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Do I have a chance at getting into medical school????

Hi, I really want to be a surgeon but after seeing other peoples grades who managed to get into medical school I'm starting to doubt my chances. I got AAAABBBBBBC for my GCSEs, two of the As being from Chemistry and Maths and two of the Bs in Biology and Physics. The C is from Business Studies so I'm hoping that doesn't matter. I did Chemistry, Maths, Psychology and Economics for AS and got DDCC because honestly I didn't work hard enough until the month of the exams so I just grazed though. I've dropped economics but am still going to retake the exams so I can up the grade to an A or B. I'm seriously working hard now to make sure I don't slack and keep my grades up as my chemistry teacher says that I would have gotten an A last year if I'd worked as hard all year as I did in the month of the exams.
I'm not applying to uni this october because my predicted grades are CCC and because I want to take a gap year. I'm going to volunteer in Thailand hospital for a few weeks in the summer, I've already done a one day PreMed course and I going to go to some medical lectures. If I manage to get AAA in A2 and get a good score in the UKCAT/BMAT do you think I could get into medical school?
(edited 9 years ago)

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Reply 1
You might have a hard time because of your C in English and Maths. So you'll have to rule some unis out, however some will accept your English and Math GCSE grade. Basically go thru each and every uni's admissions criteria and find out which ones you have a shot at! There's many pages on TSR where the admissions criteria for each medical uni is summarized in a table, so that should make life easier.
Original post by WBrownx
Hi, I really want to be a surgeon but after seeing other peoples grades who managed to get into medical school I'm starting to doubt my chances. I got AAAABBBBBBC for my GCSEs, two of the As being from Chemistry and Maths and two of the Bs in Biology and Physics. The C is from Business Studies so I'm hoping that doesn't matter. I did Chemistry, Maths, Psychology and Economics for AS and got DDCC because honestly I didn't work hard enough until the month of the exams so I just grazed though. I've dropped economics but am still going to retake the exams so I can up the grade to an A or B. I'm seriously working hard now to make sure I don't slack and keep my grades up as my chemistry teacher says that I would have gotten an A last year if I'd worked as hard all year as I did in the month of the exams.
I'm not applying to uni this october because my predicted grades are CCC and because I want to take a gap year. I'm going to volunteer in Thailand hospital for a few weeks in the summer, I've already done a one day PreMed course and I going to go to some medical lectures. If I manage to get AAA in A2 and get a good score in the UKCAT/BMAT do you think I could get into medical school?


If you get AAA, then yes you have a chance.


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I got an A in GCSE maths and English lit and a B in english lang
And yeah I've checked some unis and I could potentially get into St andrews, Manchester, leeds, Keele, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dundee but I dont know if I'll get picked against others
Reply 4
You'll have a chance even if you get CCC at A levels. You'll need to apply for Biomedicine foundation (4yrs) or Biomedicine HND (2yrs + if you do well you get xfered to degree year for full 3 yes degree).

If you get less than AAB (for medicine) then immediately go through clearing for Biomedicine (3yrs) degree.

With Biomedicine as a postgrad route you'll need to aim for a 1st - hopefully by that time you've learned more about how you study and what you're doing wrong. During the 3 years you must do some shadowing of doctors, helping in nursing homes etc just so you can answer the interview questions such as "why do you want to do medicine" you can say I did this - got this reference etc.

This route is more competitive so make sure you practice for interviews and pay for UKCAT classes - you'll need as much as possible to set you apart from other people.

If you have a 1st in Biomed then they won't care about GCSE', A-Levels, your age, or whatever worries you'll have at that point.

Just relax and examine yourself - find out why you're getting lower marks and improve yourself.
Reply 5
Oh my bad i misread your post and yh, then the thing that's kind of slowing you down is no Biology at AS but obviously a lot of unis wont mind. However you certainly cant apply to GCSE heavy unis such as Birmingham or Oxbridge. Just do your research and apply using your strengths :yy:
Reply 6
Original post by WBrownx
Hi, I really want to be a surgeon but after seeing other peoples grades who managed to get into medical school I'm starting to doubt my chances. I got AAAABBBBBBC for my GCSEs, two of the As being from Chemistry and Maths and two of the Bs in Biology and Physics. The C is from Business Studies so I'm hoping that doesn't matter. I did Chemistry, Maths, Psychology and Economics for AS and got DDCC because honestly I didn't work hard enough until the month of the exams so I just grazed though. I've dropped economics but am still going to retake the exams so I can up the grade to an A or B. I'm seriously working hard now to make sure I don't slack and keep my grades up as my chemistry teacher says that I would have gotten an A last year if I'd worked as hard all year as I did in the month of the exams.
I'm not applying to uni this october because my predicted grades are CCC and because I want to take a gap year. I'm going to volunteer in Thailand hospital for a few weeks in the summer, I've already done a one day PreMed course and I going to go to some medical lectures. If I manage to get AAA in A2 and get a good score in the UKCAT/BMAT do you think I could get into medical school?





Ignore this Zain guy - he has no idea what he's talking about. GCSE's are useless and never looked at - even A-Levels if you're a grad student.
Grad entry is going to be competitive as hell (more competitive than undergrad). Just go to a european medical school in like Bulgaria or Italy or something, then come back to UK as for Foundation years (that will also be competitive to get a post), but its faster.

