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Why do most people with really good GCSEs do this?

I find that, at my school, the people who get really amazing GCSEs (like around 10 A*s) all go into either medicine or law or economics/politics, None of them ever apply for some courses like engineering, computer science or accounting and finance or other fields. Most of the people who go on to study engineering or STEM subjects (except emdicien) tend to be people who got fairly avergae GCSEs. Why is this?

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Reply 1

Mayhem™

Because they usually (this isn't always the case) provide the highest salaries. I'm aiming to get 6+ A*'s this summer and I'm going into chemical engineering.

Reply 2

Blackstarr

Nope, if i recall correctly one person from my ex sixthform got into cambridge for phyilospohy

Reply 3

Lord Kitchener

Because you need excellent GCSE's to get into medicine ect because they are the most competitive, can't fault people for being ambitious, however I do think degrees like the ones you mentioned aren't under subscribed either, perhaps it's just taste...

Reply 4

...imrah

the best grades get you onto the best courses

Reply 5

Student403

I think a lot of engineers/computer scientists have limited interests and do really well in the STEM type GCSEs. A lot go on to do brilliantly at A level, scoring very high UMS

Reply 6

username2224711

Original post by Student403

In his title he did say "most", not "all".

I know, I realised and hence i deleted the post lol

Reply 7

Mayhem™

Original post by Student403

I think a lot of engineers/computer scientists have limited interests and do really well in the STEM type GCSEs. A lot go on to do brilliantly at A level, scoring very high UMS

engineering master race :sexface:

Reply 8

Student403

Original post by ravioliyears

I know, I realised and hence i deleted the post lol

Aight I'll delete mine :smile:

Reply 9

Student403

Original post by Mayhem™

engineering master race :sexface:

YUS!

Reply 10

cubic^3

Speaking for myself, I'm ONLY interested in stem, therefore only focused on maths/science at GCSE. Didn't care at all about anything else.

Reply 11

francais123

I received 12A*s and am looking to read History. It's not entirely true

Reply 12

Laurasaur

From my school, this is what some people with straight A*s-Bs have applied for
9A*s girl- biomedical engineering (uni)
8A*s boy- engineering (apprenticeship)
8A*s girl- midwifery (uni)
8A*s boy- geography (uni)
7A*s boy- biology (uni)
6A*s boy- geography (uni)
6A*s boy- natural sciences (uni)

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

samb1234

I think this generalizes way too much imo, i know a lot of people who got good GCSEs and applied for STEM subjects. Anyway, as far as medicine goes, medicine is both a very competitive course, but also a course with a very definite career outcome (obviously there is a massive range of careers in the NHS, but ultimately most people applying want to be a doctor of some form) Almost everyone I know who applied to medicine this year knew that they wanted to go into medicine before year 11, so as a result they all tried to get as high as possible in their GCSEs. Secondly, the ones who didn't get high enough (both at AS and GCSE) were discouraged from applying for medicine and instead applied for things like biology, biomed etc. This is very different from a lot of other courses such as Maths say where you don't have to make your mind up as early, and also for something like maths your RE grade for example is unlikely to be a large factor. Medicine also has a much lower range of offers (the lowest being roughly AAA) compared to other courses, so again people with a realistic chance of getting into medicine, and are capable of getting AAA, will likely have got above average at GCSE also.