Not sure teen DS can succeed in his chosen career

[WorldMap24]

DS is in year 11 and we are looking at college / sixth form options right now for next September. Applications need to be in, in January.

DS has decided that he would like to become an Oncologist. This is 'new' in that it hasn't been his life long dream, but he has been fixed on medicine / healthcare for a good few months. Suggestions of working in the NHS but not becoming a doctor (e.g. Dietician / Psychologist / Pharmacist) have been considered, but ultimately he always comes back to wanting to do med school.

My worries......I feel such a rubbish mum for saying this, but number one is that he won't get the grades he would need. I'm told that when applying for doctor roles GCSE's are still looked at, and while my son is bright he is not a straight 9 student. He is currently predicted mostly 6's and 7's, with effort I think he will get 7's in all sciences and maths. Similarly, for A Level, as much as I support him in every way and haven't told him that he can't do it, I think it extremely unlikely he will get all A's.
Number two, we are basing his A-Level choices now on this career path, so Biology, Chemistry and Maths. He enjoys Biology, he is reasonably good at the others but I don't think he looks forward to the lessons. I don't want him to potentially quit A-Levels as he doesn't like the subjects.
Number three, if Chemistry isn't something he looks forward to now how would he ever cope with med school?
Number four, I'm worried he will be squeamish! I think his current choice of end goal (Oncology) is with the thought he wouldn't see lots and lots of blood, or broken bones etc. I did point out to him that he would still have plenty to see during training and he reckons he can cope fine when it isn't his own blood. DS is a fainter and faints whenever he is physically sick. He also faints during injections. Maybe he would be fine if it's not happening to him, but I suffer similar to him with the fainting (GP has been seen and we are told it is genetic) and I also go faint if some things go on around me - for example, I almost fainted when DD got a cannula put in - so I worry he will be the same.

I don't know what to do in this situation. What would you all do? Discourage this altogether and encourage different A-Levels that he would enjoy more? Let this play out and hope that by the time we apply for Uni he has changed his mind? Or just encourage all the way and hope he makes it in his chosen career?

Have a look at Physician associate roles if haven't done so already

Also speech and language therapy - can specialise in head and neck cancer which is fascinating (although might have to work on the squeamishness!)

May be worth seeing if there are any local hospitals doing career events to attend

Two questions - is he doing double (combined) or triple (separate) sciences for GCSE?

And if looking at different schools then ask whether dissections are a compulsory part of the A level biology course.

If he's not enjoying chem now then I do think this might be very tough for A level

As a nurse, he needs to figure out very quickly if he’s squeamish in general or only when it affects him. Nursing degrees are very full on very fast-I was injecting actual patients before Christmas in my first year and it’s nurses that do cannulas, blood taking etc. He needs to get some medical shadowing to ensure that he can cope before he applies and probably spend some time watching medical procedures (cannulation, IM injections, wound care) on YouTube. If not, has he thought about pharmacy? Much less “messy” and still interesting.

Just wanted to say thank you all for the advice and feedback given on here. I'm at work right now but will go through all of your comments in detail later

If he doesn't get accepted into medicine, there are plenty of viable alternatives. He's so young. Just see how he gets on. At least he's aiming for something.

If he wants to work in the oncology field, would he consider therapeutic radiography?

Don't look at physician associate roles, worst case scenario until the safety issues are ironed out I think recruitment could be halted- wouldn't recommend it to anyone right now.

radiography sounds like a great fit OP, as does nursing (so many options and lots of specialist oncology roles which it sounds like he would suit!), but also OT, physiotherapy, ODP training- he needs to get going with some work experience and volunteering and see what he really enjoys.

I'd day definitely DON'T look at physician associate roles. They are hugely controversial presently and there is mass unemployment amongst graduates.
Local to me admin services are currently being shored up by physician associates working in band 2-3 roles as they can't find other jobs.

The great thing about medicine, nursing, radiography etc is there so many paths to go down whereas for a PA there isn't.

He would have to do an undergraduate science degree anyway first.

