Medicine and gcses.

Hi guys I am very stressed that my gcses are not good enough for medicine at a top university and I need some advice.
For context I have:
9- Urdu
8- Maths, English language, Art, Food tech
7- Biology, Chemistry, English literature, geography
6- physics (although I am getting it reviewed as I was only a few marks off a 7 and hope it goes up)
Do you think I have a chance at studying medicine in a top uni and be honest? I am certain Oxford is out of the question and Cambridge too probably even though they have specific requirements. But what about imperial, ucl and kings.
Is it still worth applying there granted I get a very strong UCAT score and a level predicted grades. I have just started year 12 btw so any advice would also be appreciated

Sorry just read further and seen you mention KCL, UCL and ICL. To be honest, I’ve not researched into them at all as I wasn’t really interested in applying there. From what I’ve seen people say, they’re highly competitive. Maybe apply to one of them, definitely not all three. If you want to study in London, there’s Brunel or QMUL. If not, what I came to terms with when beginning to properly look at unis is that a medicine degree is a medicine degree, no matter where you get it from so don’t be too hung up on London. There’s so many universities that would suit your gcse grades so explore around a bit!

Heyy well done in doing so great on your GCSEs I was just wondering what revision resources did you use to get an 8 in food tech and how did you revise

Hi guys I am very stressed that my gcses are not good enough for medicine at a top university and I need some advice.
For context I have:
9- Urdu
8- Maths, English language, Art, Food tech
7- Biology, Chemistry, English literature, geography
6- physics (although I am getting it reviewed as I was only a few marks off a 7 and hope it goes up)
Do you think I have a chance at studying medicine in a top uni and be honest? I am certain Oxford is out of the question and Cambridge too probably even though they don't have specific requirements. But what about imperial, ucl and kings.
Is it still worth applying there granted I get a very strong UCAT score and a level predicted grades. I have just started year 12 btw so any advice would also be appreciated

Did you go grammar or private skl

Of course! I’m glad I could be of some help! Applying to something like medicine is so scary, especially with no guidance so message anytime at all! Yes of course, that’s no problem at all, message wherever works best for you. No don’t be silly, ask as many as you need, I really needed somebody who had been in the same position so I hope I can help you. Yes, I totally understand that too and staying close to home is definitely a big thing for a lot of people (including me) as medicine seems hard enough, and having family far away might make it even harder. That’s perfect, the south east has some incredible unis for medicine, like Kent Medway or even UEA (although that may be a little further than you’re looking to go). QMUL does look absolutely incredible and I’ve seen some really positive things about it so definitely worth a look. That makes sense, maybe focus on QMUL for now then rather than Brunel. Yes!!! I’ve applied to St Andrews on the Scottish route because I love the Scottish cities but I was so tempted to go for QMUL instead because the uni looks so nice. Definitely look into it because I think it’s a brilliant option. It also works well for us because the ‘normal’ degree lasts three years so, for example, if your friends move away for the their degree, you’ll all be moving back towards home after three years anyway, so will defo take a bit of pressure off you in those final three years. So many of my friends this year have just applied for Exeter so if any of them get interviews/offers, I’ll report back to you and let you know what they think!! Please don’t worry about asking too many questions, it’s no problem at all!!

They are a good set of GCSEs but I hate to break it to you, there are some unis where you’ll get auto rejected - eg uob which require 8s in bio and chem

Hi! Thank you so much firstly and I wish you the best of luck for your gcses.
To revise for food tech I used the AQA cgp revision flashcards, I am guessing your exam boardsis AQA too since thats the most popular board for food tech although I am sure you can find them for other boards too. And towards the end of year 11 my food teacher bought this eRevision website pack where he put tons of revision materials which was basically some quizes and quick recall activities, this was useful but I am not sure if you can get this without the school so do ask your school and I will leave all the links below too just incase. To be honest I would not worry about revising tons for the written exam, to be very honest I revised 3-4 days before the actual gcse (definitely wouldn't recommend I was very anxious 😭😭) and I did revise throughly for any class tests, just make sure you ace your practical 50% and you will be halfway there. My school also used a textbook and I think I have an online version of it so I will put the link for you although it will probably not work so I will put an amazon link too, this was very useful for notes taking, but definitely not necessary. Also, I am not 100% certain but I think I have got some notes for food tech if you want!I was planning on selling them, but if you want I can probably scan and email them to you for free, I will need to take a look but I remember making a few mind maps. Good luck you will do great !
Links to everything I mentioned :

Heyyy! Thank you so much for the advice 💗I really appreciate it , you're literally a life saver especially since my teacher is not that great at teaching and its really hard to find advice online for food tech . I would really appreciate it if you could send me your notes please , can I send you my email ?

Thank you so so much for all your comments, your encouragement and amazing advice!! I will definitely be taking your ucat advice. Is it okay if I can message you on here for any more advice? Because I feel like everyday I have more and more questions although I don't want to bug you too much ofcourse! Moving on to your uni advice you are 100% right and this is so so helpful. The reason I want to go to a med school in London is mainly, because I am from the south-east too and want to stay close to my family, but I have been exploring other unis like you said and I will defininetly be applying to places which aren't as close just,because i think it will be a great learning experience. And QMUL also seems really really good and was one of the medschools I was looking at although, I am not sure about brunel since most of their students are international and they seem to be quite selective. So far I have been looking at St Andrews which is ofcourse very competitive as well (like any med school) but after 3years the students have an option to continue with their studies in 3 different locations and one of them is in london with QMUL which seems quiet good. Exeter and bristol seem quiet good too.

Your GCSEs are very good. They’re good to meet all requirements I think, but you may get outcompeted by other candidates.
I recommend you study hard for your a levels, and do really really good on the UCAT, and get some good extra curricular and check out widening participation programs if any apply to you. You’d probably be better off applying to universities that do not weigh GCSEs (so either don’t-care unis, or min requirement only unis). You’ve got lots of time and scope to make it

Wow! icl youve reaserched too much! best of luck and I'm hoping to do med as well

Thank you so so much for this I appreciate this a lot. And you are completely right. So far I have been enjoying my a levels and I try to keep up with all the content done as soon as I can. I already have decent extra curriculurs ( like medicine workshops, a widening participant program, so far have shadowed 2 weeks in a hospital and I'm trying to volunteer weekly there soon too, I also volunteer at the science club at my school and I am one of the house captains at my school)but I want to do a lot more so If you have any more recommendations on extra/super curriculurs please let me know too . What I am really scared about is the UCAT so if you have any advice that would also be very appreciated.
Are you aware of any dont-care or min requirement unis?

most med schools use min gcses, and no weighing. i suggest just looking up schools you are interested in and filtering out the ones that weigh gcses (that includes but is not limited to leicester, edinburgh, nottingham, aston)