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Feeling gutted about my gcses :(

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Manchester have a 7:1 applicant to place ratio. Lets have a scenario where two applicants have similar A levels, similar personal statements, similar UKCAT etc.

Do you think the uni will offer an interview to the candidate with 6A's or 6A*s?

There is no winning with some people, by all means apply. Go ahead, and see what happens. If by some miracle the OP gets in, then I stand corrected. But with the average applicant with 6A*s (according to the medical school consortium), he really does not stand a chance.

you're deluded, I have the same GCSEs as him(basically) and lets see how many interviews I get, I'll keep you updated.

Reply 61

Lularose83

Original post by nagamorris

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL you must be the most deluded person in the world.

1. Those are good grades. Be happy. Be content. It will help you to move on.
2. A-levels are much more important.
3. There are many medical schools around the UK, which ask for many different things, they're not all the same. They value so many different aspects of your application.
4. You need to ask yourself, if you don't become strong enough to pass the test of being mentally strong enough to move on, how will you overcome the obstacles life will throw at you later on.

Become the best, whatever you do in life, be the best at it and always try. You will get there.
Seize opportunity and not always passion, so keep volunteering and going to work experiences in the next 2 years. Sign upto everything, experience so many things even NCS so that you can get an overall view of yourself and what you are good at.

You will become great, I have faith in you. It is time to have faith in yourself.

Bravo! Listen to this advice, OP😊

Reply 62

username1470679

Original post by 9091student

i appreciate your optimism and kindness but i've screwed up everything up

Mate, you haven't there are sooooo many unis and medical school you are bound to be accepted by many, as long as your a-levels are also up to par. You can also look at moving countries for Uni, that also makes you competitive. I know my first post sounded harsh but it's true, you did amazing and you should be happy.
There is more than one ways of doing things, just coz you might not go to Oxbridge, I doubt they would reject you (as long as your a-levels are also high), UCL, Imperial, Bath. But you can go, St Andrews, St George, Southampton, Swansea and more. This just an example

If you feel like this still them feel like **** for a few days and pick yourself back up, no point moping. I did that and affected my first as year, then went into major depression and fudged up my second attempt at my first year (luckily A-Levels are now linear) and moving on to A2 with the hopes of getting A*/As. You now how I'm going to do it. I moped on results day, I also tried to cry but nothing and two days later was back to normal. I had enough, of fudging myself over and over, giving up when I could have done this and that. I'm still dealing with depression and I have done for 3 years, it took a MAAAAAASSIVE dive this year but I will not allow it to affect my studies no more for sure!!
Besides the jump between A-level and GCSE is no joke. A-Level and IB are closer to Degree level than GCSE, so just work on that and your pretty set.

So you can either mope and fudge your AS/IB up and risk going into depression or (If you need to/want to) mope for today and maybe tomorrow, not be so harsh on yourself about them after that and focus on what is to come.

Reply 63

MoshBosh

Original post by manlike99

you're deluded, I have the same GCSEs as him(basically) and lets see how many interviews I get, I'll keep you updated.

Please do, and I will keep you updated as well. This will be the real life version of that scenario, as I have 6A*s :wink:

What was your UKCAT score by the way?

Reply 64

manlike99

Original post by MoshBosh

Please do, and I will keep you updated as well. This will be the real life version of that scenario, as I have 6A*s :wink:

What was your UKCAT score by the way?

793. Yourself?

Reply 65

MoshBosh

Original post by manlike99

793. Yourself?

That's a great score, I got 763.

Reply 66

user 42005

I wish people would stop telling the OP to "stop worrying, be happy, those grades are amazing etc etc", (s)he wanted to do medicine and the grades they've got are going to place heavy restrictions on that, they're understandably annoyed. God, it's as if people wanting to be successful in this country is a bad thing. There's no point telling OP that loads of places will accept them because in reality this isn't true unless they get a miraculous UKCAT score, and even then they have to do well in the interview.

Reply 67

nagamorris

Original post by Lularose83

Bravo! Listen to this advice, OP😊

thanks buddy, I appreciate you.

Reply 68

21957

Original post by 9091student

I got 7As and 2Bs i have no chance of getting into medicine, im devastated

Those are good GCSE results, don't worry! Medicine is still definately an option... most unis don't even value GCSEs that much and you are above the min. requirements for most! The important thing now is to stay motivated and focus on A levels. Further, ensure that you engage in extracurricular activites plus work experience for a well rounded application. I'm sure you'll be fine... Good luck! :smile:

Reply 69

user 42005

Original post by 21957

Stop giving him bad advice, GCSE's matter greatly in the Medicine application process. Being above the minimum requirements is very different to actually having a competitive application.

Reply 70

9091student

Original post by JRKinder

Stop giving him bad advice, GCSE's matter greatly in the Medicine application process. Being above the minimum requirements is very different to actually having a competitive application.

lol who decided im a boy aha but thanks for the advice everyone, but in alll seriousness do you think it would be foolish putting any hope into this anymore?

