What are my chances?

[FaithFluro]

I am currently enrolled in a access to he: health course at my local college in Milton keynes. I have a lvl 2 in numeracy anditeracy I got this year and have been a member of mensa and the gifted children's society since I was 8. I am 20 now and did not manage to get gcses or a levels due to the fact I had to leave school at 14 due to very bad health. I have booked my ukcat exam for august 17 th and hope to start applying to unis for a medical place when I start college in sep. I would ideally like to go to Cardiff as I have a friend who lives there and can set me up but I am open to others too.

I was wondering what my chances are based on my info to get on and if they are not good enough what should I also look in to taking? I'm very determined but my past I'll health is working against me

[rachaelc]

is the access to health course you're doing Access to Medicine/Dentistry or simply Access to Health? Do you know how many credits are at level 3 and your predicted grades/score from the tutors? A fair few universities accept Access to Medicine courses as long as distinctions are received in all modules/overall and the course meets the minimum amount of level 3 credits (45 i think at most places.) If your access to health isnt specifically access to medicine i would ask the college for a copy of the course specification and email university admissions to ask if it would be acceptable to them instead of the specific Access to Medicine course. Cardiff do a 6 year medical degree with foundation year, so if i were you i would apply to that as its designed for people with no/non science A levels and access courses and for people with high academic potential.

Also, it may be worth taking Maths, English and Science GCSE's now to bolster your application. As you are only 20 i believe you may be able to get some sort of funding to help you pay for the college fees, but dont quote me on that! You say you are a member of mensa, you should have no problem taking in new info and this will help you with the workload and something good to put on your personal statement.

Do you have any work experience in a health related field to write about in your personal statement? Get some really good work placements/experience. Its not so much about quantity but quality and what you have learnt from it. Extra curricular activities are also good, like coaching a team or playing sports/musical instruments - they all show different facets of your personality which universities want to see.

Are you thining of applying for 2012 entry? Take a look at universities that offer medicine with foundation year perhaps and then go to open days and email them to check you would be eligible/if there is anything further they would expect to see on your application. Itmay be a good idea to go for 2013 entry and use the rest of this year and next getting good work experience and placements, taking a few GCSE's and possibly A/S Chemistry or Biology (or both!) and of course completing your access course to pass with distinctions!

Aswell as this forum take a look at TSR wiki for medicine, it has alot of links and info for different medical schools from admissions to application forms and what life is like as a med student

Medicine - The Student Room

[FaithFluro]

Thank you.
My lvl 2's in literacy and numeracy are equivilant of gcses maths and english.
My access course is just health. I believe the only difference with medicine is a chemistry module.

Could you perhaps give me more details on the foundation years? What I need to get into them? I believe they only have very few places and even fewer for access course students?

I'm aiming to volunteer this year locally and then I'll probably be going away in the summer for at least a couple of weeks abroad to do medical word abroad. Also going to attend a medi-quest course.

You probably couldn't meet a more determined and head-strong person, so I'll probably be leaning more on my PS to sell myself as my qualifications are definitely not as strong as some...do unis look heavily on statements with a lot of potential etc?

I will be ringing the foundation course colleges on Monday and asking what I can do, etc and if I need to take anything extra to bolster myself. I don't want to be wasting my time.

All this is really getting me down so any words of encouragement and success stories would REALLY help.

[rachaelc]

Ah right ok, so you're sorted for gcse's which is good. You could perhaps do A/S chemistry to go with your access to health as chemistry is looked upon very positively by medical schools, a lot make it a requirement. You can do a chemistry course as a distance learning/ private student as long as you put the work in to teach yourself which it appears like you would as you seem determined.

Your personal statement is an important part of the application so you need to use it to sell yourself and tell the university's why you want to do medicine and why they should accept you at their university. On you work volunteering it would be good to jot down what you do each dat and what you have learnt about working as a doctor and what you have learnt about yourself and how it will help you in your future medical career.

A foundation year is an extra year at uni before the standard 5 year course commences. The places are more limited and so competition will be greater, hence why an outstanding personal statement and good marks in your access course will help you stand out.

By all meandering ring universities, I would also send an email as you will have something to refer back to and some universities prefer an email as they can log all enquiries and email over info easily to you.

If they would accept your access to health instead of access to medicine and you have a good personal statement and good work experience you might want to ask if it would be possible to apply to degree courses without the foundation year(just the standard five year course). Foundation years are generally designed for people with non science A levels and so teach basics of science and ideas enabling you to commence the actual degree course with the required scientific knowledge. As foundation year is taught at the university it means an extra year with uni fees so I would contact universities for particular. Requirements for admission as each uni varies slightly.

[rachaelc]

Damn typing, I meant to write by all means, not meandering!

[FaithFluro]

Haha, I thought so!

Anyway, thanks. You've been very helpful and set my belly at ease a bit. God knows I thought I was going to go crazy before Monday!

Would I have to go Chemistry GCSE, AS or A2 to be taken more seriously?

[rachaelc]

If you were to go into a five year course you would need chemistry A level as your access to health doesn't include it. If you opted for a course with extra foundation year then not necessarily needed, obviously have to ask uni to see what they say. It's also worth noting there are universities that rely more on personal statement than grades, although high grades are still important.

[FaithFluro]

Is that A level AS or A2?

[rachaelc]

Full A level to go into standard five year med degree. Six year you may not need it.