Should I give up going for medicine?

Hello,
I am currently doing my GCSEs and I am very confused. I want to be a doctor when I'm older however recently after looking it up, the chance is so low. I think I read that last year or something there was 10.6 applicants per place or something. I have a long time to go so idk if I should try get work experience or something (i'm 14).

I am very smart and I get high grades, i'm aiming for 8s and 9s in GCSE, I go to a normal school though, not grammar or private etc

Someone honestly tell me if i stand a chance and if getting into medicine is low chance because loads of people will have high grades

Hello,
I am currently doing my GCSEs and I am very confused. I want to be a doctor when I'm older however recently after looking it up, the chance is so low. I think I read that last year or something there was 10.6 applicants per place or something. I have a long time to go so idk if I should try get work experience or something (i'm 14).

I am very smart and I get high grades, i'm aiming for 8s and 9s in GCSE, I go to a normal school though, not grammar or private etc

Someone honestly tell me if i stand a chance and if getting into medicine is low chance because loads of people will have high grades

Think about the small details later on - firstly focus on getting good grades and while you probably won't be able to find work experience as a 14 year old perhaps try and see if that's what you really want to do? Otherwise just enjoy your last non hellish year of education.

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It really is impossible to tell you whether you are going to get into medicine at this point - if anyone could accurately predict that sort of thing they would make a lot of money.*

That number of applicants per place is true of many courses, not just medicine, and varies by university.

If you don't try and get work experience and go for it then you will never know, and may regret not doing it when you get your results. This certainly is something you will need to work hard for, and doubting yourself and spending time worrying that you won't get in is not a good use of your time. Without doing any work experience it really is impossible for you to even know you want to pursue this career.

thank you i will try at get work experience but being 14 its kinda hard, maybe in a year, im mainly trying to focus on my gcses, maybe i will try and stop worrying to ahead but i does bug me a lot because of the competition etc.

Hello,
I am currently doing my GCSEs and I am very confused. I want to be a doctor when I'm older however recently after looking it up, the chance is so low. I think I read that last year or something there was 10.6 applicants per place or something. I have a long time to go so idk if I should try get work experience or something (i'm 14).

I am very smart and I get high grades, i'm aiming for 8s and 9s in GCSE, I go to a normal school though, not grammar or private etc

Someone honestly tell me if i stand a chance and if getting into medicine is low chance because loads of people will have high grades

ok thank you, i am definitely focusing on getting high grades, idk many other careers that require good grades and get high pay. that's y i wanna do it really + i like science

thanks for replying tho

If you really want to become a doctor, then that's great because it means that you know what you want to be. People used to keep telling me to become a doctor and I didn't realise it, but being a doctor is just not for me and I was being very stressed figuring out what I want to do, so this is an important decision for you to make - HOWEVER, it does not mean you have to make a decision now.

The best advice I can offer is to do everything possible that will leave you with a wide range of options. For example, if you ever get the chance to take a first aid course - do it. If you ever get the chance to be involved in helping at a parent's evening night - do it. If you ever get the chance to do some contest or whatever - do it. If you have any hobbies or something that you care about (e.g. blogging, piano, sports [for teamwork etc or just for fun] whatever) - keep doing it. But don't let these things stress you out - but I guess stress is inevitable, what I mean is don't think too much about it but DEFINITELY don't miss out on these opportunities - some of them are once-in-a-lifetime chances. Charlotte49 offered some good advice about how doing Work Experience will allow you to get a feel for the kind of work that being a doctor involves. I wouldn't get too bogged down in this "competition" business at this stage but it is good you're aware of it - all you need to do is keep the options available to you and be proactive JUST IN CASE something happens. One of the other ways of keeping your options is, as aforementioned, to do well in your GCSEs, which is something you should be focusing on. Trust me, no one's going to get 8s and 9s without working at least a few hours every day. In fact, having good study habits now will really help later on. If you find the going is getting tough, then deal with it. There are various ways of dealing with things but one of the hard things is to deal with family problems and stuff - it's not enough to just brush them aside. Things can build up. Well that's enough out of me for now...

Honestly, I'm the same. I just got into year 11 (I'm 15) and started thinking about A-levels, but honestly, don't stress too hard about it yet. Work hard at GCSE level, as you already know what you have to take at a level to get into medicine (bio and chem. Maths is preferred but not required, i'm doing geography cause I'm doing further maths at GCSE already) so there is no room for speculation really. Instead, try and rack up awards and stuff that will help you anywhere you end up. See if you can do a DofE award (if you aren't already), if you have time then join the army cadets (they get lots of opportunities to do extra qualifications) and definitely, definitely get some work experience. I'm doing mine with my GP (somehow, details haven't been sorted yet) but if you can't get anywhere that's kind of medical, universities would get it, I mean who's expecting a 14-16 year old to work in a hospital, right? But yea, if you can't get in, find volunteering instead. Having some kind of job shows reliability, patience and that you have a work ethic! good luck

Oh yeah, about the awards and stuff. See if your school offers any level 1 qualifications that you can do in your own free time, even if they aren't exactly relevant (extra qualifications show that you're hard working!) for example, I have a level 1 music qualification (graded distinction) that I got in year 9 from doing about 20 slides in total so...look into it

Thank you, with the study habits i have definitely started studying a lot, for example rn i just did some french for around 30 mins (it was like 9pm Sunday morning, people in my class probs havent even got up) and planning to do some later. I study a lot, and tbh when I start studying I honestly don't think of it as a chore, i quite enjoy studying. After school i normally spend around an hour on some stuff at school that were doing or something that I found interesting and is in my curriculum. I must admit french is quite hard but im trying to spend a good few hours a week of my spare time on it. I find English kinda difficult because it's so unstructured for example, 2+2 will always be 4 but a sentence like 'The man wept sadly' can be assesed in so many ways. On that note i'm really good at both maths and science, and science is my fav subject.

I just want to have a really secure job when I'm older to do with something academic and that has good pay. I want to go to uni for getting the good job bc i feel im fully capable and I worry because it makes me wonder what I should be doing now to get there.

Hi, I've applied for Medicine this year and although I did do AS Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics I wish I did another contrasting subject instead of a science. You must have Chemistry and most unis favour Biology but you don't have to do all the sciences and Maths. Some will require two sciences and Maths or Physics and some will just require the two sciences. (When you get to college, look at entry requirements at unis you like the look of) Think about your choices, I know you're only young but I hated Physics and wished I took something else I was good at like History for AS Level as I only got a B in Physics. Some unis actually like to see another interest as opposed to just the sciences, so think about it! It's a lot to do in the first year, where 4 AS Levels are usually necessary for Medicine where you can drop 1 subject for year 2

If you just want high pay - medicine is NOT the career to be looking at - it is a very demanding career and you only really get the money towards the end of your career - and if you wanna go to a top uni, lots of courses require top grades - I have a friend who needed AAA to get into computer science at Manchester. And even nursing is AAB at Manchester (just some examples)

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I didn't even know what the DofE award was so I really need to start looking into these, atm if I think of seriously going for medicine, i will do Chem,BIo,Maths and Physics at a-level but the prob is idk if these a levels will limit me on my degrees i can take, my dad said that sciences will open doors because they ar e liked by unis etc. I will definitely try and get some qualifications like urs because even though they dont relate directly to medicine im sure they are still looked at by unis etc. Gj for getting work experience with ur GP, that's pretty good. I live next to a doctor surgery xD legit so I might try and get some work experience but I will wait like maybe a few months etc. Good luck with ur GCSEs!