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

Wales has reduced tuition fees of a similar level to Northern Ireland and this is available to both Home and EU students but you won't be able to benefit from this, or Scottish and Northern Irish fees, for two reasons: a) eligibility is determined by where you live; if you've lived in London for the duration of your degree, you'll be counted as an English applicant and thus ineligible for the grants and, more importantly, b) Student Finance only funds your first undergraduate degree regardless of whether you paid for it through other means or not.

That second one is the more important of the two because it means that, once you've done an undergraduate degree in the UK, you cannot get more money from Student Finance unless you're on one of the exempted courses such as GEM. I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but that's just the way it is, and also why a lot of people are forced to apply for GEM courses instead of the less competitive five-year courses.

Cheers for letting me know about this, I wasn't aware of the Student Finance situation. Looks like I better get saving. That being said, do you know what sort of odds graduates are looking at for getting on a 5 year course?

I think you know you're good enough lol. I think universities value A-levels over GCSE's anyway.

So, do you rate my chances?(please be honest, no false hope)

Just want to make sure, medicine is the sort of thing you have to be 100% prepared for, even if you think you're able.

Difficult to say at this point. Not because there's anything wrong with what you've written, but simply because it's all just predictions and speculation. It's just too early to say. It's more useful when you have some hard, achieved data which we can go on.

If you achieve all your predictions and get good GCSE grades, then you're doing well as far as GCSEs go. A*s are obviously better than As, but As are fine too.

Getting three As at A level is not a personal target, it's the minimum entry requirement. So if you're en route for that, then that's good too.

Work experience, UKCAT/BMAT, etc are all years away.

So basically, it's too soon too give you an accurate analysis. The best advice anyone can give at this point is stay focused and try to do as well as you can in your GCSEs.

I want to take medicine as well, but I'm currently only a straight B GCSE student yet everyone I know says I have a pretty good chance

I see, thanks for the information!

I feel that I can get least this in my GCSE's(with hard work):

Maths A*
Core Science A*
Additional Science A*
Further Additional Science A*
English Literature B
English Language A
French A
History A
RS A
Computing A

Well that would be fine. So once you've hopefully got them and your A level predictions and a UKCAT score, then we'll be able to give a better idea of how things stand in terms of your chances.

Until then, it's just all pure speculation.

I see, I'll post this type of thread again in August(results day!)

Wait until you've sat your UKCAT. Everywhere bar Bristol uses an admissions test so we can't advise you until you've done your UKCAT.

(Also please don't post a third thread on this. Just post in this megathread).

I have 2A*s, 7As and 1B at GCSE and am predicted AAA for my ASs and an A* in A level maths a year early. Is this enough at GCSE to be considered for medicine at somewhere like HYMS/Newcastle?