Do I have any hope of being selected for medicine?

I am a new Year 12 student (due to start in a couple of days). I have gotten my GCSE results and I am not too pleased with them.

I am an international student so I am extremely stressed as I don't think universities would look at my GCSEs well.

I have gotten mediocre GCSEs for an international medicine applicant.

My grades are as follows:
• Grade 9s - Biology, Chemistry, Economics
• Grade 8s - Physics, Math, Business
• Grade 7s - History and Geography
• Grade 6s - English Language and Literature

I am aware that these are extremely low for medicine and may restrict me to bad schools, but what can I do (if anything) to make my application the best it can be in every other aspect to get into a competitive medical school?
Lastly, on these forums you hear people say "only top 7 GCSEs will be considered". That seems a weird; is that true?

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

10

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

The Medicine forum gets a high volume of questions being posted, and some of these are already answered by the resources and Megathreads that members of the community and volunteers have created. This is an automatic post which is designed to highlight these resources. Below is a list of threads and articles that could answer your question (you should be looking in the original post of the megathreads). If one of the below threads is a more relevant place to ask your question, please post a reply in that thread to ask your question. If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked below, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Megathreads
(Please read the first post, before then posting any further questions you have within that thread.)
The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread
Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work

2023 Applicants:
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2023 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2023 Entry
Medicine 2023 entry for resit / retake / gap year applicants
A100 Medicine for International Students 2023 Entry
Medicine Interview discussion 2023 Entry
2023 entry A100 / A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
Index of Individual Medical School Applicants' threads 2023 Entry

2024 Applicants :
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2024 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2024 Entry
GAMSAT 2024 / 2025 entry discussions megathread
UCAT 2024 Entry Discussions Megathread

Other application years:
Graduate Entry Medicine 2025 Entry
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2025 Entry

Useful Articles:
GCSE Requirements for Medicine
Everything you need to know about the BMAT
Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
Medicine Personal Statement Advice
Medicine Personal Statement Advice (Graduate Entry)
Interview Frequently Asked Questions
MMI Medicine Interview Tips
What to do after an unsuccessful first application

If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked above, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Reply 2

Nolonal

OP

2

I am a new Year 12 student (due to start in a couple of days). I have gotten my GCSE results and I am not too pleased with them.

I am an international student so I am extremely stressed as I don't think universities would look at my GCSEs well.

I have gotten mediocre GCSEs for an international medicine applicant.

My grades are as follows:
• Grade 9s - Biology, Chemistry, Economics
• Grade 8s - Physics, Math, Business
• Grade 7s - History and Geography
• Grade 6s - English Language and Literature

I am aware that these are extremely low for medicine and may restrict me to bad schools, but what can I do (if anything) to make my application the best it can be in every other aspect to get into a competitive medical school?
Lastly, on these forums you hear people say "only top 7 GCSEs will be considered". That seems a weird; is that true?

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Nolonal

I am a new Year 12 student (due to start in a couple of days). I have gotten my GCSE results and I am not too pleased with them.

I am an international student so I am extremely stressed as I don't think universities would look at my GCSEs well.

I have gotten mediocre GCSEs for an international medicine applicant.

My grades are as follows:
• Grade 9s - Biology, Chemistry, Economics
• Grade 8s - Physics, Math, Business
• Grade 7s - History and Geography
• Grade 6s - English Language and Literature

I am aware that these are extremely low for medicine and may restrict me to bad schools, but what can I do (if anything) to make my application the best it can be in every other aspect to get into a competitive medical school?
Lastly, on these forums you hear people say "only top 7 GCSEs will be considered". That seems a weird; is that true?

Each medical school uses a different shortlisting methodology. Some score GCSEs and put a lot of weight on them; others don't score GCSEs at all if you meet minimum requirements (usually in maths and ENglish language, sometimes science as well). Of those that score GCSEs, some score all, some look at number and proportion of A* equivalent (8/9) grades, others score just a certain number, of those that score a certain number they may have different weightings for different subjects. You need to actually research the different medical schools you wish to apply to and see what their shortlisting methodologies are. In short you would be best off aiming for those that just require you meet minimum GCSE grades and then don't score them (e.g. UCL, Imperial) and avoid those which put a lot of weight on GCSEs and formally shortlist using those (e.g. Oxford, Birmingham).

Also there is no such thing as a "bad" medical school in the UK - the GMC considers all accredited medical schools equal, and the NHS which is the only provider of postgraduate training positions for medics likewise takes this stance. The NHS goes so far as to blind recruiters from your medical school to ensure there is no bias in selecting for specialty training posts. So your medical school will not directly have any influence on your medical career in the UK - therefore all medical schools are effectively equal and the choosing between them will be based on applying strategically and also considering differences in how the courses are structured and taught (e.g. PBL vs lecture based formats) and factors like cost, location etc.

Reply 4

reubenn05

Universities Forum Helper

13

Original post by Nolonal

I am a new Year 12 student (due to start in a couple of days). I have gotten my GCSE results and I am not too pleased with them.

I am an international student so I am extremely stressed as I don't think universities would look at my GCSEs well.

I have gotten mediocre GCSEs for an international medicine applicant.

My grades are as follows:
• Grade 9s - Biology, Chemistry, Economics
• Grade 8s - Physics, Math, Business
• Grade 7s - History and Geography
• Grade 6s - English Language and Literature

I am aware that these are extremely low for medicine and may restrict me to bad schools, but what can I do (if anything) to make my application the best it can be in every other aspect to get into a competitive medical school?
Lastly, on these forums you hear people say "only top 7 GCSEs will be considered". That seems a weird; is that true?

firstly, there’s no such thing as a bad med school. secondly, those gcses are fine, just avoid schools that score gcses heavily. there are plenty of med schools that rank solely on ucat. a few of the gcse scoring med schools will score top 6/8/9 gcses while others will score eng lang (birmingham score eng lit too) and maths, bio and chem, then the top gcses out of the others.

(edited 8 months ago)

Do I have any hope of being selected for medicine?

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