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Higher and/or Advanced Highers - what do i do?

I got my higher results from s5 and they aren't what i had hoped they would be. I got AABBC, one of the B's being in biology and the C in chemistry. I wanted to study something science related at uni (wasn't sure what and most things i've seen need AAAAB or similar) but the C is throwing me off, should i repeat higher chemistry? with my appeal for another subject i'm likely to get one more A so then I would have AAABC , I don't think this is good enough though.
My other option that i have in mind right now is to do advanced higher maths and advanced higher business and then pick two other higher subjects (in other words, go down the business path)
I'm stuck between choosing higher psychology, higher economics or higher admin. I don't really know what subjects will go well together because I don't have a specific course in mind. I'm not sure what to do at the moment. has anyone ever been in a similar situation?

I kind of really want to go to university so does anybody have any career recommendations or any advice. i'd really appreciate it, thanks. :smile:

Reply 1

olivagrace06

Original post by tryingmybest22

Heyy,
So i'm basically in the same situation as you, in s5 i got AAACC, the c's being in Higher maths and chemistry, which unfortunately meant i could not do medicine, which was soo sad. But anyways we move...so instead I said "hey i kinda like sciences and doing all the practical work, so why don't i do biomedicine!". So thats exactly what im doing, applying for biomedicine and then go on after to do medicine as it is still my dream career and im not allowing this ~~major~~ minor setback to dictate accomplishing my dream, and actually doing so will help strengthen my biological knowledge of disease which would help me diagnose and treat patients even better! so its basically a win in the long run :smile:

So i'm applying to biomedical sciences at edinburgh, edinburgh napier (my safety), strathcylde, lancaster and imperial (quite a stretch but we will see). But just like an adventure book, there is another dilemma...chemistry. The entry requirements to this course is like BBB in one sitting S4-S6 but an A/B in higher human biology/biology and chemistry. So in one way I passed the requirement of BBB in one sitting since i got AAA, one of them being in human biology but i didn't pass the requirement of B at higher chemistry. So instead of me resitting the higher chemistry (because that would affect my chances in applying to med in the future as some unis don't accept resits) I took advanced higher chemistry, as well as advanced biology, english and higher psychology as an additional higher (so they can forget about my maths). Obviously you don't have to take advanced chemistry if you don't feel like you could do it but its an alternative to retaking chemistry, and it also shows you are determined and unwavered by unfavourable circumstances to your desired uni, which make you a better candidate than to others, as you could have said "okay screw it, lemme do something else" but u continued which they would love.

The good news is, doing what im doing is excepted by universities. I strongly suggest, since u want to do something science related, that you stick to it instead of going down the business route, as u might regret or not enjoy it in the future. Call up the universities and explain your situation. I called up edinburgh uni and explained what i got at higher and told them im doing advanced higher chemistry, english, biology and higher psychology and they were like thats great, because i've got an additional higher and that im advanced higher chemistry which will mean i would get a conditional offer to get at least a B at adv.H chemistry which would translate to A in higher chemistry, therefore it would mean that i matched their requirements, just in a different way. I also spoke to strathcylde and they said they would give me the conditional to get B at advanced higher chemistry, as well as edinburgh napier (well they need a science at a B so that doesnt really matter), and if you want to go to england, they don't even look at highers since they don't really understand scottish curriculum, so they make offers soley on ur predicted grades, so if ur predicted grades match the entry requirements or close enough to them, they would gove u a conditional offer. So it is definitely doable.

So what to take away:

do what u will enjoy: the most important thing

call up the uni's and explain your situation, as it is always good to directly speak to the people that will process your application

for ur pick on courses, think about what you enjoyed doing in your science subjects, was it the experiments?, was it the research of different diseases?, did you like learning about biology on a cellular level or physiology?, did you like learning about the chemistry behind everyday products like mayonnaise? once you have thought of this, research courses that come under that umbrella. For example if you liked learning about tumour growth and how those tumours affected the immune system, you could research cancer biology, immunology and microbiology, which all come under biomedical science, that already is 5 different courses you could do at university.

I hope this was helpful, if u have any questions, want more advice, or just chat about subjects and uni just drop me a message 🙂 Good luck and i hope you get into university!!