Reply 71

manlike99

Original post by JRKinder

Stop giving him bad advice, GCSE's matter greatly in the Medicine application process. Being above the minimum requirements is very different to actually having a competitive application.

Universities OP can still apply to and has a decent chance:Barts - needs a good UCAS tarriff and UKCATNewcastle - Needs a great UKCATKeele - Can even get in with a terrible UKCAT, just do well on the R and R formGlasgow - good UKCATBristol - good PS Aberdeen - good predicted grades and UKCATPlymouth - good UKCATExeter - get predicted 3A*s and you get an interviewManchester - good UKCATSouthampton - great UKCATSheffield - good UKCAT and PSLancaster - good BMATBSMS - good BMATImperial - Great BMATSt george - good UKCATLiverpool - Good UKCAT and PS

and I emphasise the word 'good' aka above average but a not ridiculously high score, e.g)Liverpool's last year was 625 which is acc below the national average. but obviously Imperial, Newcastle and Soton being exception but yes these unis don't care at all about GCSEs/only care for you to meet the minimum requirement for GCSEs. Still quite a few options for the guy don't you think?

Reply 72

user 42005

Original post by 9091student

lol who decided im a boy aha but thanks for the advice everyone, but in alll seriousness do you think it would be foolish putting any hope into this anymore?

Sorry, in my above post I wrote (s)he but I forgot for that one! If you want to go for it then you really will need to get an amazing UKCAT score, and do very well in the interviews. What people don't seem to understand is that whilst your GCSEs are comparatively very good compared to the average, this is very different to the medicine average. You're going to be up against people with flawless grades and even some of these people won't make it. As with anything, there are always odd cases where people do make it in against the odds but you have to be prepared to not succeed too. I wouldn't put medicine for more than one or two of your university options. Just focus on getting a good UKCAT score for now. Good luck, though! :smile:

Reply 73

user 42005

Original post by manlike99

I think you'll find the situation in reality to be very different, as I said minimum website requirements don't reflect what the actual competition will be like. Applications at every university offering medicine are extremely competitive, and with people getting straight A*s the OP's application just won't be competitive alongside this. It's worth a shot if she wants to, but I cannot stress enough how unlikely it will be that she gets in. Believe me, I hope she can prove me wrong, but people posting on here just have no idea how competitive and difficult the process to get into medicine actually is. Especially if half of the commenters are GCSE students who haven't any experience of actually applying to universities or sitting exams that require more than memorisation of the textbook.

Reply 74

manlike99

Original post by JRKinder

Trust me I've researched a lot about the admissions process and I know what places to avoid and what places I can apply to with my GCSEs and I don't think it is too unlikely. And yeah that's very true about them being GCSE students who don't know much about the process. I have the same GCSEs as OP(basically), we shall we see how I fare, I'll keep you updated :smile:

Another important thing is once you do get to the interview stage, it is only the interview which they judge on, and just because someone has 6A*s doesn't mean they'll be better at interviews or writing a top PS

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 75

user 42005

Original post by manlike99

Again, you're missing the point I'm making. Being able to apply =/= being competitive. Equally, that doesn't make success impossible, but everyone who applies who doesn't even get a single A* at GCSE (when the average is about 8-10 iirc) is going to be at an instant disadvantage compared to other applicants. You may think you'll perform well in the interviews (if you get a good enough UKCAT score to get there) but they're much harder than people give them credit for, again especially when most people have never been in a real academic interview before. As with the other person, I wish you the best of luck but you have to be realistic when applying, because I wouldn't want them to be even more distraught at not getting a medicine offer when the chances were incredibly slim in the first place.

Reply 76

manlike99

Original post by JRKinder

No. I know for a fact for these unis mentioned that GCSEs are not at all even looked at further apart from meeting the minimum. And there's an awful lot of them. Yes me and OP wouldn't be competitive for Camb/Oxford/Edinburgh/HYMS/KCL/UEA/Cardiff/Lecister/Notts/Birmingham due to our GCSEs. But the ones I have mentioned have explicitly stated both on their websites, in their email replies to me and on open day that once the minimum requirements are met they don't look at GCSEs further. And I have mentioned quite a few. Thanks for the good luck wish.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 77

ShonaSmith

Original post by 9091student

I got 7As and 2Bs i have no chance of getting into medicine, I'm devastated

I want to go into medicine and I got 5b's, 2c's and 2d's because I go to the worst school in England. Believe me, you have a better chance than most people.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 78

Nnitrk

How valued are medicine-related science projects as extracurriculurs?

Reply 79

thegoddess

Original post by 9091student

I got 7As and 2Bs i have no chance of getting into medicine, im devastated

These are excellent results and literally the unis dont even care much about gcses anymore, only that you passed them above a C. The things you should worry about are your A level results which are the ones that DO matter.

You still have a huge chance to go do medicine so do not be disheartened by it!