Becoming a doctor

Hi all. I'm in year 10 of high school and I'm going to do my GCSEs next academic year. Does anyone know what I need to study at college and university so I can become a doctor and progress to be a surgeon ? Thanks for any advice.

Reply 1

username3822514

17

Original post by awesome_7

Hi all. I'm in year 10 of high school and I'm going to do my GCSEs next academic year. Does anyone know what I need to study at college and university so I can become a doctor and progress to be a surgeon ? Thanks for any advice.

Have a look here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5611422

Reply 2

Jade10969

9

get good gcse grades first

take biology, maybe chemistry and a third academic subject at a level

more and more unis are no longer requiring chemistry a level but i would double check this when you’re starting to apply for sixthform/college. however still currently places look for biology chemistry and third academic subject or biology, another science including maths physics chemistry, and a third academic subject

sit the UKCAT/ BMAT which is basically the admissions test for all medicine courses

apply for medicine at uni

then get A*A*A-AAA for a level depending on what unis you’ve applied for

you progress to surgery after 5 years at medical school, 2 years foundation training in a hospital, and then take the path for surgery which takes quite a few more years (can’t think of it from the top of my head)

it’s a long journey. lots of dedication and hard work needed. i’m currently year 13 doing my A levels this year got 3/4 offers so far for medicine and it’s weird to think that soon i’ll be studying medicine at uni

Reply 3

thatonethere

16

Traditional route -
10 x GCSE's A*-B
3/4 A levels A grades incl. Biology and Chemistry (not having either will seriously limit where you can apply)
(It used to be B/A grades when I applied but almost everywhere is now asking for A's)
Degree in Medicine and Surgery - at least 5 years, for surgery most people will do an extra year to gain an additional degree to make specialty applications more competitive.
2 x years Foundation training
Core surgical training - 2 years
Higher/specialty surgical training - 4+ years dependant on area you want to go into.
This is excluding additional degrees/research/audits/clinical fellow years and many more things that people do to make it more likely to be accepted onto surgical training programs.

Non-traditional routes into medical school are also available and numerous but you must complete a medical degree and foundation training to get into surgical training.

Reply 4

awesome_7

OP

1

Original post by Jade10969

get good gcse grades first

take biology, maybe chemistry and a third academic subject at a level

more and more unis are no longer requiring chemistry a level but i would double check this when you’re starting to apply for sixthform/college. however still currently places look for biology chemistry and third academic subject or biology, another science including maths physics chemistry, and a third academic subject

sit the UKCAT/ BMAT which is basically the admissions test for all medicine courses

apply for medicine at uni

then get A*A*A-AAA for a level depending on what unis you’ve applied for

you progress to surgery after 5 years at medical school, 2 years foundation training in a hospital, and then take the path for surgery which takes quite a few more years (can’t think of it from the top of my head)

it’s a long journey. lots of dedication and hard work needed. i’m currently year 13 doing my A levels this year got 3/4 offers so far for medicine and it’s weird to think that soon i’ll be studying medicine at uni

Original post by Jade10969

get good gcse grades first

take biology, maybe chemistry and a third academic subject at a level

more and more unis are no longer requiring chemistry a level but i would double check this when you’re starting to apply for sixthform/college. however still currently places look for biology chemistry and third academic subject or biology, another science including maths physics chemistry, and a third academic subject

sit the UKCAT/ BMAT which is basically the admissions test for all medicine courses

apply for medicine at uni

then get A*A*A-AAA for a level depending on what unis you’ve applied for

you progress to surgery after 5 years at medical school, 2 years foundation training in a hospital, and then take the path for surgery which takes quite a few more years (can’t think of it from the top of my head)

it’s a long journey. lots of dedication and hard work needed. i’m currently year 13 doing my A levels this year got 3/4 offers so far for medicine and it’s weird to think that soon i’ll be studying medicine at uni