Year 12 - Medical Career??

Hi, I'm just over a term into year 12 and I'm not sure what I should plan towards as a future career path. I'd love to do something medical related like medicine/dentistry. However I don't know if I'm smart enough/ my grades will allow me. In my GCSEs, during year 10 and 11 my sport took over my life so I didn't do as well as I would've liked. My GCSE grades were:
English Literature: 9
English Language: 8
History: 8
Media Studies: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 7
Physics: 6
Maths: 6
German: 5
From my GCSEs it's clear that I'm better at essay-based subjects however I really enjoy science, in particular biology. Furthermore, with my extra time (because of my dyslexia) I really didn't want to be sat in 4-hour-long exams and realistically, it would only increase from there and I feel like I would loose my passion for the subject rather quickly unlike with the sciences.

My current grades in year 12 are overall fairly decent As and a few Bs in Biology, Psychology and Core Maths, however, Chemistry has been my worst subjects with Cs and a D at the very start. In fairness, my Chemistry grade has improved slightly from the start of the year but I get really bad imposter syndrome in my classes at the minute and I feel that this effects my performance in tests as well, especially due to being in an incredibly smart class where A stands for average. I guess my question is, would it be a mistake for me to go down the medical route (I do think my chances studying medicine are very slim so perhaps dentistry instead)?

Reply 1

McGinger

Entry requirements for each Med School for 2025 entry Entry requirements | Medical Schools Council - whilst there are Med (and Dent) courses that dont require Chem, are you going to enjoy a course/career that includes lots of this?

Multidisciplinary science courses:
Natural Sciences with International Study MSci | University of Nottingham
BSc Life Sciences (2025 entry) | The University of Manchester

Reply 2

millietibbles

chemistry a level is really really tough, and it does only get harder in year 13. really get to grips with revising for it regularly after every lesson so you’re solid on your current knowledge.

i’m eligible for medicine with foundation year at most unis, so i applied for that instead of the a100 course, so see if you’re eligible for that anywhere maybe? grades needed are BBB/ABC for most.

dentistry is even more competitive than medicine i believe, just because fewer unis do it.

gcse’s and ucat are normally scored together for interview shortlisting, so come your ucat if you do well in it it will improve your chances

Reply 3

nessie77

Original post by millietibbles

chemistry a level is really really tough, and it does only get harder in year 13. really get to grips with revising for it regularly after every lesson so you’re solid on your current knowledge.
i’m eligible for medicine with foundation year at most unis, so i applied for that instead of the a100 course, so see if you’re eligible for that anywhere maybe? grades needed are BBB/ABC for most.
dentistry is even more competitive than medicine i believe, just because fewer unis do it.
gcse’s and ucat are normally scored together for interview shortlisting, so come your ucat if you do well in it it will improve your chances

Thanks for the advice, I'll try keep on top of my chemistry revision. I don't really know the ins and out surrounding the types of courses available for medicine and dentistry, just yet. What's the difference between the a100 course and medicine with foundation year - is the difference the number of years or something else?

Reply 4

nessie77

Original post by McGinger

Entry requirements for each Med School for 2025 entry Entry requirements | Medical Schools Council - whilst there are Med (and Dent) courses that dont require Chem, are you going to enjoy a course/career that includes lots of this?
Multidisciplinary science courses:
Natural Sciences with International Study MSci | University of Nottingham
BSc Life Sciences (2025 entry) | The University of Manchester

Thanks for the reply. It's probably not a bad idea to look in toother science related uni courses that doesn't involve lots of chemistry. Although it's not like a hate chemistry entirely, like there are aspects of it that I find rather intresting. The main deterrent is probably my exam technique and current performance in the subject.

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