[crazylemon]

Made at the request of our wonderful mod

All applicants post your simple questions here! then we only have one place to look and you are less likely to be annoyed.

I will also promise not to be mean (you probably don't realise how much that is worth)

Fire away future medics!

As a note to anyone wishing to derail my thread of light and joy for once designed to help both applicants by answering their questions and med student by keeping them the **** away from the rest of the forum you will be punished with my neg and rage (unless it is of course hilarious )

Questions asked so far:

What is the best med school?

Hogwarts Bath.

Now for the more sensible answer. It is entirely dependant of the sort of person you are an how you learn. If you think PBL (problem based learning) rocks yours socks and you want to give it a go then Manchester or PMS would be good shouts as they both do it. Whereas Oxford would not. Cause they don't. If you think you want more of a preclin/clin split then the only ones I know of do it are Oxbridge and some London Unis UCL, Gimpy (please feel free to correct me. Then there is location. If you are a southerner who looks to the north with dread then Newcastle is not a good bet. Similarly if you live in the north and feel the south is filled with stuck up ***** (such as myself) then don't apply to somewhere south of B'ham (I know that is technically in the south but to me north London is NORTH). Other things to factor in, 'Do I want to do a Bsc? Do I want the option but not mandatory? Do I want to become a doctor Asap? Campus or City? The number of things to consider is HUGE. Prestige means little for medicine. Each school has GMC approval and so at the end of the day, wherever you go you will be a doctor. That's the point isn't it? Not to be able to tell granny you went to Oxford.
At the end of the day pick where YOU want to do. Do some flaming research into the area! I looked at Shottingham but after the open day I decided I would rather cut myself 1000 times and squirt lemon juice into each one. But that is me. You may love it.

Or for another take:

And for the 'no med school is bad' thing, thing about learning to drive. You can go to a wide variety of instructors, but eventually, everyone has to sit the standardised test in the end and gets the same license as everyone else. Just like med school. Replace instructors with med schools and standardised test as GMC provisional registration requirements and bob's your uncle, fannies your aunt.

I hope this helps.

[els1398]

hiya. i'm about to begin sixth form next week and i'm doing a-levels in english language, biology, chemistry and modern history. i'd really love to do medicine at university but i'm worried that they'd choose a candidate with an a-level in maths rather than english language. how much is this true? i really do not wanna do maths.. it's boring and too difficult! i'd really appreciate it if you could help me out

[Malsy]

Maths is not a necessity at all for medicine. Don't worry about not having it. Most unis only require Bio and Chem so you're fine!

[Eklipz89]

no, you dont need it
Bio and Chem are fine, although Maths could help since its a hard a'level but bio and chem is the minimum

[Elles]

(Original post by Eklipz89)
Bio and Chem are fine, although Maths could help since its a hard a'level but bio and chem is the minimum

In contrast to easy peasy English & History? Hmmm.
If you have a one dimensional view of sciences = hard then maybe.


To the OP, why would they choose someone with Maths over you if they don't say they require Maths? Play to your strengths and interests - as long as you meet the subject requirements, which you will for the majority of places (that's where you'll need to do your research - some colleges of a medical school do definitely state they would prefer 3 sciences/maths) & some may even prefer the fact you're offering a contrasting subject (again, prospectus reading time!).

Did you get above a B in Maths GCSE though? Need to check whether the medical schools you're interested in have requirements for GCSEs or subjects not taken beyond. & if you apply to places that use aptitude tests you might want to brush up on your basic maths before you sit them in case you're a bit rusty!

[indie_couture]

Maths isnt necessary, biology and chemistry are 2 good sciences. But English language isnt respected as much as combined or lit. In a competitive course such as medicine I think you should consider combined or literature.

Have you thought about physics?

Personally I would do Biology, Chemistry, English lit OR Combined and then modern history. Or is you like physics do the 3 sciences and history?
xxxxxx
p.s. have a look at uni prospectuses or ucas.

[dark-knight]

(Original post by els1398)
hiya. i'm about to begin sixth form next week and i'm doing a-levels in english language, biology, chemistry and modern history. i'd really love to do medicine at university but i'm worried that they'd choose a candidate with an a-level in maths rather than english language. how much is this true? i really do not wanna do maths.. it's boring and too difficult! i'd really appreciate it if you could help me out

Have a look on the uni web pages of your choice lazy ...

