current pharm students; have your universities implied whether they prefer ib/a lvls?

Hi everyone! :smile:

I'm currently waiting to enter either an A level or an IB programme, as both are offered in my international school (i'm asian), starting from January 2010. I have to make a decision by December.

I want to do pharmacy and only pharmacy, thus I thought it'd be best to ask around this particular sub-forum whether the British universities that all of you are in for pharmacy, have implied whether they prefer IB or A levels.

I actually prefer A levels, as I'm not too excited about the Extended Essay or the 150 CAS hours required for the IB, among other things, but my school's 'university counsellor' (who is, tbh, not a specialised or qualified counsellor, rather she's our drama teacher!) has told us that certain universities PREFER the IB, whereas some prefer A levels. She mentioned that universities such as Imperial prefer IB.

By some miracle, I managed to get 6A*s 2As and a B in my IGCSEs therefore I fulfill the GCSE requirements (and English requirements for overseas students) for all universities, and I'm HOPING (though I'm not sure if it'll actually happen) to get into my top choices for Pharmacy 2011 which are LSOP, King's College London or Bath. If I can't get into those universities, then I'd like to try for Nottingham/Manchester/Queen's Belfast/Reading.

For all the universities listed above, does it really matter whether I do IB or A levels? Do they care?

And if I DO get to do my first choice, that is, A levels, would these subject choices be okay?

Maths Biology Chemistry History (to bring to A2) and English Lit (to drop after AS).

I told my counsellor my preferred choices and she laughed at me, saying that universities won't like me taking 'liberal arts' subjects and that I'd best be doing something more science-ish instead of History and English Lit.

The problem is, I LOVE Maths, Bio & Chem but Physics just really gets me down, and Further Maths would kill me. Not sure about Economics as I didn't do it at IGCSE level.

So would it be okay if I just went ahead with taking History and English Lit along with Maths, Bio & Chem instead of Physics or FM?

I'm sorry if I wrote too long a post or something.. hehe.. :s-smilie:

Thanks very much for all your help!! :smile:

Reply 1

petzneo

nelleo

Hi everyone! :smile:

I'm currently waiting to enter either an A level or an IB programme, as both are offered in my international school (i'm asian), starting from January 2010. I have to make a decision by December.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

For all the universities listed above, does it really matter whether I do IB or A levels? Do they care?

And if I DO get to do my first choice, that is, A levels, would these subject choices be okay?

Maths Biology Chemistry History (to bring to A2) and English Lit (to drop after AS).

I told my counsellor my preferred choices and she laughed at me, saying that universities won't like me taking 'liberal arts' subjects and that I'd best be doing something more science-ish instead of History and English Lit.

The problem is, I LOVE Maths, Bio & Chem but Physics just really gets me down, and Further Maths would kill me. Not sure about Economics as I didn't do it at IGCSE level.

So would it be okay if I just went ahead with taking History and English Lit along with Maths, Bio & Chem instead of Physics or FM?

I'm sorry if I wrote too long a post or something.. hehe.. :s-smilie:

Thanks very much for all your help!! :smile:

Hmm, you should have really posted this on the pharmacy help thread:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1050515

But as your new, I'll let you off and answer your question :wink:

I know for my uni that they are absolutely fine with both IB and A levels. IB is notorious harder, so universities love to see any students with good grades in IB. It is 100% up to you whether or not you want to go for IB or A levels, you know what you are capable of.

I think your A levels choices are absolutely fine, to be honest unis prefer a mix nowadays. My friend did Bio, Chem, Psychology at A2 and Geography to AS and she is at LSOP now.

Kings prefer students with maths up to AS, and Bath would accept your A levels as well. I think you will be fine.

But if you still feel unsure you should email the admissions tutors, they will give you the best advise.

Reply 2

nelleo

petzneo

Hmm, you should have really posted this on the pharmacy help thread:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1050515

But as your new, I'll let you off and answer your question :wink:

Thank you for this :smile:

I do know that IB is notoriously harder (one of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of it) IMHO, it would be easier for me to get AAA/A*A*A or something similar at A levels than to get a decent 36+ point score in the IB with 6,6,6 or something equally impossible at Higher Level!

Okay, nice to know that unis like a mix! I honestly was at a loss on what to do because the very thought of taking Physics A level made me want to hurl. :wink:

-Thing is, I HAVE emailed admissions tutors (i got the email addresses off the Pharm dept's on most university websites) but none have yet to reply me, perhaps they sidelined my email as it's ranked with low priority?

Lol. Anyway thanks for all your help! The next time I want to ask something I'll post it in the correct thread!! (I didn't even see that particular 'help' thread lol)

current pharm students; have your universities implied whether they prefer ib/a lvls?

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