The Student Room Group

help!

i know this will piss a lot of people off buti wanted to medicine but because of my A2 grades (ABB) i can no longer do that. i have an offer to do pharmacy which has always been a degree at the back of my head that i would do if i couldn't do medicine so i wouldn't mind doing it. but i've been reading through a lot on the student room and they're being so negative about the degree and that the career prospects aren't that great. i still really want to do medicine and i would consider doing graduate medicine too (i've posted earlier about this) my parents don't want me to resit my exams and take a gap year to try to apply again to medicine so that isn't really an option.so should i take this offer? or will it just cause me even more stress
Just because other people have said it's bad doesn't mean it's actually bad, everyone has different opinions. Personally I would resit my exams so I could get into Medicine at university, you will be doing that course for 3 years!

But if you really think you could do pharmacy and enjoy/like the course then go for it!

Resitting your exams to get into Medicine is going to mean a lot more than having to do pharmacy that you slightly like for 3 years!
Reply 2
Original post by Andrew657Thomas
Just because other people have said it's bad doesn't mean it's actually bad, everyone has different opinions. Personally I would resit my exams so I could get into Medicine at university, you will be doing that course for 3 years!

But if you really think you could do pharmacy and enjoy/like the course then go for it!

Resitting your exams to get into Medicine is going to mean a lot more than having to do pharmacy that you slightly like for 3 years!


thank you!
i went to an open day to the university that i hold the offer at and i did really enjoy it :smile:
i'm also not sure i will get the grades anyway if i resit and that's a bit risky and i'd be kind of wasting a year? also there are only about 3 universities that would take resit applicants

do you know of any pharmacy students that wanted to medicine but are happily studying a pharmacy degree now?
Original post by di1997
thank you!
i went to an open day to the university that i hold the offer at and i did really enjoy it :smile:
i'm also not sure i will get the grades anyway if i resit and that's a bit risky and i'd be kind of wasting a year? also there are only about 3 universities that would take resit applicants

do you know of any pharmacy students that wanted to medicine but are happily studying a pharmacy degree now?

Resitting shouldn't be an Issue if you work harder and nail the exams!
You can just re apply to UCAS and have all the option's in the country.
And I don't know any pharmacy students, sorry!
Original post by di1997
i know this will piss a lot of people off buti wanted to medicine but because of my A2 grades (ABB) i can no longer do that. i have an offer to do pharmacy which has always been a degree at the back of my head that i would do if i couldn't do medicine so i wouldn't mind doing it. but i've been reading through a lot on the student room and they're being so negative about the degree and that the career prospects aren't that great. i still really want to do medicine and i would consider doing graduate medicine too (i've posted earlier about this) my parents don't want me to resit my exams and take a gap year to try to apply again to medicine so that isn't really an option.so should i take this offer? or will it just cause me even more stress


It's your life?

However, make sure you double and triple check with the medical schools that they will accept your application if you do resits. The page below is a good starting point for guidance, but the info on it may be out of date, so be sure to check with a more up to date source:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_Resit_Policies

If you decide you want to do another degree and you're certain you want to do graduate entry medicine afterwards, I wouldn't choose pharmacy personally. It's much longer which means more time before starting medicine and also more student debt; just do a three year bioscience degree and get it over with.
Reply 5
Original post by Andrew657Thomas
Resitting shouldn't be an Issue if you work harder and nail the exams!
You can just re apply to UCAS and have all the option's in the country.
And I don't know any pharmacy students, sorry!


hmmm yeah :frown: but also my parents don't want me to risk that either and only some medical schools accept resits
Original post by di1997
hmmm yeah :frown: but also my parents don't want me to risk that either and only some medical schools accept resits


Yeah but it isn't your parents decision :s-smilie:, saying that if you enjoy pharmacy go for it!
Reply 7
Original post by Democracy
It's your life?

However, make sure you double and triple check with the medical schools that they will accept your application if you do resits. The page below is a good starting point for guidance, but the info on it may be out of date, so be sure to check with a more up to date source:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_Resit_Policies

If you decide you want to do another degree and you're certain you want to do graduate entry medicine afterwards, I wouldn't choose pharmacy personally. It's much longer which means more time before starting medicine and also more student debt; just do a three year bioscience degree and get it over with.


i also have a biomedicine offer as well (pharmacy offer through clearing) but i don't want to do biomed because i'm unsure of the career prospects of that
Reply 8
Original post by Andrew657Thomas
Yeah but it isn't your parents decision :s-smilie:, saying that if you enjoy pharmacy go for it!


that's very true, its so hard to persuade them. pharmacy is okay, i just don't want to be hung up on medicine whilst i'm doing it
Original post by di1997
i also have a biomedicine offer as well (pharmacy offer through clearing) but i don't want to do biomed because i'm unsure of the career prospects of that


I'm working on the assumption here that you want to be a doctor and you're looking to do medicine after whichever degree you do.

