Potential med applicant 2025 ?🙃 (currently year 12)

Hi people,
I got 98776655 in GCSEs ,
8 math , 7 eng lang , 6 bio , 7 chem , 5 physics.
I never hear about people with similar grading to mine get into top universities like ucl or kcl , should I even try lol . ( I know ucats and predicted grades matter a lot aswell and most universities consider everything holistically, but still I’m not sure where to apply to. )
I’m Also doing alevel biology privately alongside math,chem and psych at school ! It’s quite late I know , but do you think I should switch to ocr because I’ve heard since it doesn’t do essays it should be somewhat easier . ( Not sure though )

You only need 3 a-levels for medicine, any more does not help your chances any further.
Your point about gcse grades is true, they are probably slightly too low for the top universities, but that doesn't matter. Every medical school gives out the same degree at the end, so top uni's aren't any better than any other uni.
Have a look for uni's that care less about gcses and place more emphasis on as you said ucat + interview etc.
I'm sure someone has a link to the page with all the schools.
Best of luck, if you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Hi people,
I got 98776655 in GCSEs ,
8 math , 7 eng lang , 6 bio , 7 chem , 5 physics.
I never hear about people with similar grading to mine get into top universities like ucl or kcl , should I even try lol . ( I know ucats and predicted grades matter a lot aswell and most universities consider everything holistically, but still I’m not sure where to apply to. )
I’m Also doing alevel biology privately alongside math,chem and psych at school ! It’s quite late I know , but do you think I should switch to ocr because I’ve heard since it doesn’t do essays it should be somewhat easier . ( Not sure though )

I just want to know how did you get a 7 in lang. I got a 5 resitting language again and I got a 5. I need a 6 what was your strategy did you memorise any story?

You only need 3 a-levels for medicine, any more does not help your chances any further.
Your point about gcse grades is true, they are probably slightly too low for the top universities, but that doesn't matter. Every medical school gives out the same degree at the end, so top uni's aren't any better than any other uni.
Have a look for uni's that care less about gcses and place more emphasis on as you said ucat + interview etc.
I'm sure someone has a link to the page with all the schools.
Best of luck, if you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them.

I’m aware I only need three a-levels but unfortunately my school didn’t allow me to do biology with a grade 6 . And I know that most unis require chem more but a lot of them that I’m interested in require biology .😕

I’m aware I only need three a-levels but unfortunately my school didn’t allow me to do biology with a grade 6 . And I know that most unis require chem more but a lot of them that I’m interested in require biology .😕

I would second stilllearning123’s comment that there’s no better med school than another. There may be more prestigious ones which are usually based (in part) on old-school/gentlemans club/elitism merits. The aim of attending med school is to become a doctor afterwards and all med schools will enable you to do that. Between 60-80% of applicants won’t get a single offer so it is wise to apply carefully to those med schools that are more likely to accept you (especially if you have gcses on the lower side of applicants). With a 5 in physics you will have to check minimum criterias carefully. Plus, particularly in ‘top’ med schools, minimum requirements are unlikely to get a candidate through. In reality applicants may need more. Research carefully.

thank you , and after ALOT of thought I’m not doing a fourth a-level (bio) there are many unis that don’t require bio( i have also researched unis that are more lenient on GCSEs ) but instead I’m thinking about retaking physics as there is some time left to decide but I have to decide quick . But I’m not sure if unis care about a gcse physics retake😕 i mean it is a science so it’s important that’s why i was considering retaking it.

Hey! I'll be honest, from what I've seen top med unis like many of the london ones and Oxbridge won't really consider lower GCSEs just due to how many applicants they get - they have to have some sort way to distinguish between participants. But, if it's medicine you really want to do, there are unis that have a lot lower gcse entry requirements and get you to the exact same career and on a level playing field with other med school graduates. If you're still not convinced, I'd perhaps suggest looking to another career. Go on uni websites and look at their entry requirements to get a feel for what's required and look around some forums on here to then see what sort of stats actually got offered a place from said unis. Work hard for your ucat and predicteds and I'm sure you could still get an offer somewhere if you apply strategically. Good luck!

hi and thank you for being honest , I’ve done more research and I’ve started considering many other unis , I realise how unrealistic I was being by only thinking abt the top unis😭 I had a massive reality check and it is definitely better for me to apply strategically. I’ve heard Bristol care about ucats the most and it’s a good uni .🙂

For UCL and Imperial all you need is a 6 in English lang (and I think a 6 for maths for UCL)(or you can take the Duolingo English test for Imperial for £50). Then they just rank off ucat score; great GCSEs won't increase your chance of admission. Cambridge also doesn't care about GCSEs a significant amount (+ it's contextualised).
Can people who don't know the admissions procedure for a uni (for med) not make generalisations because each med school has a different procedure and they weight things differently or just not all, and making these generalisations misinform people and so they might not do what's best for them or they are falsely disheartened.
Surprisingly, the "best" medical schools actually don't weight GCSEs a lot (bar Oxford).

I appreciate your input it really gives me hope but at the same time I’ve heard a great amount of people say that they don’t even consider lower GCSEs (I.e not all 9/8/7s) ( in my case I didn’t get low in the cores expect physics 5) i feel like it’s a-bit risky.

I appreciate your input it really gives me hope but at the same time I’ve heard a great amount of people say that they don’t even consider lower GCSEs (I.e not all 9/8/7s) ( in my case I didn’t get low in the cores expect physics 5) i feel like it’s a-bit risky.

honestly, if your grade average is around a 7, you should be fine!! but defo know that it doesn’t matter too much where you go for uni, as everyone will come out as a doctor anyway