Neuroscience to Medicine

I’m currently in year 12 studying a level Biology, Chemistry and Physics and am predicted ABB as of right now but am hoping to push one grade to an A by September. I wanted to do medicine but clearly with these predicted can not apply unless i get them pushed to AAA. Getting Physics pushed to an A seems rather unrealistic from my teacher’s POV and she also made it seem quite impossible for me to apply to medicine as a whole. I haven’t really spoken about Chemistry to the teacher yet.

I am looking at other options other than Medicine but am still stuck on Medicine only, nothing else really seems as interesting to me. I had a look at Neuroscience which accept ABB at Queen Mary’s London University, for example, and thought I could potentially apply for this. However, if I was to take this route instead of applying to medicine directly , I would only want to flip it into Medicine later on, as becoming a Neuroscientist doesn’t hold any meaning to me. But, applying to medicine with a degree in Neuroscience already is even more competitive, as at Queen Mary’s they take the top 19 students in neuroscience/biomed at the end of the 2nd year and automatically offer interviews for them. Obviously, me becoming one of the top 19 students would be extremely difficult. This is one option.

My second option would be taking a gap year and applying for university for medicine next year and taking UCAT next year. However, this doesn’t look too appealing to me, but many teachers have recommended this. But, again, the GCSE grade could potentially stop me as I don’t meet the Eng Lang requirements as of right now and may not meet them this time either.

I also have another barrier stopping me from applying to Med as at GCSE, I achieved a Grade 5 at English Language and Medicine typically requires Grade 6. I have resat the GCSE for the second time (The november resit did not work out well) and am hoping to have achieved a 6 this time (will get results in august 2024).

I am currently really confused on what to do and if it’s even wise to apply to medicine anymore but I genuinely only have a desire and passion for medicine, no other career truly strikes me as something I want to pursue for the rest of my life. My GCSES on the whole were not amazing either having achieved 1 A*,
4 A’s, 3 B’s and 2 C’s.

If anyone has any advice on what would be best for me as I realistically need to decide whether or not I am going to sit the UCAT this summer (summer 2024) and bookings open June 18th.

You should not plan to do another degree with the aim of going into medicine at the outset. Graduate entry medicine is considerably more competitive than standard entry medicine and was really not designed as a "Backup" for people who did not get into medicine in the first instance - it's designed for those who had not considered medicine at all to start with and changed career path during or after their first degree. Also usually English language and maths GCSE requirements are "hard" requirements for both graduate and standard entry medicine courses and also for most university degrees.
Additionally "internal transfer to medicine" schemes are vastly more competitive than literally any other option. Not only are you limiting yourself to one medical school, they normally require you meed all the requirements to get into the standard course anyway, and they normally have only a handful of places, and everybody on the linked courses more or less applies to them. You go from applying in open competition with people for any of the hundreds of places at each of 4 different medical schools, to competing with 250 other students for 5 spots at a single medical school. Incredibly bad idea to pursue that or even consider it further whatsoever.
If medicine is your goal you should focus on applying to medicine as a school leaver and start thinking about how to do that effectively. You need to think strategically and focus on meeting the requirements and ticking the boxes, and applying tactically to the medical schools your profile maximises your shortlisting scoring for. Don't waste time constructing convoluted paths into medicine when there's a perfectly achievable direct entry method available.
Therefore, you should plan to retake GCSE English language to get the required grade. You should focus on medical schools that do not score GCSEs and only have minimum GCSE requirements or that only score a fixed number and which you can maximise your score in that section. You also need get your A-level predicted grades up, and/or plan to apply in a gap year. Obviously you'll also need to meet any work experience requirements (and a gap year may give you longer to do so) and reflect on those.

Okay! Thank you so much!

Should I sit the UCAT this year then and focus on getting my predicted grades up?

Do you think I have a chance at getting offered a place for Medicine with my GCSEs and if my predicted grades go up?

I also am eligible for Newcastle’s contextual offer and potentially can do the Partner’s programme too. Is that something I should further research into?

I’m currently volunteering at a care home and have done sufficient work experience and am hoping to do more in the summer.

Again, thank you!

If you apply to medical schools that don't score GCSEs and just have minimum GCSE requirements (e.g. Imperial, UCL) then your GCSEs are a non-factor anyway.
While granted some medical schools don't consider predicted grades anyway, I would recommend discussing with your teachers after you come back in the fall (with hopefully renewed performance) whether any of these can be tweaked upwards ahead of the October 15th deadline. If you think that's possible and/or are applying to medical schools which don't consider predicted grades (all of this kind of information will be available on their medicine prospectus/admissions pages on their website) then it's probably reasonable to begin preparing for the UCAT and take that.
If you're eligible for contextual/widening participation schemes do look at the requirements and whether you can benefit from them

I’m currently in year 12 studying a level Biology, Chemistry and Physics and am predicted ABB as of right now but am hoping to push one grade to an A by September. I wanted to do medicine but clearly with these predicted can not apply unless i get them pushed to AAA. Getting Physics pushed to an A seems rather unrealistic from my teacher’s POV and she also made it seem quite impossible for me to apply to medicine as a whole. I haven’t really spoken about Chemistry to the teacher yet.
I am looking at other options other than Medicine but am still stuck on Medicine only, nothing else really seems as interesting to me. I had a look at Neuroscience which accept ABB at Queen Mary’s London University, for example, and thought I could potentially apply for this. However, if I was to take this route instead of applying to medicine directly , I would only want to flip it into Medicine later on, as becoming a Neuroscientist doesn’t hold any meaning to me. But, applying to medicine with a degree in Neuroscience already is even more competitive, as at Queen Mary’s they take the top 19 students in neuroscience/biomed at the end of the 2nd year and automatically offer interviews for them. Obviously, me becoming one of the top 19 students would be extremely difficult. This is one option.
My second option would be taking a gap year and applying for university for medicine next year and taking UCAT next year. However, this doesn’t look too appealing to me, but many teachers have recommended this. But, again, the GCSE grade could potentially stop me as I don’t meet the Eng Lang requirements as of right now and may not meet them this time either.
I also have another barrier stopping me from applying to Med as at GCSE, I achieved a Grade 5 at English Language and Medicine typically requires Grade 6. I have resat the GCSE for the second time (The november resit did not work out well) and am hoping to have achieved a 6 this time (will get results in august 2024).
I am currently really confused on what to do and if it’s even wise to apply to medicine anymore but I genuinely only have a desire and passion for medicine, no other career truly strikes me as something I want to pursue for the rest of my life. My GCSES on the whole were not amazing either having achieved 1 A*,
4 A’s, 3 B’s and 2 C’s.
If anyone has any advice on what would be best for me as I realistically need to decide whether or not I am going to sit the UCAT this summer (summer 2024) and bookings open June 18th.

Excellent advice above. Only bit I would add to this is if you think you may be eligible for contextual offers or foundation courses as you have some contextual flags, make sure you look at the details of the UCAT bursary on the UCAT website and apply for it if you are eligible.
It is helpful both financially but also (in some instances) during application process / consideration by the medical schools.
Good luck.