Can you get into medical school with 8 GCSEs?

[sheep73]

Just that really..

The school is likely to push DDs science set into dual award rather than triple award sciences which will leave her with 8 rather than 9 GCSEs. Will this leave here at a disadvantage for A levels / medical school? She will cover the triple award material but likely sit the dual award exam.

Many thanks

unfortunately there is an awful lot of snobbery when it comes to the threads about education.

If your child is not a 9's across the board student who will study a STEM subject at a Russel Group uni, they may as well not bother.

Also-there is no subject about which lie more than in the number and grades of their children's GCSEs and A Levels unless it is the number, class and alma mater of their own degrees.🤣

Also just to add I have 12 GCSEs sat in 1999.
Nobody has ever asked me anything other than did I get 5 for getting into sixth form and then did I have maths, English and a science subject to get on my PGCE.
I am nowhere near bright enough to be a doctor - I don’t think number of GCSEs can be a massive factor

Tbf there isn’t lots on this thread…most ppl are saying eight GCSEs won’t be an issue, and that A level choices and grades are more important. Which is true I think?

Why is the school "only" doing 8 gcses for pupils?
(9 if triple science)

If that is what school offers then that can be mentioned in the application

Usually would be nine https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrjh92p#znbpf82

She really won't! Having 10 or 11 just isn't an advantage. It just dilutes the efforts she is able to make in each subject and therefore risks the high grades that they will be looking for. I'm sure there will.be students with more grades but this isn't the competition OPs daughter will face.

This will have been under the old gcse system. The qualifications have changed in recent years. Also, I have assisted many children getting into medical school ...all with a more standard.number of gcses for their cohort.

OP, my daughter applied last year and is currently at Bristol studying medicine. Although she took 11 GCSEs, only 1 out of the 4 unis were interested in her ‘best 8’ results although this did include English, Maths and at least 2 sciences (so presumably double science would be fine). In fact, Bristol only looked at Maths and English (requiring a 7 and a 4 respectively).

However, as PP’s have stated the A levels required are very important and Chemisrty and Biology were most popular, although there are a few unis that don’t require both. Mumsneedwine will know all the stats for sure and is an extremely useful resource for strategic planning which is definitely what the application is all about. But that’s a little way off for your DC yet. UCAT and A level predictions are very important and depending on where DC applies GCSE’s are only needed with the pre-requisite pass grade and are looked at as a tick box exercise. However a lower UCAT and all top grade GCSEs is still possible at some unis, so getting the best grades possible would put DC in a better position for sure.

As a side note I would say that the jump from GCSE (even triple) to A level felt massive and is a lot of hard work but it’s not impossible with the right attitude and dedication. Applying to medicine is not for the faint hearted and DC would have to really want to do it to achieve their goal.

Just to reiterate, when I say ‘prerequisite’ pass grade for GCSE, I mean what the medical requires them to attain. Just in case that wasn’t clear and people thought I meant Grade 4s…

I would like to add that there are other ways of gaining access to studying medicine. Quite a few students seem to do Biomedical sciences at uni (which requires nowhere near as high entry grades) and then switch to med school. It seems to be quite common, one of my DC’s friends is at med school and took this route and one of my colleague’s children did the same. So there are options.

My DC took GCSE’s in 2023 and did 11, nearly all his classmates did 9.

It is possible at some universities to transfer from biomedical sciences to medicine at the end of the first year for exceptional students but I really wouldn’t recommend it as a pathway. Usually, only a handful of students are successful in transferring (eg 59 applicants at Anglia Ruskin for 5 places(. It is also possible to study medicine as a graduate but entry as a graduate is even more competitive than applying for undergraduate courses. They are possible pathways but take longer, cost more, and it is even harder to get a place than med school at 18.

Getting a place at med school is a bit of a lottery, lots of very talented and able students don’t get in the first time round but get a place applying with grades in hand the next year with the insights and maturity gained from a gap year of relevant work experience. I would recommend, if a student has the necessary grades, that the best strategy is to get a job as an HCA in a hospital and reapply.

I'm a doctor, agree with this.

