A-Level choice for someone considering medicine at uni

Doing 3 A-Levels is fine as almost all the universities expect you to only have 3. I think you're clearly doubting your choice of A-Level French so I would say that's a sign that you probably won't enjoy it - after all, it's important to choose A-Level choices you enjoy. You'll be fine doing medicine with just Maths, Chemistry and Biology but if you really want to do 4 A-Levels, pick a subject that you'll enjoy.

Im being pushed by my college and teachers to do 4 because of my high grades but many people have told me that physics is difficult and advise I do not take it. And I have planned on dropping French because I will not enjoy learning a new language when I have so much volunteering and work experience to do next year )

Do you want to do 4 A-Levels? Ultimately, it's your decision and your college and teachers would respect your decision if you decided to do 3. Doing 4 A-Levels is a lot of work (from personal experience) and your time would be severly stretched especially if you have to do volunteering and work experience for medicine as well.

From your GCSE grades, I would say that you're perfectly capable enough to do physics A-Level. Again, it's a question of if you like the subject cos physics will require a lot of work. If you enjoy Maths and are good at it, maybe have a look at Further Maths since Further Maths is more an extension to normal Maths, it's easier (in my opinion) than taking 4 A-Levels that require completely different things to be learnt.

I agree.
Maybe you could do something else instead of french is you still want to do 4. French is a good subject to pick though with it being a language.

I was going to do further maths but then I discovered that several Unis will not consider my application if I have further maths with maths (I even messaged leeds uni to ask them and they said I should not do maths with further maths if I am going to apply for medicine. I think I will look into the ALevel physics course in August and if it doesn't appeal to me I will stick with my original ALevel choise

I've finished year 11 and I will be starting college soon currently my A-level choices are Maths, Chemistry, biology and French. However I am unsure about whether or not I should bother with 4 ALevels when I wanted to drop French but it will be a waste since I will not get an AS. Will only doing 3 ALevels affect my medical school application? What ALevel should I take instead of French because I am not fluent and I don't want to get a low grade in it? All my GCSE predictions are mainly A*s and 1/2 As.

Hmmm that's a bit strange, I know several people that applied for Medicine that also did Further Maths and one of them didn't even do Biology but got offers from all her unis including Cambridge. I dunno then but if that's the case I guess you can still do Further Maths but be more careful in the unis you apply to. In any case, I doubt it'll adversely affect your application if you did decide to do Further Maths.

I think it's better to start off with four A levels (we had to pick four but we drop one after AS level) so that you can at least gain an extra grade/extra UCAS points from the AS level. If you don't think you'll get an AS in French then I wouldn't bother taking it. Are you good at English? If so, that would be a good choice as it shows analytical skills and fluency in writing. Health and social care, or psychology, may also help

I am okay in English ( A*s in mocks) but it would be a 2 year course and I am looking for one that I will be able to drop after the first year or one I enjoy ( not English because I find it hard sometimes). Health and social isn't one I have considered before mainly because I do not know what the course involves. Does the EPQ get extra UCAS tariff points?

Fair enough yes the EPQ provides extra tariff points

I've finished year 11 and I will be starting college soon currently my A-level choices are Maths, Chemistry, biology and French. However I am unsure about whether or not I should bother with 4 ALevels when I wanted to drop French but it will be a waste since I will not get an AS. Will only doing 3 ALevels affect my medical school application? What ALevel should I take instead of French because I am not fluent and I don't want to get a low grade in it? All my GCSE predictions are mainly A*s and 1/2 As.

Really? Well if people doing further maths are still able to apply for medicine then I think I will change french to further maths on enrolment but I will message the unis I am interested in before hand to make sure that it doesn't effect my application.

Further maths doesn't stop you applying but it won't count. So if you're applying to medicine its rather a waste of time, unless you absolutely love maths and find it very easy (so it won't overburden you, you need those As).

Further maths doesn't stop you applying but it won't count. So if you're applying to medicine its rather a waste of time, unless you absolutely love maths and find it very easy (so it won't overburden you, you need those As).

Hi Lubna

As others have already said to you, you need to choose subjects at A-level that you actually want to study.

You have already chosen Chemistry and Biology which are the right choices for wanting to go onto study medicine. Maths is a good choice if you are thinking of applying for Oxbridge due to the theoretical nature of the course, although it is by no means essential.

If those are three subjects that you enjoy and there is nothing else that interests you, then just stick with those three. You are far more likely to get the results you want in subjects that you are interested in.

You should have a read of this blog post when you have a minute as it is about this very subject.

Hope that helps... give me a shout if you have any questions.

UniAdmissions

That's right. Just to be 100% clear most Med Schools will say something like:

"If you study Mathematics and Further Mathematics, you may only count one of these grades towards your potential offer"

IMO schools encourage you to take 4 A level subjects, not because it's necessarily the right thing for you but because it makes their results statistics look good. One thing is for sure, you need to achieve AAA to get into Medicine. If you take a 4th subject and because of the pressure end up with AABB then you've shot yourself in the foot. The pressure doesn't just come from the 4th A level either it comes from volunteering, interview preparation, visiting Uni's, UKCAT/BMAT preparation, writing the best possible Personal Statement etc.

Go with what's right for you, not what makes your school look good.

Thank you, I have read the blog post and it was helpful I think I'll stick with 3 ALevels and focus on achieving high grades in them.