3 A Levels for medicine when everyone else is doing 4

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DS is at a well-known grammar where 4 A levels is the norm for medicine applicants. He’s done his EPQ and is doing 3 sciences & maths A level. He wants to drop physics. School (strong on Oxbridge) say “because his peers are doing 4, his doing 3 will be seen as a less competitive application”. He’s getting good BMAT scores in practise but who knows on the day? He isn’t applying to Cambridge where l know many have taken 4 A levels. More interested in the London med schools. He’s emailed and asked and they just quote the standard “3 A levels required”. He doesn’t know his predicted grades yet but it’s more the risk of missing an offer together with the extra work load of the 4th A level that is bothering him. If many of his peers at school are doing 4 and he does 3 will admission a Tutor think “hmm despite going to X School he’s only take 3 A levels..”. His school have a huge cohort of medicine applicants every year.

Don't remember mentioning anything about your children goodbyestranger.

Omg this thread is hilarious 😂, goodbyestranger dismissing any comments from those in the know with a flap of the hand (or a tap on the keyboard). Made my morning

titchy I’ve just had to correct you on the other thread...

😂😂😂😂😂priceless

titchy I've just had to correct you over on the thread about the relative difficulty of GCSEs

Oh thank you goodbyestranger that's so kind of you. Imagine, someone like you taking the time to correct someone like me. Truly I am honoured.

This is hilarious. We should all just acknowledge that one person knows more than the rest of us and our opinions need correcting. Being a parent of children who went to superior schools and superior Unis trumps being an Admissions tutor, teacher, parent of less superior medics. Mine went to the comp down the road. Still seems to be at medical school of her choice with the same grades as those superior students.

And new exams are not great for anyone - I assume you have never marked Exams? But I expect you're an expert on the problems anyway.

The problem is that it's less than hilarious when someone holds themselves out as being an expert - titchy often says she works in a uni - and then gives absolutely incorrect advice which is the exact opposite not only of what the named medical department (Ox) does but what it also very publicly says it does. So I linked to the info on the Ox website which explains (as it has done for years and years) how the shortlisting process works. titchy now claims a grammatical error in effect. So before you all seize up with merriment I suggest you take a read and then maybe think whether posters who actually name the source of their expertise should be especially careful in the advice they give, since they are actually claiming higher authority and will therefore expect their words to have more credence. This is relevant to this thread which has become fraught with certain posters saying they must know more because of their stated professional position. My own take is that the info given is overly general and misleading in that respect. But you know, before the beers are cracked open, check out what titchy says and whether you think she's correct, in the face of the Ox website. It does matter that correct info is given even though this is only MN.

Sostenueto I think many teenagers would have abandoned their Y12 exams if they had the health problems your DGD has faced. She's wise to concentrate on one thing at a time. I doubt if a lack of paid work experience will hinder her. I know that it's far easier to get part time jobs down here as a teenager in the West country at this time of year when every cafe in St Ives or Meva needs staff compared to Ipswich, Middlesborough or Hull where part time jobs in shops & care homes are taken by adults keeping their families afloat.

mumsneedwine I've often said that the new exams are terrible for the less academically able.

And Sostenueto I think when you say your DGD has it cushy because she doesn't have job, then it's reasonable to say that some kids have to have a job because there isn't enough spare money floating around the household to pay for all that they'd like. My own DC have worked since Y9. But when you say your DGD has it cushy because she doesn't go out very much then it's reasonable for any ordinarily kind poster to feel she might be missing out, and feel sorry for her. No, I'd missed her horrendous commute. I assume it's necessary for some reason but obviously a killer for a normal life.

I know. You're right and know best. And Admissions tutors lie and really do go to certain superior schools secretly and tell them their pupils need to do more - I imagine the heads are thrilled with this special treatment.
And yes, I do think my profession gives me experience with thousands of kids, not just 7. But your 7 went to those superior schools and go to superior universities so obviously count for more.
It's amazing how the rest of us have children who are doing Medicine with our rubbish advice. Oh but they all go to those inferior medical schools don't they 😎.
I'm off for a ☕️ as been working since 6am marking summer homework.

People who give incorrect advice annoy me. It's almost as if they don't want certain students to succeed so they tell them the wrong things.

mumsneedwine this is fantastically boring and yes we know you're a teacher. No problem, I get it. But if people insist on saying where their expertise comes from - and by no means everybody does but some posters do....a lot - then they should at least do those who might listen esp carefully to their advice the courtesy of not getting it wrong. titchy was very specifically wrong on a technical point. I believe a lot of advice on this thread is too general as I've said before. You disagree. All good. But so boring now!

