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London Medical Schools

Will i have a chance of getting into Kings, UCL or Imperial with my gcse grades being 5 8s and 4 7s obviously my UCAT and BMAT hasn’t been done yet and they also have a weighting but based on gcses do u think i should apply?
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The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
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Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work

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Official Undergraduate Medicine 2023 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2023 Entry
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A100 Medicine for International Students 2023 Entry
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Index of Individual Medical School Applicants' threads 2023 Entry

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GCSE Requirements for Medicine
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Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
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Reply 2
Original post by bioslay15
Will i have a chance of getting into Kings, UCL or Imperial with my gcse grades being 5 8s and 4 7s obviously my UCAT and BMAT hasn’t been done yet and they also have a weighting but based on gcses do u think i should apply?


Most people I know who applied for Imperial Medicine had mostly 9s if not all 9s. I think the key here is to apply strategically. I would definitely not apply to all 3, and to be honest I think of all 3 you should having King's (or at best UCL) as your aspirational and remove Imperial from consideration altogether. (Obviously I don't know whether you qualify for extenuating circumstances / widening participation, however due to the competitiveness of both universities UCL and Imperial, these grade boundaries are likely the same). You should probably wait until you complete the UCAT - if you do well, then apply for King's. If you don't, take the chance on BMAT and go for UCL. I don't have a clear idea of what your other stats are so this would be the conclusion I would draw purely from your GCSEs.

*Sorry, as you have seen from GANFYD's post I was misinformed. In that case I would put UCL as aspirational and not look at Imperial altogether. My revised thoughts are - You should probably wait until you complete the UCAT. If you score below 2600, then I would apply for 2 or 1 UCAT and 2/3 BMAT, but if you score about 2800, then I would go with 3 UCAT and 1 BMAT (ideally all UCAT, but if you want to take a risk on UCL that's completely up to you).
(edited 10 months ago)
Reply 3
Original post by bioslay15
Will i have a chance of getting into Kings, UCL or Imperial with my gcse grades being 5 8s and 4 7s obviously my UCAT and BMAT hasn’t been done yet and they also have a weighting but based on gcses do u think i should apply?


Neither UCL nor IMperial use GCSEs beyond minimum requirements, currently a 6 in Eng Lang for both and a 6 in maths for UCL.
Kings score GCSEs heavily, so would be a less good option, unless you have a >3200 UCAT.
Applying for 2 bMAT unis is risky, as you do not have the result when you apply, so if you do not score well, that is 2 choices gone

Original post by Ionomer
Most people I know who applied for Imperial Medicine had mostly 9s if not all 9s.


Correlation =/= causation!

I think the key here is to apply strategically.

Very true!

I would definitely not apply to all 3, and to be honest I think of all 3 you should having King's (or at best UCL) as your aspirational and remove Imperial from consideration altogether. (Obviously I don't know whether you qualify for extenuating circumstances / widening participation, however due to the competitiveness of both universities UCL and Imperial, these grade boundaries are likely the same). You should probably wait until you complete the UCAT - if you do well, then apply for King's. If you don't, take the chance on BMAT and go for UCL. I don't have a clear idea of what your other stats are so this would be the conclusion I would draw purely from your GCSEs.


Kings is the riskiest of those options, froma GCSE point of view, as the other 2 only look for a 6 in Eng +/- maths
Reply 4
Original post by GANFYD
Kings is the riskiest of those options, froma GCSE point of view, as the other 2 only look for a 6 in Eng +/- maths


I'm sorry for the misinformation then, I had friends who reflected this information on me, and said that UCL and Imperial were by far more difficult in terms of both the interview and getting the interview in the first place. In terms of GCSEs I was told (even though I know that they only have a minimum req for GCSEs) that Imperial somewhat looks at it in deciding whether a candidate gets an interview so that's why I said the above. But noted, thanks!
Reply 5
what about st george’s?
Reply 6
Original post by Ionomer
I'm sorry for the misinformation then, I had friends who reflected this information on me, and said that UCL and Imperial were by far more difficult in terms of both the interview and getting the interview in the first place. In terms of GCSEs I was told (even though I know that they only have a minimum req for GCSEs) that Imperial somewhat looks at it in deciding whether a candidate gets an interview so that's why I said the above. But noted, thanks!


No problem :smile: You are trying to help, and that is good. But med schools do not have "hidden requirements" that are different to those noted on their website and shortlisting information, and Imperial and UCL have virtually no GCSE requirements - they do, however, need a high BMAT to get an interview :smile:
Reply 7
Hello - could I please ask about work experience? I am currently in year 12 and have an opportunity to work part time in an ‘assisted teaching centre’, tutoring s small group of children who have social anxiety and just need academic help. Would this help my medical applications? I will also try to get more directly relevant experience and have always shadowed doctors in a hospital for two weeks. But I like the idea of tutoring and hope it can help me display some relevant skills. Is that w good idea as a part time job?
Original post by AlexiaH3
Hello - could I please ask about work experience? I am currently in year 12 and have an opportunity to work part time in an ‘assisted teaching centre’, tutoring s small group of children who have social anxiety and just need academic help. Would this help my medical applications? I will also try to get more directly relevant experience and have always shadowed doctors in a hospital for two weeks. But I like the idea of tutoring and hope it can help me display some relevant skills. Is that w good idea as a part time job?

yes it is, you can develop communication and empathy through that, which are important skills which could be discussed at interview
(edited 6 months ago)
Reply 9
Thank you very much. That’s what I was hoping 😊

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