Is this possible?

Hi, after doing badly in my first year at college (ABB) I did not apply for uni. I did not expect to get good results in my second year either, however to my surprise I did achieve good grades. I am now thinking of applying for medicine but for the reasons I have stated before I did not do any work experience. I also want to do chemistry but only at a 'good' uni (oxbridge, ucl, imperial ect). I am worried that if I apply for medicine I will not be able to sound commited to chem on my personal statement and may end up not getting in to either and wasting another year. What are my chances of getting into medicine, and If not Chemistry with a personal statement geared to medicine?
Any help would be much appreciated. Or should I play it safe and apply for Chemistry on its own? Any help appreciated.

My GCSE grades are:
Double science AA
Maths C
History A*
Sociology A
P.E. D
Drama D
English lang C
English Lit C
R.E. (half course) b

My A level grades are
Maths A
Chemistry A
History B (missed a paper)
As physics A

Admitedly my GCSE grades are poor but I had severe personal problems at the time and to some extent during A levels and hopefully can make a case for myself

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Anyone? I really need some advice!

Reply 3

Ben Dover the Lollipop Man

well out of medcine and chemistry which is ur fav? of cos u havent had any past major experience with medcine i assume, so look around the topic, books, resources, internet, go library, find stuff that interests u on medcine and read em. basically if u wana seem dedicated and passionated about the subject u have to read books, and must be interested.

im applying to do physics, in upper 6th atm. and started reading some physics books few weeks ago by few famour physists, if u can find books like em, read it or buy it. and gcse grades is nothing compared to A level. uni like oxbridge would look at em but theyr too minor, because gcse is a big big leap to a level.

and find a charity job NOW. i did like a year of working at scopes, but didnt apply to medcine however its still good for my PS, but its always good. if ur really worried that u wont get in bcoz of ur work exp, take a gap year, uni like students thats taken a gap year to do work exp, travelling, w/e. or doing resits if u like.

hope this helped, soz about the typos, hate typing formally.

Reply 4

HannahZ

It's always difficult tailoring a PS to suit two different subjects. However, medicine is incredibly competitive and very hard to get into. You will have to show some committment for that. Chemistry is not nearly such a popular subject and so it may be easier to get a place with less than perfect credentials.

I think you need to decide what it is that you want to do as they are quite different subjects. For medicine you need to be very people oriented aas you will have to work closely with patients and other people. For medicine you will have to have interviews and in some places take BMAT. You will need to have really thought about ethical issues and be able to demonstrate your interest. By contrast chemistry doesn't necessarily need good people skills.

My advice is to apply for the subject you want to do. If you apply for both then weight the PS toward medicine - say 50% medicine, 35% Chemistry and no more than 15% general intersts and ECs. Try to tie in the medicine and chemistry together in such a way that both parts support both applications.

Reply 5

beautifulbigmacs

The fact that you're worried shows that you're dedicated and i'm sure that will show through in the parts of your application where it needs to! Those are some good grades you have there, have faith in yourself because you probably have just as much chance as the next person for getting an offer. Don't worry go for it! And although a good medical school would be preferable, as a back up there are plenty of other medical courses around! I'm sure if you want to get into medicine you will eventually! Don't give up! :smile:

Reply 6

silent ninja

i stopped reading where you said that you had done badly-- achieving ABB!

Reply 7

help please

Thanks for the advice. Sorry i'm not sure how to quote people.
In reply to kelvin: I have read books on medicine and have a good knowledge of the subject. However I have not done medical work experience and have I one week to do my ps (I have done some health promotion, worked for a computor company and worked in a supermarket). I am worried about taking a gap year as that will cost me another year without going to uni and I may still not get in.

Laurakate: I don't think I could do a medicine related subject and than do medicine from there as 1. It will be very expensive and 2. It will take even longer for me to quilify as a doctor and start earning money back. I would settle for doing medicine in 2008 but any longer would be unrealistic

ninja: I see your point the reason I were unhappy with ABB was 1. I believed it did not reflect my ability and 2. I dropped an as level so I only did three.
In hindsite ABB was good.

Thanks for all the help. Any more help would be appreciated as I need as much help as possible.

Reply 8

WokSz

Well, I would go with what Hannah has said. Just weigh your PS out well and you will hopefully do well. If you apply to Universities, such as Oxbridge, you will need to explain why you weren't able to achieve good grades the first time.

Reply 9

help please

Obviously I will have to balance them if I apply for both but I am worried about spreading myself to thin and ending up with nothing. What do you think?
Thanks for the help.

Reply 10

kellywood_5

help please

Hi, after doing badly in my first year at college (ABB)

Sorry, that bit really made me laugh! Anyway, I hate to sound negative, but without biology even to AS, with no work experience and with those grades, I don't think your chances of getting into medicine would be very good. It's probably the most competitive course there is and even applicants with flawless grades and tons of work experience are rejected. If you really want to do it, I'd suggest using this year to do A-level biology and get some work experience to strengthen your application. With a good personal statement showing passion for the course, a good reference explaining your GCSE grades and a good BMAT score if you have to take it, you should be in a much better position. You can only apply to 4 unis for medicine anyway, so you could use your other 2 choices for chemistry. The two courses should have some similarities that you could use to show your enthusiasm and chemistry is much less competitive anyway, so you should have a better chance of getting offers.

Reply 11

help please

Thanks for being honest kellywood, you pretty much confirmed what I thought. I think I will go for chemistry and then possibly medicine. Can anyone tell me if postgraduates still have to apply via ucas as I don't want to have the same dilema 3 years down the line?

Anyone?

Anyone?

help please

Yes, they do.

Reply 15

clueless101

Why cant you apply to 4 unis for Medicine and 2 for Chemistry as back up? At my school, potential medics have been told by the head of 6th form that the PS should only be on Medicine (and nothing about your back up choices), and that universities will know that you have chosen them as the back up choice.

Reply 16

help please

Hi I am going to be starting a degree in chemistry but i am unsure this is what i really want to do. I think the degree i really want to do is medice ( i only resently realised) and I were wondering if it is possible to transfer from chemistry to medicine during the first year of the degree? I will have work experience in medicene by this time and my A level grades are good enough AAABa (chem, maths, hist phys, as biology). I hope you can help

Reply 17

Knogle

Medicine is an uber competitive course, but with that said, only the university admissions tutor(s) can answer you.

Reply 18

help please

Thanks, I am going to uni in 2007 I have applied now. I want to medicine but I don't want to lose my place on the chemistry course in case i do not get into medicine all the uni I have applied to have medical courses too....