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6th studies and Medicine

Hey so I'm in 5th year right now and have just been issued my 6th year subject choices form. As you may have guessed from the title I am set on applying to medicine and I will do anything to get in.

So far on my form I have selected the obvious Adv. Higher Chemistry and Biology but I have been told by one of my teachers that I should take 3 Adv. Highers since most people applying to medicine will have done 3.

But the thing is: I don't really want to take a third one and I don't know what I'd pick anyway. This year I'm doing highers in maths, English, French, chemistry and human biology but there's no way I'm doing advanced English because I hate it!
Saying all that, I would be willing to do a third if it gives me a better chance at getting in to uni.
You could do 2AHs and a higher, I'm 90% sure someone with 3 A predictions in these would get the top academic score for predicted grades.

Why not Chem, Maths and Bio :tongue:?
Original post by Pennyarcade
You could do 2AHs and a higher, I'm 90% sure someone with 3 A predictions in these would get the top academic score for predicted grades.

Why not Chem, Maths and Bio :tongue:?


Thanks for your reply. I have thought about doing advanced maths as my third and I asked my teacher but she said it was very hard and few people get an A in it. The way I see it, there's no point in doing it if I can't get an A.

What do other applicants to medicine have in terms of this? Will most of them have done 3 adv. highers? If not would I be alright if I did 2 advanced highers and a higher and still expect to be a competitive applicant?
Original post by Rainbownightlock
Thanks for your reply. I have thought about doing advanced maths as my third and I asked my teacher but she said it was very hard and few people get an A in it. The way I see it, there's no point in doing it if I can't get an A.

What do other applicants to medicine have in terms of this? Will most of them have done 3 adv. highers? If not would I be alright if I did 2 advanced highers and a higher and still expect to be a competitive applicant?


Lol, you'll be fine. It's actually pretty easy (in terms of effort required compared to the sciences) to do well in AH maths.

Medical schools don't really care how many AHs you do, as long as you do at least 2AHs + 1 Higher they will not look on your application any differently.
I reckon most will have at least 3 AHs, but to reiterate - it doesn't matter.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Rainbownightlock
Hey so I'm in 5th year right now and have just been issued my 6th year subject choices form. As you may have guessed from the title I am set on applying to medicine and I will do anything to get in.

So far on my form I have selected the obvious Adv. Higher Chemistry and Biology but I have been told by one of my teachers that I should take 3 Adv. Highers since most people applying to medicine will have done 3.

But the thing is: I don't really want to take a third one and I don't know what I'd pick anyway. This year I'm doing highers in maths, English, French, chemistry and human biology but there's no way I'm doing advanced English because I hate it!
Saying all that, I would be willing to do a third if it gives me a better chance at getting in to uni.


Hey there! I've applied for medicine and currently take advanced higher biology chemistry and french and its not so bad tbh haha, you get used to the workload after a while!! French is pretty good and I've enjoyed the advanced higher course a lot more than higher :tongue: Unis usually consider 2AHs and a Higher to be similar to 3AHs as many schools don't let people do 3AHs. Good luck! :biggrin:
Original post by fluffy123
Hey there! I've applied for medicine and currently take advanced higher biology chemistry and french and its not so bad tbh haha, you get used to the workload after a while!! French is pretty good and I've enjoyed the advanced higher course a lot more than higher :tongue: Unis usually consider 2AHs and a Higher to be similar to 3AHs as many schools don't let people do 3AHs. Good luck! :biggrin:


Hmmm I've been thinking... if I work my a** off and get a band 1 in higher maths then could I handle advanced higher? There's something about the perceived difficulty of advanced higher maths that I find tempting. :curious:

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