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MEGATHREAD - The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread MK III

Hi I got 4As at AS in Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy and English Literature but with nothing above 90%.

I've dropped English - is this a disadvantage to me?
I've been predicted 3 As - good enough?
My UKCAT average was 680 - good enough?

I do have a lot of work experience and volunteering and I'm also doing an EPQ on stem cells in medicine...

I just feel like I'm doing something wrong as it feels I'm the only medical applicant in my school who is only doing 3 A2 levels, with most doing 4(with A* predictions) and with many doing as much as 5.

Reply 181

myyrh

9

Original post by lordmackery

Hi I got 4As at AS in Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy and English Literature but with nothing above 90%.

I've dropped English - is this a disadvantage to me?
I've been predicted 3 As - good enough?
My UKCAT average was 680 - good enough?

I do have a lot of work experience and volunteering and I'm also doing an EPQ on stem cells in medicine...

I just feel like I'm doing something wrong as it feels I'm the only medical applicant in my school who is only doing 3 A2 levels, with most doing 4(with A* predictions) and with many doing as much as 5.

Dropping English will not disadvantage you
predicted AAA is sufficient
UKCAT of 680 is an excellent score and more than good enough. With the exception of Barts, no medical school looks more favourably on applicants with more than three A2s so don't worry about being the only one in your school.

Reply 182

v :)

Hey. So, here's the thing. I've been predicted AAB - A in Biology, A in Economics and B in Chemistry for my A2 grades. Is there any way I could still apply for a normal 5 year Medicine course and still have a chance of my personal statement being looked at and being offered an interview, so long as I achieve AAA at the end of A2?
I have all the other requirements, i.e. GCSE grades, work exp, UKCAT etc and it's the only course I've ever wanted to apply for!
Help!

Reply 183

Neostigmine

18

Original post by fringe111

Could someone please help me chose a few university's to apply for based on my strengths and weaknesses?

GCSE: 9a*, a
AS: 2A (maths, bio), 2B (chem, phys)
A2: maths (A)
Predicted grades: A*AAB (maths, bio, chem, phys).. decided to drop phys, and do further maths A2 - is this a good idea? I did this to get prediction of A*AAA (maths, fm, bio, chem)
Ukcat: haven't sat it yet

Could someone please give me a list of realistic medical schools I can apply to and maybe get an offer from? Thanks in advance x

Did you do A2 maths early? They might not consider your maths as part of your offer if so as you didn't do it with the others (I started AS psych a year early and it wasn't counted), and as further maths is considered very similar to maths you might find that they tell you that you've only taken 2 A levels they'll consider, unless they don't count maths therefore further maths is okay. I am not 100% though, so I advise you contact some universities and see what they think.

Reply 184

Jackkkkk

11

Give it a go ! If your only going to reapply next year of you don't get in then you may aswell try now. My friend was predicted AAA and got AAB (B in chem) and Bristol still let her in this year! Keele are known for doing this on occasion too! Pick your choices carefull - don't expect anything thigh as there will be tough competition !

Good luck

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 185

senS

Hello, so I am a student going to A2. I study

- Chemistry
- Biology
- Maths
- Religous Studies.

So, basically, I just want to know whether I have chances studying medicine (with gap year) due to my bad AS grades.

my gcse grades: 1 a* and 2 a's and 7 b's and 1 c

my AS grades;

Maths - C (2 A's and U)
Biology - E ( A and U)
RE - B (B, B)
Chemistry - C ( A and E)

My personal aim is to get A*AAA. I did extremely bad on my May exams, due to my own personal reasons. If I do get at least 4 A's and take a GAP year, and do lot of work experience, voluntary work and with a good personal statement and do well in UKCAT do I have any chances to do medicine?
I wont be applying to any unis to this year.

I WANT HONEST ANSWERS PLEASE.

Reply 186

RashelW

5

Original post by Vulpes

You'll be able to view all the admission policies here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Applying_to_Medical_School_using_your_Strengths

:smile:

Sorry for the late reply, thanks a lot! :smile:

Reply 187

Neostigmine

18

Original post by 994

Just looking for some advice on whether it's worth applying to any 5yr courses, or just to stick to the foundation ones at the moment.

