Studying medicine?

[eatthatfrog]

My dd was ill while sitting her GCSEs and has just received her results. She has passed them all but school will not let her sit A level biology as she obtained a six.however they did tell her she could do medicine without biology as long as she had Chemistry and another science eg maths, physics or psychology. She has reviewed her choices and decided on Chemistry, maths, psychology and history. She is also taking an EPQ which will be medical related.

Looking at the information school gave her she still has the chance to study at least 15 medical schools. Do you think not having studied biology will be an issue?

It would be best for her to communicate directly with medical schools about the issue of GCSE/A level biology. Also worth checking websites to find out exactly what else is expected in terms of work experience etc.

I would post again in Higher Education. More people with med school experience there. FE is not university courses.

Why History for medicine? Why 4 A levels?

Hi bubbles

4 as school standard is 4 in J6. History as not allowed biology due to 6 and some medical schools like a humanities plus she enjoys history

She needs to research the specific entrance requirements for the medical schools.THe admission criteria vary considerably. Information about their selection process is available online.

I don't agree with Bubbles, although will concede that her daughter's experience is very different. In my view starting with four A levels is fine and gives flexibility going forward.

However, and I am just a parent of a medic, I would fight tooth and nail for her to be allowed to start biology. Go into the school, propose a support plan (perhaps including tutoring) to get her up to speed, agree to a review at Christmas, whatever. Essentially use the flexibility that the fourth A level offers.

The reason for this is that though there are Universities that don't require biology you want to keep as many doors open as possible at the moment. Bristol don't, say, but they also used to get 17 applicants a place, so she would really need to ace the rest. DD ended up with a poor aptitude test, so despite 7A*s at GCSE and good A level predictions, there were only three places she could realistically apply to. (She got 2 offers, and only needed one place!) Ideally there are plenty of places she can apply to and she can then pick the ones that she has the best chance of. Having biology will be part of that.

Also no A level and a poor GCSE will raise question marks. If a school did not allow her to take biology A level, my guess is that this raises an immediate question mark on a medicine application.

This is the time where you need to be "that" parent and fight for your child.

My DD friend couldn't get into a Uni to study medicine, despite good A levels, as they took GCSE's into account. You need to research entry requirements first.

Just come across this thread, maybe you persuaded the school to let her do Biology. My DS is applying for medicine without Biology (because it is not well taught in his school) and it is fine as long as you are good at Admissions tests. The 21 med schools which do not require Biology are:

Aberdeen
Anglia Ruskin
Bristol
Cambridge
Dundee
UEA
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Keele
Leeds
Leicester
Manchester
Newcastle
Oxford
Barts
QUB
Sheffield
St Andrews
Sunderland
Central Lancashire
Kent and Medway

If she has weak GCSEs Oxford, Edinburgh and Leeds are probably out, but if she works well for the UCAT (start medify really early) and her GCSEs meet the entry requirements for the ones which have them, she should get interviews if she applies strategically. See www.medschools.ac.uk/media/2357/msc-entry-requirements-for-uk-medical-schools.pdf