I would also add that some universities offer medicine degrees with a foundation year or standalone foundation courses for students who have the academic potential to study medicine but are unable to meet the entry requirements because they have been educationally disadvantaged in some way.

www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/choosing-a-medical-school/foundation-courses/

I am only speaking from my experience of people I know. My colleague’s child changed from Biomed to study medicine and my DC’s friend completed a Biomed degree and then applied as a graduate 🤷🏼‍♀️ ( neither one would have got straight into med school with their A level results) Just wanted to state that there are other avenues.

8 GCSEs will be fine. Work experience more important.
Moving from triple to dual usually sees dc go up a grade so if she’s a 9 in triple she’ll two 9s. It would be unlikely she’d drop a grade.

Does the school only offer 8 GCSEs as standard? This isn't something I have heard of, but could be entered as extenuating circumstances. Around here, schools offer 9 as a minimum, unless for less able pupils, where they may work on literacy and numeracy in lieu of one GCSE.

As a doctor I did 5 A levels (all top grade) and 11 GCSEs. I was in the top 150 in the country for one A level. It was not unusual at all in my cohort, and many had more GCSEs.

I did go to one of the most competitive medical schools though, there are some with lower requirements. The point I am making though is that entry is generally very competitive, both in terms of academics and extra curricular requirements.

@Wonderberrythank you for sharing this - is this information available online (I’m not sure a Mumsnet post will influence my leaders).

@Wonderberry you may not know of schools offering eight GCSEs but the stats from 2024 show that a quarter of year 11 pupils took that number. That’s a significant chunk, and even if some were lower ability, for many it must have been what their school offered. More than half of all students take eight or nine.

Statistically, if a quarter took only 8 GCSEs, that suggests that lower ability pupils tend to take 8 GCSEs. Whereas average or more able pupils take more.

@Wonderberry some schools do only offer 8/9 GCSEs.

To bust a couple more med school myths:

Work experience: you really don’t need much work experience to get into med school. Universities understand that it is hard to secure work experience because there are few opportunities, especially for students under 18 and it discriminates against those without connections from less privileged backgrounds. St George’s used to have the most stringent requirements of 40 hours work experience but they have dropped that since COVID made it even harder to get placements. Things like retail work (experience of working with the public) or being a Scout/Guide leader count, caring for a family member or friend also count. It doesn’t have to be work experience in a hospital, anything that develops skills needed in medicine is good. There are some NHS online work experience opportunities.

The exception would be applying post A level, when using a gap year to work in healthcare will really make a difference as it shows dedication to medicine and will give an applicant an in depth insight.

OP my tip for your DD would be to join St John Ambulance now. It will be excellent experience for an aspiring medic and they often have a waiting list of several years, so now is the time to apply!

Extracurriculars: medics are often all rounders and it’s really good to have a hobby or sport you love to help maintain a good work/life balance in a stressful career. However, med schools really don’t care if you have Grade 8 flute or are Tiddlywinks captain.

Someone has already posted the data - your experience is out of date I'm afraid @Wonderberry Most schools these days only let student take 8 or 9. While 11 or 12 was a usual number some years ago - it isn't the case now.

I'm not aware of any med school that assesses on GCSE grades and asks for more than 8.

Definitely not true regarding work experience, from my experience of sitting on admission panels. These candidates would not even be called to interview. We are well past COVID now. Previously, this may have been the case. It may also be the case for less competitive medical schools, but certainly not for a competitive institution: if there are 10 highly qualified applicants per place, it makes sense that only the best are called for interview. This would include looking at GCSEs, work experience/voluntary work, and extra curricular activity.

I think Wonderberry’s experience might be out of date, @OctogenarianDecathlete, Here is the data from Oxford with an explanation of selection criteria and process. The mean number of GCSEs was 10.2 in 2024.
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics

When did you last sit on an admissions panel @Wonderberry?

And all med is competitive - we're talking about all unis including ARU, UCLAN, Brighton and Sussex etc, not just Imperial and Oxford.

Thanks.

it looks like the charts regarding GCSEs show that more places were offered to students who took 9-11 GCSEs with grades 8-9.

This would seem to agree with @Wonderberrywho said that 8 GCSEs was not sufficient. It certainly seemed that a tiny number of places went to students with 7-8 GCSEs.

It’s late and would appreciate any one else’s interpretation of the data though.