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Medical Applicants with Poor GCSE's (DECLARE)

RoadWarrior

Out of interest, why did you do 16 GCSEs?

It wasnt my choice, tbh
My skool was reli crap.
They got more funding per pass so any1 who could cope with the work was made to do loads.

Reply 81

Hippysnake

19

5 A*s 4As 1B 1D

Four major surgeries, One minor surgery, almost a year out during Years 10 and 11 in chunks.

That's my excuse. The f'ed up my AS year too, due to the pain.

Reply 82

Domo-Kun

8

-F-

You have sixteen gcse's mate, I'm sure that's an advantage! Most people I know only have about 10/11, and I only have 9 :s-smilie:

Unis onli reli look at your top eight grades, so its better if you do less, you dont have to spread yourself thin like i ended up.
Im sure id have done better if i did less.
I had to spread work load and gave up on revision cos i would have loads so i jus did the exams of memory and occasionally flicked thru revision guides...

Reply 83

wer343lit

11

Sunny1171

I am not wrong...You say 'lots' won't consider anyone who doesn't have 8A*'s. Birmingham and?...... Lots of people get average GCSE's and manage 3 A's at A-level anyways. Lots of Medical schools may be forced to use them due to competition but very few put much emphasis on achieving higher than minimum requirements. IMO GCSE's are bad indicators to capability. I know lots of people with amazing GCSE's and yet they can't even get 1 A at A-level.

Taken from QMUL FAQ section on the website:

Well off the top of my head, I can think of... Kings College London, Imperial College, Cambridge, Oxford, Queens Belfast, Edinburgh, Bute Medical School, all place emphasis on GCSEs even after you've achieved the minimum, and I'm sure there are others.

Reply 84

Inspirations have I none

Sunny1171

I am not wrong...You say 'lots' won't consider anyone who doesn't have 8A*'s. Birmingham and?...... Lots of people get average GCSE's and manage 3 A's at A-level anyways. Lots of Medical schools may be forced to use them due to competition but very few put much emphasis on achieving higher than minimum requirements. IMO GCSE's are bad indicators to capability. I know lots of people with amazing GCSE's and yet they can't even get 1 A at A-level.

Taken from QMUL FAQ section on the website:

Most people who did well in GCSEs will go onto do well in A level. That's pretty much true. If you were dedicated to work hard for GCSEs, chances are you are going to be dedicated to work hard for A levels. Simple logic really.

GCSEs aren't such a bad indicator of ability. You are memorising a lot of information and working on exam technique. Similar sort of skills you need to pass medical school exams. In fact the same failings of GCSE are pretty much shared with A level. I'm a firm believer that if you work hard, you will do well. The tests aren't designed to test natural ability/intelligence. What they do is to see whether students have bothered to know their stuff and learnt good exam technique. Maybe A level is changed now, but one of the best things you could do for A level is memorising mark scheme answers as questions are repeated and rephrased all the time (And only want answers that list the points in the mark scheme).

I don't think Med schools are always truthful in telling people how they select candidates. They don't want to tell the exact cut off points or how much weight given to each section as that would put a lot of candidates off. Barts (QMUL), it's a special case as they have a UKCAT cut off score hence that weeds out a lot of candidates. I know for a fact that last year, Barts didn't really place much importance on interview as they interviewed less people last year and gave virtually all of them offers.

Reply 85

username356927

13

I seem to be the only one from the dark and mysterious land of Scotland here and so don't really understand the question. I got 5A's in my highers in Maths, English, Chemistry, Physics and Geography. Is that a yes or a no?

Reply 86

JustCallMeKate

5

Sunny1171

I am not wrong...You say 'lots' won't consider anyone who doesn't have 8A*'s. Birmingham and?...... Lots of people get average GCSE's and manage 3 A's at A-level anyways. Lots of Medical schools may be forced to use them due to competition but very few put much emphasis on achieving higher than minimum requirements. IMO GCSE's are bad indicators to capability. I know lots of people with amazing GCSE's and yet they can't even get 1 A at A-level.

Taken from QMUL FAQ section on the website:

I think the bottom line is that medicine is getting more and more competitive every year and so any advantage you can get is going to be beneficial. In some cases, this may be exemplary academic grades, in others impressive work experience; it depends on the individual. Also, think what you like of GCSEs, medical schools don't exactly have a lot to go on and it certainly is an indicator of academic performance - in general candiates with good GCSEs and good A-Levels have proof of consistant academic performance, which is going to be looked favourably on.

Also, I wonder if your quote isn't taken a little out of context. Imperial requirements only state the need for GCSE A-C's in Maths, English and Science (I believe). Still, if a candidate applied with 4 Cs, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Reply 87

Inspirations have I none

Jonty99

Well off the top of my head, I can think of... Kings College London, Imperial College, Cambridge, Oxford, Queens Belfast, Edinburgh, Bute Medical School, all place emphasis on GCSEs even after you've achieved the minimum, and I'm sure there are others.

liverpool, cardiff, nottingham, leeds, bristol (and I believe Leicester to some degree) add to that list too (and maybe a few more).

GCSEs are important to medicine. Not so much for other courses but definitely for medicine. In fact I think they are becoming more and more important each year with GCSE cut off points seemingly rising steadily over the years.

