Biosciences Applicants 2015

Who else is thinking of applying for a Biology related course for 2015 or 2016 entry? Anyone got any advice specific to Biology applications?

I got AAAA at AS and would like to apply for a general Biology course. I've booked open days for Bath, York, St Andrews and hopefully also Warwick.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

academichopeful

2

what as levels did you study?

Reply 2

helwolf

Hey guys! I'll be applying to general Biology courses for 2015 entry. :smile:

I currently have AAB in my AS levels. I do Biology, Geography, and Chemistry. I'm also taking a Philosophy AS which is pending because I don't complete the full qualification until June 2015. I am planning on retaking both Chemistry modules to boost it to an A. Kind of disappointed that I didn't just work my socks off the first time around, but I'm trying to be positive because at least I'll revise concepts I need for A2 anyway! :colondollar:

My predicted grades will either be AAA or, hopefully, A*AA.

As for universities, I've (tentatively, VERY tentatively) decided on Durham, York, Bristol, Sheffield, and Leeds. I'm applying for integrated masters degrees at all of the unis which offer them because I'd love to worm my way into an eventual research career.

Hope everyone's first couple weeks of year 13 are going well! :jumphug:

Reply 3

sunandstars

OP

1

Original post by academichopeful

what as levels did you study?

Chemistry, Biology, Spanish & English Lit

Reply 4

sunandstars

OP

1

Original post by helwolf

Hey guys! I'll be applying to general Biology courses for 2015 entry. :smile:

I currently have AAB in my AS levels. I do Biology, Geography, and Chemistry. I'm also taking a Philosophy AS which is pending because I don't complete the full qualification until June 2015. I am planning on retaking both Chemistry modules to boost it to an A. Kind of disappointed that I didn't just work my socks off the first time around, but I'm trying to be positive because at least I'll revise concepts I need for A2 anyway! :colondollar:

My predicted grades will either be AAA or, hopefully, A*AA.

As for universities, I've (tentatively, VERY tentatively) decided on Durham, York, Bristol, Sheffield, and Leeds. I'm applying for integrated masters degrees at all of the unis which offer them because I'd love to worm my way into an eventual research career.

Hope everyone's first couple weeks of year 13 are going well! :jumphug:

Wow sounds like you have a good plan!
I'm going on an open day to York in a week or so but not sure how I feel about it yet. I've been to Bath which was really nice and I guess I'll apply there, although it seems very competitive as it's quite a small uni. Also really like the look of St Andrews and have booked an open day but again not sure if I would realistically get an offer.

How's your personal statement going?

Reply 5

paige09

1

Original post by sunandstars

Who else is thinking of applying for a Biology related course for 2015 or 2016 entry? Anyone got any advice specific to Biology applications?

I got AAAB (B in English Lit) at AS and would like to apply for a general Biology course. I've booked open days for Bath, York, St Andrews and hopefully also Warwick.

I'm on a current gap year but I originally applied to do Biological Sciences for entry 2014, but just missed my biology grade so I'm resitting my biology A2 modules this year as I need an A and hoping to go uni next September. What I would say is get as much work experience done as you can before sending off your UCAS application, universities like to see that you have had some sort of experience in what you want to do, you could ask hospitals or pharmacies etc, depending on what type of biology-related degree you want to do. I'm sure this type of work experience will be good for a general Biology degree. You could do outside reading, from magazines like the biological sciences review magazines that Manchester University write (but that's totally up you). Also for the academic side, you'll have no problem as your AS results are awesome! I got 3 high Bs in chemistry, biology and maths at AS level and got offers last year.

Reply 6

helwolf

Original post by sunandstars

Wow sounds like you have a good plan!
I'm going on an open day to York in a week or so but not sure how I feel about it yet. I've been to Bath which was really nice and I guess I'll apply there, although it seems very competitive as it's quite a small uni. Also really like the look of St Andrews and have booked an open day but again not sure if I would realistically get an offer.

How's your personal statement going?

Tell me what you think about York! I liked it when my older sister was there a few years ago but I don't have a chance to go to an open day so I'm just hoping it's... still cool... with lots of evil geese... Tell me if you prefer it to Bath or not too, because I had a really hard time choosing between York and Bath based on visiting neither and my eventual decision was largely because I'd prefer a uni which is bigger in terms of departments and has students who do more subjects, if that makes sense. The variety would be nice.

:erm:

I started my personal statement a few days ago and I've written about 3,000 characters, all of which I'm pretty sure will be edited out soon... First paragraph is SO ELUSIVE I just started on the second paragraph and ignore the empty ache where a beginning should be... How about you, how's yours going? :smile:

Reply 7

Ohliwiah

10

I'd like to apply to do a straight biology course as well. I got AAC in biology, psychology and chemistry AS. (Resitting one chemistry exam that brought my grade down, hopefully I'll get a B overall) Is it realistic for me to get offers from unis that want AAB-ABB?

My personal statement is not going well at all. :s-smilie:

Reply 8

It's_Ailie

11

I'll be (hopefully) going to uni in 2016, and I think I want to do something biology related. I've had biomed in my head but don't actually know THAT much about the different things available. Is there anybody doing/applying for a course that could give me a bit of insight into what's available?
Oh my subjects this year are English, maths, chemistry, biology and history all at higher (think this is Scottish equivalent of a-levels)

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Reply 9

sunandstars

OP

1

Original post by Ohliwiah

I'd like to apply to do a straight biology course as well. I got AAC in biology, psychology and chemistry AS. (Resitting one chemistry exam that brought my grade down, hopefully I'll get a B overall) Is it realistic for me to get offers from unis that want AAB-ABB?

