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Changing subjects to do med

I'm currently doing A-Levels in maths, further maths, economics and computer science , and am going to start year 13 in september.
Over the summer holidays, I did a bit of deep thinking and decided that I want to pursue a career in Medicine (I did work experience and other reading so it is an informed decision).

I am going to have a discussion with my school about this to explore my options. Chemistry is a requirement at most unis so I'm going to hope they offer me that, but I also would've wanted bio. But I'm not sure if I can catch up on two a levels by may/june for my exams. I'm aslo not sure if my school will let me do this, let alone take chem.

Some suggested resitting yr12 with bio chem maths but some unis say they prefer a levels to be sat 2 years after gcse and in one go rather than staggered (I was considering doing my maths and econ a level coming may/june and bio and chem the year after so that it's not like i have 'extra time').

Also what would unis think about my situation and resulting gap year? Am i now too disadvantaged as I can't apply to top unis I could've applied to?

Please advise.

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by happygirl02

Biology isn't required by as many medical schools (only required about 1/3rd of them, whereas I think just over half require chemistry - some require both) so you can do without it. Note also Newcastle has no subject requirements.

Dropping FM and CS now, and doing only 2 A-levels in year 13 and 2 A-levels in a gap year is probably more of a barrier than just doing 3 A-levels in year 13 and 1 or 2 A-levels in a gap year. It's about doing the equivalent of a "full course load" of study in the usual time frame e.g. 3 A-levels in parallel over 2 years with exams for all 3 taken in the same exam session.

If you started "afresh" just doing bio/chem/a third then completed those within 2 years that would normally be acceptable, as it's not about completing them within 2 years of doing your GCSEs, it's about completing the A-levels within the standard 2 year timeframe. However if you continued one of your subjects then that would mean you weren't completing them in the standard 2 year time frame.

You should really aim to either:
a) complete your current A-levels (or at least 3 of them) as planned next year, then do a gap year taking chemistry and/or biology to meet subject requirements, or
b) completely start afresh with entirely new separate subjects and no overlap with your current subjects being taken (noting that A-level Maths is not required or preferred by any medical school except Cambridge, which just functionally albeit not explicitly requires 3 STEM subjects - physics is also acceptable as the third).

Equally importantly, there is no such concept as "top unis" when it comes to medicine. I cannot overemphasise this enough. The GMC considers all medical schools they accredit equal, and the NHS is the only provider of postgraduate medical training in the UK and likewise takes the same stance as the GMC. The NHS also blinds recruiters for specialty training to your medical school to ensure there is no bias in the recruitment process from that. Therefore, you should not be thinking "X medical school is better than Y medical school", especially for frivolous reasons such as "prestige" or "being a member of the Russell Group", as it has absolutely no bearing on anything really. You should just focus on the differences in teaching and structures and formats of the courses, as well as practically what it will be like to live and go on placement in that particular area/region for 5-6 years (bearing in mind some hospitals are much better than others in that regard I gather - and possibly not the ones you think?).