Don’t discourage him. Ambition can take you places way beyond talent.
Just look at our politicians.
Maybe not an Oncologist, but maybe so! I know people who went into medicine later in life after not getting the grades the first time (eg two people who failed the 11+ and didn’t go to an academic secondary, but kept hold of their dream, went to night school, then university, and made it the long way)

This time last year my now year 12 dd wanted to be a pilot and was set on doing physics, which at the time she enjoyed a lot, but didn’t like maths much albeit she knew she needed maths etc. The only issue is she has a health condition, where her heart stops beating so flying a plane or driving a car is not an option for her. She came to understand in her own time and all of a sudden she took a big step back from physics, studying completely different subjects at A level.

As for your ds, as others said, he will come to this in his own time. He should try to ensure he looks at the subjects he is strongest in and enjoys the most. As a parent, I would say that just because he isn’t getting top grades for GCSE, he may at A level if he doesn’t have so many subjects to distract him. My dd surpassed her predicted grades at GCSE for the most part as she studied last minute didn’t revise much for her mocks. She would have been capable to get higher grades still had she not been unwell during and before the exams. I expect her to get really good grades at A level because she now understands what is needed. Your ds may be the same.

One step at a time.
He needs to think of volunteering in caring role to have something relevant to talk about to apply to medical courses
Dd did bio chemistry and geography a leve and is in medical school.
Getting to oncology is 7 years 5 med school 2 as junior doctor before starting specialising training so he needs to be aware It s a long journey
There may be nursing or other NHS routes to work with oncology patients if his grades are lower than aaa at a level
Let him keep the dream work hard and find the route

Let him have a go. His chosen A levels will open many opportunities in related fields even if he gets no med school offers.

Just look at entry requirements... then stir him towards nursing and the opportunities to specialise.

Encourage him. Research dude re by led schools and their requirements.
Edge Hill ask for 6s plus they don’t use cadavers.

As pp have suggested voluntary work is useful. Care homes, hospices, hospital.

Then encourage a back up plan. Students have a 5th choice that isn’t medicine.

The thing is no one really knows what career they'll end up in, so many adults end up doing entirely different things to what they set out to do at 16.So you encourage him to make good choices, and his A levels are good choices. You help him with his decision making, he should weigh up pros and cons, risks, what to do next and you can play devil's advocate

Then you let him go. He'll work out what he does and doesn't like and eventually he'll settle on something that suits him.

Local hospitals often do very good work experience programmes so he should find out about that too.

“Research entry reqs of different med schools”

As a pharmacist myself I'd say it is worth considering, certainly in hospital roles we seem to have a better work life balance with quite good pay after a few years. There is a shortage of cancer care pharmacists and band 7/8 jobs are in plentiful supply. Places will bite your hand off if you are interested in it. I also know of about 10 pharmacists who have decided to go into medicine later and none of them were rejected.

Don’t worry OP, he’s chosen the A levels he’s best at, the lead to lots of other careers and he’ll soon realise when he gets his predicted grades that he’ll have to choose a different path. (Although maybe not pharmacy is he’s not good at chemistry).

Could he not go down the physio route? Rehabilitation for cancer sufferers? Could maybe be something to look into, I don't think the grades for acceptance are as high as specialists.

He won't get into medical school without straight As. Tell him so. If he tries then he might get there, or not. But he's got these aspirations that will be managed organically by his own level of achievement.
Also I don't see why oncologists would look at broken bones? But yes, of course he'll look at blood, tumors, shit, piss, naked people in agony etc. but surely he knows that if he wants to do this pathway?

If he really wants it, he can do a science degree first, and if he does well get into an accelerated medical degree (4y) after. My sibling did this 15 years ago after disappointing a A-levels and is now a GP.

Just hammering the point but it's more than seven years to get to the start of oncology training.
After foundation training he would need to then do internal medicine training for 2-3 years and in his own time study for and pass exams to gain membership of the royal college of physicians before he could then apply for medical oncology. That is then a six year training programme.

He needs work experience ASAP so that he can see for himself that it isn’t for him.

Doing science A levels is a great starting point for all kinds of courses and pathways, but not if he isn’t going to get good grades in them. If he struggles, he needs to be choosing subjects that will play to his strengths.

ANP requires initial BSc then following on with MSc.
If he's struggling to get 6/7's I wouldnt be advising that as a career choice either.

Maths A-level is different from GCSE - he may find he enjoys it.