The Student Room Group

oxbridge and alevels for med sch

hey,
im in my final year of GCSEs and currently stressing over what subjects to pick at alevel while also worrying about my GCSE exams as theyre right around the corner essentially. i want to go to med sch and am maybe thinking of going to oxford or cambridge but just read a few threads and people are talking about their like 9 9s at GCSE and im probably not going to get that, im probs gonna get three 9s but can maybe bump that up to four if i work really hard. probs looking at 9s in chem and bio and maybe a 9 in maths if i work hard? however i really struggle with rs and im predicted a 5 in that but probably wont even achieve this. i saw that apparently oxbridge uses GCSEs to shortlist candadites and was wondering if these grades are good enough to get into oxbridge? ive not like dedicated my life to getting into these unis and im not gonna be completely distraught if i dont get in, i was just wondering if it was worth me shooting my shot you know?

but also im not sure what subjects to pick for Alevel, ive definitely decided on bio and chem and am probably going to pick 4 alevels for the first year as ive heard these can get you extra ucas points? alongside chem and bio (as definates) im on the fence between maths (heard its good for med sch), criminology (which i really enjoyed on a taster day my school did) or spanish (predicted a 9 in at gcse).


any help or just general viewpoints on this would be much appreciated as im kinda lost at the minute, Thanks :smile:
Original post by withholding-ivy
hey,
im in my final year of GCSEs and currently stressing over what subjects to pick at alevel while also worrying about my GCSE exams as theyre right around the corner essentially. i want to go to med sch and am maybe thinking of going to oxford or cambridge but just read a few threads and people are talking about their like 9 9s at GCSE and im probably not going to get that, im probs gonna get three 9s but can maybe bump that up to four if i work really hard. probs looking at 9s in chem and bio and maybe a 9 in maths if i work hard? however i really struggle with rs and im predicted a 5 in that but probably wont even achieve this. i saw that apparently oxbridge uses GCSEs to shortlist candadites and was wondering if these grades are good enough to get into oxbridge? ive not like dedicated my life to getting into these unis and im not gonna be completely distraught if i dont get in, i was just wondering if it was worth me shooting my shot you know?

but also im not sure what subjects to pick for Alevel, ive definitely decided on bio and chem and am probably going to pick 4 alevels for the first year as ive heard these can get you extra ucas points? alongside chem and bio (as definates) im on the fence between maths (heard its good for med sch), criminology (which i really enjoyed on a taster day my school did) or spanish (predicted a 9 in at gcse).


any help or just general viewpoints on this would be much appreciated as im kinda lost at the minute, Thanks :smile:

There’s no benefits to doing four A-levels just do 3 (because the extra UCAS points don’t mean anything in this context).

Bio+Chem+ Any other A-level (STEM or not) as your 3rd A-levels is OK for all AFAIK med schools excluding Cambridge.
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/medicine-mb-bchir

So looking at Cambridge? Yeah do Maths as planned. Not looking to apply to Cambridge then forget about needing to do Maths, do Spanish instead for example if you can get a better grade in the subject.

Hopefully someone who knows more about med admissions can give more advice.
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by withholding-ivy
hey,
im in my final year of GCSEs and currently stressing over what subjects to pick at alevel while also worrying about my GCSE exams as theyre right around the corner essentially. i want to go to med sch and am maybe thinking of going to oxford or cambridge but just read a few threads and people are talking about their like 9 9s at GCSE and im probably not going to get that, im probs gonna get three 9s but can maybe bump that up to four if i work really hard. probs looking at 9s in chem and bio and maybe a 9 in maths if i work hard? however i really struggle with rs and im predicted a 5 in that but probably wont even achieve this. i saw that apparently oxbridge uses GCSEs to shortlist candadites and was wondering if these grades are good enough to get into oxbridge? ive not like dedicated my life to getting into these unis and im not gonna be completely distraught if i dont get in, i was just wondering if it was worth me shooting my shot you know?
but also im not sure what subjects to pick for Alevel, ive definitely decided on bio and chem and am probably going to pick 4 alevels for the first year as ive heard these can get you extra ucas points? alongside chem and bio (as definates) im on the fence between maths (heard its good for med sch), criminology (which i really enjoyed on a taster day my school did) or spanish (predicted a 9 in at gcse).
any help or just general viewpoints on this would be much appreciated as im kinda lost at the minute, Thanks :smile:

