Future careers

Hey all in my gcses i got the dollpwing grades:

8777666555 (5 in English language and 5 in maths) and my a levels are biology psychology and politics

What careers suit my options and grades. I was thinking of med at certain unis accepting psychology instead of chem. Also optometry but what else?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

The issue with medicine isn't that you're not taking chemistry, it's that you're only taking one science subject. I think there are about 5 medical schools you'd meet the A-level subject requirements for - and if any or those are GCSE heavy you would need to write them off too.

Without physics or maths at least alongside biology you have a very limited range of medical schools you could potentially apply to.

Likewise I think most optometry courses require two sciences.

Reply 2

D17Hio

OP

9

Original post by artful_lounger

The issue with medicine isn't that you're not taking chemistry, it's that you're only taking one science subject. I think there are about 5 medical schools you'd meet the A-level subject requirements for - and if any or those are GCSE heavy you would need to write them off too.

Without physics or maths at least alongside biology you have a very limited range of medical schools you could potentially apply to.

Likewise I think most optometry courses require two sciences.

Yes this is true but I've seen a decent amount of unis accepting psychology as a second science for optom but less so with med but I dnt think I can get into med tbh too competitive

Reply 3

D17Hio

OP

9

Original post by artful_lounger

The issue with medicine isn't that you're not taking chemistry, it's that you're only taking one science subject. I think there are about 5 medical schools you'd meet the A-level subject requirements for - and if any or those are GCSE heavy you would need to write them off too.

Without physics or maths at least alongside biology you have a very limited range of medical schools you could potentially apply to.

Likewise I think most optometry courses require two sciences.

What are some biology related courses I could do

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by D17Hio

Yes this is true but I've seen a decent amount of unis accepting psychology as a second science for optom but less so with med but I dnt think I can get into med tbh too competitive

So there are in fact a total of 10 medical schools that would accept your combination of subjects: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5611422

Original post by D17Hio

What are some biology related courses I could do

Well fundamentally chemistry underpins most of modern biology so many biological science related courses require A-level Chemistry. Note that even those that do not will usually require you cover that material in the first year anyway. In a similar way, the artificial divide between the sciences and maths in school is just that, artificial - at degree level and beyond, the sciences are all necessarily mathematical and even if maths isn't required at A-level standard, you will usually have to develop maths beyond GCSE level and will need to be comfortable using maths routinely throughout the course and thinking quantitatively.

So I think the thing you need to start with is considering why you didn't take maths or other sciences at A-level and whether based on those reasons a science degree is a good idea. If you hate maths, are bad at other sciences, etc, then there's really not a compelling argument for continuing to a science degree. If you didn't realise that it would be relevant/necessary but did well in those subjects and have enjoyed them previously then it would probably be a case of looking at courses with a foundation year or similar, or those that don't require any background beyond a single science A-level (although I would contend, those requiring a foundation year for students in that situation are probably more academically rigorous and so better from that perspective).

Reply 5

D17Hio

OP

9

Original post by artful_lounger

So there are in fact a total of 10 medical schools that would accept your combination of subjects: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5611422

Well fundamentally chemistry underpins most of modern biology so many biological science related courses require A-level Chemistry. Note that even those that do not will usually require you cover that material in the first year anyway. In a similar way, the artificial divide between the sciences and maths in school is just that, artificial - at degree level and beyond, the sciences are all necessarily mathematical and even if maths isn't required at A-level standard, you will usually have to develop maths beyond GCSE level and will need to be comfortable using maths routinely throughout the course and thinking quantitatively.

So I think the thing you need to start with is considering why you didn't take maths or other sciences at A-level and whether based on those reasons a science degree is a good idea. If you hate maths, are bad at other sciences, etc, then there's really not a compelling argument for continuing to a science degree. If you didn't realise that it would be relevant/necessary but did well in those subjects and have enjoyed them previously then it would probably be a case of looking at courses with a foundation year or similar, or those that don't require any background beyond a single science A-level (although I would contend, those requiring a foundation year for students in that situation are probably more academically rigorous and so better from that perspective).

I'm not good at maths but chemistry is fine for me i was originally doing it but dropped of because of family pressure 😭 my cousins all did bad in it so my fam basically kept telling me to drop it so I did

Reply 6

D17Hio

OP

9

Original post by D17Hio

I'm not good at maths but chemistry is fine for me i was originally doing it but dropped of because of family pressure 😭 my cousins all did bad in it so my fam basically kept telling me to drop it so I did

The only jobs I can think of for myself is medicine optometry and biomedical scientist

Reply 7

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by D17Hio

I'm not good at maths but chemistry is fine for me i was originally doing it but dropped of because of family pressure 😭 my cousins all did bad in it so my fam basically kept telling me to drop it so I did

Well you should start thinking for yourself to start with...that decision probably means you need to manage your expectations of what you will do at uni.

Original post by D17Hio

The only jobs I can think of for myself is medicine optometry and biomedical scientist

Well there are innumerable other jobs so you might want to spend some time looking into the wide variety of jobs people actually do.

Also worth noting that STEM and non-STEM graduates have equivalent career outcomes in the long run so you need not restrict your decisions on that basis: https://figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/report/The_employment_trajectories_of_Science_Technology_Engineering_and_Mathematics_graduates/10234421

Additionally, most graduates don't do a job related to their degree subject at all anyway, and most graduate roles accept graduates from any degree subject and don't care what you studied.