*MEGATHREAD* - The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread Mk II

I can already say that your application is already quite strong. In fact your GCSEs are good, I only got 7 A*s at GCSE and i've got offers! A level wise, just get those As and you'll be fine. Your planned work experiences are good, as for volunteering, try everything! See if any local charities want some help, e-mail around hospitals etc. You running a sports club for year 7 and help kids reading counts as volunteering Your week experience at a dentist is probably not worth mentioning. I can always send you my PS if you want to see what I did.
Overall I think you've got a good shot at medicine, just do well in UKCAT/BMAT and apply wisely Hope that helps

I would be EXTREMELY grateful if you could send me your personal statement! I have no idea as to what a medical personal statement should look like so this will definitely help. Once again thank you so much!

I think you'll need at least 1 week hospital work experience -. I did 2 weeks hospital work experience, about 3 one month volunteering placement and one 1 year volunteering placement. And yeah it is definitely more what you learn then quantity The key factor is how you write what you saw/learnt during those placements in your personal statement I'm in Year 13 and got my medicine offer

Would anyone be able to answer me a question?
I'm really interested in doing medicine and have been since year 11 and am now in lower sixth.
I'm volunteering in a care home whenever I'm not at college or work, have applied for work experience at my local hospital and assuming I will get 3 As at A Level (because obviously this is required) However, I only received 5As, 5Bs and 1 A* at GCSE. I know that this reaches a lot of universities minimum grades for GCSE but am wondering which universities you would recommend me to apply for, as I don't want to apply for ones I'm not likely to get a place, as it would be a waste of options.
Opinions would be appreciated, I know my case is quite low and I'm unlikely to get a place so don't really want people posting overly negative comments please. I'm also open to the possibility of taking an undergraduate degree then applying for medicine afterwards, if this becomes necessary.

Would anyone be able to answer me a question?
I'm really interested in doing medicine and have been since year 11 and am now in lower sixth.
I'm volunteering in a care home whenever I'm not at college or work, have applied for work experience at my local hospital and assuming I will get 3 As at A Level (because obviously this is required) However, I only received 5As, 5Bs and 1 A* at GCSE. I know that this reaches a lot of universities minimum grades for GCSE but am wondering which universities you would recommend me to apply for, as I don't want to apply for ones I'm not likely to get a place, as it would be a waste of options.
Opinions would be appreciated, I know my case is quite low and I'm unlikely to get a place so don't really want people posting overly negative comments please. I'm also open to the possibility of taking an undergraduate degree then applying for medicine afterwards, if this becomes necessary.

I took Chemistry, Maths, Biology and English lit at A Level, will getting an A in A level maths make up for my B in GCSE maths?

Hi guys, I sort of have a plan for getting into medicine but I'm not sure if this will work.
My application to medicine so far is alright:
AS: AABB
Volunteering: At a hospital for 4 months, 9 months mentoring younger dyslexic students.
Work experience: 2 weeks at a hospital , 3 days at a psychiatrists, 1 week GP.
EC's: Research project on schizophrenia for 4 weeks,attended World Kidney day project and met kidney transplant patients and kidney disease patients, affect of CO2 project on the environment study at the peak district, intermediate arabic studies on weekends and competitive football.

However my GCSE's are quite bad. They are A*AABBBBBBBD. However, I'm aware that their are foundation courses for people who don't meet the requirements for 5 year medicine courses and I'm thinking of applying to these. I realize that my GCSE would meet some medical schools, but I just wouldn't be happy studying at those places as I would be too far from home. Would I be able to convince my teachers to predict me lower than AAA even though I'm on track to acheiving this for A2, just so I can be eligible for the course requirements? Also, what are the chances of getting into these courses?
I'm also thinking of the foundation courses at:
Nottingham
UEA
Manchester (not sure about this one)
Southampton
Should I do this or do I have a better chance at the 5 year course?

Manchester's foundation course is for people who chose non science subjects at A level. Foundation courses are far more competitive due to less places (Nottingham has 10 ) Also do you meet the foundation courses extended criteria? This varies slightly between the schools but in general you need
to have gone to a non selective school
live in a less affluent area using the deprivation index ( the unis check this)
first generation of higher education
household income less than a certain amount
Some universities need you to meet at least two requirements but again this varies and you would have to check. Personally I would think you have a better chance getting in through the 5 year courses purely based on the competition.

I do meet the requirements (gone to a non selective school, first generation and household income is less than 20,000). The thing is, I wouldn't be happy at Exeter, Plymouth, Durham or Newcastle and I don't think I'd be able to study effectively at those universities either due to this. At Nottingham, UEA and Southampton I might be a tad better (certainly at Nottingham). That's essentially why I'm thinking of applying to the foundation courses.

Wow! I think I need to do a bit more then! I think I should probably find some volunteering thing (I don't think my volunteering in a charity shop really counts). What did you focus on in your personal statement and where did you apply, because I have heard that you need to focus on slightly different things for different uni's? Congratulations!! Where do you have offers to?

But an A in GCSE maths is.
Does anybody know if Nottingham is difficult to get into as I'm really keen on this uni in particular.

How much work experience/volunteering/ basically everything would you recommend?

I've done nothing.. and I'm in year 12.

Yeah I get what you mean When I first thought of applying I didn't want to move away from London and hated the idea of studying anywhere else (wanted to be close to family ) But due to my circumstances I had to decide how badly I wanted to do medicine and after a while I got over the fact that I will be moving away If you meet the requirements it's entirely up to you, it is five (six for the foundation) years of your life after all. Just be prepared for the tough competition that comes with applying for the six year courses

Thank you, I will definitely do that? Just out of interest though how did you get your chemistry grade up - what did yo do differently? If you don't mind me asking.