To think medicine at university is unlikely with these GCSE results?

[Beaubeagle]

My DS has just entered 6th form to study A levels in two sciences and English. He is wanting to study medicine and hasn’t got a back up plan, but I’m worried he wouldn’t have a chance because of his GCSE results. He got 1 x 9, 1 x A*, 2 x 8, 2 x7 and 4x 6. Unfortunately all his sciences were 6’s, although we are looking at having them re-marked (handwriting issues). I’m really worried he won’t stand a chance applying to medical school, even if he does get AAA in A levels. I don’t want to upset him by saying this to him but I need him to be realistic. Aibu in this? I really don’t know what to say to him.

Also I would be looking at ACTUAL GCSE GRADES OF SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS (which is accessible under the FOI) to get a realistic idea what is required rather than published minimum course requirements,

This is total, total rubbish. I have been a teacher for 30 years and I know many more than reasonably intelligent, hardworking, organised students who don’t get A across the board**

You are wrong GCSEs are a piece of cake.A* s under the old system were not hard to get .I think you maybe have a different interpretation of 'reasonable intelligence' or hard work to me.

Flip you just took that sentence randomly out of my post so it's completely out of context Obviously it's difficult getting an offer, hence why i talked about getting good extracurricular experience but the OP is about his GCSE grades and I would say my major concern with grades like that would be if he was capable of getting the grades or doing the course.

I don't know why your spending so much time acting like getting good grades is easy, it's not for some people.

FapandSnart
To be fair though when you got your A in chem, that was the only one A level you were takin at the time!

Is your point that it was so easy for you to get good grades? Or that people who don't get good grades aren't "reasonably intelligent" can you just spit it out and then move on

Flip that’s really offensive. If A* was attainable by the reasonably able hard worker there would be far more if them. Reasonably 8ngelligent means above average but not brilliant, surely? Or your ‘point’ disappears. You even quote me say8ng I’ve been a teacher for 30 years, so you can’t have missed that. I th8nk I have a fair idea of what hard work is, both generally and interns of a teenager’s academic effort.
And you have ignored my point that it’s irrelevant anyway as the new GCSEs are norm referenced.

flipntwist I also took AS Maths, was working part time and hadn’t done either subject in 2 years so I wasn’t off to a running start.

Also taking the AS and the A2 at the same time was HARD. I got an E in my first attempt at my first A2 module paper as I didn’t have the full knowledge of the AS course needed. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I’ve been a Doctor for well over a decade!

If an A at GCSE is not attainable for you with hard work then i don't think med school is really for you.Sorry if you find that offensive cardibach* what subject do you teach? Do you think GCSE is that difficult?

I don't fully understand why someone has to be so academic to get into medical school these days.

Being able to get 10 A*s at GCSE does not by itself guarantee that you will be a good doctor.

I have been a GP for 30 years. I got ABC in my A levels, and studied medicine at UCL (my offer was CCC - those were the days!) I got 3 As, 4Bs and 3 Cs in my O levels (it was pre A stars, but still).

I consider myself to be a good doctor. But clearly many of the posters on here feel I should not be treating them or their families because I didn't get an A on my GCSE physics exam!

Also, I train new GPs. Some of the hardest registrars I've had have been the ultra academic Cambridge grads. They know the content m, but a lot of them are not any good at talking to patients and understanding what the patient is telling them.

Some of the best trainees I've had, who have made excellent GPs that we chose to hire, have been the ones who didn't have good enough grades to do a medicine degree straight away, so did another degree, and then worked really hard to get into postgraduate medicine. But they can relate to patients.

I believe that some pupils mature a lot between GCSE and A-level, for some it takes longer to click how to prepare for exams so that is why I would not worry too much about the GCSE grades but see how A-levels go. If someone is highly motivated to study Medicine then give them a chance to try for it.
In my experience those who seem to fly through GCSE’s and A-levels & those who select Medicine without necessarily seeing it as a vocation sometimes come unstuck with the workload at medical school or with their dealings with patients.

Cross-post with Bc but agree wholeheartedly.

