Should I even bother?

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Resiting to get a higher grade in your as would give you more options, however it may not be worth it as you don't want to overstretch yourself and it is more important to get AAA.

In terms of what to do if you don't get the grades. There is always resitting. Not many schools allow it without extenuating circumstances, but there are enough for an application cycle.
The question about aiming for graduate entry medicine is a difficult one. You will end up with £17k of debt per year of an undergrad degree. Add this on to the cost of a medical degree and you're looking at a LOT of debt. Medicine isn't the financially secure career it once was, particularly if the government gets its way so you have to weight up if it would be a viable option. I know you get loans etc, but its a debt that you'll be paying for 30 years. Losing money from every paycheck for 30 years is going to be tough going. And it may have an impact on things such as mortgage applications.

Only a select few biomed courses offer a transfer programme. And only a couple of spots per course. No other course will allow you to transfer to medicine, so pick a degree you would be happy studying for 3 years and possibly finding a career in afterward.

Best thing to do? Work on getting AAA this year.

I got BBCC (Bio, Geo, Chem, Phys) at AS

dropped Physics

now I'm working my arse off to get AAA at least in A2 (SAH MANY RESITS)

buuuuuuuuuuuut... I was wondering if I have to resit (dropped) physics and get it to an A too?

like can I just apply with AAAc or should I still try to get it to AAAa?

what do you recommend

Thanks for the advice! Yeah i know that if I don't get AAA and I'm still after Medicine it will be super expensive but tbh I'm not bothered about it. I'm not well off that's for sure but I'll go for something and then take a year working to save up some money, then continue working part time while studying Medicine. Maybe I'll do radiotherapy or something because that's funded by the NHS so it would help with the money but I'm not making that decision yet... But Medicine to me isn't about the money, I'm dedicating my life to make that of other's better even if it's just in the health sector. That's what's most important to me - so I'm not really looking for 6 figure salaries and all that, I'll find a way.

But I'm not stupid and I know money's an issue and I will try and get around it!

Thanks for the help! also one last question
If I get AAAc would that be fine or do you recommend resitting the dropped AS and getting AAAa?

Thanks for all the help again!

A lot of med schools want AAAb minimum, some, like Bristol and Cardiff, are happy with AAAc, and some don't even care about your fourth AS. I would focus on getting AAA this year, and if you feel confident after your mocks, you can start revising for AS Physics in around February/March. If you feel your workload is too much, don't bother with Physics and look for unis that accept AAA or AAAc. Getting AAA is much more important than getting an A or a B in AS Physics.

Alright I'll take your advice and think about it after mocks! Because I don't think I'm ready to do physics again, I think I'd need around 140/150 ums to get an A overall in my retake too which is wayyyy out of my league especially for physics haha! Thanks so much!

I kind of answered that question in my first reply. It depends if you think you can cope with the extra workload.

I don't think you can get around the money issue. If you study a non NHS degree(i.e. not a healthcare degree) thats £51k of debt, at least. Then another 4 years, 5545 fee loan and 8k maintenance thats another 55k. So over £100k of debt. People are already leaving medicine because its no longer financially viable, and they don't have debt from university fees. Losing a couple hundred quid each month (or more when your pay increases) for 30 years, when you won't be getting paid all that much anyway, is a big consideration. I know every degree will have similar problems, but don't forget with medicine you also have to fork out thousands for indemnity insurance, membership fees and exams.

I suppose I am saying this because so many are going in to medicine because they want to help people and its great. But its important to actually think about money, and work-life balance (also sucky, and likely to get far worse, thanks Mr ****) before you pursue medicine, especially GEM. You can't exist on good will alone.

That's utter crap. Student debt is not even a proper debt. Second, medicine is still a great degree to go into financially. You can go work in what ever country you want it's so transferable - and who has too many doctors? If the NHS don't pay doctors so good anymore then work privately or go to the states.

That's utter crap. Student debt is not even a proper debt. Second, medicine is still a great degree to go into financially. You can go work in what ever country you want it's so transferable - and who has too many doctors? If the NHS don't pay doctors so good anymore then work privately or go to the states.

It is still a debt that will result in a big chunk being taken out of your paycheck every month, for 30 years. And because of over lending banks are now starting to take things like student loans in to consideration.

Doctors are not that well paid, and the government is actively trying to cut their pay. Add to that the fact they have expensive professional requirements, such as insurance and exam fees.

When the government succeeds in privatising the nhs, then we shall all go and work privately. But until then there is not that much private work and you have to be quite senior to start off with. You then have extremely expensive indemnity insurance to contend with.

It's actually not all that easy to go to America, especially as a junior. But plenty of people are flocking to Australia.... But surely you don't want us all to leave or go private, because who's going to look after you and your family, or the aging population we live in?!

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What is it 9p out of every £1 earned over 21k? Life's so harsh.

It all adds up. And I think it's wise to think about the financial implications before committing yourself to something like gem. And like I said, medics don't get paid all that much, comparative to their skill level and hours worked, and have a lot of professional costs. So that 9p for every £1 will have an impact.

And the government has already increased how much you pay back each month, and the interest rates are creeping up. Who is to say the government won't screw us over further in the future

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Won't screw you over further. No one forced you to take a loan, if you didn't like the terms you didn't have to agree. You could finance it yourself. You should be grateful that the government will actually finances your studies.

I never said I wasn't grateful. But I am saying it needs to be a consideration when aiming for graduate entry medicine.

But I'll let the OP decide who he wants to listen to, the graduate entry medic or the random tsr poster.

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Wait you're a graduate entry medic? :O that's awesome... how did you do it?

I decided a couple of years after my undergrad and just applied. I don't know if I would ever have done a degree with the sole intention of doing GEM.