Fancy My Chances?

**smokednote** · 30-01-2009, 02:12 AM

I would love to go to Queens and study medicine but to be honest I'm a little worried about my gcse results. I got 4A*s and 5As is this good enough to get a place?

Also what steps can I take to increase the chances of getting an offer, all suggestions welcome.

**jonbonbon** · 30-01-2009, 05:05 AM

well if u do well in your UKCAT it makes up for GCSEs but yours are still good id say. Just make sure and get good AS results so that you can declare them, queens seem to like that i heard. Also make sure and get 3A's predicted for your A2 year. Also try and get a wide variety of work experience and when you're writing your personal statement reflect on what you learnt from it. Just the normal things really. I dont think ur GCSE score is so low that u'd miss out that way if you get over 600 in each subtest in the UKCAT or alteast all but one. They add one point to ur GCSE score for every subtest result over 600 and one mark off for every result under 600.

**starting L6th** · 30-01-2009, 06:58 AM

ur gcse results giv u a score of 31 points at the min. last year the cut off point was 30 so u shud be grand as long as you don't mess up the ukcat. even if you get 2 above 600 and 2 below u shud be ok, but try 2 get a few extra points ther. there was a girl in my year rejected yesterday and she had 29 bad times!

**Baby doctor** · 31-01-2009, 06:32 PM

How do you work out your score for the GCSEs?

**smokednote** · 01-02-2009, 12:47 AM

Thanks, I was gettin kinda worried there for a while. Anyways is there anythin else you guys would suggest to improve my chances, I've been trying to line up some hospital work experience but I haven't been havin much luck, is it really essential? I also have heard about a kind of work experience trip abroad for prospective medical students. I know someone who went to argentina last year, do you reckon this would be helpful? even if it isn't i think I'll go anyway

**nabilar** · 02-02-2009, 12:48 AM

Yh how do you score for the GCSEs? Is GCSEz so much a factor?Because during my gcses, 3 days before my examz started I ended up having to find out that my mum was suffering from a severe illness that was liable to lead to death, and i know for a fact that that affected my state of mind for the examz, thankfully i done reasonably ok [4A*s,5As,2Bs] but wouldn't ur UKCAT test, BMAT test, wrk exp count for more?obviously GCSEs are important, but im just wondering how important are they to the admissions staff?

**jonbonbon** · 02-02-2009, 01:05 AM

it's 4 points for an a* and 3 for an a. They count the best 9. The ukcar is not proven to predict which candidates will be better doctors and so many unis don't put much emphasis on it but this has all been explained in many threads already. You should have applied for exceptional circumstances when doing the exams but you could always tell the unis aswell anyway.

**nabilar** · 02-02-2009, 02:58 AM

oh ok thanku

...yh i know i shouldv'e done but to be quite honest with you seeing as i had a easy and pretty cosy lifestyle, having something like that happen to me at such a crucial point in time I didn't know how to deal with the situation or what help i was entitled to..but to be quite honest with you seeing as my GCSEs didn't fair the best, I'm simply going to improve the other areas of my application that they look at and seeing as i'm in year 12 I have a fair bit of time before i start applying.

**Innocent_Angel** · 07-02-2009, 06:17 AM

It's possible to get into Queens with your grades. I also had 4A*s and 5As!

**starting L6th** · 27-02-2009, 02:27 AM

k i got rejected from queens today bad times. im not really that bothered cos my interviews so far have been way better than belfast. but jus thought i would post it here cos u have the same gsce's as me, so try ur best to get a few points on ur UKCAT and u shud b grand. good luck!