Want to do Medicine, A level choices

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brilliant then. i am not great at english lit. so im still going to discuss it with the person at the interview, and im also considering the I.B course too, but I think biology, chemistry, maths and english literatures quite balanced. and I think it will keep me on my toes to a certain extent. i know a lot of people who drop out because they are bored, and go to do music at the institute down the road

Reply 21

username9816

MJB

Hey, I want to do Medicine at university and was wondering if the following subject combo would work at all:

A level:
Chemistry
Biology
History
General Studies (okay not a proper A level really)

AS:
Physics

Physics to A2 as well would be good, I know its hard work but it would be worth it, definitely.

It would aid your application.

Reply 22

gui1ty

no way, i dont enjoy it, i never have, and theres no fun experiments, just lots of boring demos.

i would rather do religous studies than physics and thats saying somthing!

i think that in 2 years i will probably have a change of heart about medicine, its a long ol' time to go as a student. but you do come out a proffesional with the almost certain chance of a good job

physics can go suck my you know what

Reply 23

r316

What are people studying Medicine or intending to doing for their AS/A levels? Any responses from Medical schools?

Reply 24

ruthiepoothie

i would take

maths
biology
chemistry
and then one other subject of your choice

or if you are going to take 5 then:
maths
biology
chemistry
physics
and one other subject of your choice

Reply 25

ruthiepoothie

also, you will find physics hard if you are not doing maths so dont do physics if you are not doing maths

Reply 26

r316

ruthiepoothie

i would take

maths
biology
chemistry
and then one other subject of your choice

or if you are going to take 5 then:
maths
biology
chemistry
physics
and one other subject of your choice

Your second list seems to suggest Physics to be advantageous. So if you were taking 4, would that be

maths
biology
chemistry
physics?

Reply 27

ruthiepoothie

r316

Your second list seems to suggest Physics to be advantageous. So if you were taking 4, would that be

maths
biology
chemistry
physics?

only if you wanted to do physics, if you didn't then just do a subject you enjoy for your 4th eg music or art or sociology or something like that- maths, biology and chemistry are the most important...

Reply 28

Howard

Metalshop and Home economics.

Reply 29

r316

Howard

Metalshop and Home economics.

For medicine? Seriously? I assume you meet the entry requirements- these are your personal choices. Neither are offered at my school. How are you finding these 'alternative' choices- a welcome break from science?

Reply 30

Daveo

I would say:
DO: Maths
Biology
Chemistry
Any other sub from most of the possibilities- ( I did ICT)

Forget GS its a waste of time and effort.

Reply 31

username9816

Daveo

Forget GS its a waste of time and effort.

Yes, it doesn't help when its completely ignored and excluded from everything, so its hardly worthwhile :rolleyes:

Reply 32

r316

If I took A2 Chem., Bio., Maths, Further Maths, AS Physics, would I damage my chances of getting in?

Reply 33

Lucy

r316

If I took A2 Chem., Bio., Maths, Further Maths, AS Physics, would I damage my chances of getting in?

Hey, I replied to your PM but to recap, I don't think you'll have any problems with those subjects. My A2 subjects are all sciences/maths and I haven't had any problems with my uni application thus far :smile:

Reply 34

Elles

to throw my 2p in..

r316

What are people studying Medicine or intending to doing for their AS/A levels? Any responses from Medical schools?

I did:

Biology
Chemistry
History
English Lit.
General Studies

AS-Physics.

To keep your options fully open Biology & Chemistry to A2 is good.. then if you only want to do 1 more full A level, i'd recommend a non-science (unless you want Cantab) as some schools are increasingly favouring those, plus if you change your mind about medicine it might give more flexibility. But i'd just say choose what you like most & think you can get an A in! Perhaps some unis would favour more 'traditional' subjects i.e. not media studies.

History & English Lit. came up in my interviews & i think helped with both those & the exam.

I didn't do Maths (would have bored me stupid) & that was fine.. although i had difficulties remebering long division for one entrance exam! But, then you'll need to try & make sure your Maths GCSE is good, so it's obvious that you COULD do maths, you just chose not to.

GS, i did because they wanted us to (your school gets money!) & all we did was turn up to the exam..plus if you're doing sciences & a humanity then you could probably do quite well & an extra As never hurt anyone!

Physics i only did to AS, because i was advised without maths beyond GCSE the A2 would require a lot more work.

You might want to do an AEA, but i didn't tell the unis in advance that i was (so they didn't specify a grade, lol!) & they're far from essential.

Anyways, these subjects (in conjunction with the PS, referrence etc. obviously) worked for Bristol, Imperial & Oxford..but i wasn't worthy for southampton :wink:

.

HTH

Reply 35

gui1ty

i have been thinking about it.

definately doing

chemistry and biology to A2

i think a humanity is wise and psychology looks like a dropout subject to be honest, so im going for history to A2

english literature im also going to give a go to A2 as well

and general studies AS and critical thinking A2

i will do maths, not sure if I will do it for the wholel 2 years or not.

and on top of that I have a pre-clinical edexcel thing which will help + work experience, i have 3 months to play around with my choices, to see which i like and which i dont. how i get on with the teachers and what the work load is like, if somthing is blaitent i wont get a A or B in i will drop it and concentrate on other subjects, however much i hate quitting

the maths is going to be really hard but i want to do it to prove to myself that i can stand 2 more years of it, and physics is a complete no, i'd rather do maths

Reply 36

LS.

Hmm.. Medicine is one of the careers I'm thinking about, I'm doing my AS at them moment, taking: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology.

Would I still be able to go into medicine if I just took Bio, Chem and Phy to A2 and drop psychology after AS? Would it be advisable to take up another AS level?

[Plus, is psychology classed as a science of a humanity subject :confused:

]

Reply 37

gui1ty

i just thought history would be better than psy, psy looks dull

i thiink you could still do medicine if you get good grades, but its like the minimum

Reply 38

LS.

History just doesn't interest me, I didn't do it for GCSE, and I really hated the teacher doing it for A-level.

Psychology is definately not dull! Some parts of the course feel relervant to medicine [e.g physiological psychology - learning about the nervous system] - I only took psychology because there was a problem with Lang/Lit

I thought the subs I was doing would be Ok - from what I've seen uni's mainly ask for 3 A levels including Chemistry and Biology.

Reply 39

Elles

Would I still be able to go into medicine if I just took Bio, Chem and Phy to A2 and drop psychology after AS?

yes, you would.

but your best bet is to check individual prospectuses, because some schools, e.g. UCL are now stating that they will favour applicants offering a non-science A Level.

i think they would probably ive the sciences as Biology/Human Biology, Chemistry & Physics & I think Cambridge includes Maths. the other subjects vary in their degree of non-sciency-ness i suppose! from techincal/creative subjects, social sciences, languages to true arts & humanities. i think some medical schools just feel that doing only pure sciences means you lack the opportunity to have a broad knowledge..although if you have a contrasting AS & other interests etc. then i can't see that being a problem.

HTH