Which course is best?

Finally decided I want to go into medicine. However, I've done the wrong A-Levels and don't want to resit and the majority of universities, from what I've seen, don't want under-grad applications from people who have effectively re-done A Levels.

I've been in a primary position of care for a few years now, so this will help my education and have paid employment and volunteer work set up.

The pre-clinical courses won't accept me because of GCSEs and have actually no science a levels at all. My predictions for final a level grades are A*AA in all humanities subjects.

But, my question is should I do an access course? Is it worth it and are the chances of getting into medical school any good with one of these?

OR

Should I take an English lit. degree (my A* at a level) and enter as a graduate, I'm not concerned about fees. But, the issues I have with this is if it matters if the degree comes from a prestigious university or not? Would I be overlooked for doing a degree with the OU or somewhere that isn't Russell Group like Essex for instance?

I'll be on gap year after A2.

Thanks.

Have you looked at UCL's basc? http://www.ucl.ac.uk/basc/faq/further
Arts and Sciences can be used as a pre-med degree.

Finally decided I want to go into medicine. However, I've done the wrong A-Levels and don't want to resit and the majority of universities, from what I've seen, don't want under-grad applications from people who have effectively re-done A Levels.

I've been in a primary position of care for a few years now, so this will help my education and have paid employment and volunteer work set up.

The pre-clinical courses won't accept me because of GCSEs and have actually no science a levels at all. My predictions for final a level grades are A*AA in all humanities subjects.

But, my question is should I do an access course? Is it worth it and are the chances of getting into medical school any good with one of these?

OR

Should I take an English lit. degree (my A* at a level) and enter as a graduate, I'm not concerned about fees. But, the issues I have with this is if it matters if the degree comes from a prestigious university or not? Would I be overlooked for doing a degree with the OU or somewhere that isn't Russell Group like Essex for instance?

I'll be on gap year after A2.

Thanks.

Just had a quick look- do you know if that would be accepted by other universities other than UCL?


Thanks for your help

There are some Medicine courses with a foundation year that are specifically designed for those who did not take the right A-levels, look into it. Otherwise you could potentially do Bio and Chem intensively in a third year - some people have discussed doing this before (even recently) and the consensus was that it probably would be fine because it's not spreading a normal A-level workload out, it's just doing more at the end - but you may need to contact some med schools individually to get it in writing that they'll accept this.

Access is mainly for mature students who have had a significant break from study - that is not you - but could possibly be one way of doing it. You'll need to carefully check what each med school says about Access in their UCAS entry - some only accept a few specific courses, some specify Access to Medicine, some won't accept any at all.

Grad Entry is much more competitive to get into, so you'll need to think quite hard about that. Prestige of your previous uni does not matter when applying and people do get in with OU/Ex-poly/etc degrees. This doesn't sound like the route you should be considering for now, however.

I've seen those courses but the majority want A level or AS in at least one science and of course I don't meet that, but I tend not to meet GCSE requirements.

I understand that about access. What makes you say that about GEM?

Thanks

Normally, applicants with A-level qualifications (or equivalent) are not eligible. However, students who are studying, or have completed A-levels (or equivalent) in subjects inappropriate for direct entry to their chosen degree subject, or completed their A-level (or equivalent) studies over three years prior to application, are eligible to apply.

Grades AAB are required at A2 level in one of the following combinations:Three rigorous arts subjects (ie 60% theoretical content), Two rigorous arts subjects and one science subject, One rigorous arts subject and two science subjects (not chemistry). All A-level subjects must have no more than 40% of total marks based on course work.

I can't believe I missed all of those, thanks so much for finding them.

A* English Lit.
A* English Lang
A History
B-Biology
B-Chemistry
B-Drama
C-Physics
C- Maths

I went to a school that sees less than 30% of its students achieve 5A*-C grades including English and maths. I'm retaking the C grade maths at college.