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How to get the right education to study medicine at a later age?

I'm 30 years old, i want to go ahead and study medicine, i always have, i couldn't get to finish my exams years ago, as i was looking after my sick father (Who's now passed away.) How would i go about getting the right education first? before applying into a university?
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I've seen plenty of people coming in to take exams externally from my college so I assume there's classes out there or self teaching but I could see self teaching a levels being hard but I haven't needed to think about alternatives to A-levels myself.
Original post by OldManMick
I'm 30 years old, i want to go ahead and study medicine, i always have, i couldn't get to finish my exams years ago, as i was looking after my sick father (Who's now passed away.) How would i go about getting the right education first? before applying into a university?


It depends where you got to in your education - do you have gcses?
You have more than one option:

1. Access to medicine courses - these are designed for people who don't have A-levels/the right A-levels/mature students. They are one year long and teach biology, chemistry and maths to prepare you for medicine. You need to achieve a minimum grade to apply for medicine. They are only accepted by certain med schools, but on the upside some have links with a med school which can help you get an interview if you do well. Entry requirements vary but are generally more lenient for mature students.

2. Foundation medicine - these are medicine degrees with an extra foundation year before year 1. Similar content to access courses, but delivered by the university. Achieving a minimum grade is necessary to join the first year of their medicine degree. Some have A-level requirements, but may be more lenient for mature students. Most will require some kind of level 3 qualification (A-levels/IB/access course)

3. A-levels at a further education college. Other mature students do this too! Upside is that it keeps all your options for where to apply open. Downside is that it takes 2 years (unless you do intensive courses).

Which you go for is a personal decision and also depends on your current situation and location as to which you can get into. If there is a college within commuting distance that does an access to medicine course, this is likely your best option if you don't have A-levels.
(edited 8 years ago)

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