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3rd A-Level option for Medicine

I’m currently in Year 11 and choosing my A Levels with hopes of doing Medicine at university. My GCSE options include Triple Science, Spanish, RE & Sociology and I am predicted all A/A* at GCSE. I’m very sure that I want to do Biology and Chemistry at A Level since it is required for most med schools but I’m stuck on choosing my third option. Maths and Physics are out of the picture completely as I don’t really enjoy them and would find them hard. I want to pick a humanity such as Politics or Sociology or even Psychology as my third option but I don’t know which one to pick. I am worried that picking a humanity as my third option will give me a disadvantage to other applicants. Can anybody give me advice on which to pick out of the 3? Also has anyone who did do a humanity as their third option let me know how their med applications went and if they felt like they were at a disadvantage.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by mshahzad1403
I’m currently in Year 11 and choosing my A Levels with hopes of doing Medicine at university. My GCSE options include Triple Science, Spanish, RE & Sociology and I am predicted all A/A* at GCSE. I’m very sure that I want to do Biology and Chemistry at A Level since it is required for most med schools but I’m stuck on choosing my third option. Maths and Physics are out of the picture completely as I don’t really enjoy them and would find them hard. I want to pick a humanity such as Politics or Sociology or even Psychology as my third option but I don’t know which one to pick. I am worried that picking a humanity as my third option will give me a disadvantage to other applicants. Can anybody give me advice on which to pick out of the 3? Also has anyone who did do a humanity as their third option let me know how their med applications went and if they felt like they were at a disadvantage.


You have biology and chemistry, so you have 2 main ones.
For your 3rd option, pick whichever subject you think you will enjoy the most and get the best grade in. Obviously with applying to medicine, the higher your grades the better.
It doesn't matter which you take as your third option for any medical school except Cambridge. All other medical schools have no preference what your third option is. You could well take art, Latin, or geography and they would all be seen as the same, provided you get the same grade in the end (you really need an A or A* in whatever your third subject is). So any of the three you listed are fine.

I would however make a general observation that politics, sociology, and psychology are not humanities subjects, they are social sciences.
(edited 1 year ago)
If the Unis you want to apply to dont specify or 'prefer' anything for the 3rd subject, then is really doesnt matter what subject you choose. It just needs to be a subject you will enjoy studying and one where you will get that all important third A grade. Art, French, Sociology, whatever - it really doesnt matter.

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