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Med school chances..choices

hey guys, i was wondering if anyone could help me out.
Basically for the past few years I've been interested in clinical psychology as a career, but I did some work experience with a GP the other day, and it was awesome, so I'm starting to think medicine could be the way to go. From what I saw there was quite a lot of psychological stuff going on to keep me happy, and I did some research and found out thata lot of GP's get a lot of psychological training anyway, and before becoming a GP (that's what I'd want to do) I could take posts in psychiatry, which would be cool.
The problem is that I've taken subjects that aren't going to get me into medicine, - Eng lit, classical civ, ICT and Bio. I know i should have done chem and that theres a few options - i could do a chem AS next year, or just take the foundation year. Should I go for medicine?
Will they accept me on the foundation year, if I've done bio? Is 6 years too long, doing lots of hospital stuff when I'm really keen to work in a community doctors surgery?
Any advice here would be really useful, cheers guys
Kat xx

Reply 1

beatbox

i think you may have a chance on a foundation year course, although they are very competitive. bTW if your looking for community medicine i think most clinical stuff in medical schools is in hospitals although some is carried out in GP (it might be different in other med schools). I think your best bet would be the foundation year and 6 years is not too long just more expensive!
anyways good luck.

Reply 2

smileymedic

I disagree - i say do at least chem AS, if not take a gap year so you can do the whole lot and apply for the normal med degree. THeres a MUCH higher chance of you getting into that!

Reply 3

Kato_88

thanks guys for your advice, but I didn't realise that it was more competative than actual med school. I'm not planning on taking a Gap year though...

Reply 4

corkskrew

Some of the more interesting options for 5 and 6 year medicine with those subjects....

Last year Newcastle accepted people with "at least one of bio or chem to at least AS". My friend applied with Bio, EngLit and Psych and got in on an AAB offer for the 5 year course.

East Anglia want "3 subjects with grade B or above in Bio" (Chem not required at all)

Kings London do a 6 year course and the offer for that was ABB last year.

Oh and WRT the hospital/community stuff..... newcastle has a WHOLE strand on "Medicine in the community" and we have to do a huge assignment in the first year on the social/psychological effects of pregnancy upon a family. Basically, you study the impact pregnancy has on a mum and you get assigned a pregnant mum and have to visit her half a dozen times or so. It'll all fun and games but a good insight into community medicine!

Reply 5

beatbox

that newcastle course looks good i also know that HYMS have 50:50 in community and hospital settings which i think is great, applied there and had an interview, i really hope i get in its definitely my first choice.

Reply 6

randdom

I don't know about other medical schools but in the first two years at bsms we are 50% of clinical time in the GP (different ones is the first and second year) and 50% in hospitals. We also do something similar to newcastle but instead of the impact of a pregnancy on a family we did one on the new baby which had quite a lot of comunity management (health visitor and information that the mum was given). I think quite a lot of medical schools do some sort of community medicine study in the first two years. This year we are doing how a patient with a chronic illness is managed in the community so there really is quite a lot of it.

I would recomend possibly doing an AS in chemistry and seeing how you go, this will restrict the medical schools you apply to however. Have you thought about staying on an extra year and completing a chemistry A2 as this will put you on a level footing with other applicants to the 5 year course and you would qualify at the same time as you would to if you did a foundation year. Plus you could use that year to do work experiance which will strengthen your application and personal statement.

Hope this was helpful, it might be worth starting to look for work experiance now!

Rachel

Reply 7

Fluffy

have a look at this site:

www.medschoolsonline.co.uk

Reply 8

Kato_88

I'll check out the site, I guess I'm going to have to consider which is the best way to go, perhaps talk to the careers person at college about whether i'll get on the foundation. Thanks very much for all your help guys xx

Reply 9

Saffie

Kato_88

you'd rather spend 10k on an extra year at uni, {assuming you get onto the course, being that they're more competitive} instead of just doing AS chemistry next year?

^o)

Reply 10

bright star

actually think VERY VERY carefully before doing that AS in chemistry.
If you did do it then you would exclude yourself from applying to most foundation year programmes as they mainly only accept people without chemistry (although biology is allowed). however, you may not be able to apply to normal 5-year courses either as your A-levels wouldn't be completed in the normal 2 years so you may be branded a 'resitter' by some places even though you aren't resitting. basically foundation years are designed for people just like you and i think you should at least apply. what's the worst that can happen? either you get in and your set or you don't and you can always choose to do the chemistry later.

Reply 11

Saffie

bright star

If this person's currently taking AS levels, then they can just take up AS chem next year and have it completed within the normal time.

If she doesn't take it up, the unis will probably want to know why, [because with one science A2 already, this person isn't the most needy of a foundation year.]

The worst that can happen= she doesn't take up chem, she gets rejected from the foundation courses, she has to take a gap year and learn chem or go onto another course.

If you really want to do medicine, taking an extra AS next year should be fine. {i.e. you should be clever and hard-working enough}

Reply 12

randdom

bright star

I don't know if they would be classified as a resit applicant seeing as they haven't actually resat anything and aslong as it is made clear in the personal statement I doubt that it would be a disadvantage.

Reply 13

JayD

Yes but many unis dont say "no resits" they say a level exam results should be achieved within 2 years of completing gcses.

Reply 14

Madprof

A number of places accept resit students, though mostly only with extenuating circumstances.

A-levels should be completied in two years, not nec. in the two years after completing GCSEs.

Reply 15

Kato_88

oh my, thanks for the masses of replys, sorry I've been so slow to respond! Well I did some research and was looking at King's College, whose course is specifically designed for those who havn't taken chem. I think I will probably (after convincing my parents about the extra money needed eek!) try for the foundation course, as I think an AS chem will only be able to take me so far, as well as needing a lot of extra work- and as the foundation course is run in a lot of the good unis (manchester, Edin. St. Georges etc) I'l go with that