[TooSexyForMyStethoscope]

(Original post by almostlive)
Head student, prefect, national league hockey and all that other jazz

Sigh

[MJK91]

(Original post by almostlive)
Hey Hope everyone's exams are going well/have gone well.

I was just wondering, is it even worth me applying for medical colleges next year? Its all I've focused on this past year and its something which I would really like to do at come point in my life.

My concern is, that I'm no where near good enough or have a competitive enough nature to apply to such a course. I've just finished all my AS exams and just waiting, or revising rather, to sit my Core 3 and Core 4 exams in a couple weeks, and I believe I have all the extra curricular stuff - Head student, prefect, national league hockey and all that other jazz, and the work experience stuff should be getting sorted this summer - placement in an emergency room in Pakistan etc.

My underlying insecurity is in my grades, which unfortunately (or fortunately - look at it whatever way you want :P) are probably the most important thing about gaining a place at university. The thing is, at GCSE I wasn't too serious and didn't really work all that hard - my fault i know- but still managed to get what it says on all the university websites' are the required grades. All A*s/As/Bs, no Cs. I've worked a LOT harder this year, and hopefully it will be reflected in my results this time round, but i'm just being cautious and asking what if they dont come out the way i want them.. the medical thread on here also shows that GCSE wise, all the other applicants are waaay out of my league. Will the whole GCSE thing matter lots, or wont it?

So, after a lengthy post, just gonna ask the question, is it worth me applying to a medical college? Or shall i just focus on getting in to a university to study Biomedical sciences or straight Biology, and not waste 3 or 4 of my 5 uni choices?

cheers guys

Oh yeah im in year 12 by the way.

Hi, and welcome. Pay no attention to the sighing, it's just quite an overused section of the personal statement. A lot of people are prefects etc. but it doesn't reflect so much on you as an individual. You have to really show off! Don't let this throw you off, just keep it in mind.

It's hard to know what position you're in without knowing your AS grades and A2 grades. If you are hitting the benchmarks that the Universities ask for, then you really could apply providing you get your work experience sorted and learn from it.

Just make sure that it's really what you want to do; you don't sound overly confident so far. Wait for your grades, get your work experience sorted, and then see where you are and where you could apply to.

If you did mix your application with, say, 4 medical schools and 1 biomedical science course, the Biomedical Science admissions tutors often understand that it's a backup course, and are usually okay working around medical personal statements.

All the best

Matt

[Giggy88]

Hey people, I've got a little problem with those stupid Practical assessments on OCR Bio. I may not have taken it as serious as I should have and didn't know they count for !20!% of my grade.

My bio exams went fairly reasonable, and I am feeling positive that I have a good combined UMS score in those 2 exam modules to get an A. But I'm worried my practical which is 28/40 (apparently a C not even a B) will drag my grade down to a B.. Can these be even resat in A2?

In case I get a overall B should I beg my teacher to predict me an A, and how common is it that teachers are lenient and predict 1 grade up?

[MJK91]

(Original post by Giggy88)
Hey people, I've got a little problem with those stupid Practical assessments on OCR Bio. I may not have taken it as serious as I should have and didn't know they count for !20!% of my grade.

My bio exams went fairly reasonable, and I am feeling positive that I have a good combined UMS score in those 2 exam modules to get an A. But I'm worried my practical which is 28/40 (apparently a C not even a B) will drag my grade down to a B.. Can these be even resat in A2?

In case I get a overall B should I beg my teacher to predict me an A, and how common is it that teachers are lenient and predict 1 grade up?

You can work out what it will do to your score, if your OCR Bio as a whole is worth 100%, and this is 20%, how much do the other modules count for and what did you get in them? Work out percentage achieved for all and you can find out what it'll do to your grade.

As for resitting, I don't see why not. I resat one of my chemistry practicals years ago when I did A2. It depends if your teacher will let you join in with next year's AS students.

As for teachers predicting your grade, it'll depend on the individual. Some are very, very strict and will only predict you what you achieve. Others are more lenient. You'll just have to talk to your teacher

[myyrh]

(Original post by Giggy88)
Hey people, I've got a little problem with those stupid Practical assessments on OCR Bio. I may not have taken it as serious as I should have and didn't know they count for !20!% of my grade.

My bio exams went fairly reasonable, and I am feeling positive that I have a good combined UMS score in those 2 exam modules to get an A. But I'm worried my practical which is 28/40 (apparently a C not even a B) will drag my grade down to a B.. Can these be even resat in A2?

In case I get a overall B should I beg my teacher to predict me an A, and how common is it that teachers are lenient and predict 1 grade up?

Yeah 28/40 would give you around 36/60UMS which is a borderline C so not very ideal. However if your written papers are high UMS it's still possible to get an A overall at AS. Practicals can be resat at A2 but you would have to double check with your school because their policy may say otherwise. If you want to apply to medicine you must get predicted an A if you don't you will be rejected straight away from all your choices because AAA prediction is the absolute minimum required. Try and explain to your teachers about the situation. If your written papers have scored high marks this should be proof of your ability in Biology. As for how lenient a teacher is, it depends entirely on the teacher. Some will be really difficult and refuse outright whilst others may do it.

[Jazza1306]

Hi, im currently in year 13 with exams soon. i have a offer for chem eng at newcastle and its firmed and all sorted. however for quite a while now, since really beginning of yr 13 i have had a feeling inside of me that medicine is what i want to do. im not really sure if its realistically possible now or how much of chance i would have of getting an offer. the proposed plan i had was to wait till results and apply for the oct 15th deadline but obviously i have to do all the work expirience and voluntary work beforehand. i would use my fifth choice and apply to newcastle for same chem eng degree as i have done already this year.
predicted results-AAA (maths, chemistry, physics)
as level-C (history)
gcse's- 6 a*'s, 4 a's

yes i know i have no biology, which is a big downer, but there are courses which require no biology, but yes it does limit my options.

i would also start trying to get some work experience/voluntary work now or as soon as.

is it a realistic plan? do i stand any chance of getting an offer?
if you have any suggestions, ideas, things ive missed then let me know!
thanks!!!

