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Bad English GCSE grade, applying for medicine

I'm a student in Y12 currently doing my A levels and aspiring to study medicine. In my iGCSE's I got A*A* in coordinated sciences, A* in Math, A in History, A in Chinese Mandarin, A in Design & Technology, and 2 C's in English Lang and Lit. The Uni's I want to go to are University of Edinburgh, UCL, Bristol, Imperial, St Andrews or Queen Mary. My biggest concern is my english grades. I've kind of already decided that I will resit my English iGCSE to meet the requirements (B). I'm just wondering how badly this would affect my application if my A level grades turn out to be pretty good? BTW, 'pretty good' to me is an A* in chem and math and a A in bio which is a realistic goal in my eyes.

I'm seriously concerned that I may not make it to med school because of my iGCSE's, please let me know what schools on my list are possible to get accepted into as google tells me absolutely nothing or conflicting information.

Thanks!!
Hi :smile:

I wouldn't be dishearted, as mentioned good to check entry requirments. But also check selection criterias for interviews and how much they score each GCSE- and then cross reference with average scores for those who have got interviews in previous years.

This is something I DIDN'T do when I applied because honestly I hadn't realised just how differently each university runs their admissions. Although the rest of my GCSEs were 9s, my UCAT was top decile, I had a 6 and 7 in English which I felt really hindered scoring highly when selecting for interviews because I didn't adequately research what would be a strategic application for my results.

Also iGCSEs tend to be more common in private schools? If you did go to a private school would also be useful to see how much weight each university gives to contextual scoring. Some integrate directly into pre interview scoring (which is one of the reasons why my english grades had as much as an impact as they did, as I went to a state grammar).

But not impossible! I'm now just over a year off from graduating but I remember just how stressful and uncertain it was. It'll just take you a bit of extra effort and time looking around for these details, but the student room forums are definitely a good source of information :smile:

Good luck! If there's anything else I can help with, in any part of your studies, just send me a message
For Bristol, if you meet the *minimum* entry requirements, you would then be ranked only on your UKCAT score to see if you get an interview. You need GCSE Maths 7 and English 4 - they really don't care about the rest of your GCSE grades. Go to the Open Day in June.

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