So, does it actually matter what the job prospects for pharmacy vs biomed are if you're going to apply for medicine anyway?
Original post by di1997
i know this will piss a lot of people off buti wanted to medicine but because of my A2 grades (ABB) i can no longer do that. i have an offer to do pharmacy which has always been a degree at the back of my head that i would do if i couldn't do medicine so i wouldn't mind doing it. but i've been reading through a lot on the student room and they're being so negative about the degree and that the career prospects aren't that great. i still really want to do medicine and i would consider doing graduate medicine too (i've posted earlier about this) my parents don't want me to resit my exams and take a gap year to try to apply again to medicine so that isn't really an option.so should i take this offer? or will it just cause me even more stress


Hey, several of my friends wanted to study medicine but had to change their minds due to bad AS results, myself included. One of them has decided to study psychology, one of them has taken a gap year and is going to reapply for biomedical sciences next year with hopes to do graduate medicine, one of them is clueless about what to do and I myself am off to study biochemistry this September.

Think about how happy you'd be doing an alternative degree. Graduate medicine is an option if you're desperate, but it obviously adds an extra two year (and an extra two years of student loans) to your training.

If I were you, I would apply for medicine this year and resit your AS modules alongside your A2 exams next year. I got CCE at AS, and with four resits I got ABB this year; I managed to improve my results without spending an extra year resitting, so I'm sure you can manage to bring ABB up to AAA - everyone I know did better at A2 than AS! If you don't get any offers, I'd take a gap year (maybe apply for jobs as a healthcare assistant) and reapply again if you get AAA in the summer.

I wish you the best of luck!
Reply 11
Original post by Democracy
I'm working on the assumption here that you want to be a doctor and you're looking to do medicine after whichever degree you do.

So, does it actually matter what the job prospects for pharmacy vs biomed are if you're going to apply for medicine anyway?


yeah you're right, but graduate medicine is so hard to get into and they may not even have it in the future so its not guaranteed i'll get in
Reply 12
Original post by callmehannah
Hey, several of my friends wanted to study medicine but had to change their minds due to bad AS results, myself included. One of them has decided to study psychology, one of them has taken a gap year and is going to reapply for biomedical sciences next year with hopes to do graduate medicine, one of them is clueless about what to do and I myself am off to study biochemistry this September.

Think about how happy you'd be doing an alternative degree. Graduate medicine is an option if you're desperate, but it obviously adds an extra two year (and an extra two years of student loans) to your training.

If I were you, I would apply for medicine this year and resit your AS modules alongside your A2 exams next year. I got CCE at AS, and with four resits I got ABB this year; I managed to improve my results without spending an extra year resitting, so I'm sure you can manage to bring ABB up to AAA - everyone I know did better at A2 than AS! If you don't get any offers, I'd take a gap year (maybe apply for jobs as a healthcare assistant) and reapply again if you get AAA in the summer.

I wish you the best of luck!


i don't really mind doing another degree but i would like to know that i could still have medicine as an option in the future
i've already done my A2s and got my results so if i resat them then i'd have to apply as a resit applicant and very few universities accept those.

thank you for your reply though, good luck in whatever you decide to do!
Original post by di1997
i don't really mind doing another degree but i would like to know that i could still have medicine as an option in the future
i've already done my A2s and got my results so if i resat them then i'd have to apply as a resit applicant and very few universities accept those.

thank you for your reply though, good luck in whatever you decide to do!


Oh, sorry, I read A2 as AS in your original post - silly me! In that case graduate medicine is probably your best option, although in some universities (it's very few so you'd have to research which universities do this) you can transfer onto the medicine degree if you work really hard in your first year, I think. Your best bet is to study something like biochem or biomed.

Good luck! :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by callmehannah
Oh, sorry, I read A2 as AS in your original post - silly me! In that case graduate medicine is probably your best option, although in some universities (it's very few so you'd have to research which universities do this) you can transfer onto the medicine degree if you work really hard in your first year, I think. Your best bet is to study something like biochem or biomed.

Good luck! :smile:


yeah I have an offer for biomed too but if I want to transfer I would have to have the normal A level entry requirements which are AAA and I'm not too keen on the jobs it could possibly get me when I graduate :frown:

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