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CLOSED - The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread MK IV

Reply 3700

Lemur14

Volunteer Section Leader

21

Hiya @lavender5959 :wavey:

I've popped your thread into the medicine forum where one of our medicine experts can get back to you :smile:

Reply 3701

TSR George

OP

17

Original post by lavender5959

i am an international student who plans to study medicine in the UK , and it was only yesterday when i got my igcse results. do take in mind that these are predicted grades, not ones i got by sitting my actual exams(obviously because of coronavirus and all that). i'm taking 8 igcse subjects in total. 5 being the ones i took in the MAY/JUNE 2020 SESSION , hence the ones i got my results for, and the 3 left ,i am yet to take this october/november session.
so the results i got for the 5 subjects are:
biology 9
chemistry 9
physics 9
maths 8
ESL 7
(english as as second language)

hence 4 A stars and 1 A . i know i still have my alevel exams i will be sitting in the next two years and these will majorly dictate which uni i end up in but from these results, do you think that i would be able to get into high standard colleges in the UK e,g: King's college London, Imperial, bristol uni, uni of brimingham, etc...

also, i know oxbridge applicants usually have like 12 gcses subjects, scoring all 8/9 s in them , but out of curiousity, if i were to apply to oxbridge with 8 igcse subjects with decent grades of 8/9 s , would i have the slighest chance of getting into a medical program there ?

Unlikely Oxford. Cambridge has no GCSE requirements.

A lot will depend on your BMAT too.

Post originally created by ecolier.

Reply 3702

Anonymously.y

15

Hi I’m currently in year 12 transitioning to year 13 in September, I didn’t sit the UCAT exam. I wanted to ask if I did year 13 twice without sitting any exam in the first year, so I only sit the A-Level exams in may 2022 would universities still accept me to take medicine despite there being a 3 year gap between the date I took my GCSE’s 2019 and my A-Levels 2022?

Reply 3703

Anonymously.y

15

I know it’s harder to get into medicine if you sit the exam twice but I’m considering to just sit it the year after, so I do A-Levels for 3 years instead of 2

Reply 3704

leahnj

15

most unis specify they want the A Level course to be completed in 2 years :frown:

Reply 3705

Compost

19

If you're at a state school you're unlikely to be able to sit Y13 twice without a very good reason.

Reply 3706

Anonymously.y

15

Original post by Compost

If you're at a state school you're unlikely to be able to sit Y13 twice without a very good reason.

I study in Birmingham, my school allows students to retake the year if the students are not doing well, but I feel like I wouldn’t get good grades cuz of my mental health if I sit the exams in the next academic year

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 3707

Anonymous17!

18

Exams sat in october will be considered resists by the university of Sheffield. Students who resit for Sheffield generally need to meet AAA so I guess it isn’t horrible in the sense I don’t need to get A*’s in October like I would for Manchester or other med schools.
But this just makes things so much worse.
I’m already trying to resit a gcse and now if I don’t get AAA tomorrow, any exams I take could be viewed as resits.
So I’d be a medical applicant who had to resit a gcse AND a-levels. I already didn’t feel like I was good enough for medicine, but now I just feel like I’ve got no shot. I know medicine is hard but it just feels like recently that for every step I take I get pushed back two. I really really hope none of the other unis I want to apply RO will view October exams as resits. I just sent out emails today and haven’t heard anything back yet (it will take a while of course) but if they come back and say ‘yeah, they’re resits, you’ll be subjected to our resit policy’ I’m going to have a breakdown 😞 not to sound dramatic

Reply 3708

chikubittoo

8

@GANFYD
@Keels25
@becausethenight

Please can you confirm If I fulfill the criteria of these two medical schools
HYMS A100
Aston A100

Predicted AAA
GCSE 8877666BB ( English Language resit imprived grade from 5 to 6)
UCAT 2575 B2

Thanks in advance.

Reply 3709

GANFYD

18

Original post by Anonymous17!

Not all jobs in medicine are the same. Some specialists have 9–5 working hours and weekends off and you can book holidays and spend time with family etc, like GP work. You could also apply to work in private medicine where you would have set hours as well. There is a doctor I know who specialised in dermatology and they work for a private dermatology clinic, they work 9-6 mon-fri and they’re closed on weekends. There are options. But if you want to do something like surgery and you want to ‘save a life’ that way, then you would have to make some sacrifices. I do agree with the saying that if you have doubts about medicine don’t do it. That doesn’t mean you can’t have doubts myself. I want to have a family and spend time with them and go on holidays, but I also want to a highly competitive speciality where I will mostly work on call, be self employed, would have to drive halfway across England in some cases and go here there and everywhere. But I love medicine and I will find ways to balance the two, it might not be possible but I will at least try. Like I said, there are other, less unpredictable medical specialities, I suppose you would just have to choose one of those. You could have both things then

Having just arrived home from work, I would challenge the idea that GPs work 9-5....
Core hours that we have to be open are 8-6.30 and service have to be offered somewhere by your PCN (or someone they contract to) 8-8 7 days a week.....

Reply 3710

TSR George

OP

17

Original post by chikubittoo

...UCAT 2575 B2....

Is this UCAT from this or last year?

Post originally created by ecolier.

Reply 3711

chikubittoo

8

This score is for last year.

I have booked one for the end of September 2020

Reply 3712

Anonymous17!

18

Original post by GANFYD

Having just arrived home from work, I would challenge the idea that GPs work 9-5....
Core hours that we have to be open are 8-6.30 and service have to be offered somewhere by your PCN (or someone they contract to) 8-8 7 days a week.....

Ah sorry, my bad. I’m not well versed on the details but I just wanted to give them an idea that there’s other specialties they can do

Reply 3713

Keels25

16

Original post by chikubittoo

@ecolier
@GANFYD
@Keels25
@becausethenight

Please can you confirm If I fulfill the criteria of these two medical schools
HYMS A100
Aston A100

Predicted AAA
GCSE 8877666BB ( English Language resit imprived grade from 5 to 6)
UCAT 2575 B2

Thanks in advance.

Have a look at the spreadsheet to check - it depends on your A-level subjects and also how each uni shortlist applicants.

Medicine 2021 entry .xlsx46.4KB

Reply 3714

wookieee

2

I have seen a lot of GCSE requirements and all of them said they need at least B/ grade6 in English first language. If I got a B in english, do I still have to take a retest or just move on?

Reply 3715

Tatsor

9

Just got my A level results
A* French
A Biology
B Chemistry
Really gutted as I was predicted A in chemistry and achieved A*/A in all the mocks
I want to apply to medical schools for 2021 entry and all my dream unis are BMAT unis now I dont know if they will consider my grades :frown:

Reply 3716

Emily5243

14

Original post by Tatsor

Just got my A level results
A* French
A Biology
B Chemistry
Really gutted as I was predicted A in chemistry and achieved A*/A in all the mocks
I want to apply to medical schools for 2021 entry and all my dream unis are BMAT unis now I dont know if they will consider my grades :frown:

Can you appeal? What country do you live in?

Reply 3717

aleweb

7

Original post by Tatsor

Just got my A level results
A* French
A Biology
B Chemistry
Really gutted as I was predicted A in chemistry and achieved A*/A in all the mocks
I want to apply to medical schools for 2021 entry and all my dream unis are BMAT unis now I dont know if they will consider my grades :frown:

If you’re in England definitely appeal.

It was all over the news yesterday that no one will get lower than mocks If you appeal. If that was accurate reporting that is...