Being able to get 10 As at GCSE does not by itself guarantee that you will be a good doctor.*

Of course not which is why there are aptitude tests, personal statement , interview, work experience and references too.

30 years is a long time Bcb etc etc I am not sure how relevant your post is.Back then a C was seen as a decent grade at A level

@FlipnTwist have you seen the new GCSE’s? This years GCSE work was last years A level work. A grade 6 is a B so I think that’s pretty good tbh. Especially given that this years cohort had less than 4 terms to learn the new content as it was changed well after the year had started. They were on a back foot before they’d even had a chance.

If he is keen and has passion then he should go for it.
Of course support him in keeping his options open, but in a way that does not give him the impression that you think he can't do it.

As a slight aside, I left school with grade Cs in English language, art and drama.
D in German
E in geography
F in English lit, science and maths

I went strait to 6th form to re do GCSEs and dropped everything apart from the cookery course I threw in.
Went back the next year and dropped out by Christmas.
So worked for a few years, did nvqs, then went back to college for GCSEs in maths and biology and access course in health and social care, then got in to uni for Nursing degree.
I have worked in a few different areas and done Ok, working my way up grades and acting up as ward manager etc.

I guess what I am saying is really support him in giving it his all.
I did not have that support at all really.
(Oh and for reference, I went from and F to a B in maths)

He absolutely may have it in him to study with the intensity, dedication and devotion that is needed for medicine.

He may find that as the next two years progress he finds a different path.

Either way, it's great that he has you

There is no way I would ever get into medical school today.

Yet I've been a perfectly effective doctor for over 30 years.

I work for a university with a medical school. We don’t take GCSE grades into account at all.

The problem is:

1. The competition. There are some courses which don’t look at GCSE’s, but they are not many and they are not easier to get into. Some only look at GCSE’s (you needed 8 A*’s to get an interview at Cardiff this year). A lot of very academic kids apply, and only 40% get an offer overall. To avoid discrimination (in theory) they have largely eliminated subjective criteria.
2. The course itself. No joke about the workload and content.

It’s a bit brutal, but unless you were sick, if you got B’s in the last generation of GCSE sciences, then you either didn’t work or are not bright enough. Neither works for medicine, and that’s why they do what they do.

A few friends of mine studied medicine in the Czech Republic - didn't care about GCSEs so much, A Levels were more important. They are all now qualified Doctors working for the NHS :)

Haven't RTFT but he should look at a degree in Biomedical Sciences. DD is about to start a 4yr Integrated Masters and some use it as a pathway to a medical degree afterwards. You'd need to check details but I know it's possible.

Even if they don't look at gcses the reality is it will be extremely unlikely that a B candidate at gcse science will be able to increase their A level grades to an A or A* at A level.

It's all very well the posters on here saying or implying that OPs son should apply. The overwhelming probability is that he will end up with 5 rejections

Well you can only apply for 4 medicine courses so 5 med rejections wouldn't be possible....

The kid has just started A levels. Give him a couple of terms and he'll know whether he can indeed make that jump from Bs in science to A+ at A level. It might well be too much of a jump.

On the other hand he might have done fuck all revision for GCSE and massively up his game. Time will tell. If he does in fact up his game enough, then with a sensible approach to which institutions to apply for, an offer is possible.

I used to do badly at simple exams in which you had to score highly to get good grades, and much better at difficult exams which required a lower % for good grades. I just needed the challenge. And as the OP has said, the problem may have been his handwriting, not his answers.

If the OP dissuades him from applying at all, she'll be the bad guy in this. If she encourages him, whilst warning him and ensuring he has back up plans, then sure, he may well get rejected, but he'll have had the chance to try. I think the second is preferable.

If 40% get an offer overall at Cardiff, I'd say that's pretty good odds. I thought medicine was supposed to be beastly difficult to get into. That's way better than the odds my DS had for his chosen course at his chosen uni.
In which case - go for it. If the offers don't come, just get giid results and either apply again and take a gap year, or apply fir something different and take a gap year