BIRMINGHAM university GCSE question

we hate birmingham

With such a high grade requirement, you'd expect some fantastic medical school...

On the GCSE entry requirement list for the unversities, under Birmingham it says 7 A*s or above (i think its 8 this year), anyways it says unless you already have your A-Levels.

My GCSE grades are bad, but i have my A levels already, both As in Chemistry and Biology A2, and AAAB in AS.

So does it matter if i need those 7 or 8 A*s in GCSE because i already have my A levels sorted.

How so?

I would expect a medical school with more time to actually spend with its students rather than messing around trying to pick students 'objectively'.

It's just that if they set the bar that high just to get an interview... it implies that, assuming their interviewffer ratio were around the medical school norm and their interviews equally challenging, most people would firm Birmingham. Of course this doesn't happen and Birmingham's interviewffer ratio is hugely skewed... which is what they have to do to fill up the places.

I agree with you though - I don't like Birmingham's admissions process.

I never said I didn't like it

I honestly don't see the point in spending huge amounts of time and money going through every facet of peoples applications. if say one in three applicants is more than suitable why bother going down to the most suitable one in twenty?

Well, if narrow selection is pointless, why don't they just pick candidates at random? That is why they are called admissions department, and pardon me if I am wrong, but isn't that their job, to go through people's applications?


Having said that, I realise that my view of Birmingham is biased. But I still think their admissions policy is unfair - there is more to person's integrity and intelligence than their GCSE score, important as it is. Its fair to use it in conjunction with other aspects: work experience, A Levels, etc, but Birmingham use it as a sole marker of person's worth in respect to career in medicine.

Well, if narrow selection is pointless, why don't they just pick candidates at random? That is why they are called admissions department, and pardon me if I am wrong, but isn't that their job, to go through people's applications?


Having said that, I realise that my view of Birmingham is biased. But I still think their admissions policy is unfair - there is more to person's integrity and intelligence than their GCSE score, important as it is. Its fair to use it in conjunction with other aspects: work experience, A Levels, etc, but Birmingham use it as a sole marker of person's worth in respect to career in medicine.

I guess you could view it that way, my impression was that they aim to admit only people they view as likely to complete the course. As such why bother looking at the whole application in such depth if they have found a way to focus on some bits to more efficient effect.

Why does it matter to them if some more deserving people don't get offers?

In glorious isolation from all other factors ?
No, I don't think so !

Well, a doctor I know had an excellent application (apart form his GCSEs of course) and he was rejected from Birmingham.He went on to study in Sheffield, and in the end became a good doctor, which my mum's hand he operated proves.

I myself was told by their admission tutor that my qualifications are "much too low to be considered for medicine" regardles of all other aspects of my application- again, referring to my GCSE's.

I have no idea what other people's experience of that medical school is, my personal judgement is based on my personal experiences.

Well, a doctor I know had an excellent application (apart form his GCSEs of course) and he was rejected from Birmingham.He went on to study in Sheffield, and in the end became a good doctor, which my mum's hand he operated proves.

I myself was told by their admission tutor that my qualifications are "much too low to be considered for medicine" regardles of all other aspects of my application- again, referring to my GCSE's.

I have no idea what other people's experience of that medical school is, my personal judgement is based on my personal experiences.

You seem to have the perception that anyone who would make a good doctor should get four offers.

80% of the people applying I have no doubt would make good doctors, about half of them will get four rejections, the rest will get one or two offers at most. I'm struggling to see what we are debating here?

Sorry if I have completely missed the plot.

No, I was not debating with you on that subject- I was just giving an example of Birmingham University admissions policy (an example, not overall summary). I was simply trying to say that GCSE's play major part in their admissions (perhaps not as a sole marker, as I said earlier), and most of their rejections also stem from lack of GCSE's.
I do think that its difficult to judge whether a person would be a good doctor or not, fair enough. But my example was to illustrate that GCSE's are not the only thing that make great doctors, contrary to their policy.

They make their entry requirements clear..and at the interview stage they can find out who they believe will make good doctors...not everyone who gets an interview will get an offer..they also do have a very large medical school and can therefore give out many more offers in comparison to some of the other medical schools...yes, one of the main factors in inviting people for interview is gcses...but they do not use the ukcat..and some universities use the ukcat significantly (by having cut offs etc), so you could argue how can you use the ukcat to decide who to invite for interview, when it is a fairly new exam with little evidence...Just like some unis use the ukcat to narrow down candidates, birmingham use gcses

Undoubtedly, just as communications skills are perhaps not the be all and end all, etc etc.

Are we simply making a statement of fact or attempting to criticise Birmingham? My initial interpretation was that it was a moan (which I don't personally think is entirely deserved) though I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion there.

They make their entry requirements clear..and at the interview stage they can find out who they believe will make good doctors...not everyone who gets an interview will get an offer..they also do have a very large medical school and can therefore give out many more offers in comparison to some of the other medical schools...yes, one of the main factors in inviting people for interview is gcses...but they do not use the ukcat..and some universities use the ukcat significantly (by having cut offs etc), so you could argue how can you use the ukcat to decide who to invite for interview, when it is a fairly new exam with little evidence...Just like some unis use the ukcat to narrow down candidates, birmingham use gcses

Oh now I see. An exam which you sit when you know you are going into medicine and are usualy older when sitting is totally comparitive to the exams you sit when you're 15 and have no idea what you do when you're older and are less likely to put any actual effort in.

I see what you did there.

people who go into medicine generally know that they will do something academic and are students who can achieve good grades (A*s or otherwise) by the time they reach GCSEs (whether they know they want to do medicine or not) and therefore will probably try just as much in their GCSEs as the UKCAT to give themselves the best chance possible whatever they go into...i know i did.