A GCSE Student choosing A- level subjects needing URGENT help

[jellofricechurchschool]

I am a GCSE student pursuing a career in medicine and I am getting ready to choose my A-level options.
At the moment I am thinking of choosing:
Maths
Further Maths
Biology
Chemistry
History
for AS, and for A2:
Maths
Further maths
Biology
Chemistry

However, several of my teachers have encouraged me to take physics instead of Biology to give me an edge when applying for medicine. On the other hand, after looking at some university websites I am aware that some universities ask for at least an AS in Biology, and I feel that doing Physics instead of Biology could seriously limit me to the schools that do not ask for this. To make things worse those schools tend to be the most competitive and I am scared of not getting in.
I was considering possibly doing the Physics A level outside of school, with a home learning course. However, these course are quite expensive and I am scared of taking the course, being overwhelmed with the courses that I am already taking, particularly Maths and Further Maths, and dropping the physics A level. This would be a waste of money. In addition I have heard a lot of stories about people trying to take too many A levels and it resulting in bad results all around.

I have to submit my option form in two weeks so I am in need of urgent help.
Please can someone with exepriance in applying for medicine or knowledge of applying for medicine help me.
Thankyou very much in advance.
Jellofricechurchschool

[Kinkerz]

Further maths doesn't get you anywhere when applying for medicine by the way. Most med schools actually say they do not consider overlapping subjects ie: maths and further maths. So unless you absolutely love maths, further maths is (in my opinion) a total waste of time and unnecessary stress.
Also physics doesn't get you more credit than biology, quite the opposite actually. For medicine, biology and chemistry are imperative really.
I think your combination of maths, chemistry, biology and history is pretty much perfect. There really is no need in doing five as most med schools just take your best four anyway, unless you are considering applying to oxbridge.
Good Luck!

[TMG]

Hi Jelo,

Kinkerz is spot on with his advice.You DEF need to do Bio AT LEAST to AS level.I would advise not to do Further Maths.

I would do Maths,Chem,Bio and Hist at AS level then either continue with them all to A2 or if after AS you feel the work load is too much then you have the option of dropping one Maths,Hist or even the Bio (if you have by then decided which unis you want to apply for and they don't require Bio).Rather than doing 5 AS I would concentrate on the 4 and spend some of your free lessons doing volunteer work in school (or out of school if you don't have to be on the premises) - reading with younger children,mentoring,library etc,this will strengthen your Personal Statement.Some unis welcome a 3rd subject like hist because it demonstrates that you are an 'all-rounder',have interests outside of the sciences and particularly with hist you can be objective and you are also keeping up the essay writing.

How do I know all this?Because I am doing exactly the same subjects at AS and I researched the unis criteria thoroughly before I chose my A levels.Apply for prospectus's now - it's never too early.

[terpineol]

Physics is great fun, though you would be far better off with biology.

Personally i'd do Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Maths.

Physics won't give you the edge at all, i found it was incredibly undemanding in relation to biology.

I did the above, and was doing AS further maths aswell, before starting to wonder what the point was and dropping it.

[Carrotcake]

You definitely need to do Biology A-level - I can't believe that your teachers are giving you that advice! In fact, at GKT, they require all students who didn't do A-level Bio to come one week early to do a course - so in fact, it's a disadvantage not to have it. Most of Year 1 medicine is a repeat of A-level Bio and Chem, so it will be much easier for you if you've already done it. Personally, I think that Further Maths would be the one to leave out, in favour of Chem, Bio, Maths and Physics. Best of luck in whatever you decide!

[Carrotcake]

P.S. didn't see that you also want to do history - in that case, i would absolutely go for maths, bio, chem and history - as an earlier poster said, a non-science (yet core) a-level will show that you're an all-rounder. at all my interviews six years ago, the panel loved asking me about my non-science a-level (latin) and they also asked my sister about hers (history). physics won't give you any added advantages, but maths definitely will - the amount of statistics in years 1 and 2 of medicine is crazy. i did chem, bio, maths and latin and found that it was a great combination. my sister did chem, bio, physics and history and later regretted not doing maths instead of physics. but then, having said all this, do those subjects in which you're going to get the best grades and which you enjoy (you don't want to lose your motivation half-way through AS)! hope that helps somewhat.

[Rich' Trash]

Just to point out about physics.. I agree with most of the above posters that it wont generally give you an edge BUT.. if you're planning on applying the cambridge, oxford, imperial or UCL you'll have to sit the BMAT exam which has a physics section so an A-level in it would be advantagous there.

[Singh.Simran]

It has some physics in, minimally, which i'd say isn't far above GCSE, not worth the a-level over biology, which is the bulk of the science part of the BMAT.

In terms of unis looking on it, worth, usefullness to medicine, etc, all things considered, drop further m and do biology over physics, i say.

[terpineol]

So far i'd say physics has probably been of more use than chemistry, but only in terms of understanding how one calculates sarcomere length with laser diffraction etc, and in manipulating various physiological equations and graphs. Not having Biology would have made one hell of alot of work last semester, and a fair bit more so far in this one.

If you must not do biology, at the very least make sure you do the biochemistry option for chemistry.

[benneh]

i emulate the above. unless applying to oxbridge, stick to 4 solid AS's and dont worry about dropping one in the A2 year. few med schools care about a student with 4 A2's

i would take bio, chem, maths and history. as said above, a non science is often very useful for applying