Hey applied for camb med and got an interview my gcses were
9998888776 so defo possible to get an interview with not all 9s
Please do NOT take a 4th a level for the sake of it lol. Trust me and pretty much every student says this too a levels are hard work and draining - if you don't need to do 4 and don't necessarily want to then don't do it. Doesn't give you an advantage at all med unis don't really look at ucas points like that. Since you're stuck on what to take I'd recommend maybe taking 4 to see which one you prefer more and then dropping the 4th within the first month. Pretty much every med applicant will have good a levels it's your entrance exam ( so ucat) that you need to worry about but that's for next year just focus on smashing out gcses . Also remember that unis look at 8s and 9s the same. So try to aim for as many 8s as possible ( not the end of the world if you have poor gcses but it is useful for example exeter and plymouth just need a pass at english i think and then they dont care. Whereas cardiff pretty much only care about gcses -thats something you can worry about next year but just letting you know if gcses do go bad there are med unis that you can apply to xx )

Would say if you're looking at camb bio chem maths is a must tbh oxford is similiar but do allow more students with a different 3rd. please remember that you are still applying to 3 other universities so if maths isn't your strong suit then keep that in mind as you want to aim for as many offers as possible and maths is a hard a level - definitely doable just lots and lots of practice. Hope this helped (:
Original post by withholding-ivy
hey,
im in my final year of GCSEs and currently stressing over what subjects to pick at alevel while also worrying about my GCSE exams as theyre right around the corner essentially. i want to go to med sch and am maybe thinking of going to oxford or cambridge but just read a few threads and people are talking about their like 9 9s at GCSE and im probably not going to get that, im probs gonna get three 9s but can maybe bump that up to four if i work really hard. probs looking at 9s in chem and bio and maybe a 9 in maths if i work hard? however i really struggle with rs and im predicted a 5 in that but probably wont even achieve this. i saw that apparently oxbridge uses GCSEs to shortlist candadites and was wondering if these grades are good enough to get into oxbridge? ive not like dedicated my life to getting into these unis and im not gonna be completely distraught if i dont get in, i was just wondering if it was worth me shooting my shot you know?
but also im not sure what subjects to pick for Alevel, ive definitely decided on bio and chem and am probably going to pick 4 alevels for the first year as ive heard these can get you extra ucas points? alongside chem and bio (as definates) im on the fence between maths (heard its good for med sch), criminology (which i really enjoyed on a taster day my school did) or spanish (predicted a 9 in at gcse).
any help or just general viewpoints on this would be much appreciated as im kinda lost at the minute, Thanks :smile:

guys thanks so much this has really helped and im so grateful :smile:
ive been thinking about this and remembered theres a core maths course you can do that is only a year long so i might do that for a year and also do spanish alongside chem and bio? or is the full 2 year maths course preferred?
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 5
Original post by withholding-ivy
ive been thinking about this and remembered theres a core maths course you can do that is only a year long so i might do that for a year and also do spanish alongside chem and bio? or is the full 2 year maths course preferred?

unless you're set on cambridge there's really no need to do math if you're not positive that you'll enjoy it. even the 1 year as level math is a bit unnecessary in my opinion. bio, chem, Spanish is good for oxford
Original post by withholding-ivy
ive been thinking about this and remembered theres a core maths course you can do that is only a year long so i might do that for a year and also do spanish alongside chem and bio? or is the full 2 year maths course preferred?
Doing just one year of maths won't help you with anything tbh that time is better spent making sure you do well on your 3 main a levels and also ucat prep

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