What GCSE grades do I need to be able to become a doctor?

Check this out http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_GCSE_Requirements

The higher your grades the better. Some medical schools say English language/Maths at B or C grade, this is the minimum.

Bear in mind GCSEs form a fraction of a medical school application. It also heavily involves your personal statement (voluntary work, work experience, extracurriculars, motivation), UKCAT/BMAT depending on which school, A levels, references, interviews.

You'll want to check out individual medical schools to see what they look for in an application. Some medical schools put very little emphasis on GCSEs as long as you have C grades and above, but they put heavy emphasis on other aspects like UKCAT, e.g. Newcastle.

Reply 4

goldtippedarrows

1

Original post by Trihawk7

As high enough grades as you can get... I don't understand why people just don't try as hard as they can rather than going to for what others have...

Preach! Its so competitive you may as well try your best rather than going for the bare minimum :smile:

Reply 5

Original post by JayJay-C19

For the top Med. Schools

What do you mean by "top" medical schools?

There is no best medical school, you'll end up a doctor no matter which one you go to.

Reply 6

Angelo12231

Generally it's going to be as many A* grades as you can achieve and with the subjects that you didn't get an A* in, they should be filled with As but the occasional 1B will not have an impact. Its fair to say that most people who want to apply for medicine, will want to have a choice of a wide range of universities so they tend to MAX out all the requirements for medicine, this includes getting 7-10 A*s... But of course some people wouldn't quite reach that number but as long as you solidly pass the GCSE requirements, you can get into medicine, it just means your choice of university will be decreased - and i don't see this as a huge problem because if you haven't noticed already there is no non-russel group university that offers medicine, so as someone said earlier, there is no such thing as a 'top medical school'. In other words, if you do not care which university you end up going to as long as you get into medicine, passing the GCSE entry requirements 'comfortably' should leave you in a good starting position.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 7

Pectorac

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Original post by Angelo12231

Generally it's going to be as many A* grades as you can achieve and with the subjects that you didn't get an A* in, they should be filled with As but the occasional 1B will not have an impact. Its fair to say that most people who want to apply for medicine, will want to have a choice of a wide range of universities so they tend to MAX out all the requirements for medicine, this includes getting 7-10 A*s... But of course some people wouldn't quite reach that number but as long as you solidly pass the GCSE requirements, you can get into medicine, it just means your choice of university will be decreased - and i don't see this as a huge problem because if you haven't noticed already there is no non-russel group university that offers medicine, so as someone said earlier, there is no such thing as a 'top medical school'. In other words, if you do not care which university you end up going to as long as you get into medicine, passing the GCSE entry requirements 'comfortably' should leave you in a good starting position.

Sussex, Plymouth, St. George's, etc, are not Russell Group and offer medicine. There are more.

Reply 8

Angelo12231

Original post by Pectorac

Sussex, Plymouth, St. George's, etc, are not Russell Group and offer medicine. There are more.

Oh i must have missed that, that actually explains why St. George is so lenient. but generally, most universities that offer medicine are Russell group...

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

Original post by JayJay-C19

If you really need it spelled out to you that I mean TOP schools such as Oxbridge...

Schools that have a lot of competition and ask for high, VERY high in fact, grades. Oxford, Cambridge, etc.etc.

I still can't see why you classify them as "top" though...all Medical schools have a lot of competition.

And either way, if that's what you mean that what you said is incorrect...a fair number of people get into Cambridge for Medicine with less than 6 A*'s at GCSE (but for Oxford you need quite a large number of A*s).

Reply 10

Galileo Galilei

No set of GCSE results will guarantee you a place anywhere. Do your best and hope for the best.

Reply 11

Original post by JayJay-C19

It's not incorrect judging by the statistics they publish. I was focusing more on Oxford anyway which I probably should have stated.

Cambridge's stats from a few years ago show a fair number got in with less than 6A*...

Well you don't need to see why I classify them as top because I do... It's how I want to classify them because that's what I think they are, as most do.

Well you're wrong: As I've already said to you, there is no "top" Medical school...you'll end up a doctor wherever you go.

Reply 12

Original post by JayJay-C19

And for those taking history, do you not end up a historian wherever you go? Those taking Biology, not a Biologist? Law, not a lawyer?

Medicine's a vocational course...the others are not. Most people studying Medicine go on to become doctors.

And no...you don't become a biologist just because you study Biology, there are loads of different jobs you can go into if you study Biology.

Yes. However, there are still universities that are considered to be top of their game for those subjects and it's exactly the same with medicine

No it is not :sigh:

It's a common myth that loads of people believe...along with these ones: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_Application_Myth_Busting

Incidentally, that reminds me...did you manage to find the prospectuses that said Medical Schools prefer all Sciences as you said on another thread? Because that's another myth you posted :tongue:

so don't tell me my opinion is wrong because it's mine and I am entitled to it.

It's not opinion here: it's fact. There is no Medical School that is better than the other...this is fact, not opinion.

Reply 13

Muppet Science

Original post by JayJay-C19

And for those taking history, do you not end up a historian wherever you go? Those taking Biology, not a Biologist? Law, not a lawyer?

Yes. However, there are still universities that are considered to be top of their game for those subjects and it's exactly the same with medicine; so don't tell me my opinion is wrong because it's mine and I am entitled to it.

Sort of. A Cambridge lawyer will generally outclass an ex-Poly lawyer. That is not necessarily the case with Medicine. Besides when applying for foundation posts and the like they don't know which medical school you graduated from. Additionally, although the Oxbridge courses are very science based other schools are far more clinical, so one could argue that other schools are better in producing clinicians... this is all academic anyway as already said all the graduates are doctors.

Reply 14

Original post by JayJay-C19

Whatever you say, pal. :rolleyes:

Still no prospectuses then, I take it? :tongue:

Reply 15

Angelo12231

Original post by usycool1

Medicine's a vocational course...the others are not. Most people studying Medicine go on to become doctors.

And no...you don't become a biologist just because you study Biology, there are loads of different jobs you can go into if you study Biology.

No it is not :sigh:

It's a common myth that loads of people believe...along with these ones: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_Application_Myth_Busting

Incidentally, that reminds me...did you manage to find the prospectuses that said Medical Schools prefer all Sciences as you said on another thread? Because that's another myth you posted :tongue:

It's not opinion here: it's fact. There is no Medical School that is better than the other...this is fact, not opinion.

The other guy makes a good argument, but i'd have to agree with you in that there is essentially no such thing as a 'top' medical school purely because No medical school will ask for the same requirements. This makes it quite hard to compare medical schools because each one is quite different... Take AQA and Edexcel for example, AQAers learn things that Edexcelers don't and vice versa, but the end result is that both AQAers and Edexcelers get a GCSE. One medical school will be different from the other but at the end of the day, y'all become doctors. You can't really say AQA is higher, better or on top of Edexcel - so how do you expect to do the same with med schools?

Reply 16