Reply 88

RollerBall

20

Lol. I love this thread. It just shows how people refuse to blame themselves for their own mistakes.

I got 3 A*s, 5 As, 1 B, 1 C and a Credit in AiDa.

I then went on to get AAAA in my AS. The reason my GCSE grades are poor are because I didn't work. There's nothing wrong with my school. Sure, chavs, bad teachers etc, but every school has those in year 10-11, I was just lazy and didn't put much effort in. I'm lucky I came out with what I did. You can't blame a bad grade on teaching etc, since you can always teach yourself. I'm at the same school with the same teachers yet I managed high As at AS yet only As, not A*s at GCSE.

Quit making up all your excuses you panzies.

Reply 89

Miss Purple

15

i give up on this thread.
im getting gas from all the already inflated attention-seeking egos

i dont see how having gcse's in totally irrelevant subjects like r.e or art or whatever gcses you were lumped with, can reflect on your determination to do medicine. someone with 10 B's + C's in gcse, but all A's in alevel should at least get considered. because it shows they've done an act called "getting your head out the toilet and into your books"

anyone on this thead should only consider what.. "informed" people have to say. not people with spineless assumptions

Reply 90

carcinoma

17

3A* + 1A, do I count?

Reply 91

carcinoma

17

Miss Purple

i give up on this thread.
im getting gas from all the already inflated attention-seeking egos

i dont see how having gcse's in totally irrelevant subjects like r.e or art or whatever gcses you were lumped with, can reflect on your determination to do medicine. someone with 10 B's + C's in gcse, but all A's in alevel should at least get considered. because it shows they've done an act called "getting your head out the toilet and into your books"

anyone on this thread should only consider what.. "informed" people have to say. not people with spineless assumptions

I agree, at gcse i.e age 15/16 people dont realise the significance of the GCSE grades and we dont realise the weight that medical schools decided to put on them.

So when it came to my R.E, P.E, Drama and Resistant Material exams i dint really bother that much as i though i only needed to get the As +A*s in the subjects i liked and was going to carry on.

So GCSE's shouldn't matter but they are used for the same reason as the UKCAT, because its an easy way to remove candidates.

Reply 92

rockyone2

9

lol I only did well because of peers xD, without which I would have not had any motivation. so many dont reach full potential at gcse because its just too early to know what you intend to do.

Reply 93

Chloeee02

Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly.

I didn't know that E was a GCSE grade?

My brother knew someone who could spell FUDGE with his GCSE grades :smile:

Reply 94

JustCallMeKate

5

Miss Purple

i give up on this thread.
im getting gas from all the already inflated attention-seeking egos

i dont see how having gcse's in totally irrelevant subjects like r.e or art or whatever gcses you were lumped with, can reflect on your determination to do medicine. someone with 10 B's + C's in gcse, but all A's in alevel should at least get considered. because it shows they've done an act called "getting your head out the toilet and into your books"

anyone on this thead should only consider what.. "informed" people have to say. not people with spineless assumptions

Well, I'm a medical student so I would indeed consider myself 'informed'.

You may be correct in thinking a GCSE in Dance really isn't going to influence your application in one way or another, but achieving good grades in GCSEs shows your ability to cope with a considerable workload. This is usually an indicator of how well you will handle the insane workload for Medicine. In no way is it meant to reflect your 'determination', but it a reflection on your academic commitment. If you do poorly in your GCSEs but well in your A-Levels, most unis will still look favourably upon you, but it is in no way 'better'. That shows you were able to pull it together for two years, which would be fantastic if medicine wasn't a six year course. I'm not saying fantastic GCSEs are the be all and end all, but you shouldn't be overly critical of universities for looking at them.

At the end of the day, they really don't have much to go on, it's an extremely competitive course and that is why GCSEs are one of many important factors in admissions decisions.

Reply 95

carcinoma

17

rockyone2

lol I only did well because of peers xD, without which I would have not had any motivation. so many dont reach full potential at gcse because its just too early to know what you intend to do.

I only achieved better than the rest of the year, i dint see the need to go any further.

Reply 96

rockyone2

9

vas876

I only achieved better than the rest of the year, i dint see the need to go any further.

lol doesnt that give an advantage if your better than your schools average?

Reply 97

Belfast Fiddler

lekky

Don't full understand this thread :s-smilie:

Anyway I got 1A*, 4A but have significant mitigating circumstances (health problems, off school for a year)

Same as this guy, I got 2 A*, 5 A, 2 B and a C, but missed a similar amount of time through ill health.

Reply 98

Mija_Maryy

10

I Got 3A* 5A 2B and a C

Reason: I seriously didn't revise (except practise for english. i was seriously really bad in it lol)

Reply 99

Unknown?

12

I'm not applying this year though I'll be applying next year likely and I got 5 A*'s, 4.5A's, 2B's and 0.5C though I only got an A* in core science and A in additional and my other A* was in applied business studies so I counted it twice. But would universities count an applied gcse twice as its a double award but would they only count it once as its in the same subject. Relative to other applicants I imagine that I'm below them would others agree?

Medical Applicants with Poor GCSE's (DECLARE)

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