[Joe2Jonas]

I say if you feel like doing Medicine then let nothing get in your way and all the best luck in the future

[theatrical]

(Original post by Jazza1306)
Hi, im currently in year 13 with exams soon. i have a offer for chem eng at newcastle and its firmed and all sorted. however for quite a while now, since really beginning of yr 13 i have had a feeling inside of me that medicine is what i want to do. im not really sure if its realistically possible now or how much of chance i would have of getting an offer. the proposed plan i had was to wait till results and apply for the oct 15th deadline but obviously i have to do all the work expirience and voluntary work beforehand. i would use my fifth choice and apply to newcastle for same chem eng degree as i have done already this year.
predicted results-AAA (maths, chemistry, physics)
as level-C (history)
gcse's- 6 a*'s, 4 a's

yes i know i have no biology, which is a big downer, but there are courses which require no biology, but yes it does limit my options.

i would also start trying to get some work experience/voluntary work now or as soon as.

is it a realistic plan? do i stand any chance of getting an offer?
if you have any suggestions, ideas, things ive missed then let me know!
thanks!!!

It's definitely realistic. You'll need to do some research and choose your medical schools wisely. There are a few, Manchester included (which also doesn't require biology) that like applicants to have long-term volunatary experience, so you might struggle with these.

You also want to start swatting for the UKCAT if applicable.

[swaggiee]

(Original post by almostlive)
Head student, prefect, national league hockey and all that other jazz

A PS which reflects properly on even just your role as a dead student, is far better than you listing all the extracurricular activities Just some advice

[TaraBelle]

(Original post by myyrh)
BSMS and Bristol are very heavy on personal statement and Bristol doesn't have an entrance exam so the competition is pretty fierce. I think Leicester is a good choice if you have a decent UKCAT score to match. No idea about Nottingham medicine admissions sorry Sheffield is a good choice too because you fit their GCSE requirements and they didn't seem to care much about the UKCAT this year but that may change. Leeds is massively over subscribed so I personally wouldn't risk applying there but that's entirely up to you. The medical schools you mentioned all to some extent place emphasis on the personal statement when selecting for interview so it's hard to judge how good of a shot you have. If you had a high UKCAT score would you consider one of the universities which operate a cut off score, say Newcastle or Peninsula for instance?

Thanks that's really good to hear yep that's something I could consider, but I really have no idea how I'm gonna do in it :s planning to book it this week- when would you say is a good time to do it? Before or after results day?

[myyrh]

(Original post by TaraBelle)
Thanks that's really good to hear yep that's something I could consider, but I really have no idea how I'm gonna do in it :s planning to book it this week- when would you say is a good time to do it? Before or after results day?

Entirely up to you I personally did it after AS results day because I didn't want my stressing to make a difference.

[digitalis]

(Original post by almostlive)
My underlying insecurity is in my grades, which unfortunately (or fortunately - look at it whatever way you want :P) are probably the most important thing about gaining a place at university.

Have you done any research at all into what the medical application process involves? This clearly shows you haven't done much.

[Sherbet]

(Original post by BLu_REdEmTiON)
...ahh, didn't know about that. Hertfordshire is also like that.

Hertfordshire is post grad medicine so you have to have a medicine degree .
Grad entry is when you have a degree already and do an accelerated course to get a medicine degree.

[TaraBelle]

(Original post by myyrh)
Entirely up to you I personally did it after AS results day because I didn't want my stressing to make a difference.

hmm that's a good plan actually Thank you, no doubt I'll be back on here once I've got my AS grades and UKCAT scores in the bag

[BLu_REdEmTiON]

(Original post by Sherbet)
Hertfordshire is post grad medicine so you have to have a medicine degree .
Grad entry is when you have a degree already and do an accelerated course to get a medicine degree.

...*bump* thanks
...but what can you get in a post-grad med degree?

[BelMa]

Hi everyone ! I just finished my As exams (bio,chem,maths,french) and to be honest i don't think i got the grades i wanted which is above a C in bio,chem and maths.But i feel more confident now and know that i can get good grade when resit them nest yr in A2. I want to know if I'll still be able to get into Medicine though ? And also i wanted to know if the Unis will take into consideration the fact that i came from a french country last yr and started my yr.English is not my native language,my native language is French.Hope someone will be able to help me with those questions and give me some ideas.

Thanks

[JoeLatics]

(Original post by BelMa)
Hi everyone ! I just finished my As exams (bio,chem,maths,french) and to be honest i don't think i got the grades i wanted which is above a C in bio,chem and maths.But i feel more confident now and know that i can get good grade when resit them nest yr in A2. I want to know if I'll still be able to get into Medicine though ? And also i wanted to know if the Unis will take into consideration the fact that i came from a french country last yr and started my yr.English is not my native language,my native language is French.Hope someone will be able to help me with those questions and give me some ideas.

Thanks

You'll be fine (except for one or two Med Schools like Cambridge IIRC)

[AiB]

Your predicted grades may not be good enough.

[Dandy Lion]

What above me said, but also unless you can get your teachers to predict you all As for A2 you might have to take a gap year after you get your grades!

[BelMa]

(Original post by JoeLatics)
You'll be fine (except for one or two Med Schools like Cambridge IIRC)

Oh alright.I hope so im so worried though cause this whole system is all new for me