[lilyobz]

Currently am doing my alevels which are : English Lit, Politics, Law and IT.

However it has only dawned on me that am not really interested in those alevels nor do I find them challenging, i feel as if I wasn't mature or advised well enough when it came to choosing my alevels.

Right now am considering staying an extra year in sixth form to do chemistry and biology and i was wandering how this will affect chances of getting a place for medicine in uni.

I know I may be criticized for my sudden change of mind but i dont want to have regrets in the future.

Would really appreciate feedback from students who have been in the same position as me.

Thank you.

[AndrewWong92]

You should consider taking English Language A-level but moving swiftly onwards. You don't have to take biology and chemistry to apply for medicine. You can apply for foundation courses which many universities offer, you need to just search around for them. This essentially means that you take an extra year before the actual medicine course so instead of being in university 5/6 years, it is instead 6/7 years which isn't a big difference.

However, these foundation courses are very competitive and you will need a lot of work experience, volunteer work and any other activities which show your commitment to medicine. If you have none of that, don't even bother applying for medicine full stop.

[A level Az]

How in the world did you decide on those A levels? I get that you didn't get very good advice but most people don't jump from arts subjects to science like that. You say you didn't find them challenging, is that why you want to do harder A levels, or do you genuinely like Chemistry and Biology? :/ You should probably take Mathematics (at least to AS level) as well.

All I can say is is that it's not going to look very good on your application. You're going to have to get really high grades and have tons of work experience to make up for that. If you're capable then go for it, but something tells me you're not.

[myyrh]

(Original post by lilyobz)
Currently am doing my alevels which are : English Lit, Politics, Law and IT.

However it has only dawned on me that am not really interested in those alevels nor do I find them challenging, i feel as if I wasn't mature or advised well enough when it came to choosing my alevels.

Right now am considering staying an extra year in sixth form to do chemistry and biology and i was wandering how this will affect chances of getting a place for medicine in uni.

I know I may be criticized for my sudden change of mind but i dont want to have regrets in the future.

Would really appreciate feedback from students who have been in the same position as me.

Thank you.

Well foundation courses are an option but like the poster said above they're pretty competitive. I was in a kind of similar position, I did my Chemistry A level during my gap year.

(Original post by A level Az)
How in the world did you decide on those A levels? I get that you didn't get very good advice but most people don't jump from arts subjects to science like that. You say you didn't find them challenging, is that why you want to do harder A levels, or do you genuinely like Chemistry and Biology? :/ You should probably take Mathematics (at least to AS level) as well.

All I can say is is that it's not going to look very good on your application. You're going to have to get really high grades and have tons of work experience to make up for that. If you're capable then go for it, but something tells me you're not.

Waste of time as it is not a requirement for medicine.

[A level Az]

(Original post by myyrh)
Well foundation courses are an option but like the poster said above they're pretty competitive. I was in a kind of similar position, I did my Chemistry A level during my gap year.



Waste of time as it is not a requirement for medicine.

It's not a requirement, but it certainly helps as it's a good A level, and most medicine applicants will be doing Mathematics Chemistry Biology Physics, so no it's not a waste of time.

[myyrh]

(Original post by A level Az)
It's not a requirement, but it certainly helps as it's a good A level, and most medicine applicants will be doing Mathematics Chemistry Biology Physics, so no it's not a waste of time.

Well the OP has enough A levels already as it is. It will not help their application apart from add more work.

[Giggy88]

(Original post by A level Az)
How in the world did you decide on those A levels? I get that you didn't get very good advice but most people don't jump from arts subjects to science like that. You say you didn't find them challenging, is that why you want to do harder A levels, or do you genuinely like Chemistry and Biology? :/ You should probably take Mathematics (at least to AS level) as well.

All I can say is is that it's not going to look very good on your application. You're going to have to get really high grades and have tons of work experience to make up for that. If you're capable then go for it, but something tells me you're not.

wtf?

[kaypc]

you should do work experience to confirm your decision to want to do medicine and then do the required subjects for it.

[Happydude]

(Original post by myyrh)
Waste of time as it is not a requirement for medicine.

True. There is one guy that I'm going to be starting with in September that doesn't have a maths qualification to his name!

Like others have said, I'd get the best grades you can in those subjects then apply to foundation courses.

[A level Az]

(Original post by myyrh)
Well the OP has enough A levels already as it is. It will not help their application apart from add more work.

I would say drop Politics, Law and IT, and keep english lit and take up Chemistry Biology Mathematics. I don't see how OP is going to explain having IT etc. as an A2 subject. If OP has already done the two years then it won't be more of a workload he'll only be busy with Chemistry and Biology, and if OP has just finished the AS year then it's better to just drop them and do good A levels.

(Original post by Giggy88)
wtf?

Problem?

[lilyobz]

(Original post by A level Az)
I would say drop Politics, Law and IT, and keep english lit and take up Chemistry Biology Mathematics. I don't see how OP is going to explain having IT etc. as an A2 subject. If OP has already done the two years then it won't be more of a workload he'll only be busy with Chemistry and Biology, and if OP has just finished the AS year then it's better to just drop them and do good A levels.



Problem?

I was thinking of keeping english lit and picking up chem bio, not rlly sure about maths.

[Giggy88]

(Original post by A level Az)
I would say drop Politics, Law and IT, and keep english lit and take up Chemistry Biology Mathematics. I don't see how OP is going to explain having IT etc. as an A2 subject. If OP has already done the two years then it won't be more of a workload he'll only be busy with Chemistry and Biology, and if OP has just finished the AS year then it's better to just drop them and do good A levels.



Problem?

Yes you moron. How can you tell someone you don't even know in a forum what they are capable or not capable of?

[Friar Chris]

As soon as you asked whether it's too 'l8' to go into medicine... It was too late.

[A level Az]

(Original post by Giggy88)
Yes you moron. How can you tell someone you don't even know in a forum what they are capable or not capable of?

I said if you think you're capable then go for it, but I don't think you are. Why did I say that? Because you don't pick arts subjects when your true strength is in sciences, which it must be if you're applying for medicine. I know it's possible to be excellent at both but most people are not. Either give OP some advice or piss off, moron.

[A level Az]

(Original post by lilyobz)
I was thinking of keeping english lit and picking up chem bio, not rlly sure about maths.

If you think it's too much then fine, but AS maths is really quite simple and like I said, it's not a requirement but many many applicants are going to have it.

[lilyobz]

bump, any1 who has been through tosame situation?

[DonJuan]

(Original post by lilyobz)
Too l8-

STOP right there. Please don't try to get into medical school, for your own sake.

[lilyobz]

(Original post by DonJuan)
STOP right there. Please don't try to get into medical school, for your own sake.

plz stop reading deeply into the thread title, it means nothing.. All i want to do is discover how other students with who have experienced my current problems coped with it.

[TheNoobyPotato]

Nope, you can do a foundation year.

[403 Forbidden]

(Original post by A level Az)
I know it's possible to be excellent at both but most people are not. Either give OP some advice or piss off, moron.

The OP gave you no indication of how well s/he excels at both/either.

Due to high number of applicants to places ratio, students who have covered the required subjects (i.e. Chemistry and one other science?) in the traditional two years are inevitably favored over the rest. That being said, however, I do know of very few students who did manage to get in with resits (as much as the teachers always tell you how repulsive it looks on your application) and first sits sat during gap years. You will have to research the institutions thoroughly before you apply. Once you find out about their requirements and whether they will look at your application given the circumstances, you will need to be able to justify your sudden change of interest.