Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2023 Entry

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would you recommend i keep trying to find work experience and volunteering or should i do that after year 13 until October?

Thank you!

Original post by tbg1213

yea that makes sense, thanks!

No problem! You could also apply to Leicester as well, if you still don’t have the correct number of GCSEs. This is what it says on their website:

Provided the applicant is within two years of leaving school, applicants with achieved A-levels will be automatically invited to interview if they have attained:
-At least grade B or 6 at first sitting in the 4 mandatory GCSE subjects
-AAA at A-level (or 34 or more in the International Baccalaureate, including 666 in HL subjects) in our required subjects within 2 years of taking GCSEs
-A total UCAT score in the top 7 deciles with an SJT band 1-3

Hope this helps :biggrin:

Reply 23

tbg1213

Original post by DSKE

thank you! ill look more into their university :smile:

Reply 24

TCL

Original post by npic9

I’m a law student however my partner is a med student and so I think this is how it goes.

You’re going to have to take Chemistry and Biology for A level. I think you can choose for your third subject ( it’s better if it’s physics, maths, further maths or psychology )

.

It is nice of you to help, but @unknowgal should look at the A level subject thread. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY, it is a common misconception. Having Chemistry and Biology keeps your options most open, but the most important thing is to get AAA. So many people do not manage to get an A for Chemistry, and therefore lose the chance to get into medicine when they could have got an A in something else.

To repeat, TAKE SUBJECTS YOU CAN GET A IN, here are the subject requirements at the various universities when I put my list together a year ago. You should double check current requirements on the websites of any you are interested in:

Edited because I forgot to include ones which required Chemistry:

Chem + 2 other sciences (Bio, Phys or Maths)
Most Cambridge colleges

Bio and Chem + anything else
Aston
Birmingham
Brighton and Sussex
Cardiff
Edge Hill
Exeter
HYMS
Imperial
King's
Lincoln
Nottingham
St George's
UCL

Chem + 1 other science (Bio, Phys or Maths) + anything else
Aberdeen
Bristol
Buckingham
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Liverpool (3rd subject academic)
Oxford
QUB
St Andrews
UCLAN (3rd subject academic)

Bio + 1 of (Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Environmental Studies or Geography) + anything else
Southampton

Bio or Chem + another maths/science + anything else
ARU
Leeds
Barts
Sunderland

Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology + anything else
Manchester
Plymouth
Sheffield
Kent and Medway
Leicester
Keele

2 out of (Bio, Chem, Psychology) + anything else
Lancaster

Bio or Chem plus any other 2
UEA

Any 3
Newcastle

Also look at https://www.medschools.ac.uk/media/2701/msc-entry-requirements-for-uk-medical-schools-2021.pdf

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 25

St George's, University of London

Hey!

If anyone has any questions about Medicine, transferring to Medicine via Biomed at St. George's or gap year then please let me know! Would be very happy to answer any questions :smile:

Best Wishes,
MJ
4th Year MBBS
Official Uni Rep St. George's

Reply 26

Sarah1520

Original post by St George's, University of London

Hey!

If anyone has any questions about Medicine, transferring to Medicine via Biomed at St. George's or gap year then please let me know! Would be very happy to answer any questions :smile:

Best Wishes,
MJ
4th Year MBBS
Official Uni Rep St. George's

Hi, what would be your opinion on the best way to get into medicine if you do not get an offer to study medicine as an undergrad first time round?
I am currently deciding on whether to take my biomed offer at st georges then transfer or to take a gap year. I am worried about the competitiveness of the transfer scheme.

Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 27

TCL

Original post by Sarah1520

We all know that is always right, but if it helps to hear from personal experience, my son got 4 rejections (after interviews) in 2019, then took a gap year and got 3 offers in 2020. My husband was recently being a sample patient for some Bristol students and 2 of the 3 he was talking to had got in after a gap year. It is the "safest" approach to take a gap year and then maybe if you did not get in next year you could consider an alternative degree, which could be biomed. This is even more true if you did not get interviews this year, but have learned enough to be strategic in your applications next year.

Reply 28

gstudent12345

Hi
I am a AS Level student studying Biology, Psychology and Health & Social Care, predicted highly, I am hoping to apply to Newcastle University in 2023/2024 for Medicine. I've heard that Newcastle Uni do not require science for medicine so I was hoping someone could reassure me, I can get in to this Uni with a high UCAT score and these subjects?

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 29

stereotypeasian

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/a100/

you'll need a very high UCAT then......

There is no "hidden agenda".
No Chemistry required = no Chemistry required, it's not "no Chemistry but you'll have an advantage if you did it anyway".

