Access Course or A-levels? What do i do?

I will soon be in year 13 and am currently studying humanities A-levels since i wanted to do Politics or Law when i chose them. However now i can not see myself being happy studying or working in these fields. I have always juggled between my interests in science and humanities and have decided that i want to study either medicine or neuroscience.

I figure it is probably best to finish the a-levels i am currently studying (right?) but i don't know what the best route into medicine would be from here. I could study an access course but none of my local colleges accept below 19 year olds and universities might not accept the access course if i have not been out of education for a while. The other option is studying fast-track/one-year a-levels but i don't know how feasible this would be or if any of my local institutions would offer this.

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated :smile:

Reply 1

KieraMc04

1

Hiya,

What A levels are you actually taking?

While doing Biology/Chemistry would definitely make it easier for you to apply to Medicine - Newcastle will take applicants with no Science background, if that’s feasible for you. (I’ve attached links below)

If you’re going into Y13 this September, then you’ll need to sit UCAT for Medicine at Newcastle Uni - have you booked this/looked into it?

If not, then you’re probably best to take a year out to think about your Medicine application, especially getting WEX and get some advice around sitting Chemistry/Biology A level.

Hope this helps, get back to me with any questions! 😀

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/a100/

Reply 2

TSR Hippocrates

10

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

The Medicine forum gets a high volume of questions being posted, and some of these are already answered by the resources and Megathreads that members of the community and volunteers have created. This is an automatic post which is designed to highlight these resources. Below is a list of threads and articles that could answer your question (you should be looking in the original post of the megathreads). If one of the below threads is a more relevant place to ask your question, please post a reply in that thread to ask your question. If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked below, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

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The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
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Official Undergraduate Medicine 2023 Entry
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Reply 3

kebab06

OP

8

Original post by KieraMc04

Hiya,

What A levels are you actually taking?

While doing Biology/Chemistry would definitely make it easier for you to apply to Medicine - Newcastle will take applicants with no Science background, if that’s feasible for you. (I’ve attached links below)

If you’re going into Y13 this September, then you’ll need to sit UCAT for Medicine at Newcastle Uni - have you booked this/looked into it?

If not, then you’re probably best to take a year out to think about your Medicine application, especially getting WEX and get some advice around sitting Chemistry/Biology A level.

Hope this helps, get back to me with any questions! 😀

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/a100/

Hello, thanks for the reply. I am studying German, Politics and Economics so despite good grades at science for gcse and an interest in science i do not have anything science related i could apply to uni with. I was going to take a gap year anyways so i was wondering what my best route into medicine(or related fields) would be in terms of qualifications i could complete? Spending an additional 2 years studying a-Levels after i finish year 13 does not sound too great :/

Reply 4

GANFYD

18

Original post by kebab06

Hello, thanks for the reply. I am studying German, Politics and Economics so despite good grades at science for gcse and an interest in science i do not have anything science related i could apply to uni with. I was going to take a gap year anyways so i was wondering what my best route into medicine(or related fields) would be in terms of qualifications i could complete? Spending an additional 2 years studying a-Levels after i finish year 13 does not sound too great :/

If you are sure medicine is what you want to do, then restarting year 12 with the correct A levels is the shortest and easiest route to being able to apply to the most med schools.
If you are not 100% certain, continuing the subjects you are doing, sitting UCAT and potentially applying to Newcastle A100 and Manchester and Dundee A104 (if they do not discontinue them) gives you 3 options now and you can gain some WEx and potentially add chem and bio in a year 14, if you still want to do the medicine route and do not get an offer this year.
An Access to Medicine course is not going to give you the options A levels will.

Reply 5

kebab06

OP

8

Original post by GANFYD

If you are sure medicine is what you want to do, then restarting year 12 with the correct A levels is the shortest and easiest route to being able to apply to the most med schools.
If you are not 100% certain, continuing the subjects you are doing, sitting UCAT and potentially applying to Newcastle A100 and Manchester and Dundee A104 (if they do not discontinue them) gives you 3 options now and you can gain some WEx and potentially add chem and bio in a year 14, if you still want to do the medicine route and do not get an offer this year.
An Access to Medicine course is not going to give you the options A levels will.

Thanks for the reply, would unis look down on me doing extra a-levels post year 13?

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 6

GANFYD

18

Original post by kebab06

Thanks for the reply, would unis look down on me doing extra a-levels post year 13?

As long as you achieve at least AAA (or whatever the minimum requirements for that uni are) at first sitting of your original subjects, then AA (or A*A depending on requirements) in chem and bio, then no

Reply 7

kebab06

OP

8

Original post by GANFYD

As long as you achieve at least AAA (or whatever the minimum requirements for that uni are) at first sitting of your original subjects, then AA (or A*A depending on requirements) in chem and bio, then no

Ok. Cheers :smile:

Access Course or A-levels? What do i do?

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