Good enough for medicine?

Congratulations for you.
If you go onto the Medicine page on the student room you will find it hard to find an application who has anything less then 3A*'s however i do understand there are some exceptions. But being realistic for your future is important and if you are trying to get into medicine with a few A's at GCSE then you have put yourself at a disadvantage. I cannot say that he wont make it but most people are in a much better situation than him.

I only had 2A*'s/6A's/2Bs at GCSE, but I got AAAA in AS and predictions of A*AAA (which I managed to achieve). My UKCAT was 600 (first time applying / 2013 entry) and 660 (second time applying / 2014 entry).


Sure, my UKCAT and GCSEs weren't great but I managed to get one interview each UCAS cycle. All you have to do is look for universities that don't look at GCSEs as much (or don't differentiate between A* / A's). It is definitely possible to get into medicine with only a few A*s at GCSE. Just apply strategically, and try and compensate with a higher UKCAT.

If you have quite a few A's at GCSE and a not-so-good UKCAT then try
- Liverpool - 15 points (A*/A = 2; B=1)
- Lancaster
- UEA - achieving you A Levels (after a gap year), they do not look at AS / GCSE (they supplied this info by phone), except for minimum English/Maths GCSE.
- Sheffield

I applied to some of these either for 2013/2014 entry so check to see if they've changed their entry requirements for 2015 entry.

Also calling individual universities can help you to decide which ones to apply to. I think Hull York guarantee an interview if you get above a certain UKCAT, so that's something to look into a well. Some unis look more at your personal statement and less at you academics; reading previous applicant threads/ringing admission/internet information on uni's website is very useful for figuring out what universities priorities are.

The population of tsr isnt a true one, quite alot of the people here applying to medicine are the high achievers who have the determination to study med as seen by their questioning people in forums/current med students/docs and also of you look at the ukcat stalking page, its full of bloody high scores for a lot of unis which isnt a true representitive because only ppl who do good/reasonably well will post their scores, i know loads freinds who sat the ukcat over the past few years who didnt get much higher than the average 600 and on tsr you will see people getting 800s. Furthermore he is not a disadvantage, it depends on what unis you are talking about? Have you even looked up the selection processes and requirments of different medical schools? You will some that use their personal statement mostly some, even using it to account for around 50% for scoring purposes (keele, aberdeen) with the rest being gcse's and a levels, you find universites such as exeter that wont even care how bad you did in you gcse's and ukcat (to an extent) as long as you have 3a's for a level and have min 5c's for gcse, you have to do your own research and apply tactically my friend


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EXACTLY. you have A*'s and A's the point we are debating is when someone has only a few A's e.g three. Your application looks strong!

All my life people were giving me crap such as "oh you need to be good in maths to do good in chem" and "you might aswell due something like biomed and not medicine coz of your gcse's" (i had 4a 3b 1c- i really had less overall because i did a few short courses) but i went about and proved them wrong. Those that got then 5A* and got rejected, they may have had a poor ps, ukcat, bmat, a levels or down to luck. Whilst it is true good gcses can be helpful, but not always because some universities such as plymouth/exeter dont care about crap you did in your gcse's and maybe even ukcat to an extent as long as you have AAA at level whilst some focus alot on ps (keeles etc) and another such as bham asking for 8a*s- message to take away from this is apply tactically. Lol you make me sound old bro, "times have changed" i only got into medicine last year, times probably havnt changed much if any.


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These are quite similar to my GCSE grades, though I did mine under quite unusual circumstances, so I don't know if they took that into account. Plus, I got into medical school five years ago and I know many places have brought up their grade requirements, including my medical school.

I think that this could be good enough, depending on the medical school. You need to look for a medical school that does not put emphasis on GCSE's. Don't apply to Birmingham, for instance. You also need to smash your AS-levels to show them that you are capable.

I was responding to people who were stating whether x amount of A*'s was appropriate, or people were saying that less than 5A*'s and you're pretty much rejected. Sorry, should've been more clear

In regards to lower GCSEs:

In my opinion with <6-8 A's at GCSE, your chances are low, purely due to the amount of universities that you can apply to. For example, with 5A's you may only have 10 universities that will definitely consider you, then if you happen to do poorly on your UKCAT then that number lowers, so you're limited - it's definitely not impossible.

In regards to the OP, your GCSEs are strong, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, due to the amount of applicants to medicine, it is unlikely, even with 4As at AS that you will receive an interview. It is possible though, you will be very limited with your university choices - I strongly recommend that you ring up individual universities and ask. Also, prepare for your UKCAT, as you'll need something to really balance out your lower GCSEs. Try do it a month before the October deadline, so you have time to ring up universities and decide. You will really have to apply strategically. Assuming 4 A's AS and a high UKCAT it is definitely possible for you to get an interview.

Otherwise there are many courses that offer access to medicine. This means that you do a one year course then at the end of that depending on performance and non-academic things you may get an interview and subsequent offer for medicine at their linked university.

What you really have to decide is whether you want to
- apply to medicine once or try two times (with a gap year);
- have a backup of an access course, or have a backup of a scientific-degree with career prospects that you would enjoy with the option for grad med;
- have a backup of an non-scientific degree which you would enjoy, but without the possibility of grad med;
- apply to 5 non-medicine degree choices and either try for access/graduate later on.
- apply abroad

I would not recommend doing a gap year if you do not get in first time due to your GCSEs, as no amount of extra work experience / volunteering will change academic achievements.

Personally, if you are really committed to medicine, then I would apply to UCAS for medicine (as you have to do so anyway), then have a backup of an access course - which you should have no problem getting into.

When you want to transfer from an access course to the med school then they generally do not look at previous academic achievement - just the one year in university. So that should give you a good shot. You can also complete she access course (3-4 years) and try for grad med.

Thats rare. If someone has only got four A's at AS then i doubt they will get A*A*A*.

The max grade you can get at AS is an A, good one.

This just shows how narrow minded your viewpoint is and how little you actually know about medicine entry...

Would 7A's(Maths, Bio, Chem.) 2B's(Eng. Language) and a C suffice to be thinking about going into medicine?? (Doing Biology, Chemistry,History& Philosophy at A level)

Well done for correcting my mistake. So here is your point: a made a mistake so i know nothing about medicine entry. Wow! There is a genius over here! Great point mate!

Thats rare. If someone has only got four A's at AS then i doubt they will get A*A*A*.

That coupled with your previous conclusion helped me arrive at my assumption 'mate'!