Want to do medicine, but have a huge problem. NEED HELP

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Reply 20

:~)

Preform good in the interview and try a 6 year course.

Reply 21

Persephone9

Original post by Alison1992

Unfortunately, most medicine courses will require AAB at A level

The minority want AAB, almost all UK medical schools now want AAA.

Original post by Alison1992

After having done your biomedical science degree (providing you graduate with at least a 2.1) you will able to study medicine at graduate entry. It's only an extra year and based on your current grades it is a more likely way of you becoming a doctor :smile:

You might be able to study medicine at grad entry. It's competitive and expensive.

Reply 22

Alison1992

Original post by Persephone9

The minority want AAB, almost all UK medical schools now want AAA.

For this year, sheffield, bristol and edinburgh were all asking AAB, i suppose they'll be changing for 2012 entry, but that just emphasises the point that OP's chances of getting into medicine by the traditional route is unlikely

Original post by Persephone9

You might be able to study medicine at grad entry. It's competitive and expensive.

But OP has a better chance of getting in this way considering his GCSE's and AS's so far which is probably very slim

Reply 23

Dan9878

I think you need to reconsider your options. If a healthcare degree is what you want, maybe apply for nursing? Plenty of career progression, you could become a Nurse prescriber/practitioner.

Reply 24

Davidragon

There are transfer programs at Newcastle and St George's through Biomedical Science (Transfer after the 1st year at Newcastle into 1st year medicine, entry into 3rd year medicine after finishing Biomedical Sciences degree at St Georges). Entry to those courses is AAB-BBB so they may be easier to get in to (though there may be a lot of Med people with better GCSE/ AS levels applying also as a back up for Medicine). Also, eligibility for transfer into medicine from these courses will be competitive and based partly on achieving a threshold percentage in exams. The foundation programme stuff has already been said.

Basically a lot of hard work and faith that it will pay off :|

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 25

ECHF

Being honest, your GCSE results and the fact that you aren't doing chemistry any more does put you at a disadvantage when applying. Could you not BEG your teacher to take you on again? Or else, just make sure you work very hard for your A levels and apply to the (few) med schools where chemistry isn't compulsory. In my opinion, you would be better off doing a foundation year or something, rather than going for direct entry? Also look at the special access courses like the 6 year soton one, although I'm not sure whether they want chemistry or not :smile:

Reply 26

mclovin123

Original post by Alison1992

I know someone with 7 A's at AS level and doing 5 A2's, predicted A and A* grades in all of them and still got rejected for medicine

Yes ok but what was his/her extra curric like? were did they apply? how did they do at interview?

Reply 27

mclovin123

Original post by Dan9878

I think you need to reconsider your options. If a healthcare degree is what you want, maybe apply for nursing? Plenty of career progression, you could become a Nurse prescriber/practitioner.

i want to be a doctor.

Reply 28

mclovin123

Original post by Ulo

I would look into access or foundation courses which could remedy your lack of chemistry A-level. Widening access criteria would likely stand if you went to a bad state school and had other issues going on. I think you know yourself now that you need to work a lot harder; I know plenty of people who went to awful schools but knew what they wanted and worked for it, so the excuses only get you so far (and still leave you with inadequate grades). Good luck!

On tax benefits, went to terrible inner city chav infested ****hole, live in a terrible crime ridden part of my city, would this cut it?

Reply 29

username356927

Original post by mclovin123

i want to be a doctor.

You tell them :biggrin:

You can do it if you are determined...you just have to accept that it might be a long road. If you are sure (which you appear to be) then you can succeed :smile:

Reply 30

mclovin123

Original post by TooSexyForMyStethoscope

You tell them :biggrin:

You can do it if you are determined...you just have to accept that it might be a long road. If you are sure (which you appear to be) then you can succeed :smile:

Thanks

, yeh its all i can think of my self doing with my life. I have come to a desicion, i will carry on and pray for AAB in biology, psychology, and english lit and will do an intensive AS/A2 course at a local college along side them. I will then take a gap year for experience ect then apply for maybe a combo of 5 year and foundation course courses lol. It will be terribly hard work but i wil give it my all.

Reply 31

username356927

Original post by mclovin123

Thanks

You are doing all you can do, which is all anybody can ask :smile:

As long as you have good things to include in your PS then you will be giving yourself the best chance.

Reply 32

Helloworld_95

you could try medical schools in other countries as sometimes it's easier to get in, however they're generally super expensive

On the **** school point, St. Georges will give out offers as low as BBCb, however you really need a Chemistry A level. So you'd need to do night school or something like that.

Have you thought about becoming a paramedic instead?

Reply 33

Helenia

Original post by mclovin123

On tax benefits, went to terrible inner city chav infested ****hole, live in a terrible crime ridden part of my city, would this cut it?

Only the middle one really, the other two are unfortunate but certainly not excuses IMO. And you've said yourself that a lot of it is down to lack of effort. It's good that you're determined, but you really do need to research and apply tactically.

Reply 34

Jonnislats

Not trying to end your dreams but just being realistic. If your GCSE's and AS levels aren't great then how do you think you'll cope in Med school? A lot of people get straight A's in their A levels, and still fail some of their med exams so I think it might be a good idea to go down a different route! I also wanted to do medicine (4A*'s at GCSE, 5A's and a B, AAAB at AS) however due to my predicted grades only being AAB I decided that it was best not too. If I don't think I can get an A in A level maths then I'm not sure how I would cope in med school.

Reply 35

SteveCrain

Original post by Jonnislats

If I don't think I can get an A in A level maths then I'm not sure how I would cope in med school.

I think you could quite easily cope if you couldn't get an A in Maths, as 1) it is medicine, and not maths or maths related to any significant degree 2) the degree is difficult insofar as it is strenuous in workload, which is different from its content being difficult to understand.

Reply 36

BeanofJelly

Original post by mclovin123

i want to be a doctor.

But why? If the reason for your bad grades is because you dislike academic study, memorising a lot of stuff, and having to do exams - it's not so much that you can't do medicine but why would you want to?

There aren't many other careers that will involve so many exams and so much learning.

Just make sure you're not so desperate to do it because of some dreamy/naive/want to be like the TV doctors reason. Have you any work experience?

But.. if there is some other reason why you have done badly (well relatively for medicine) then press ahead! I see in some of your posts you sound quite dedicated/determined.

My post is not intended to be mean, just advisory - you wouldn't be a bad or inferior person if medicine weren't for you, but it would be a shame if it wasn't for you and you remained incorrectly convinced that it was, for naive reasons - then leading to rejection or worse, failure at medical school or beyond.

Reply 37

Davidragon

Original post by Jonnislats

The word 'can't' implies that it was physically impossible for you to achieve an A o.o I think that is a bit harsh on yourself, 'didn't' seems better. Exam results are important but I wouldn't go as far to say previous exam results wholly define what a person is academically capable of in the future. Even the best psychometric tests today don't really gauge someone's true intellectual potential.

Reply 38

sjj9456

my friend got kicked off chemistry last year and did bio maths and law, dropped law this year, picked up AS chemistry and has ended up with offers from UEA, Durham and Barts... best bet is to call the unis and ask for their honest opinion, there's no point applying somewhere if they'll write you off before they even get to your personal statement. Also, ask them how they use UKCAT, cos some unis rank that, rank your average GCSE score, rank your ps, and then that way other stuff could make up for your grades...
good luck matey :smile:

Reply 39