[im so academic]

you don't need maths, the only A levels you need are chemistry and biology, which you got. I would say don't even take maths as you yourself find it difficult, so an A in English will look so much better than a C in maths.
Also, English and modern history are very contrasting to the science subjects, showing to unis you are a well-rounded person, with histroy also giving you some analytical skills are are very important towards a medicine degree. bear in mind that, work experience is far more valuable than an A level in maths in my opinion. so if you don't want to do maths, don't take it, don't pressurise yourself in the extra workload trying to figure out how to do differentiation late in the night. your options are fine, in fact they're great! (but to be honest, I would do combined english or english lit, as medicine is very competitive to get in to)

good luck at sixth form, and remember to get some work experience!

[Ignoramus]

I know someone who took Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy and French and got into UCL for medicine. It's entirely possible not to have maths but be prepared to take good subjects to replace it as most candidates for medicine will have Maths.

[becca2389]

I did biology, chemistry, music and english literature. Lack of maths has not hindered me one bit.

However, english literature and music were good for two SSCs I did as well as a few essays.

[purplefrog]

(Original post by Ignoramus)
I know someone who took Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy and French and got into UCL for medicine. It's entirely possible not to have maths but be prepared to take good subjects to replace it as most candidates for medicine will have Maths.

I read in the Independent about someone who took exactly the same subjects! I myself am considering Maths, Chem, Bio and Phil. but I still got a whole year to chew it over and see how my results go.

[els1398]

(Original post by dark-knight)
Have a look on the uni web pages of your choice lazy ...

i've looked at several universities already before posting and they all say a-levels in only biology and chemistry are really needed. i was just worried.

[els1398]

(Original post by Elles)

Did you get above a B in Maths GCSE though? Need to check whether the medical schools you're interested in have requirements for GCSEs or subjects not taken beyond. & if you apply to places that use aptitude tests you might want to brush up on your basic maths before you sit them in case you're a bit rusty!

I got an A in my maths, so I'm not too bad but i'm worried it will be too difficult at a-level.

[becca2389]

(Original post by els1398)
I got an A in my maths, so I'm not too bad but i'm worried it will be too difficult at a-level.

There's nothing wrong with your subject choices and you have the main two sciences already. Don't put yourself through maths if it's not for you.

[nadine102]

Although you may not need maths for medicine specifically, you should still take it to at least AS-level. GCSE is not even basic maths, and the skills you gain in maths are practically invaluable,

gosh how can anyone go a life without basic knowledge of calculus

[becca2389]

(Original post by nadine102)
Although you may not need maths for medicine specifically, you should still take it to at least AS-level. GCSE is not even basic maths, and the skills you gain in maths are practically invaluable,

gosh how can anyone go a life without basic knowledge of calculus

I've coped pretty well these past years. I think GCSE maths will do me another 50 or so.

[Democracy]

No, you're fine. Ignore any idiot who tells you otherwise.

[tommm]

Do you seriously not know how to use Google?

(and no, you don't need maths A-level.)

[iRaachX]

I had it drummed into me before Sixth Form (by teachers, parents, even someone whos son is a doctor lol..) that "If you want to do medicine you need maths", so i'm taking it currently at AS just because I thought I had to, but i've been looking into it loads & YOU REALLY DON'T!
No Unis ask for it & as long as your 3rd /4th A2 isnt like "an easy one" its perfectly fine.

I'm taking Chemistry, Biology, PE & Critical Thinking & Maths, I was going to drop critical thinking but I might decide to drop maths...Hmmm..I'll have to think this over for a while, PE isnt exactly regarded as a great difficulty so that doesn't make much of a strong A Level.

Bah I would have taken something like Law now if i'd known..!

Ahh well, happy college people! =D

[FTC199]

(Original post by iRaachX)
I had it drummed into me before Sixth Form (by teachers, parents, even someone whos son is a doctor lol..) that "If you want to do medicine you need maths", so i'm taking it currently at AS just because I thought I had to, but i've been looking into it loads & YOU REALLY DON'T!
No Unis ask for it & as long as your 3rd /4th A2 isnt like "an easy one" its perfectly fine.

I'm taking Chemistry, Biology, PE & Critical Thinking & Maths, I was going to drop critical thinking but I might decide to drop maths...Hmmm..I'll have to think this over for a while, PE isnt exactly regarded as a great difficulty so that doesn't make much of a strong A Level.

Bah I would have taken something like Law now if i'd known..!

Ahh well, happy college people! =D

this thread is about 5 months old!

also, im not an expert on the subject but some of the unis will not like chem, bio and PE because bio and PE overlap which could become a problem