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Medicine - without chemistry

Hey everyone, good day to all!
I have recently gained an interest in going to medical school, but however I have finished my GCSEs already and unfortunately have not taken chemistry as a subject, I want to attend a good, reputable med school programme. However, I have previously written Biology, Physics papers in sciences. Has the ship sailed or do I still have a shot.

PS: both biology and physics papers were A's
thank you very much in advance!
chem is more important than bio for medicine. chem is essential for most universities
Reply 2
Avatar for olivelga
olivelga
7
reluctant to say this, but most (reputable) universities will not accept a medical student without chemistry a level. perhaps im being stupid but the concept that chemistry is imperative and biology is (although preferred) optional is unfathomable to me lol?? so i dont blame you for your confusion, but unfortunately i do believe it is a necessity :frown: you never know, i might be generalising and there might be some that don't require chemistry ?????? good luck with whatever you choose to do regardless !
Reply 3
Avatar for Sarvienn
Sarvienn
OP
11
Original post by olivelga
reluctant to say this, but most (reputable) universities will not accept a medical student without chemistry a level. perhaps im being stupid but the concept that chemistry is imperative and biology is (although preferred) optional is unfathomable to me lol?? so i dont blame you for your confusion, but unfortunately i do believe it is a necessity :frown: you never know, i might be generalising and there might be some that don't require chemistry ?????? good luck with whatever you choose to do regardless !


hey! thanks. Do you reckon I do chemistry for A levels, WITHOUT a foundation from gcse?
Reply 4
Avatar for ma_long
ma_long
16
No Chemistry A Level = No Medicine

You NEED Chemistry A Level.
Reply 5
Avatar for Sarvienn
Sarvienn
OP
11
Original post by ma_long
No Chemistry A Level = No Medicine

You NEED Chemistry A Level.


thanks man! do u think its possible i do a levels chemistry without gcse?
Reply 6
Avatar for ma_long
ma_long
16
Original post by Sarvienn
thanks man! do u think its possible i do a levels chemistry without gcse?


You need to have done GCSE Double Science or GCSE Triple Science (I don't know if these still exist, I did GCSEs in 2008). I originally wanted to do medicine before flopping my A Levels and back then you needed A Level Chemistry to do medicine.
It depends on the university and the courses they have. Some might need it as a requirement but others might give it within or ask you to pass a test. I had the same problem with biology, i wanted to do something with bio but didn’t do chemistry. I asked my teacher if i had a chance and told me too look for universities and found one. If not, what you could still do it to redo the GCSE outside of school. Studying in your own time, entering and paying yourself.
Original post by Sarvienn
Hey everyone, good day to all!
I have recently gained an interest in going to medical school, but however I have finished my GCSEs already and unfortunately have not taken chemistry as a subject, I want to attend a good, reputable med school programme. However, I have previously written Biology, Physics papers in sciences. Has the ship sailed or do I still have a shot.

PS: both biology and physics papers were A's
thank you very much in advance!


Several of the above posters are incorrect in saying that chemistry is essential for medicine. There are five UK medical schools which do not require it at A-level:

https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/choosing-a-medical-school/what-a-levels-do-you-need-to-be-a-doctor/

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by ma_long
No Chemistry A Level = No Medicine

You NEED Chemistry A Level.


No. See above post.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Sarvienn
hey! thanks. Do you reckon I do chemistry for A levels, WITHOUT a foundation from gcse?


sorry, im not sure what you mean? x
(edit) oops, i reread and i figured it out. i'm not actually entirely sure, to be honest, but i think that since chemistry a level is a pretty intense course developing the understanding established at gcse level would be a good idea: perhaps you could choose to sit the gcse outside of school ??
(edited 5 years ago)
OP is saying they haven’t done GCSE chemistry, they’re not talking about a level.

I understand that you have done only biology and physics at gcse ? I didn’t even know anybody could do that haha.

You will need to speak to sixth forms/ colleges to see if they will let you take a level chemistry without gcse knowledge. If any do let you, you’ll definitely need to do a lot of background reading.

I don't see medical schools letting you in without even gcse chemistry - there are a couple who might let you get away with biology and another science a level but even these will question why you haven’t done gcse chemistry. If you have a level chemistry without gcse then you should be fine in terms of applying for a medicine degree (but you will need to clarify this with unis). But it’s just getting onto the a level course without the gcse.
Would your sixth form/college let you do Chemstry A Level anyway?

If not, then you'd probably have to learn the GCSe Level Chemistry course and do the exams (tbh just getting a grade B would be fine for some medical schools).

Then I guess you could do A Level Chemistry in a gap year or something??

There's quite a lot of good resources for GCSE Chemistry (Snap Reavise, StudySmartScience etc.) - you could just teach the course to yourself if you wanted to.
Reply 13
Avatar for Doones
Doones
21
Moved to the Medicine forum.

OP in addition to the (limited number of) medschools that don't require chemistry, you could also consider a foundation year.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by ma_long
You need to have done GCSE Double Science or GCSE Triple Science (I don't know if these still exist, I did GCSEs in 2008). I originally wanted to do medicine before flopping my A Levels and back then you needed A Level Chemistry to do medicine.


What are you studying now? Are you considering GEM?
Original post by Wolfram Alpha
What are you studying now? Are you considering GEM?


lol, I'm doing a PhD in finance. Maybe in my next life I will learn medicine, haha.
Original post by Mottita23
It depends on the university and the courses they have. Some might need it as a requirement but others might give it within or ask you to pass a test. I had the same problem with biology, i wanted to do something with bio but didn’t do chemistry. I asked my teacher if i had a chance and told me too look for universities and found one. If not, what you could still do it to redo the GCSE outside of school. Studying in your own time, entering and paying yourself.


If you don't mind me asking, which course and which Uni was it?

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