Nottingham/ Liverpool veterinary medicine entry requirements

Hi, I've applied to both Nottingham and Liverpool university for vet med, but i only got 4 GCSEs above a 7, even though their entry requirements are at least 5 grade 7's in GCSE. I'm predicted AAA and have over 5 weeks of work experience plus the online vet course, so I'm just wondering will the universities not consider my application because of that? Has anyone else applied with low GCSEs and got in? Nottingham and Liverpool are honestly my top university choices so if that's the reason why I can't get in - well I'll consider retaking a gcse
Thanks!

Thank you for your reply!
Do you know which GCSE's they would put more weight on if the requirements aren't met? I got 87 in sciences, but 6 in both maths and english language. I feel like they would put more weight on maths so if i don't get an interview, I'll probably reapply next year and resit a GCSE during that. If they're not specific about which one to resit i'll definitely go for eng lang because I think I was too burnt out by then to even process the exam (and i prefer it to maths!). But this year I really don't think it's a good idea to prioritise resitting a GCSE rather than my a-levels because I think that most vet uni's only accept them done in a 2 year period? Plus i could not subject myself to redo a whole alevel again I'd rather get it right the first time!
Thank you for your advice that helped a lot and I'll keep it in mind

Personally I think it’s risky applying to any university unless you meet the entry requirements for both gcse and A level. They have so many good students to choose from already who do meet the requirements so this is an easy way for them to sift out people from the process early. Give them reasons to want you, not reject you. Resit Maths. My daughter had A level maths and grateful she did as it’s important for dosing calculations and other parts of the course. So getting a good maths grade I’ll help you down the line.

Hi just wondering in relation to this I have a merit in junior cert higher maths (Irish gcse's) which does not meet the requirement on Liverpool and Nottingham's website they say you need a 6 or above and make this equivalent to a higher merit 75 to 89 percent, however a merit ranges from 50 percent to 75 percent and you never find out what exact percentage you get, Would they reject my application for this or seeing as the grade is so broad would they overlook it.

Thank you for your reply!
Do you know which GCSE's they would put more weight on if the requirements aren't met? I got 87 in sciences, but 6 in both maths and english language. I feel like they would put more weight on maths so if i don't get an interview, I'll probably reapply next year and resit a GCSE during that. If they're not specific about which one to resit i'll definitely go for eng lang because I think I was too burnt out by then to even process the exam (and i prefer it to maths!). But this year I really don't think it's a good idea to prioritise resitting a GCSE rather than my a-levels because I think that most vet uni's only accept them done in a 2 year period? Plus i could not subject myself to redo a whole alevel again I'd rather get it right the first time!
Thank you for your advice that helped a lot and I'll keep it in mind

Hi,
That honestly does make a lot of sense, I just got a message from liverpool saying I've been rejected due to my GCSEs, so if the rest of my choices turn out like this I most likely will take a gap year and resit a gcse. Even if I get rejected from all of them (hopefully not!) I'll just try again next year

I’d get myself entered for GCSE resits this summer! Then if you get the marks you could even possibly get in through clearing if you don’t get offers this round. Good Luck!!

Unfortunately clearing is not available for veterinary medicine courses.

Hi! I am going to Nottingham in the April 2026 cohort and I also resat 2 GCSEs to meet the grade requirements as I only had a 6 in both Bio and Chem at GCSE and you need 7s. I was predicted AAA at A-Level and I was interviewed for Nottingham for both the 5 and 6 year long courses. However, I also applied to Liverpool and didn’t get an interview as they said I didn’t meet the academic requirements even though I had “pending” as the grades for the subjects I was resitting.
I would recommend resitting a GCSE just to be on the safe side as the offer for interview process may be solely based on you meeting the requirements as opposed to a person reading each application. (For example at a Nottingham open day the head of admissions told us that they do not read personal statements at all due to the volume of applications they have to get through - also worth noting that she also said they do not care about predicted grades even though yours meet the requirements but for anyone reading whose may not.) Therefore they may respond a simple yes or no based on whether you meet requirements or not (both academic and work experience). However, I know from experience that it is both expensive and time consuming to resit and so I would suggest you only resit if you know it will not jeopardise your A-Level grades as they are the most important.
if you come up with any further questions then don’t hesitate to reply and I’ll do my best to answer. Hope this helped in some way.

Hi did you apply this year or last year please? Thanks