I did bad in my iGCSE's.

For iGCSE's I got ABBBCCD but I plan on applying to medicine at universities such as Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial. I am currently in year 12 and my subjects are Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology and my predicted grades for AS level is A's in all. I also believe that I can achieve at least 3 A*'s for A levels and an A with the A being in Biology or Physics. Do I have a good chance of getting in to these universities with my grades or will I not be able to due to my iGCSE grades. If necessary I can retake some of the iGCSE exams.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

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

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Reply 2

jacksmith23

Original post by po101

are sure on oxford and Cambridge.

Oxford average grade for medicine was 8.5 a stars. with the lowest for one quarter being 6 I think. point being it will be quite hard for Oxford. like very unlikely. it would be best if you also were predicted 3 a stars to have the best chance as with cambridge while it does say 2 a stars and 1 a, quite a significant proportion have all a stars predicted. cambridge is also similar with the data showing 9 a stars ( keep in mind you do see skewed data so the average could be 8 for most people perhaps) however it was in 2021/2022 cycle so the grade may drop to perhaps 8 a stars on general average. none of this is required for Cambridge. as they focus on a levels and would need you to score exceedingly well in the entrance exam. for these two unis you need to show some mitigating circumstances aswell, and I'm not sure on the retaking process but I assume it will require reasons for why.

imperial doesn't focus on gcse's too much infact I think they don't but the main point is you need to do well on your a levels get 3 predicted a stars for the app and then do well on the entrance exam.

Reply 3

ims_m

It's worth looking through the grade requirements for all medical schools because they can vary a huge amount - some only specify grades for english and maths while other require e.g. 8 grades at A. Some score GCSEs as part of their shortlisting for interviews as well and don't actually look at A levels at all. Looking at the university websites will give you a good idea of where is achievable as will the med school threads from this year.
I will also say for medicine it is really not worth getting too hung up on specific med schools that are more 'prestigious' than others because at the end of the day you will come out with the same degree and medicine is highly competitive so applying for the course that suits you (the more traditional courses at oxford and cambridge are often actually less suitable for people's learning styles) and a city that you'll be happy living in is far more important than rankings.
Good luck with A levels and applications 🙂