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comp sci for medicine

can i choose comp sci for a level if i want to do medicine
I will pick bio and chem but don't want to do maths at all, I hate it rn at gcse so it's not wise imo to do so, but I want to do comp sci as I find it enjoyable at gcse and predicted a 9 in it

Is it fine to do so
Reply 1
Yes you can pick comp sci. Pretty much all unis want bio + chem and any third subject.

But, I believe you would be at an advantage if you pick maths if you choose Oxford or Cambridge for medicine.

As long as you think you can get an A / A* in the third, go ahead.
Original post by Sam1341
Yes you can pick comp sci. Pretty much all unis want bio + chem and any third subject.
But, I believe you would be at an advantage if you pick maths if you choose Oxford or Cambridge for medicine.
As long as you think you can get an A / A* in the third, go ahead.


okayy tysmm this is perfect!!
Reply 3
Original post by chittakabootar
okayy tysmm this is perfect!!

Also just a couple more things, despite you disliking maths at GCSE, try do as best you can in it. It's one of the more important gcses.

Also, if you're on the fence with medicine and might want to go into CS later during uni, you should probably take maths. As most unis will want Maths instead of Computer Science at A-Level to study cs.

I personally studied CS A-Level and have applied for med this cycle, no regrets not picking maths.
Original post by Sam1341
Also just a couple more things, despite you disliking maths at GCSE, try do as best you can in it. It's one of the more important gcses.
Also, if you're on the fence with medicine and might want to go into CS later during uni, you should probably take maths. As most unis will want Maths instead of Computer Science at A-Level to study cs.
I personally studied CS A-Level and have applied for med this cycle, no regrets not picking maths.


perfect tysmm!! do you reccomend an ipad or laptop for the nea?
Original post by chittakabootar
can i choose comp sci for a level if i want to do medicine
I will pick bio and chem but don't want to do maths at all, I hate it rn at gcse so it's not wise imo to do so, but I want to do comp sci as I find it enjoyable at gcse and predicted a 9 in it

Is it fine to do so

It's fine for any medical school except Cambridge. If you're confident you can get an A or A* in CS, go for it :smile: Any third subject is fine for any medical school except Cambridge (which to achieve competitive interview scores historically, you realistically need to be taking a third STEM subject - be it physics or maths) and UCLan and Leeds (which just require the third subject to be "academic", which CS is).
Original post by Sam1341
Yes you can pick comp sci. Pretty much all unis want bio + chem and any third subject.

But, I believe you would be at an advantage if you pick maths if you choose Oxford or Cambridge for medicine.

As long as you think you can get an A / A* in the third, go ahead.

Oxford have no preference for the third subject being maths (or even a STEM subject). Applicants taking a non-STEM (i.e. from physics/maths/biology/chemistry/FM) subject had similar success rates as those taking one such subject when applying to Oxford. The same is not true for Cambridge though which you note correctly, as those doing a non-STEM subject are vastly less likely to be successful.
Original post by artful_lounger
It's fine for any medical school except Cambridge. If you're confident you can get an A or A* in CS, go for it :smile: Any third subject is fine for any medical school except Cambridge (which to achieve competitive interview scores historically, you realistically need to be taking a third STEM subject - be it physics or maths) and UCLan and Leeds (which just require the third subject to be "academic", which CS is).
Oxford have no preference for the third subject being maths (or even a STEM subject). Applicants taking a non-STEM (i.e. from physics/maths/biology/chemistry/FM) subject had similar success rates as those taking one such subject when applying to Oxford. The same is not true for Cambridge though which you note correctly, as those doing a non-STEM subject are vastly less likely to be successful.


this sounds finee
Reply 7
Original post by chittakabootar
perfect tysmm!! do you reccomend an ipad or laptop for the nea?

I didn't have a laptop or iPad during my A-Levels and purely used school computers, but I would probably recommend a Laptop (not apple) over the iPad because the NEA (for me) included a lot of programming, which would be pretty hard to do on an iPad. Although, looking back on sixth form an iPad overall would've probably been more useful if I could pick one, for writing notes, etc.

If you could get away with using school / home computers for the NEA and get an iPad, I think you should consider this.


Original post by artful_lounger
Oxford have no preference for the third subject being maths

Ah right, thanks for correcting me.
Original post by Sam1341
I didn't have a laptop or iPad during my A-Levels and purely used school computers, but I would probably recommend a Laptop (not apple) over the iPad because the NEA (for me) included a lot of programming, which would be pretty hard to do on an iPad. Although, looking back on sixth form an iPad overall would've probably been more useful if I could pick one, for writing notes, etc.
If you could get away with using school / home computers for the NEA and get an iPad, I think you should consider this.
Ah right, thanks for correcting me.


thanks so much for this! what model of a laptop would you consider? sorryy asking too many questions, really need to clear my head on this hahaha
Reply 9
Original post by chittakabootar
thanks so much for this! what model of a laptop would you consider? sorryy asking too many questions, really need to clear my head on this hahaha

Don't really know too much about them tbh, I wouldn't recommend getting a macbook since they are pretty overpriced and worse (imo) for programming and just general use. I would look on yt for this, just search for best laptops for college / uni on youtube.
Original post by Sam1341
Don't really know too much about them tbh, I wouldn't recommend getting a macbook since they are pretty overpriced and worse (imo) for programming and just general use. I would look on yt for this, just search for best laptops for college / uni on youtube.


okayyyy tysmmm

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