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Reply 40
Original post by becausethenight
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.

Thank you so much
What about EPQ's does it boost your application?
What other things boost your application (recommendations) aside from grades and work experience?
I don't think I'll be taking a fourth a level cause I want to aim for at least 2 A* and an A which is better than having a B or C.
Original post by Sachetl
Thank you so much
What about EPQ's does it boost your application?
What other things boost your application (recommendations) aside from grades and work experience?
I don't think I'll be taking a fourth a level cause I want to aim for at least 2 A* and an A which is better than having a B or C.

An EPQ at grade A will lower your offer to AAB at some med schools (definitely HYMS and a couple of others, can't remember off the top of my head, @GANFYD will know :smile:) so can be quite helpful but only if you are applying to those med schools and can secure an offer there anyway. If your UCAT is too low to get interviewed at HYMS, you'll never get the lower offer anyway. It can also be good to talk about at interview. It's definitely not obligatory though and again I would do one because you want to, not "just" for medicine.

The main thing that is important in your application is UCAT, BMAT and grades, as they will get you interviews. The best thing you can do to get interviews is get the highest UCAT, BMAT and grades you can. Work experience, a great PS, loads of volunteering are all nice to have and great to mention at interview but useless if you never get that interview in the first place! The exception is Keele and Sunderland who select heavily according to their Roles and Responsibilities form.

I agree with you that it is a terrible idea to do a 4th A level and then get AABB and miss offers.
Reply 42
Does anyone know about the BCAS (biology, chemistry and applied science) does it count as 3 sciences? And is it a good combination for medicine
Original post by Sachetl
Does anyone know about the BCAS (biology, chemistry and applied science) does it count as 3 sciences? And is it a good combination for medicine

Is that two A levels and a BTEC? If so, you’ll need to be quite careful to check that med schools accept it. Some may, but you’d almost certainly have more options with 3 A levels.
Original post by 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


I know right! I only stumbled upon the 2022 entry threads/made more of an effort the end of 2020 and early 2021, to think that people are on a 2023 thread scares me haha. Glad I'm not the only one thinking that!
Hello,
I am a year 11 student and I want to study medicine in the future. I want to go to summer medical school, but cannot seem to find any in London. Could you please give me a piece of advice on what to do? Any alternatives or anything that would be help me get into a medical school?
What Medical schools do you want to study at and what speciality do you want to focus on? I'm interested! :smile:
I'm sorry my brain cells are slow today lol... do you mean 20 ST1 posts for the entire country?
That’s surprisingly low!! Is ST1 different to CST1?
Those competition ratios make my eyes hurt 😭 especially since I remember reading they’re planning to reduce NS ST1 posts lol.

I didn’t know that - thanks though. I guess my clichéd neurosurgery dream will have to be shattered for the next med student cliché - cardiology :rofl:

I didn’t know you had ‘run throughs’ like that for surgical training though, that’s cool. Does IMT have a run through like that too, or is it only IMT 1-3 first?
(edited 2 years ago)
is this the medschool thread for current yr 11s?!
Original post by starinthenight
is this the medschool thread for current yr 11s?!


I think so yes - and others applying for that year
(edited 2 years ago)
I think Psychiatry brought a pilot CAMHS run through that they may well keep too but it is quite competitive compared to normal psychiatry.
I mean London psychiatry already kind of was!
It’s nice if you wanted those jobs then though!
Original post by qwert7890
That’s surprisingly low!! Is ST1 different to CST1?

Neurosurgery is a small and (slightly) shrinking specialty. In reality, they have to turn down far more patients than they actually operate on, as many neurosurgical procedures are highly ineffective. Some of their core procedures are being superseded by e.g. radiotherapy.

There was a recent post where someone asked why so few doctors actually apply to be neurosurgeons when the time comes. Its still enough to cause big competition though of course.

About the only major growth area I can think of is deep brain stimulation - would know more about that than me in terms of scale and what might be coming up in the future.

Someone has to be a neurosurgeon though, and unfortunately you do realistically need to decide to be one very far in advance so you can work extra hard to build that CV. But maybe give it at least a couple years med school before seriously thinking about anything!
hiya wanted to check out a rumour but is it true that if u show a really deep interest into one certain aspect of medicine eg psychiatry, cardiology in your interview its an amazing thing to show ? so in the summer would u recommend to start reading books on a certain aspect of medicine rather than little bits of everything?
Original post by nexttime
Neurosurgery is a small and (slightly) shrinking specialty. In reality, they have to turn down far more patients than they actually operate on, as many neurosurgical procedures are highly ineffective. Some of their core procedures are being superseded by e.g. radiotherapy.

There was a recent post where someone asked why so few doctors actually apply to be neurosurgeons when the time comes. Its still enough to cause big competition though of course.

About the only major growth area I can think of is deep brain stimulation - @ecolier would know more about that than me in terms of scale and what might be coming up in the future.

Someone has to be a neurosurgeon though, and unfortunately you do realistically need to decide to be one very far in advance so you can work extra hard to build that CV. But maybe give it at least a couple years med school before seriously thinking about anything!

Yes haha, neurosurgery is not on my list of top specialties. I’ve only been exposed to a fraction of the myriad of possibilities, so I’ll only decide towards the end of med school.

Also thanks for the link to the post - very interesting indeed..
I know that the ones I have so far found more interesting are not on the uber competitive list
True . Neurology sounds exciting given the inevitable advancements that are still able to happen. Most of the ones I’m thinking (there’s lots) are less than 2-3 applicants per place. The psychiatry run through for child and adolescent actually has been ratio wise lower chances than neurosurgery apparently

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