To think I can apply for post grad med school with a 2.2 in languages from 15 years ago?

[Changednameadviceneededxx]

Please be nice to me 🙈

Name changed but I'm a mumsnet lover.

I've been thinking about studying medicine. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor. But I just never thought it possible.

I've got an english language degree and by the time i apply, would (fingers crossed) have a c2 cert in French.

But i only got a 2.2 😔, and I haven't worked since a corporate grad job that I did after uni, and haven't worked for close to a decade due to raising dc.

I'm a single mum so would study around raiding dc. I can't currently get work experience whilst I raise them, but would be able to study.

How crazy am I to think that a med school, somewhere in London, would accept me, with these circumstances.

I don't have science a levels either, just languages.

Tia x

Have you got A levels in chemistry/biology? You would struggle with the work if not tbh even if they did accept you.
I think advice from PP about an access course sounds sensible.
Also what about something medical that is not medicine? Nursing, occupational therapist etc

OP we are crying out for languages teachers. They will give you £25k tax free to train and you will walk into a job once qualified. You will need solid childcare arrangements but you will get long holidays to enjoy with your children. Do consider it - the shortage is acute, no doubt about it, outstanding schools and independents would snap you up.

Do you actually know anything about how medicine courses are structured?

Lectures are only half the story. A medical degree is more than a full time job. You will need to attend placements, often 9-5 and sometime including night shifts. Plus huge amounts of study outside of lectures and placements.

do you know any newly qualified doctors or current med students you can talk to to find out what the life is like?

I know people who have studied medicine with small children, it was jolly hard work and in some cases the grandparents essentially raised the child(ren) for 5 years.

Even if you could get on the course, it's going to be incredibly challenging if not impossible because it will be assumed that you are very knowledgeable in A level maths and sciences.

I’m a resident doctor (the new term for a junior doctor). I did it as a grad. Although I had a 1st class degree in a science subject and went into medicine only 2 years on from my first degree. I have 2 DC I had after my medical degree during higher specialty training.

Im going to straight up say, don’t do it. For a start, I think you will really struggle to get in to graduate medicine with a 2:2 from many years ago in an unrelated subject. There are a few Universities that theoretically take a 2:2, but in practice hardly any actually do. The lack of work experience will really hold you back as well.

But more over, I don’t think you should consider medicine. The degree is only the start (despite being extremely tough). The actual job is much harder and not at all romantic. The hours are brutal. Training is an absolute mess at the moment and many foundation doctors are facing unemployment next year. You would have to be prepared to move anywhere in the country every year or so, which isn’t really conducive to family life. I’m so bloody shattered and I am guessing Im younger than you - I can’t stress how much more difficult night shifts get with every passing year. A lot of junior doctors I know spend most of their leave revising for exams or trying to improve their portfolio. There is no break.

I hope that’s not too brutal. I don’t want to squash your dreams. But there are so many things you can do that can give you as much satisfaction as being a doctor with so much less stress.

Completely unrealistic. Medicine degrees have a high amount of contact time: this is regulated by the GMC. The clinical years involve being physically present in hospitals, including long days and night shifts. These hospitals can be significant distances away.

You also have a limit from the time you finish your degree to starting work, which is 2 years I believe.

I don't think it's the right career for you. Maybe look at another NHS role, like a physiotherapist, SALT, OT, dietician etc?

I don't know any that I can ask, especially as I don't want to tell anyone irl about this

I just pictured myself studying, which I can definitely do, but agree that i haven't really thought in depth about having to do work placements which I couldn't do without forking out for childcare

Its the Sunday night burst of ambition i think

I'm currently training in another healthcare professional. I have children but I'm not a single parent. I'm on a postgraduate course, my first degree is relevant (although old) and higher than a 2:2. I also have 2 decades of experience in a related role. My course is also only 2 years. It's massively, massively full-on. It is not easier than a job would be (I've been working all the time I've had children)! There is absolutely no way I could manage a medical degree. It's not just the degree, I think you potentially need to be fairly flexible with location after a medical degree, too (although I'm not doing medicine so not sure, and being in London would probably be an advantage in that respect).

I'm not saying any of this to tell you not to do it, but to try to help to to see what a huge commitment you'd be taking on. Of course, go for it if you're sure! I'm just not necessarily getting the impression that you know what you'd be taking on at the moment.

Your degree isn’t relevant for graduate entry and so you would have to do an Access course and then apply to medical school on that basis. A 2.2 is pretty crap too so they’d want you to prove you can obtain excellent grades during the Access course in a relevant field as most offers for medical school from A-Levels are A*’s and A’s.

*healthcare profession!

