Medicine without chemistry A Level

[AlphaApple]

DD is in her first year of A Levels, Biology, Psychology and PE plus an EPQ. Studying is going well with As and A stars anticipated. She's always been interested in health related careers but after 2 days work experience at our local hospital is suddenly thinking medicine (having previously ruled it out). I understand without chemistry A level, options for medicine are limited.

Does anyone have any experience or advice? E.g. a foundation year or a university that doesn't require chemistry?

DS is on a gap year after changing his mind about anthropology at uni and has reapplied for medicine. His A levels are maths, biology, philosophy and ethics and Classical Civilisations. He applied to unis who accept biology and another science - maths is acceptable and I think psychology too. He got 4 interviews and has 2 offers (still waiting on the others) so is possible! Choice of university will be a bit restricted but he is fine with that.

Biology and Chemistry are the core subjects required for most medical schools, so in the unlikely event a medical school exists offering to teach medicine without one of them, it is not going to be worthwhile.

There are unis that will take without chemistry. Just look on ucas. If they’ll take without the subject then I guess they feel the students will cope without a foundation course.
Medicine was definitely chemistry heavy in my day( ages ago), but my dd recently qualified also said a fair bit was needed.
Maybe they run extra tutorials for those not having it? She could always phone admissions and ask how they work around it

Presumably they are worthwhile if they are medical schools, but thanks 🤔

There are quite a few medical schools which don't require chemistry. There's some useful info here
https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/choosing-a-medical-school/what-a-levels-do-you-need-to-be-a-doctor/
Though, as ever, worth checking the latest info on the sites of individual medical schools as it can change.
Unless they are in the fortunate position of having very good GCSEs and smashing the UCAT (exam for prospective med students which you sit in the summer of Y12), most students end up strategically applying to the medical schools which are most likely to shortlist them for interview. So that will potentially be an added challenge if she's had to rule out quite a few medical schools already. I don't think it's impossible though!

She needs maths as well as chemistry surely?

DD is doing a Biology/Zoology degree, which I know is not the same BUT she has been very surprised by the amount of Chemistry and without an a Level she is working hard to keep up with the Chem side of things
I imagine Medicine would be the same.

What about physiotherapy for those A levels?

Thanks @maybemedmum so helpful. This is very new to us and although she might change her mind again then it's useful to be informed.

She's academically very capable, and very disciplined and hard working, but her self-confidence took a little longer to develop.

Well I believe there's some controversy about St. George's in the Caribbean. I am not restricting the term "medical schools" to the Uk...

From what I was told by a friend (whose dc was applying for medicine), there are around 7 unis that don’t require chemistry a level for medicine. I don’t have a horse in that race though, so the only one i can remember is UEA… sorry!

And another fact that I seem to remember, I think my friend said that on the ucas form you were only allowed 4 medicine options, so have to put at least 1 non-medicine choice (is this because it is all so so competitive??). So out of the 7 non-chemistry options, your dc would only need to choose 4… I may have remembered that all completely wrong, so do check, and apologies if I have got it wrong!

https://www.medicmind.co.uk/medicine-ucas-guide/medical-school-entry-requirements/

UEA
Newcastle
Keele

and a few others don’t require Chemistry and all have different criteria.

Apply strategically, UCAT, voluntary work and interviews are the key even if you have Chemistry if you get a low UCAT score you’ll be excluded from interview so a wasted application. Strategy is key once you have the UCAT results.

You also want to look at statistics for people getting in without chemistry.

"We don't require" it may not equal that (m)any people get in without it.

It's a bit like further maths. Several places say they don't require it to study maths, but some accept very few (<1%) who don't.

I'd wonder if she's really keen whether another option would be take a gap year and do chemistry in one year, while also doing work experience. On the face of that, I would think that could impress some admissions people.

As others have said it's possible but the options will be more restricted. My DS had quite a short 'shortlist' even though he had taken both biology and chemistry as his UCAT score made getting an interview unlikely at many, so smashing that is really key to have as many options as possible. Once you get an interview then most universities offer based only on that and it won't matter what the UCAT score was or which A levels were taken after that point.

Hi, I was in the exact some position as your daughter (albeit it was over ten years ago!) I looked into foundation courses but in the end the best option for me was to pick up AS Chemistry in my second year of sixth form alongside my 3 other subjects. I then stayed on for an additional year to finish off Chemistry. I remember it was quite disheartening at the time as I was told by the careers advisors etc that I would never be accepted so please don’t let that put your daughter off! I called around a lot of medical schools, after I explained my situation the only ones who had an issue with me obtaining the A Levels over 3 years rather than 2 were Oxford and Cambridge! So I had plenty of choice in terms of universities which made it easier to apply to my strengths. Maybe it’s worth looking into? It would make her second year of sixth form more challenging juggling an additional subject but I found it helpful to have my extra year where I had less studying to do so there was more time for gaining work experience and preparing for the UKCAT/ interviews. I hope everything goes well for her!

@AlphaApple there are 11 Unis that don't need chemistry. If you'd like my spreadsheet of entry requirements send me your email via DM. No need for a foundation year !

Well done your DS! What unis is he considering offers from?

Definitely a possibility. She has wavered between nursing and midwifery, sports sciences, physio and now medicine. She's interested in women's health in particular. She's spent two days shadowing nurses and midwives and she said they all looked so unhappy and fed up!

Oh you are a star! will DM you

She might be better advised to try for physiotherapy. This is a very uncertain time for the NHS, with large numbers of newly minted doctors leaving the country.

X post wrt physio.

I'd really urge her to consider it.

My sense is, with these A levels, Medicine would be tricky, even if she got onto a course. As others have said, also have a look at the ucat and see what she makes of the type of questions. That said, I think she would bring huge added value to physiotherapy, with psychology and PE in addition to biology. Just a thought. As a PP said 4 of your ucas choices are medicine and the fifth has to be something else, so physio could be a backup as well. Sports science or sports science with psych also a great call. Confidence develops at different rates, not always according to uvas timetable! Glad she's finding hers, and good luck!

Surely she cannot be that serious about medicine if her mother is having to come one netmums to find out information on entry requirements ?

Thank you all so much, it means a lot to have so many helpful, positive and realistic replies. She may not be a strong candidate for medicine, and she may change her mind, but while she's thinking about it, I will of course help her gather information.

MN is the best sometimes ❤