medicine without chem??

hi all,

im in year 11 and ive chosen bio + psych + english lit.
my ultimate goal is to become a psychiatrist.
can i get into a medicine course without chemistry?
i absolutely hate chem even at GCSE level so is it smart to switch to chem and scrape a B? and then end up with AAB or to not do chem and get all A's?
if i get enough work experience in medicine, and if my PS is rlly good, do i stand a chance?
thank you :smile:

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

10

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

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Reply 2

GANFYD

18

Original post by kshaikhl19

hi all,

im in year 11 and ive chosen bio + psych + english lit.
my ultimate goal is to become a psychiatrist.
can i get into a medicine course without chemistry?
i absolutely hate chem even at GCSE level so is it smart to switch to chem and scrape a B? and then end up with AAB or to not do chem and get all A's?
if i get enough work experience in medicine, and if my PS is rlly good, do i stand a chance?
thank you :smile:

It's not about having a good PS or lots of WEx, if a med school requires chemistry and you don't offer it, you will be rejected. Check out the A levels thread linked in the post above and you will see there are abiout 10 med schools you can apply to with that combination of A levels

Reply 3

HAPAX_63

1

Original post by kshaikhl19

hi all,

im in year 11 and ive chosen bio + psych + english lit.
my ultimate goal is to become a psychiatrist.
can i get into a medicine course without chemistry?
i absolutely hate chem even at GCSE level so is it smart to switch to chem and scrape a B? and then end up with AAB or to not do chem and get all A's?
if i get enough work experience in medicine, and if my PS is rlly good, do i stand a chance?
thank you :smile:

Chem is sort of regarded as compulsory in many if not most cases of when applying for med (Im guessing ur applying for MBBS or MBChB). Chem and another science is usually required.
It is true it's quite a difficult subject and take that from a year 13 but I don't think being bad at a specific science during GCSE exactly reflects it's difficulty in A levels if you get what I mean. It depends on if at the end of the day you get what the question is asking you.
You still technically have a few years to think it through and u really should bc med is a tough decision.
Hope this helps!

Reply 4

GANFYD

18

Original post by HAPAX_63

Chem is sort of regarded as compulsory in many if not most cases of when applying for med (Im guessing ur applying for MBBS or MBChB). Chem and another science is usually required.
It is true it's quite a difficult subject and take that from a year 13 but I don't think being bad at a specific science during GCSE exactly reflects it's difficulty in A levels if you get what I mean. It depends on if at the end of the day you get what the question is asking you.
You still technically have a few years to think it through and u really should bc med is a tough decision.
Hope this helps!

There are 13 med schools that do not need chemistry, though most of those need bio and a 2nd science

Reply 5

kshaikhl19

OP

6

Original post by GANFYD

There are 13 med schools that do not need chemistry, though most of those need bio and a 2nd science

so if i apply to those med schools that also consider psych as a science would i have a better chance?
and if i dont get in, lets say, would it be a good idea to take a gap year and do chem a level?

Reply 6

GANFYD

18

Original post by kshaikhl19

so if i apply to those med schools that also consider psych as a science would i have a better chance?
and if i dont get in, lets say, would it be a good idea to take a gap year and do chem a level?

If you apply to somewhere that requires Chem, when you don't have it, it would be an immediate rejection. You need to meet all entry requirements, then your application will be scored/ranked. So without all your stats it is impossible to say what your chances are, but they are better than the zero at places that need chemistry.
If you get at least AAA in the first sit of your A levels, then, yes, you could sit chemistry in a year applying for medicine

(edited 4 months ago)

OP

thank you!

OP

in case anyone was interested, i did decide to drop english lit and swap it for chem! ive emailed the school about this (they dont take phone during xmas holidays) so fingers crossed theyll say yes!

Reply 9

Alm_xo

15

Original post by kshaikhl19

in case anyone was interested, i did decide to drop english lit and swap it for chem! ive emailed the school about this (they dont take phone during xmas holidays) so fingers crossed theyll say yes!

just curious , if you dont mind answering , why didn't you pick chemistry instead of english lit in the first place?
any reason ? also I hope they do say yes!!

Reply 10

kshaikhl19

OP

6

Original post by Alm_xo

just curious , if you dont mind answering , why didn't you pick chemistry instead of english lit in the first place?
any reason ? also I hope they do say yes!!

i was really scared tbh…. chem isn’t my strong subject and lately i haven’t enjoyed it at school. but i’ve realized that i kind of need chem and it’s worth it of struggling for 2 years and pushing through to hopefully get an A in chem! but my parents reassured me that i could do it if i put my mind to it so i just needed some reassurance lol

i really really hope they say yes 😭

Reply 11

TMTDRN

9

At most medical schools they teach you the biology as if you have never studied it before. There is a lot of chemistry that you are just expected to know. They certainly don’t stop to teach you the first principles of chemistry behind it. When we were doing enzyme reactions this first year, for instance, there was a lot of stuff about equilibriums in that where I thought, Christ I’m glad I did chemistry and not biology.

I’m not saying that’s a reason to do chemistry, I’m saying that’s why they ideally want you to have it and why it’s useful.

Yes, you can get away without it. But I t will narrow the pool of universities you can apply to. A bad UCAT could potentially strip you down even further. Ideally, you want as wide pool of places open to you as possible.

Your plan to drop chemistry basically carries about the same risk as if you did it.

There are a lot of resources out there that can help you get better at chemistry and there are benefits to having done it which you’ll see once you get there.

Up to you in the end.

Reply 12

Alm_xo

15

Original post by kshaikhl19

i was really scared tbh…. chem isn’t my strong subject and lately i haven’t enjoyed it at school. but i’ve realized that i kind of need chem and it’s worth it of struggling for 2 years and pushing through to hopefully get an A in chem! but my parents reassured me that i could do it if i put my mind to it so i just needed some reassurance lol

i really really hope they say yes 😭

Oh its okay , just push through those 2 years and see where it gets you.
Good Luck!

Reply 13

kshaikhl19

OP

6

Original post by kshaikhl19

hi all,

im in year 11 and ive chosen bio + psych + english lit.
my ultimate goal is to become a psychiatrist.
can i get into a medicine course without chemistry?
i absolutely hate chem even at GCSE level so is it smart to switch to chem and scrape a B? and then end up with AAB or to not do chem and get all A's?
if i get enough work experience in medicine, and if my PS is rlly good, do i stand a chance?
thank you :smile:

hi i got chem! 🙂 so in september, i will be doing biology, chemistry and psychology.