Totally unrealistic I’m afraid . The competetition is really fierce and you don’t have a CV that says I have always wanted to do medicine.
A 2:2 in languages doesn’t say that you have ability in science…
Even if you did have some sort of science background, you need to be able to move around , support yourself financially - do night shifts while doing clinical studies .
You don’t sound well suited at all. Sorry. It’s a non starter

No, but if you were serious about working in healthcare, apply for bank shifts as an HCA.

Sorry op, I don’t think there’s any chance you would get in with your current qualifications.

I’m a current medical student (undergrad), but I’m a postgrad and got in with a 2:1 in a relevant field. I’m also a single parent and struggle every day with childcare and course commitments.

If you’re determined, of course it’s possible but you would need solid childcare.
Placements are 9-5 Monday to Friday (sometimes 8-6). Rota’s are given at very short notice and you’re expected to attend everything.
Pre-clinical years are also tough and it’s pretty much lectures 9-5 Monday to Friday with mandatory attendance. It needs treating as a full time job. Postgrad medicine is even more intense and you’re assumed to have that foundation science knowledge (which you don’t).

Postgrad courses are also incredibly competitive, I didn’t get in with my very relevant qualifications and experience. If you’re considering undergrad, with a previous degree it means you’d have to self fund the tuition fees (9,500 a year now).

Also your plan of getting the degree and then working when your kids are in university I don’t think will work out. You can only defer your foundation years (the two years post qualifying when you’re working as a doctor) for very specific reasons and I think you can only defer for a year regardless.

Thank you @NCJD for being kind in your measured response, and I think that you're amazing to have managed to do all of this whilst having 2 dc ❤️

Yes, i think that i am being quite romantic about it really, and not practical, especially given how long I've been out of work

What have you studied in the intervening years that would get you closer to a medical degree or evidence of being a 2:1 kind of a student?

Medicine courses, apart from being really intense in terms of information you have to amass and have at your fingertips, are also really competitive and you'll be surrounded by people who have instant knowledge of e.g. chemistry at their fingertips.

On the other hand you might have life experience, empathy and pragmatism in buckets. How are your science qualifications? How's your recall? There's a LOT of rote learning.

Nothing wrong with being ambitious, OP, but it sounds like you haven't really thought this one through. A medicine degree is a massive commitment and involves a lot of unpaid work in hospitals etc. If you couldn't manage to fit a full time job in around your dc, it isn't realistic to think that you'll fit a medical degree in either. Not to mention the fact that graduate entry medicine is ridiculously competitive. And you wouldn't get funding for a second degree.

If you're interested in healthcare, what about looking at other careers within health are? Is there anything else that would particularly interest you?

Sorry if it’s already been said, but there is an age cut-off as well. 45 I believe.

You need access to 24 hour childcare. I’m a nurse on nights currently over the bank holiday weekend (can’t sleep at this minute). This is the reality. You have to be able to work nights and weekends.

I wonder what it is about medicine that makes people go "oh I have no relevant qualifications but I'm sure I could persuade a course to take me and I'd be great".

You don't hear people doing it for law, or actuarial work or similar things like that.

Realistically, the op is unlikely to get on a course. Although there are graduate schemes where the current qualifications are less significant, but there is a huge difference in what they say the minimum requirements are and the actual acceptances from the huge number of applications.

Thank you for this - sorry that childcare is such a struggle ❤️ but you're on track to make the kids very proud

I think that I'm desperate to redeem myself of the 2.2, which i know is rubbish 😄 thank you pp, and really just needed to get this out of my system 🙈

Surely though that 2.2 will need to be in relevant degree program? Eg biology, chemistry, physiology, anatomy, something life science related surely?? And you'd need the relevant science A-levels?

I’d think about what particular parts of the medicine role you’re interested in doing and see whether you can find an allied role which does those tasks.

they may take 2:2 but not in languages as it doesn’t have transferable skills.
I’d speak to admissions and ask what they advise re access courses then
id do an access science course. And volunteer/do some shifts as a HCA to see if you like it.
then look at physicians associates, physio, audiology, nursing etc as other options which are still patient facing too as alternative options.

if you want medicine then you can go for it but currently you don’t meet the admissions criteria and you don’t have any proof you can actually study at biological sciences etc at that level of complexity/academia. So probs best to do some courses to check what your ability is.

Thank you 💕 - its true, I feel like I've focused on the 'this is my dream' part rather than 'this is my reality'

I do love being a mum - i do, however, need to do something to redeem my Desmond, which does haunt me 😄

Swansea med school do take the occasional 2:2. But these would be recent undergrads, most of whom studied something like a BSc Hons in biomedical sciences at Swansea because they didn’t get the A level results to go straight into medicine. Often students who show promise and good knowledge of science at undergrad level, but maybe not great at exam technique hence the 2:2.

A 2:2 in a language 15 years ago would not give me comfort that you had a clue what you were trying to get into.