you are able to cope with the languages and maths bit. I would say that languages and maths and are the toughest in the IB course. Then comes both CHemistry and Physics and then that's it. Take ab initio languages if you're able to - it will be a lifesaver, believe me. Stick with that ab initio Spanish! If it helps, I also took the exact same subjects as you chose but Spanish B (it's not even a "B" language, you practically have to be fluent in it to get higher than 5 hahhaha - I'm so nervous for results day) and Maths studies. It was my first time taking psychology and even at HL, it was pretty okay and easy to understand

A levels wise.... I guess you do have less of a workload but if you don't get your grades, that's it. You can't apply for other courses. AND A Levels are ONLY beneficial for Medicine IF you're applying to UK... If you're looking at university courses all over the world, the IB is definiteeelyy better - unis prefer this. For NZ and Australia applications, you just need to pass the IB diploma (mostly) and then do one year of Health Science and then take the UMAT for Medicine.

Definitely do a looot of research into the unis that you want to get into because certain unis are in favour of either A levels or IB. But yeah, uni research can be really tedious too. Email them if you're not sure. I think Bath in UK really understands how hard the IB can be and also favours IB students more due to the skills learnt in the long run. For UK, there's also a new uni for Medicine called "UCLAN" and entry requirements is 34/35 points I think? It's a separate application from UCAS meaning that you can apply to those 4 unis in UCAS and then also apply to UCLAN meaning that you actually apply to 5 Medicine courses! Ha!

So, if you do need any more tips or help or questions, just hmu . Hope this was helpful!!!

Hello!

I just finished my IB exams with a predicted of 44 and I have a conditional offer to study medicine in Scotland. I'd definitely recommend the IB simply because I feel the course is more fun and more internationally recognised. It is hard, but not as hard as people make it out to be. I had 6 A* and 4 As at IGCSE level and I didn't find this too hard (plus I've done lost of sport and art outside of the course). Like was said above I would definitely have at least SL math and HL chemistry. Those are the two subjects that unis want at those levels (I thought it would be HL bio but nope). I also took four higher levels to give an indication that I was more interested in medicine to the unis. HL Chem, bio, psychology and math. HL math was rough, I took additional mathematics so it was okay (if you had Add-Math the SL course is actually a little easier in my opinion than add-math).

Still with all that I was only accepted to ONE uni. And that's because of the UKCAT. If you're thinking of apply to the UK you need to be ready for that. I don't think the IB limits you in any way, but if you're not ready for the UKCAT then you're grades (if not really good) may not save you. Some unis also care a lot more about you're grades at GCSE level so id say just do your research into the unis you've thought would be nice to go to if you've thought about that at all.

For America, I'd definitely take an IB. They LOVE IB students. I had a friend who applied with a predicted of 39 and received and UNCONTIDTIONAL offer to study pre-med as well as several scholarships. Even if her exams go **** now she'll still be going to that uni as long as she passes (effectively gets 24 points). Also because they love IB students so much she is able to skip her freshmen year and use her IB exam grades as college credits.

Also because in the UK you are going straight into medicine I feel that it's harder to get in (the UKCAT). Many people only get in on their second try because it throws so many people off their game. In the US you sit the MCAT/MKAT (I'm not entirely sure what it's called) to get into medical school after you've finished a pre-med degree.

To a US citizen I would definitely recommend the IB. I have a friend who got A* A* A A in their A-level and went to study journalism and it didn't really help her other than her getting a place.

Hope that helps!

I do IB myself and one of my friends wanted to go to University to do medicine but he did not get in because they wanted more specific subjects, but it's up to you!

the IB is more respected from universities because its a more challenging program

Hi, I am currently taking my IGCSE exams and I will be moving to a new country shortly after I complete them. I have the oppurtunity to decide between IB and A levels and was looking for some opinions on the matter. My sister completed the IB and scored a 39, I am actually quite interested in the IB course but I heard that A-Levels is much better for Medical School.

IB Subject Choices - HL Chem, Bio, Psychology. SL Maths, English Lit, Spanish Ab

A-Level Choices - Physics Bio Chem English Maths.

Thanks

I have just finished the first year of the IB program and I am applying for medicine. To be honest, the IB is very challenging and many of my classmates have complained over the year, saying that they should have done A-levels. However, I believe that the IB prepares you much better for uni and especially med school because you learn to deal with pressure and writing essays, as well as lab reports, really well because we get a lot of them. Also, a lot of unis like Cambridge and UCL have begun recognising that the IB is much harder than A-levels and it can give you an advantage in the selection process.
The biggest difference between the IB and A-levels is that in the latter you have a smaller range of topics but you go in more depth whereas in the former you have more topics in less depth.
In terms of medicine, I think the IB will help you more because we also do TOK which will aid in your interview and in the aptitude exams such as the UKCAT and BMAT.
Hope that helps. Don't hesitate to message me if you have any questions.