TSR DECISIONS DROP IN Q and A NOW OPEN - GET FREE ADVICE HERE >>

medicine and grades vent lol

so basically I love seeing people succeed and get all 9's at GCSE and get predicted A*'s

though it does hurt.. did you guys get all 9's because you found the work easy? did you succeed because you wanted to? heck did your parents force you? my parents forced me yes but why did it have the opposite effect for me? my grades aren't terrible though, just not... medicine.

how did you know that medicine wanted you to have such good grades :frown:

heck I didn't know medicine wanted you to have amazing GCSE's.. A levels yes it was a given but even then I never heard anything about the medicine process at all (I go to a state school which isn't a bad state school it has sent people to medicine and oxbridge but you don't hear anything of the sort until you're in year 12 and it's too late to go back.

I truly hate my life because I wanted to do well but the more I worry about doing well, the worse I do academically. I don't want to expose myself so I won't say too much but I am still applying for medicine for 2026 but god it does kind of hurt that medicine (and other competitive courses) are realistically only catered to those with money or connections

I think this is more of a rant of how I hate the UK lmao cause why does everyone keep telling me to do an apprenticeship... I want to do medicine so stop telling me my GCSE's don't matter 💀

that's it - this is not supposed to be hate towards anyone!!!!!

Reply 1

Logic1

Original post by antifragile0

so basically I love seeing people succeed and get all 9's at GCSE and get predicted A*'s
though it does hurt.. did you guys get all 9's because you found the work easy? did you succeed because you wanted to? heck did your parents force you? my parents forced me yes but why did it have the opposite effect for me? my grades aren't terrible though, just not... medicine.
how did you know that medicine wanted you to have such good grades :frown:

heck I didn't know medicine wanted you to have amazing GCSE's.. A levels yes it was a given but even then I never heard anything about the medicine process at all (I go to a state school which isn't a bad state school it has sent people to medicine and oxbridge but you don't hear anything of the sort until you're in year 12 and it's too late to go back.
I truly hate my life because I wanted to do well but the more I worry about doing well, the worse I do academically. I don't want to expose myself so I won't say too much but I am still applying for medicine for 2026 but god it does kind of hurt that medicine (and other competitive courses) are realistically only catered to those with money or connections
I think this is more of a rant of how I hate the UK lmao cause why does everyone keep telling me to do an apprenticeship... I want to do medicine so stop telling me my GCSE's don't matter 💀
that's it - this is not supposed to be hate towards anyone!!!!!

Let me get this dont listen to anyone u need 8s or 9s and minum 7s they do matter however not all score GCSEs but top unis and most do. The ones that care about GCSEs don’t require that high ucat expect camb and ox and vice versa.

I regret not taking my GCSEs seriously I thought they don’t matter but I am Eligible for medical school just not the top ones.

Reply 2

ryuaku

check uni requirements!!! not all universities look at your gcses when you apply

Reply 3

Anonymous32793

Apply for a widening participation program or something

Reply 4

lilysilly_5454

Original post by nickles_02

They still do but some will put more emphasis on UCAT / A Levels.
As long as you meet their minimum required grades than UCAS focused admissions (eg, Newcastle uni) will benefit you more than GCSE focused uni (eg, Cardiff)

Newcastle scores gcses

Reply 5

lilysilly_5454

Original post by nickles_02

That’s why I said “UCAT focused” - all unis check if you meet the minimum requirements but some will prioritise UCAT more

It doesnt thou its 50% focused on gcse a better example would be bristol

Reply 6

lanky_giraffe

Original post by Logic1

Let me get this dont listen to anyone u need 8s or 9s and minum 7s they do matter however not all score GCSEs but top unis and most do. The ones that care about GCSEs don’t require that high ucat expect camb and ox and vice versa.
I regret not taking my GCSEs seriously I thought they don’t matter but I am Eligible for medical school just not the top ones.

honestly, the top ones don’t care that much about GCSEs.

Bristol, UCL, Imperial and Oxford (if you took your GCSEs in 2020/2021) Don’t care about GCSEs AT ALL bar the minimum requirements and shortlist by ucat exclusively. Cambridge also don’t care that much compared to **** medical schools (not that which medical school you go to matters but I’m just proving a point).

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 7

lanky_giraffe

Original post by Logic1

Let me get this dont listen to anyone u need 8s or 9s and minum 7s they do matter however not all score GCSEs but top unis and most do. The ones that care about GCSEs don’t require that high ucat expect camb and ox and vice versa.
I regret not taking my GCSEs seriously I thought they don’t matter but I am Eligible for medical school just not the top ones.

But what you said was mostly true. If you just look around when you have bad gcses you can still get into medical school if you get a good ucat (as long as your gcse in English lang and maths is 6 or above). A great ucat > great gcses when applying to medical school, believe me.

Honestly, I find that unis that care about GCSEs (a lot) worse than ones that care about the ucat a lot. I find it completely ridiculous how much some unis care about GCSEs for medicine.