Am I good enough for medicine?

[tammie94]

I hear about how the average GCSE grades of med. students being 6A*s, and it makes me feel so ashamed of my grades. I really want you all to be absolutely blunt with me, am I good enough for medicine. I was really lazy during my GCSEs and I ended up with 7As 3Bs & 2Cs (<-in English Language and drama btec)

But now I'm really motivated and I'm working very hard as I've just realised that my dream of becoming a doctor since I was 12 years old may be taken away from me. Do you think I've got a chance and by the way I'm retaking English Language so I hopefully I'll get an A or B this time. I also didn't complete the Drama Btec course, and didn't want to be entered for it quite frankly. But after speaking to my Drama teacher and asking him why he had to even enter me, he simply told me not to even mention on my CV and personal statement that I even did it. He also told me to just forget I did it as well and just write down my GCSE grades whenever someone asks for it i.e. not mention my extra Btec grade. Do you think that's wise. For my A levels I've been predicted 3A*s and 1A, but I'm going to work extremely hard and try to get 4A*s. Is it too late?

[mikuro]

Tammie it's never too late. It might mean you have to go down a different path however. I'm not well versed in the strict rules for GCSE grades as I am well past that having a degree already, so I hope someone can help you with that part!
I just wanted to say don't give up hope, there's always a way further down the line like graduate entry if you decide to do a different degree.

[Rachel Moron]

If you work hard enough you could do medicine, you need chemistry and biology, you probably already know that. See how AS goes, and have a back up plan.

[new2newmedia]

Hi tammie94

It’s funny how at the time your GCSEs seem like the most important thing in the world then 10 years later you can hardly remember what you got. I was chatting to a friend from uni the other day who can’t remember what they got in their A levels!

My personal opinion is that your GCSEs shouldn’t be a problem in the slightest. You would need to look closely at where you apply though. Some places, like Birmingham I think are very heavy on GCSEs and want reams of A*s, others just have minimum requirements e.g. A/B for maths, English and science and a fairly modest number of passes in total.

I’d look at the newer schools like HYMS,BSMS etc. I quickly googled them and they seem to be quite sensible about GCSEs

The focus will be on your A levels and UKCAT/BMAT score. Potentially you might find it harder if you apply during your A2 year but if it doesn’t work out and you get the A level grades then applying with those in place the next year should be much easier. Besides, medicine is going to be hard at uni and after so why not give yourself a year off in-between(?).

By the way, your GCSEs are good by objective standards so don’t loose too much sleep over it. Don’t get me wrong, I got a B in my GCSE English lit and it still bothers me that I didn’t get “the complete academic set” but I am the only one that it bothers.

[Dan27]

Go for it!

[ASDAW]

Im interested in goin for medicine in the future, got aabbbc in gcses, (maths n english at grade a n seperate sciences at b +history at c)Im interested in going for a access to science course then hopefully onto a biomedical science degree then hopefully after that onto medicine. What are my chances? or r my gcses a bit weak?

[House Jr.]

Im interested in goin for medicine in the future, got aabbbc in gcses, (maths n english at grade a n seperate sciences at b +history at c)Im interested in going for a access to science course then hopefully onto a biomedical science degree then hopefully after that onto medicine. What are my chances? or r my gcses a bit weak?

you could always just do A levels in chemistry, biology and something else then apply to the normal 5 year course. Your GCSEs shouldn't hold you back too much if you apply to the right places

[ASDAW]

[thanx, what does gkt mean?

[snakefisch]

Haha Guys, Kings and St Thomas's (aka Kings College London)