Can I still apply to med school?

Hi,

My current situation is pretty bad. My GCSEs are great, I've got work experience, got great PS but I am a resit applicant (taken 3 years to do my A-levels) and I want to apply to medicine.

In my gap year after sixth form I resat both chemistry and biology and ended up getting AAA, but the problem is during my two years sixth form I didn't even do chemistry and biology because back then I had a different career path.

I checked UK med schools which accept resits but most of them either say they want extenuating circumstances (which I don't have) or require me to have gotten AAB/ABB in first sitting, which I obviously didn't get because I didn't even do biology or chemistry.

Does this mean I can only apply for Exeter or Plymouth? (They're the only ones which accept resit applicants without caring about your first sitting)

Thank you :redface:

Reply 1

Helenia

What subjects did you take in sixth form, and what were your original A-level grades?

I think some universities will be more sympathetic to someone who took an extra year in order to do Biology and Chemistry as new subjects and got the grades first time in those exams, than to someone who simply missed the grades in the right subjects. You may not be considered a resit applicant at all if you didn't actually resit any subjects. It's quite an unusual situation though, so I would contact medical schools directly to ask if you would be considered.

Reply 2

Pittawithcheese

I don't think that taking the exams in the third year of A-levels is the kind of re-sitting they are in about. I believe they are referring to people who take Bio and Chem, get and E or something, and then take the exams again the following year.

My first sitting for Alevels was in the year 2000. I am taking Bio and Chem in 2013, but because I didn't take Bio or Chem in 2000 these future exams don't count as a re-sit :-)

Reply 3

Freypops

I know someone who was in the same situation and applied for med school in Plymouth, Exeter as well as in Aberdeen (Scotland). She got rejections from Plymouth, interview at Exeter and accepted in Aberdeen. But she wrote and phoned the universities before she applied explaining what the situation was.

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Reply 4

seaholme

Surely you're not in any way a re-sit applicant? You're not re-sitting anything, you're doing totally brand new stuff o___O That's like calling somebody who takes a gap year a re-sit student, the only factor is time.

Re-sitting is about people who weren't capable of getting the grades for one reason or another on their first attempt at an exam. There are some legitimate reasons why people don't get the grades first time around, but generally it's viewed as a poor prognosis in terms of how you're going to be able to cope with medical school exams, which are more intense and much harder, when you've had some issues with A Levels. That's the rationale behind excluding re-sit candidates, but you are in no way in that sort of situation so I can't imagine it would apply to you in any way, shape or form.

I'd just apply normally. Unless I've totally mis-understood you and you failed or didn't do as well as you wanted to in either Biology or Chemistry and so resat that specific exam, then you're barking up the wrong tree with this one, there's nothing to worry about.