I'm taking a year out and got BBCc (maths, bio, chem, AS phys) last year, but that was with extenuating circumstances. My worry is that the circumstances happened in yr12 and the grades are still pretty low. I am resitting some modules so hoping to get it up. My UKCAT was 750 this year and I'm working on getting a job in a hospital if at all possible.

Right now I've got Nottingham and Southampton (both 6yr), but I'm not sure about the other 2?

There are other 6 year ones, UEA, Access to Leeds, have you looked into these?

Reply 188

dunnicare

12

If you do get 4A's and the rest of it, then yeah you stand a good chance if you apply wisely (GSCEs to consider) BUT if I were you, I'd apply for some non-medicine courses just in case things don't work out as planned. It's good to have a contingency plan. :smile:

But for now, just put your head down and revise like mad. Good luck.

Reply 189

tallen90

3

Original post by senS

Hello, so I am a student going to A2. I study

- Chemistry
- Biology
- Maths
- Religous Studies.

So, basically, I just want to know whether I have chances studying medicine (with gap year) due to my bad AS grades.

my gcse grades: 1 a* and 2 a's and 7 b's and 1 c

my AS grades;

Maths - C (2 A's and U)
Biology - E ( A and U)
RE - B (B, B)
Chemistry - C ( A and E)

My personal aim is to get A*AAA. I did extremely bad on my May exams, due to my own personal reasons. If I do get at least 4 A's and take a GAP year, and do lot of work experience, voluntary work and with a good personal statement and do well in UKCAT do I have any chances to do medicine?
I wont be applying to any unis to this year.

I WANT HONEST ANSWERS PLEASE.

Looking at it, I'd say that you'll need to re-sit some units if you want to get As (which you'll need to get into Medicine)! I could be wrong, but as far as I know it's impossible to get an overall A if you've got less than a C at AS-Level, so ideally you want to get your Biology AS-Level up to a C at least.

You'll also have to work really, really hard at A2, especially if you're going to do some re-sits. It's unrealistic to say that you can get into Medicine with less than AAA unless you apply to a foundation course or you have some serious mitigating circumstances. I know you mentioned that you performed badly at AS due to some personal circumstances, so it might be a good idea to get a supporting letter from your school/college when you apply to university to explain your worse-than-expected AS grades.

So basically, yeah, it can be done, but it's going to take a lot of work! You can't afford to slack at this point; make sure you're getting the work done, do loads of revision, make sure you get those As and you've got as much chance as anyone else as long as you keep up with your voluntary work/work experience (but make sure you don't do too much, or you might find that you don't have time for your studies!).

Best of luck :smile:

Reply 190

tallen90

3

Original post by lordmackery

Hi I got 4As at AS in Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy and English Literature but with nothing above 90%.

I've dropped English - is this a disadvantage to me?
I've been predicted 3 As - good enough?
My UKCAT average was 680 - good enough?

I do have a lot of work experience and volunteering and I'm also doing an EPQ on stem cells in medicine...

I just feel like I'm doing something wrong as it feels I'm the only medical applicant in my school who is only doing 3 A2 levels, with most doing 4(with A* predictions) and with many doing as much as 5.

•

I dropped English Literature after AS-Level and continued with three sciences instead. It was never a disadvantage to me because I did well in it - if I'd got a U in it then it would have probably caused some problems :tongue: but since you got an A, don't worry about dropping it. In my opinion, you made the right choice; you don't want to be spending all your revision time writing English essays!

•

I got an average of 665 on my UKCAT and was predicted AAA, and got offers from three medical schools, so again, no need to worry. Check individual medical schools' UKCAT and A-Level requirements before applying to make sure you've got what they need.

•

Doing more than three A-Levels doesn't normally give you much of an advantage over other applicants (many medical schools explicitly state that they'll ignore a fourth or fifth A-Level). I only did three, and like I said, I got into three medical schools :smile: I've also known people who insisted on doing four A-Levels and whose grades suffered as a result...there's no point in putting your grades at risk for the sake of an unnecessary fourth A-Level.

