The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

History at Cambridge or another top uni, but got poor GCSEs?

I got EXTREMELY poor GCSEs compared to most Oxbridge applicants, but in amongst I got an A* in History (100% in all my papers) and have been writing A-Level standard History essays since I was in Year 8.

I got:
A*A*A*BBBCC in my GCSEs.

Ideally I want to be a doctor, but I have poor GCSEs for the 'normal' route of medicine, so I was wondering if I could do History at a top Uni, and then go through a Widening Access course such as West Anglia's. I thought a top uni may give me an advantage, but I also have a passion for History as well as Medicine so the whole "you need to love your course to excel" is covered.

At one point I was torn between History and Medicine, so I suppose it would be perfect if I could pursue both.

I'm just juggling options here.
Reply 1
Avatar for Colmans
Colmans
11
Original post by SteamboatMickey
I got EXTREMELY poor GCSEs compared to most Oxbridge applicants, but in amongst I got an A* in History (100% in all my papers) and have been writing A-Level standard History essays since I was in Year 8.

I got:
A*A*A*BBBCC in my GCSEs.

Ideally I want to be a doctor, but I have poor GCSEs for the 'normal' route of medicine, so I was wondering if I could do History at a top Uni, and then go through a Widening Access course such as West Anglia's. I thought a top uni may give me an advantage, but I also have a passion for History as well as Medicine so the whole "you need to love your course to excel" is covered.

At one point I was torn between History and Medicine, so I suppose it would be perfect if I could pursue both.

I'm just juggling options here.


Graduate entry medicine is phenomenally competitive and is rarely a back door route into medicine.

For Cambridge it is your AS UMS (where you still get them) and A2 results that count. Your GCSEs won't stop you getting an offer.
However most people who get Cambridge offers do better at GCSE just because they are very bright, 7-10A* is more usual.
Reply 2
Avatar for davros
davros
16
Original post by SteamboatMickey
I got EXTREMELY poor GCSEs compared to most Oxbridge applicants, but in amongst I got an A* in History (100% in all my papers) and have been writing A-Level standard History essays since I was in Year 8.

I got:
A*A*A*BBBCC in my GCSEs.

Ideally I want to be a doctor, but I have poor GCSEs for the 'normal' route of medicine, so I was wondering if I could do History at a top Uni, and then go through a Widening Access course such as West Anglia's. I thought a top uni may give me an advantage, but I also have a passion for History as well as Medicine so the whole "you need to love your course to excel" is covered.

At one point I was torn between History and Medicine, so I suppose it would be perfect if I could pursue both.

I'm just juggling options here.


What are you actually doing now? Have you started A levels, and which subjects did you choose?

And how were those GCSE grades distributed? Are your A*s (apart from History) in Science subjects or in humanities? How did you do in key subjects like Chemistry / Biology / Maths?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you