Access To Medicine, doing GCSE

[Mohai]

Thats interesting agnieshd, thanks for answering these questions, so im working hard and im getting some hospital related job in the summer, hopefully a couple of years later i might be lucky xD

[agneishd]

that sounds like the right way to go
good luck!

[Dancer]

Don't worry about your GCSEs - I know when you do them, they're a really big deal, but honestly, as long as you have five A*-C grades, and min B in English and Maths at GCSE, that's all that you need. Your A Levels and BMAT scores are important. Make sure you aim for straight As and that your GCSE Science and Maths are strong so you do well in the BMAT. Then, you need to look at the sort of things that would look good in a Personal Statement. Things like relevant work experience, volunteer work, part-time jobs, knowledge of foreign languages, examples of being a leader, examples of working in a team, sports, etc.

[Fuj]

What type of Part time jobs are suitable?

[agneishd]

you don't really have to do a part time job... (for med skl entrance anyway)

[Dancer]

You don't have to fulfil ALL the things I said. If you do a part-time job it shows that you can work as part of a team, if you do retail then it shows you can deal with people in difficult circumstances (e.g. dealing with annoyed customers), etc. You don't HAVE to do a part-time job - but if you do one, it's worth putting on your personal statement. Make your statement unique to you. You WILL be asked questions on everything that's in there and if you're not able to talk about it all or support everything written, then you'll dig yourself a great big hole (and it DOES happen!).

If you're not sure what you need to do to be a good medical candidate then talk to your school careers advisors - they've got experience with this sort of thing. Or go to courses such as Premed or Vision (one-day) or MedLink, where you'll also be given advice on EVERY aspect of the application process - from UCAS application to life at med school, with BMAT, interviews, etc. in-between.

[agneishd]

you can volunteer and still be part of a team and deal with customers - like working at a local charity shop for instance, something I did, and doesn't require any effort to get a placement

the only extra thing with a part-time job is the money - and for that it often adds stress to working conditions

although if one needs the money, but all means go for it - I got meself a part time job myself later on for that purpose

[Dancer]

you can volunteer and still be part of a team and deal with customers - like working at a local charity shop for instance, something I did, and doesn't require any effort to get a placement

the only extra thing with a part-time job is the money - and for that it often adds stress to working conditions

although if one needs the money, but all means go for it - I got meself a part time job myself later on for that purpose

Absolutely. A lot of people don't realise that a part-time job can be used as a strength for lots of reasons - and you can make money at the same time as developing skills important for Medicine. And in some areas, it's easier to get a job than volunteer in a charity shop, as it was for me. I did other volunteering instead, but by having a part-time job during my A Levels, I was able to save a lot of money that I can now fall back on studying in London. HOWEVER, no job is important enough to start losing A Level marks for, or losing sleep over because you don't have enough hours in the day to do everything.

[elz]

i didnt get any A*s, i got 6A's and 4B's and its never been a prob for me, iv always met the gcse requirements everywhere.