•

The work experience and volunteering is good, but don't overburden yourself. I had a week-long work experience placement in my local hospital, and volunteered every Sunday for about a year and that was more than enough - if I'd done anything else I wouldn't have had room to write about it on my PS!

•

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. A lot of people who apply to Medicine tend to go overkill on the amount of work they do, but it's normally not at all necessary so just relax. This is for you :smile:

Reply 191

fakescouser

Hey,
Just a few quick questions:
My predicted grades are AAB (Maths,Chem and Bio) and I had 4 A*\A in GCSE.
I have got a lot of work experience and I have been to a summer school at st George's.
I am averaging scores of 700 in my ukcat (mocks).
Do I have a realistic chance of getting into unis like Durham, queen Mary, Southampton, east Anglian and keele?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 192

myyrh

9

Original post by fakescouser

Hey,
Just a few quick questions:
My predicted grades are AAB (Maths,Chem and Bio) and I had 4 A*\A in GCSE.
I have got a lot of work experience and I have been to a summer school at st George's.
I am averaging scores of 700 in my ukcat (mocks).
Do I have a realistic chance of getting into unis like Durham, queen Mary, Southampton, east Anglian and keele?

Thanks :smile:

No. Unfortunately with AAB predicted you are pretty much guaranteed to be rejected before interview at all those medical schools.

Reply 193

Neostigmine

18

Original post by fakescouser

Hey,
Just a few quick questions:
My predicted grades are AAB (Maths,Chem and Bio) and I had 4 A*\A in GCSE.
I have got a lot of work experience and I have been to a summer school at st George's.
I am averaging scores of 700 in my ukcat (mocks).
Do I have a realistic chance of getting into unis like Durham, queen Mary, Southampton, east Anglian and keele?

Thanks :smile:

Yes for the Southampton Widening Access course (as lnog as your GCSEs are 5 A* - C) but definitely not the 5 year. You need to be predicted AAA+

Reply 194

AliimzBabii

the title pretty much says it all :frown:

i've wanted to study it because i am passionate about it but my gcse grades are 1A*s, 2As 7Bs and 1.5Cs
one of the Cs was in dental nursing and it was the highest to get
so as i was saying i had family difficulties at the time and as you know gcse boards have made it harder to achieve higher and i am soooooooo sad.
But i am going to put my French for remarking as i got a B couple of marks of an A
and my english language and literature, my chemistry and physics, history

also birmingham wants 7/8 A*s but what about the A2B scheme would i still have a chance
please reply

Reply 195

Brachioradialis

18

You have not got bad GCSEs, you have bad GCSEs for certain schools but there are many which don't place much emphasis on GCSEs compared to AS/A2 results. Check the wiki for more info :smile:

Reply 196

gapyearhopeful

I've recently got my A level results and am resitting some modules this coming year in my gap year as a private candidate at my school (so I won't be in lessons etc).

However, my school has informed me that they don't give me predicted grades officially as I'm not technically a student at their school... despite me applying via the school with the buzzword etc.

I'm confused, how will I show medschools/unis what my predictions are? Or will I not get any at all? Do I write them on my personal statement?

I have extenuating circumstances and have contacted unis and discussed my situation - I am fine to retake so long as I reflect in my PS why etc. My reference is done.

The problem is now predicted grades, what should I do? the school is being very unhelpful...

Reply 197

lubsjk

10

Your GCSE grades aren't horrendous, but they aren't high enough for quite a few universities. Medicine is very competitive so a lot of the applicants will have a string of A*s. Make your application stand out by focusing on your AS/A Levels (AAA) and UKCAT. Get plenty of work experience (try hospitals and GPs), then apply for a university that doesn't focus on GCSEs.

I wish you the best of luck :smile:

Reply 198

richtea5

I don't think AS grades would matter depending on where you apply ( avoid BSMS for example), GCSE's probably will limit where you can apply but this wouldn't necessarily reduce your chances.

What are you're predicted grades from teachers? :smile:

Reply 199

AliimzBabii

thank you
well appreciated