How do I get into medicine with poor GCSE's

Don't stress about the GCSE's - I'm starting this september with 3 A's and one A*, got three offers - just focus on doing the best you can in all of your exams (As, A-level, GCSE, UKCAT and BMAT if you do it) When you have your scores (minus A-level) just apply strategically to med schools that value the areas you did particularly well in

- Don't start thinking about grad entry yet, its about ten times more competitive than A-level entry, not to mention extraordinarily expensive.

In general terms, a degree is anything you study at uni that leads to a BSc or BA, and is 3-4 years long (bar med/vet med which is longer).

The first degree could be anything. Biology, biomedicine, chemistry, French... Anything at all.

No, the foundation year you would do straight after A-Level. Then, you go on to get your degree - the foundation year leads onto that degree. So you could do a foundation year in pharmacy for example, then after you can continue and do the 'proper' degree. Or do a foundation year for med, then continue onto the normal 5-yr programme to get your degree in medicine.

Graduate entry is where you do a degree first e.g. Biology, then after you apply to study medicine as a graduate (aka you have a degree - an undergraduate is someone studying for their first degree, and an undergrad degree is one where you get a BA or BSc, usually, and can get straight onto it after doing A-Levels or equivalent). The only thing with graduate entry is that after you get your first degree, you have to pay for the tuition fees (and I think living costs) yourself, unless you can get funding from schemes. So you would have to pay £9k/yr on your own without getting funding, and because there are less places available for graduate medicine, it is more competitive and you'd have to get a 2:1 if not a 1st in your first degree to stand a good chance.

OMG thank you soo much! After I do my A Levels I would love for you to advise me again? If that's okay with you of course.. Ahhhh I just hope my school 6th form will let me carry on with my A Levels and I do well in them.. What A Levels did you do? And congrats in starting medicine! x

Just drop me a PM any time, idm

Also, don't even bother panicing until you get your GCSE's results back, I thought I completely screwed up my M1 exams in As maths and ended up getting the highest mark in my class, you honestly don't know how you've done until you've got your grades :P

Don't stress about the GCSE's - I'm starting this september with 3 A's and one A*, got three offers - just focus on doing the best you can in all of your exams (As, A-level, GCSE, UKCAT and BMAT if you do it) When you have your scores (minus A-level) just apply strategically to med schools that value the areas you did particularly well in

- Don't start thinking about grad entry yet, its about ten times more competitive than A-level entry, not to mention extraordinarily expensive.

Which universities did you get offers from? And, if you don't mind saying,
what were your results at AS, A2 and UKCAT?

Can we stop having these **** GCSE result threads... You do not need awesome GCSE's for Medicine. I mean there are people who get lower then me and still get in. Just focus on your A-levels and what will be will be. Just apply smart (and that means don't apply to any London universities or Oxbridge!)

edited my spelling mistake before a Nazi got here!

by the way if it means anything I got 1A* 7A's 3B's and a C along with AAA at A-level and a UKCAT of 687.5 ( I got into Newcastle by the way after taking a gap year)

Do you have any reason for thinking that the OP would stand less chance at getting into London universities or Oxbridge? Cambridge in particular focuses very much on UMS at AS-level rather than GCSEs, and I wasn't under the impression that the med schools in London had any particular common approach that sets them apart from the med schools in the rest of the country, so to group them together would be silly, no? Unless they all have a much higher applicantlace ratio. I've never seen this mentioned before, though.

Cambridge not so much so I was wrong in saying them, but in the distinguishing between candidates who score equally both at interview, BMAT and A-level UMS the GCSE's will be relied upon and I can probably guarantee that they will be high due to the correlation between both GCSE and A-level performance.

I will need some time to gather the information with regards to the London universities as I remember a friend of mine from school gaining the GCSE spread of candidates entering the university.

It is always a good idea to read the admissions policy and whilst the London universities state you must have something along the lines of AAABBB in English, Maths and the three sciences (not in any particular order) these are to be a bare minimum rather than anything else.

If you want any advice OP then you should read the admissions statistics and if you are wanting to investigate further you could I suppose send a blanket e-mail to any of these universities and demand information via the Freedom of Information Act and that would give you a very good idea of the spread of GCSE results and admissions.

For this evening I will recommend you do not apply to London universities (except of SGUL which I applied to and got an interview so actually I am wrong by generalising) or Oxbridge... and definitely not Leicester (unless you ace your UKCAT, have awesome AS level results and also have a killer personal statement but this cannot be guaranteed as it is open to interpretation).

Once again I will give my friend a call and see if I can get a copy of what he found.

I'd really appreciate it if you could pm me that blanket email, thanks!

Still waiting for my friend to send me his copy of his powerpoint.

https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/organisations-you-can-ask-for-information

So the e-mail should be something along the lines of...

Dear Administrator,

I am requesting for information kept on applicants to medical school. This specifically being their grades at GCSE, A level and also as to whether or not they were given an offer. I hope to hear from you in a timely manner

Yours Sincerely,


Joe Bloggs

You should contact the different medical schools and make sure it is sent to the relevant person for a quick response. You can ask for this sort of information if it is already recorded. If it is not (which is highly unlikely considering that it makes up a large part of the application process!) they do not have to give it to you.


http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/official_information

also have a quick read of that, depending on what line of work you go down in Medicine in can be very useful (look at GP's for example, they are always interested in gaining more money by the successful acquisition of contracts)

I would not be applying to a university I had previously had the nerve to write that to.

Hey guys. I really need some help. I have researched a lot into this myself but I am so confused. So I have recently finished my GCSE's, however I KNOW that I did very poorly. This is because my father passed away right before my exams and this has messed me up in all kinda mental and emotional ways. I am really annoyed because I put a hell of lot of work into my coursework. I am someone who is predicted A*/A/ & B's and I know there's no way in hell that I have got anywhere near that.

My original plan was to do my A Levels, which I chose as : Chemistry, Biology, RS and Psychology and apply for medicine. However, knowing that I did my GCSE's poorly, what can I do? Should I do my GCSE's again? I am pretty see my school 6th form will accept me to do my a levels no matter what grades I got, and I don't really wanna be a year behind. Also, if I do my GCSE's again, there's been a change in courses and I don't want to learn a new syllabus. .. And whenever I research for medicine it says the entry requirements are 3 A's at A levels. This has been on my mind a lot and it is really stressing me out so I would appreciate any help!

Sorry if this didn't make any sense // x

Is that actually true?

If you have bad GCSE grades then make up for it with good AS grade and good work experience.

I'm applying this year, I only have 2 As and the rest B's and C's. I contacted admission tutors and went to many open days (specifically for medicine) and got told that I would still be able to stand a chance, as long and I have a good AS grade and predicted grades.

What universities are you looking at currently?

Queens Mary, St George, Newcastle, UEA, Nottingham, Durham, Glasgow, Leicester and Dundee.

I'd say I have a better chance at Nottingham, since I attended the summer school and they offer you a personal tutor to help you with anything, extra bursary, and also I practically done A LOT of practical work in just a few days (arms and heart dissection :3)