The Student Room Group

Are these GCSEs ok for vet med

Hello I want to be a veterinarian. My gcse path is different from others and my school doesn’t provide combined or triple science so I had to do singular.

My choices are

Maths

English language

Chemistry

Biology

art

Can I avoid doing physics or is it necessary? Because I’ve seen people say yes you do need it and some say you don’t.

If I pass all at a grade 7 (maybe 6 for maths) will I still have a chance to get into uni? I’ll probably do chem, bio and 1 other for a-level .

I’ll also do my GCSEs at 18 years old not 16 will this matter

Reply 1

For Vet med at uni I think its more the A-levels (or equivalents) that matter for subjects, since you'll most likely need to do biology and chemistry, but don't quote me on that.
You're age doesn't matter at all, as long as the gcses are not resits, so you should be fine.

Reply 2

Original post
by Dylan_Ford
For Vet med at uni I think its more the A-levels (or equivalents) that matter for subjects, since you'll most likely need to do biology and chemistry, but don't quote me on that.
You're age doesn't matter at all, as long as the gcses are not resits, so you should be fine.

Okay thanks for the help

Reply 3

Original post
by randomrabbit123
Hello I want to be a veterinarian. My gcse path is different from others and my school doesn’t provide combined or triple science so I had to do singular.
My choices are
Maths
English language
Chemistry
Biology
art
Can I avoid doing physics or is it necessary? Because I’ve seen people say yes you do need it and some say you don’t.
If I pass all at a grade 7 (maybe 6 for maths) will I still have a chance to get into uni? I’ll probably do chem, bio and 1 other for a-level .
I’ll also do my GCSEs at 18 years old not 16 will this matter

Definitely check on individual uni's websites as they may differ by requirements but from the quick search I just did, RVC asks for at least five GCSEs at grade 7 including biology and chemistry + grade 6 minimum in english lang and mathematics. Bristol on the other hand only asks for at least 4s in english (a 6 for english if english is not your first language) and maths and does not specify about other GCSEs. So definitely spend some time researching but by the looks of it your current choices should be okay!

Age won't be a problem at all as vet schools and unis in general are very big on widening participation so they won't treat you differently for superficial things like age, appearances etc.

I know you didn't ask about this specifically but just to clarify since theres a lot of misinformation out there maths is not at all required as one of your a levels! I did biology, Chemistry and DT for my a levels and was able to get an offer + interview already so definitely choose your third subject based on what you love/are good at. Finally good luck! hope you can get into your dream vet degree in the future C:
(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 4

Original post
by randomrabbit123
Hello I want to be a veterinarian. My gcse path is different from others and my school doesn’t provide combined or triple science so I had to do singular.
My choices are
Maths
English language
Chemistry
Biology
art
Can I avoid doing physics or is it necessary? Because I’ve seen people say yes you do need it and some say you don’t.
If I pass all at a grade 7 (maybe 6 for maths) will I still have a chance to get into uni? I’ll probably do chem, bio and 1 other for a-level .
I’ll also do my GCSEs at 18 years old not 16 will this matter

You really don't have to worry at this stage, uni's will mostly look at A level grades and probably just glance at GCSE grades. You can avoid physics but I'd do research first since most science based unis and jobs want all 3 sciences. Also, drop art. From a science student who also did art at GCSE, art is so incredibly time consuming and stressful to the point where if you're trying to get high grades in sciences it'll just distract you. There have been times where I've had to work on art during the holidays because I prioritised sciences in school.
I'm going to be blunt with you, chances are of getting into a bio med uni with only your GCSEs and no a level are somewhat slim. Especially vet med

Reply 5

Original post
by reallycringename
You really don't have to worry at this stage, uni's will mostly look at A level grades and probably just glance at GCSE grades. You can avoid physics but I'd do research first since most science based unis and jobs want all 3 sciences. Also, drop art. From a science student who also did art at GCSE, art is so incredibly time consuming and stressful to the point where if you're trying to get high grades in sciences it'll just distract you. There have been times where I've had to work on art during the holidays because I prioritised sciences in school.
I'm going to be blunt with you, chances are of getting into a bio med uni with only your GCSEs and no a level are somewhat slim. Especially vet med

Just to clarify I don't think they're planning to apply to uni with only GCSEs, in their og post they mention wanting to to do chem, bio and another subject for A levels! I think they're moreso asking about GCSE's as unis can get quite particular with their requirements, especially for maths and english. I know a person who was rejected from multiple uni's due to her 4 in maths GCSE even though she got A*A*A*A* as her a level grades.

Reply 6

Original post
by koraoya
Just to clarify I don't think they're planning to apply to uni with only GCSEs, in their og post they mention wanting to to do chem, bio and another subject for A levels! I think they're moreso asking about GCSE's as unis can get quite particular with their requirements, especially for maths and english. I know a person who was rejected from multiple uni's due to her 4 in maths GCSE even though she got A*A*A*A* as her a level grades.

Ah okay apologies I was in class and only skimmed through the message

Reply 7

Original post
by reallycringename
You really don't have to worry at this stage, uni's will mostly look at A level grades and probably just glance at GCSE grades. You can avoid physics but I'd do research first since most science based unis and jobs want all 3 sciences. Also, drop art. From a science student who also did art at GCSE, art is so incredibly time consuming and stressful to the point where if you're trying to get high grades in sciences it'll just distract you. There have been times where I've had to work on art during the holidays because I prioritised sciences in school.
I'm going to be blunt with you, chances are of getting into a bio med uni with only your GCSEs and no a level are somewhat slim. Especially vet med

thanks for the reply because honestly I didn’t want to do art myself it was my mum pushing me because I’m good at it . Im probably gonna have to swap art with physics☹️ .

Also I will continue to do a-levels . I’ll do Biology, chemistry and 1 other 🙂 just not yet as atm I’m doing my GCSEs

Reply 8

Original post
by koraoya
Definitely check on individual uni's websites as they may differ by requirements but from the quick search I just did, RVC asks for at least five GCSEs at grade 7 including biology and chemistry + grade 6 minimum in english lang and mathematics. Bristol on the other hand only asks for at least 4s in english (a 6 for english if english is not your first language) and maths and does not specify about other GCSEs. So definitely spend some time researching but by the looks of it your current choices should be okay!
Age won't be a problem at all as vet schools and unis in general are very big on widening participation so they won't treat you differently for superficial things like age, appearances etc.
I know you didn't ask about this specifically but just to clarify since theres a lot of misinformation out there maths is not at all required as one of your a levels! I did biology, Chemistry and DT for my a levels and was able to get an offer + interview already so definitely choose your third subject based on what you love/are good at. Finally good luck! hope you can get into your dream vet degree in the future C:

Thank you for the message 🙂

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.