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Will my GCSEs hold me back for Medicine?

Always known i have wanted to do Medicine, but did not realise how important GCSEs are (until now) in applying for it. I was under the impression that as long as i got the grades to get into Sixth form, i could get the AAA in Chemistry Biology etc and be fine, so i did 0 revision and slacked really hard. My grades are 8877666654D, the 5 is in maths :/, and the 7 is English, 8 in Biology and 6 in Chemistry and Physics.

Will i still be able to do Medicine? And if so will i need to resit Maths etc?
Original post by f14tf2
Always known i have wanted to do Medicine, but did not realise how important GCSEs are (until now) in applying for it. I was under the impression that as long as i got the grades to get into Sixth form, i could get the AAA in Chemistry Biology etc and be fine, so i did 0 revision and slacked really hard. My grades are 8877666654D, the 5 is in maths :/, and the 7 is English, 8 in Biology and 6 in Chemistry and Physics.

Will i still be able to do Medicine? And if so will i need to resit Maths etc?


Hi there!! Those grades are great (so don't let anyone else tell you different! well done!) but in the context of medicine, they are a tad low (Maths particularly, but you could repeat it and you'd be fine) considering you will be going up against candidates with 9/8/A*/7/A in all their subjects. Many universities place more importance on entry tests, such as the BMAT and UKCAT (i.e Nottingham for the BMAT for example) so try to apply to those types of universities and do well at AS ( if you do it) and make sure to get smashing work experience in a healthcare setting ( just be wary as you might not be able to use St. John's Ambulance as an example of this, as you can't with Nottingham at postgrad medicine), and a strong personal statement and you'd be fine. Alternatively, you could apply to a degree such as Biomedical Science at university and then apply for medicine after (although this is expensive and takes about 7-8 years depending on where you do your degree) but this will take the burden off you to get all A*/A at A-level for medicine. Just make sure to do chemistry at A-level and do particularly well in it as it is the essential A level for medicine, even over biology, and some universities require it at A level to do postgraduate medicine. Again, congratulations on the results and enjoy the rest of the summer before school starts again.
Reply 2
Original post by Vertigo77
Hi there!! Those grades are great (so don't let anyone else tell you different! well done!) but in the context of medicine, they are a tad low (Maths particularly, but you could repeat it and you'd be fine) considering you will be going up against candidates with 9/8/A*/7/A in all their subjects. Many universities place more importance on entry tests, such as the BMAT and UKCAT (i.e Nottingham for the BMAT for example) so try to apply to those types of universities and do well at AS ( if you do it) and make sure to get smashing work experience in a healthcare setting ( just be wary as you might not be able to use St. John's Ambulance as an example of this, as you can't with Nottingham at postgrad medicine), and a strong personal statement and you'd be fine. Alternatively, you could apply to a degree such as Biomedical Science at university and then apply for medicine after (although this is expensive and takes about 7-8 years depending on where you do your degree) but this will take the burden off you to get all A*/A at A-level for medicine. Just make sure to do chemistry at A-level and do particularly well in it as it is the essential A level for medicine, even over biology, and some universities require it at A level to do postgraduate medicine. Again, congratulations on the results and enjoy the rest of the summer before school starts again.


Thanks, i have got the work experiance / shadowing planned and volunteering done already, i know i can get the A level grades if i put the work in for it (I am taking Chemistry, Biology and English Lit/Lang). I will resit Maths for this November, and i believe i can get a 7, but i am still worried if the GCSEs would be enough to get past the first stage of applying, and whether or not they would look down upon the resit.

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