Are you sure you know what a surgeon is about - have you had any work experience?
Reply 8
Not all Uni's - only top ones because they get so many A* A-level students. Plus they put the requirements there to improve their rank. They almost never consider it - they only care about your A levels for undergrad and your award for postgrad.
Reply 9
Original post by solarplexus
Grad entry is going to be competitive as hell (more competitive than undergrad). Just go to a european medical school in like Bulgaria or Italy or something, then come back to UK as for Foundation years (that will also be competitive to get a post), but its faster.

Are you sure you know what a surgeon is about - have you had any work experience?


Grad is only "competitive" because of all the 2:1 losers and people with 1st in a hardly relatable degree.

If you play your cards right - and I mean above average UKCAT and a 1st in Biomed/Biochem then all the competition comes down to is the interview which you WILL get.

In the interview they don't care about your charisma or how good looking you are. They care about hard proof of their concerns. For example, are you a doctor just for the money? Even if you are - they only care if you show them all the references from people's homes. All your achievements in the 3 years you was doing the Biomed/chem degree will set you apart from the lazy.

It's not competitive for the truly serious. Just for the less organised - less achieving people.
Original post by Byakko
Ignore this Zain guy - he has no idea what he's talking about. GCSE's are useless and never looked at - even A-Levels if you're a grad student.


That's ironic, because it seems you don't have a clue. GCSEs are definitely looked at, for a majority of medical schools: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_GCSE_Requirements

OP, look at the link above and that should tell you that you still have a chance. However, without extenuating circumstances you did under perform in your exams. Some medical schools do limit the amount of resits of A-level modules (e.g. Edinburgh) and some ask for reasons. You say you'll work hard but that is no guarantee you'll get AAA. To be perfectly honest, medical schools like sustained academic endeavour even if you think you didn't work hard enough for your AS.

Finally, you haven't done Biology at A-level at all? Although this isn't a requirement for some medical schools it will limit where you can apply: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_A_Level_Requirements
Reply 11
Terrible advice. NEVER resit. Especially not at A-Levels. If you don't get an A accept it and move on. Just means it'll take more time and effort to get into Medicine.

Resits will just depress you and hold you back. Most people never improve - just dig themselves further in the hole.
Reply 12
Original post by h3isenberg
That's ironic, because it seems you don't have a clue. GCSEs are definitely looked at, for a majority of medical schools: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_GCSE_Requirements

OP, look at the link above and that should tell you that you still have a chance. However, without extenuating circumstances you did under perform in your exams. Some medical schools do limit the amount of resits of A-level modules (e.g. Edinburgh) and some ask for reasons. You say you'll work hard but that is no guarantee you'll get AAA. To be perfectly honest, medical schools like sustained academic endeavour even if you think you didn't work hard enough for your AS.

Finally, you haven't done Biology at A-level at all? Although this isn't a requirement for some medical schools it will limit where you can apply: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_A_Level_Requirements


They have to put their GCSE requirements high to keep their Uni's rank high. And you will find a lot of Uni's that don't require high GCSE grades.

The OP clearly isn't trying to get into Oxbridge - he just wants med school. So he can get in. Please don't derail the thread's whole point with useless information to the OP. He couldn't care less what top Uni's demand.

To the OP you'll get two chances for med school. One at College and one at Uni. So relax.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 13
I quoted you - I can read that you said GCSE resits. I went off-quote because I wanted to express there is no point resitting even at A-levels, let alone GCSE.
Original post by Byakko
They have to put their GCSE requirements high to keep their Uni's rank high. And you will find a lot of Uni's that don't require high GCSE grades.

The OP clearly isn't trying to get into Oxbridge - he just wants med school. So he can get in. Please don't derail the thread's whole point with useless information to the OP. He couldn't care less what top Uni's demand, clearly


You're talking crap tbh. Yes you will find some med schools that don't require high GCSE grades but you will find a lot which do require high grades, excluding Oxbridge. Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh to name a few.

Let OP speak for himself pls
Original post by h3isenberg
You're talking crap tbh. Yes you will find some med schools that don't require high GCSE grades but you will find a lot which do require high grades, excluding Oxbridge. Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh to name a few.

Let OP speak for himself pls


I read on the Manchester website and Keele's as well that if you have already obtained the needed A2 grades then GCSE results are less important
Reply 16
Original post by h3isenberg
You're talking crap tbh. Yes you will find some med schools that don't require high GCSE grades but you will find a lot which do require high grades, excluding Oxbridge. Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh to name a few.

Let OP speak for himself pls


I'm not talking "crap" my dad is a professor and does lectures at a top uni - and he told me all the requirements are just to keep face and ranking. When you apply with predicted grades some people get accepted even if they didn't fully achieve what they were predicted to.

This was further backed when I spoke to one of the staff at Nottingham uni who even told me they wish they could set their requirements lower - but it's all to do with ranking. If they had lower requirements they'd seem like they are a crap uni compared to another uni with higher requirements.

I appreciate that this isn't widely known (though a lot of people know about this and have mentioned it on the forums) but please don't say I'm talking crap.
Reply 17
To OP; don't let anyone discourage you.

They want to discourage others because they've either given up themselves or aren't doing what they like because they believe they can't achieve it.

Loser mentalities deserve not getting what the want. Let them live their mediocre but safe lives. Take the risk if there is a chance.
Why do people want to go to med school? Is it simply the money or pressure from their family / social community?
Reply 19
Original post by uberteknik
Why do people want to go to med school? Is it simply the money or pressure from their family / social community?


For me;
-stable career
-good pay
-respectable title
-incredibly interesting
-helping or even saving people's lives
-never boring (unless you're a gp/dentist etc - actually this is subjective so I'll just keep it my opinion)

Family usually never has anything to do with it unless you're asian (some)

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