My personal statement is not going well at all. :s-smilie:

I'm no expert but I think you could apply for AAB-ABB, just make sure you apply for a range! What are your predicted grades?

Any luck on the personal statement since you posted this?

Reply 10

Ohliwiah

10

Original post by sunandstars

I'm no expert but I think you could apply for AAB-ABB, just make sure you apply for a range! What are your predicted grades?

Any luck on the personal statement since you posted this?

Ah, thats what I was going to go for! I'm not sure what my predicted grades are yet, but most probably A*AB :smile:

I have a very rough draft that is still pretty bad but I just plan on showing it to teachers now and rewriting according to their opinions. Thank you for replying

Reply 11

brbwafflesyay

2

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone thinks I'd have a chance at applying to UCL for Biomedical Sciences with AAA (Bio, Chem, Maths) achieved at A2 but a C in my 4th AS? I have 7A*'s and 3A's at GCSE, but my PS is tailored towards Medicine.
Is it a good idea or not because it wouldn't be great to have my 5th choice reject me...

Reply 12

MioMao

Original post by Ohliwiah

I'd like to apply to do a straight biology course as well. I got AAC in biology, psychology and chemistry AS. (Resitting one chemistry exam that brought my grade down, hopefully I'll get a B overall) Is it realistic for me to get offers from unis that want AAB-ABB?

My personal statement is not going well at all. :s-smilie:

Hi! I also got AAC in bio, psych and chem this year and I'm resitting both chemistry modules. I got my application in really early 01/10/14, and I got Biomedical science integrated masters offers from Newcastle (AAB) and Liverpool (ABB) yesterday so I reckon you should be fine with those grades, even though you're doing a slightly different course

Don't worry!

Reply 13

woffletoffle

Hi guys!

Hoping to apply for Bsc Biotechnology at Manchester (first choice) which requires ABB but i'm worried that it won't go down well with my predicted ABC grades :frown:

Studying Bio, Chem and Phys and hoping to raise my physics to a B, but I'm worried that I won't get an A overall for biology.

Will I get an offer with ABC? :frown:

and if all fails, does anyone know of anyone getting into ABB courses with BBB?

Thanks! :smile:

Reply 14

Ohliwiah

10

Original post by MioMao

Hi! I also got AAC in bio, psych and chem this year and I'm resitting both chemistry modules. I got my application in really early 01/10/14, and I got Biomedical science integrated masters offers from Newcastle (AAB) and Liverpool (ABB) yesterday so I reckon you should be fine with those grades, even though you're doing a slightly different course

Don't worry!

Oh what a coincidence haha! Congratulations on your offers. It's amazing how early you got your application in :O I just worry a lot, and getting into university is a huge deal for me, but it's also very exciting :biggrin:

Reply 15

helwolf

Original post by It's_Ailie

I'll be (hopefully) going to uni in 2016, and I think I want to do something biology related. I've had biomed in my head but don't actually know THAT much about the different things available. Is there anybody doing/applying for a course that could give me a bit of insight into what's available?
Oh my subjects this year are English, maths, chemistry, biology and history all at higher (think this is Scottish equivalent of a-levels)

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I was torn between biology, biomed, biochem, and molecular biology for a while so I can tell you a bit about those.

Biology is obviously the more 'open' kind of course. Many universities offer vast flexibility and generally a biology student will have opportunities to specialise in their second and especially third year. Biology will cover everything from the molecular level to entire ecosystems, and all the stuff in between.

In some unis biology is in the same department as biochem and occasionally biomed (I know Durham is like this). It means that you don't really NEED to be sure about what you want to do because you can fairly easily switch courses up until second year at the minimum. Biology courses also vary between unis in that some will be more qualified (in relation to research and modules on offer) in a certain area. For example, Bristol is generally more ecology-focused whereas Bath tends to the molecular side. You can do branches of biology as degrees too, such as zoology, molecular cell biology, and genetics, if you have a very specific interest, but these are easy as hell to change around once you're on a biology degree so if you're not sure then in my opinion it's not worth going for a specific one.

Biomedical will be more focused on the biology of disease, clinical genetics and clinical biochem, haematology, tissue pathology, etc. Some modules will be the same as biology, such as immunology, cytology, some level of ecology but in a human perspective. The first year will basically near enough be a biology degree. Originally, as far as I know, biomedical courses were aimed at students who went on to be scientists working within hospitals themselves, so if that kind of profession appeals to you then it's definitely a great idea. Many medical research careers outside of hospitals, such as Cancer Research UK, are less specific and (depending on the role) allow biochem, biology, etc. graduates.

Biochemistry tends to be described as "chemistry, but with biological molecules". Hence, the biology is generally less so than the chemistry (in a lot of unis biochem is either a separate department altogether or aligned with the chem department, but in others biochem is with biology so the blur between the subjects will be greater). All of the chemistry topics like rates of reactions, reaction pathways, chemical structure, etc. will be a big part of biochem, so it's sort of an applied chemistry course. If you're more into biology than chemistry then I reckon this is not the course for you, but if you prefer chemistry and yet want to retain a biological element then it'd be ace.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck choosing your course!

Biosciences Applicants 2015

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