Good universities for a Chemistry degree

I am looking at a medicinal chemistry degree and I have Biology and Chemistry but not maths.

Will this be an issue?

I am currently in year 12 and am looking for which universities I should apply to for a chemistry degree. I am predicted 4 A's in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Geography. I am going to apply to Manchester and Durham but I don't know what other universities to look at and visit.

Hey, I study Chemistry at Warwick, just finished my second yr so thought I could shed some light on my experience in case you find it helpful.

One thing you should bear in mind is that each uni has its own areas of strength in Chemistry, and sometimes the course is structured to reflect that. Warwick is fairly quantitative and analysis-focused so a lot of our modules had a fair bit of maths in them (calculus, differentiation, limits, error propagation etc). Try and find out how a course structured or what kind of modules a uni does, this info is normally somewhere on the dept's website. See if that is compatible with what you would like to learn about more at Uni, then you can go to open days and ask the right kind of qs.

Think about practicals. Some unis do less, some do more. I did 2 x 5 hr lab sessions each week last yr for around 15-20 weeks (stretched over 2 terms). This yr, exactly the same thing with an extra hr added to each lab session. I personally hate practicals and never thought about this until getting to Uni, and now it's kind of like I'm just doing it because I need to haha (it has its benefits though, ultimately you would like to see how the theory ends up in the real world).

Also consider what kind of course you want. Does the uni offer an intercalated yr which you might have already thought about wanting to take? What kind of professional placements are on offer? Do you want to do a joint honours programme?

Won't go into too much detail, but I do think the above reasons are fairly important to consider amongst other things like how far away from home you're ok with, student union socs/sports clubs etc; some courses are changing their requirements, for example, Warwick's MChem course was AAB but as of this yr is AAA with compulsory A2 Maths- the structure of the course has become more challenging and rigorous hence that is reflected in the entrance criteria.

Anyways, good luck with your choices!

I'm not too big on practicals either, although I was very impressed by the chemistry department at Warwick (£4.5m investment in 2014?!). I'm just wondering if you think the amount of time spent on practical work at Warwick is a lot compared to other universities? Also, how much are you assessed on your practical skills ?