People who give incorrect advice annoy me. It's almost as if they don't want certain students to succeed so they tell them the wrong things.

I agree completely about the annoyance factor; that's my entire point. But it's a strange conclusion you draw. My take on it is that those posters are just massively self-important (which is a bit sad on an internet forum tbh), not that they're on some weird crusade to wreck the applications of children of strangers!

Don't dare feel sorry for my dgd goodbyestranger as my dgd has enough of everything she requires for a decent, well rounded life despite being ' disadvantaged' in fact she has no idea that she is because we ensure through support and love that she isn't and she rewards us with her dedication to her studies and the high standards she sets herself.
As Hog has pointed out for reasons I do not wish to go into detail about the little energy my dgd has is expended on study which is plenty good enough for us. She commutes to a good school because every single high school in her home town is on special measures and her primary was a feeder school of the school she now attends as a matter of rightful progression.
Her friends from ALL backgrounds are kind and caring they see each other as much as possible, support each other see each other every day at school and in no way does my dgd feel a lack of a social life. Facebook and social media dies not interest her or most of her friends. They have each other. In fact 12 of them are off to London on Monday to visit one of them having life saving surgery to support them and let them know she is in their thoughts. That is real friendship. And finally my dgd does things out of love and consideration not because she has to.

I think there's no call for that response Sostenueto, it's aggressive in the extreme in the circumstances of a poster simply expressing concern. I just don't think most kids would be happy with no social life and that commute to school but if she is that's very obviously fine.

Perhaps my dgd is made of sterner stuff goodbyestranger. If you think my post aggressive then you are a 'snowflake' lol!

I think we should not engage anymore. It's what I suggest to my year 7s when someone just wants a fight and refuses to believe anyone could possibly know better (not me, those admissions people who keep telling us what actually happens).
For anyone reading this and wanting advice for applying for medicine, speak to admissions tutors at open days . And believe them. They really don't have secret agendas and are so helpful.

Back to my poor inferior schooled year 12s.

This is nothing. My ten children are all studying medicine simultaneously at Oxford and Cambridge, got their first hibs while they were in the womb and scored over 10,000 on the BMAT.

When they attended their interviews, the interviewers gave them a round of applause as they entered the room and begged them to pick their university. They were fast tracked to year 5 as the previous years wouldn't be challenging enough.

They've already got consultant positions lined up at Top Hospitals in London, where they won't have to interact with your lesser children with their inadequate but identical medical qualifications.

For anyone reading this and wanting advice for applying for medicine, speak to admissions tutors at open days . And believe them. They really don't have secret agendas and are so helpful.

Indeed. Good advice for all subjects.

@worriedaboutray

worriedabouttray you have made me choke on my morning coffee!

mumsneedwine there's an ocean of difference between wanting a fight a not letting silly posters say silly things.

Yes I agree with that uzfrdiop. It's absurd how completely sensible posts have been distorted.

worriedaboutray since we know you're a babe, that post is a bit daft - I'm sure you can do better.

I mean chippy or what?! Not towering in terms of originality or humour though - I think stick to the day job maybe rather than any stab at the Fringe :)

I'm offended that you think my totally serious post is daft. How very dare you.

Sostenueto (reading randomly as per) saying 'Don't you dare' is both aggressive and rude. But that seems to be the leitmotif of this thread, the extreme rudeness at any rate.

Goodbye it is so difficult when you hijack threads because you say things with such authority and conviction that, for those who haven’t come across you before, it sounds convincing. So posters, myself included, then have to wade in. It’s a difficult balance because it then seems to give you the oxygen to keep going and going. You also said such bizarre things (conspiracy theories, girl gangs, only using doctors that went to your defined version of a top university, knowing lots of insider information on medical admissions) that I tried to defuse them in a lighthearted way but you didn’t get it. The thread gets derailed by your constant posts arguing with practically everyone else. Again. I am still not convinced you are not a troll - having a laugh at stirring things up as you contradict yourself and, unfortunately for everyone, occasionally making quite nasty comments about posters.

If you’re too busy to be back today, my theory that you are Boris moonlighting will gather momentum and then at least we’ll have a better idea how many children Boris has. Light-hearted again - it just you do seem to possess similar personality traits to our oxford-educated PM.

Er.... tough worriedaboutray.?