Also don't put all your eggs into one basket - look here for other med courses that will take your A level choices and GCSE grades https://www.medschools.ac.uk/media/2701/msc-entry-requirements-for-uk-medical-schools-2021.pdf

are you able to move this to the A level subject megathread

Reply 30

St George's, University of London

Original post by Sarah1520

Hey!

Hmm that is a tough one. I personally took a gap year because 1) it gave me more experience to make a well informed decision about Medicine, 2) I matured more in that year because I worked in health care based settings (and also saved up a bit for medical school). It depends on if you're willing to take that year out - having seen the competition my friends have gone through it is definitely tough and only a small % of the year get an offer. However having said that, if you get into the transfer scheme then you enter Medicine in the 3rd year and technically spend 6 years in school coming out with a BSc and an MBBS. So it all depends on personal preference. And even if you don't get the transfer, most of our biomed graduates go on to doing graduate medicine. But we can talk about this further if you would like. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?

Best Wishes,
MJ
4th Year MBBS
Official Uni Rep St. George's

Reply 31

TCL

Original post by gstudent12345

See my post above you can look at the following:

Bio + 1 of (Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Environmental Studies or Geography) + anything else
Southampton

Bio or Chem + another maths/science/psychology + anything else
Manchester
Plymouth
Sheffield
Kent and Medway
Leicester
Keele

2 out of (Bio, Chem, Psychology) + anything else
Lancaster

Bio or Chem plus any other 2
UEA

Any 3
Newcastle

Reply 32

gstudent12345

Original post by TCL

thank you so so much. i really appreciate you taking time to reply that has helped me so much 👍

Reply 33

lanadelreyfan789

Original post by KaziMahathir

Hi, I’m applying for medicine 2021 entry and got 2750 Band 1 on the UCAT and 5.7, 6.6, 3.5A on the BMAT.

Those scores were enough for me to get invited to interview at Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and St. George’s. Since the admission tests are only used for shortlisting and aren’t used post-interview (with the exception of Cambridge) I guess my scores served their purpose.

For the UCAT, I recommend watching videos on YouTube (e.g. Sen Kath, Glenes, etc.), using Medify and doing the UCAT Practice Papers. Some used the ISC medical book but I don’t think it’s very suitable.

For the BMAT, I would recommend checking out the CAAT Official BMAT specification, Medify, and the BMAT past papers. Ali Abdaal’s videos on YouTube were also very useful in my opinion.

what university have you firmed + what alevels did you do? (as far as I am aware UCL has a preference for non stem subjects as the third after chem and bio) ty for the advice as well, I'm in year 11 hopefully applying for medicine for 2023 entry :smile:

Reply 34

Pyruvic Acid

Original post by lanadelreyfan789

No worries. I’m not sure which uni I’m going to firm yet since I’m waiting to hear back from all four first. I do Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A level. I’ve never heard about the stem thing personally, but I think doing a language at GCSE is a requirement. Most people on the UCL thread for 2021 entry that I’ve seen do biology, chemistry and maths as well.

Reply 35

Sachetl

Hi there I didn't mean to be rude or anything. I tried searching for the official thread but I couldn't find it so I assumed it hadn't been made. I'm in the process of taking it down as I am quite neww to TSR so I'm not really sure how to that. I'm sorry if that offended you
Thank you for the advice and links :smile:

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 36

tipexmaster25

twenty twenty-THREE??? Honestly I gotta respect anybody who had decided on their career path this early, my poor decision making could never 😂 Thinking about 2023 makes me feel so old

Reply 37

tipexmaster25

My brain still hasn't registered its 2021 just yet- give it 3-5 working days and hopefully I'll come to terms with it by then 😂

Reply 38

Sachetl

Is psychology good for a third option (biology, chemistry and psychology)? And does doing all science and a language give you an added benefit eg (maths/physics, biology, chemistry and a language).
What about doing a fourth a level?
I don't want to do physics nor maths because while I'm not necessarily weak in them I don't enjoy them as I would psychology but I not want my fun to ruin my chances of med school

Reply 39

becausethenight

Original post by Sachetl

Unless you want to apply to some colleges of Cambridge, which require Maths/Physics as a third subject, you should take whatever you are most likely to get an A in. There is no benefit to taking any particular third subject. If you don't enjoy maths or physics, it's unlikely you'll be motivated to study them and do well. Bio, Chem, Psych is probably the 2nd or 3rd most common combination for medical applicants anyway (source: me)

As for a fourth A level it might very slightly boost your application at a few very specifiic med schools (Barts, Manchester via holistic route, QUB) but there's no need to take one and it's much more impprtant to get AAA and meet offers, so I wouldn't take one unless you really want to and are confident you'll do well.