UKCAT/A level/GCSE Results

[Noobzilla]

There is no need to vent your frustrations from my thread. It was a genuine question because I am dissapointed with my results. If you are angered by it..don't post.

[Gizmo says -]

you misunderstand.

we are telling you not to be an eeijit.

[Kinkerz]

There is no need to vent your frustrations from my thread. It was a genuine question because I am dissapointed with my results. If you are angered by it..don't post.

I'm not venting anything, nor am I angered. There is a subtle, yet vital difference between frustration and anger.

Even if you are disappointed with your results, to describe them as "really bad" is infinitely foolish. Someone who achieves such grades shouldn't be foolish enough to describe them in that way.

I don't agree my results are suitable for medicine, especially not the top universities which is where I am aiming. Getting B grades for English is particularly bad as it is one of the core subjects. I hope the universities I apply for won't place too much emphasis on GCSE results, and I achieve good results in A levels, BMAT and UKCAT. Would that help?

Oh, you don't agree. Well I'm sure the fact that people have done and will continue to get into top universities to study medicine with grades even worse than yours should be dislodged for the purpose of your opinion.

[Gowrav]

I'll tell it as it is..cambridge i don't think you can unless you get lucky because i have spoken someone from cambridge and MOST (not all) medical students there have 7A*'s+. Oxbridge im not sure. As for the other 30 odd universities you have more than sufficient grades for GCSE. Don't worry you will be fine. Also if you are really confident go for it, since interview is something important as well.

[House Jr.]

There is no need to vent your frustrations from my thread. It was a genuine question because I am dissapointed with my results. If you are angered by it..don't post.

its one thing being disappointed with your grades and its another calling them really bad where someone with 3A*s or less will see and become disheartened because of your inconsiderate post <_<

as for your question (which could have easily been answered through simple research), most unis do look at your GCSEs and some of the good ones place a higher weighting on it (such as birmingham which had an 8 A* requirement this year) whilst others won't mind it if your ukcat and a levels make up for it (kings for example). besides, this has been said loads of times before but the most prestigious unis (such as oxbridge) arent necessarily the "best" for studying medicine (thats if you believe that there are "best" unis for studying medicine)

[Kinkerz]

(thats if you believe that there are "best" unis for studying medicine)

Newcastle :P

[shadowy1]

You shouldn't be disheartened by your grades, believe it or not you still have a chance, your grades are much above what most uni's ask for. I have friends in med school with no A*'s at gcse. I would avoid birmingham but you just need to do your research, if a uni states it's requirements it will stick to them.

You should also understand why your post frustrates people, it will dishearten others too for absolutely no reason. Your grades are very good. Most uni's do not differentiate between A's and A*'s!

I hope you've not been put off doing anything you want to do. Just go for it!

[Keeley]

lol?? ^^

[Fudgecake]

I think you question asked specifically if the university would pay more attention to your A2 grades - the answer to this is a definite yes.

But, as a lot of people have been saying, the Universities are not going to have any shortage of people who are academically capable of doing the job (your qualifications, whilst not as good as others, are more than good enough). Many, many years ago the universities would select students by the best grades but this approach has long since stopped.

Your GCSE grades are fine - next you need to concentrate on your A2's but also ensure you have something extra to put on your application form. For example work experience, travel, sporting achievment (because academic prowess alone looks really bad!)

[Ryan118120]

I got really bad GCSE grades (3A*s, 6As and 3 Bs). I have always wanted to do medicine, so I was wondering if by getting an extremely high UKCAT and A level results the universities would be able to overlook these grades? Is more attention focused on A level, BMAT and UKCAT results than GCSE grades? Compared to most other medical school applicants my results seem pretty poor and I am unsure if I would be eligible applying to the more prestigious universities?

Your GCSE's are still really strong, the only places you wont be able to apply to is birmingham and edinburgh, and just be carefull with places like leeds and nottingham (as i have learnt from my own experince). But you will be suprised that actually places like UCL, imperial, oxford dont actually put that much waiting on GCSE's, they just mainly look at the BMAT and i would have applied their for medicine if i had done A-level maths! But instead i applied to oxford for my backup and got interviewed and when i asked why i was rejected they said they questionned my commitment to the course as they knew i applied for medicine. So if i can get an interview there in general; it just proves they dont look at the GCSES's (heres the website for oxfords feedback about how they select candiates for all subjects: Admissions Feedback &mdash; Keble).

Just make sure that you realy research universities, because different places look for different qualities, places like newcastle, glasgow, manchester, sheffield want a high UKCAT of 650-675.

You just need to maximise your application potential by applying to the right places, but you dont need to compromise on not applying to elite places. Make sure you research because i make that mistake and its got me rejections.