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UCAS POINTS?! Using them to get into Medicine!

So I was looking at the universities that do medicine on the Complete University Guide's website and I was looking at the average UCAS Tariff points for the students who were accepted to each university. Some of the universities had average points of around 570.
I thought that your UCAS Tariff points were made up of the points you gained from each A-Level/AS Level (or other diploma). I thought that an A was 120 points and an A* was 140. Even if you get 3 A* at A level and an A at AS Level, how are you supposed to get such high tariff points?
Original post by s.abedin
So I was looking at the universities that do medicine on the Complete University Guide's website and I was looking at the average UCAS Tariff points for the students who were accepted to each university. Some of the universities had average points of around 570.
I thought that your UCAS Tariff points were made up of the points you gained from each A-Level/AS Level (or other diploma). I thought that an A was 120 points and an A* was 140. Even if you get 3 A* at A level and an A at AS Level, how are you supposed to get such high tariff points?


Don't they add up A2 + AS? I'm not sure. Either way med schools don't care about UCAS points themselves- it's just there as a reference for the league tables. Do well in your A Levels/GCSEs/admissions tests, that's what they want! They won't pick you just because you have 10 more UCAS points or whatever. Most medical students have not and will not ever calculate the number of UCAS points they have.
Original post by s.abedin
So I was looking at the universities that do medicine on the Complete University Guide's website and I was looking at the average UCAS Tariff points for the students who were accepted to each university. Some of the universities had average points of around 570.
I thought that your UCAS Tariff points were made up of the points you gained from each A-Level/AS Level (or other diploma). I thought that an A was 120 points and an A* was 140. Even if you get 3 A* at A level and an A at AS Level, how are you supposed to get such high tariff points?


570 tariff points is literally impossible unless you've done every extra-curricular points thing the have :')
None of the med schools I looked at even mentioned UCAS points - they'll ask for grades and sometimes they want specific grades in specific subjects.

(They go on grades because they want As as a minimum for the A Levels you take to make sure you have a good grasp of them, but if you went by points you could get, for example, A*AB and have the same points as someone who got AAA, or have people trying to boost their application with things like Grade 8 Piano etc.)
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Ronove
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Original post by s.abedin
So I was looking at the universities that do medicine on the Complete University Guide's website and I was looking at the average UCAS Tariff points for the students who were accepted to each university. Some of the universities had average points of around 570.
I thought that your UCAS Tariff points were made up of the points you gained from each A-Level/AS Level (or other diploma). I thought that an A was 120 points and an A* was 140. Even if you get 3 A* at A level and an A at AS Level, how are you supposed to get such high tariff points?

It's already been pointed out that that column simply gives an indication of the UCAS points of the people accepted on that course, rather than the requirements to get onto said course.

Presumably A2 General Studies counts for as many points as everything else? And besides that, you'll often get people taking a fourth A2 or a fifth AS here and there. Or achieving Grade 8 in an instrument or two, or in drama-like subjects - Medicine is middle class central. It would easily add up.

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