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?

Ah. Then that's a far bigger problem than her A level choices. You should only go for medicine if it is absolutely the only thing in the world that you can imagine doing. Otherwise it will destroy you.

This….

@AlphaApple DS has offers from UEA and QMUL and is waiting on Leicester and Newcastle. He went to offer holders day at UEA last Saturday and loved it so leaning towards that at the moment. It is possible - good luck to your DD.

Biology chemistry maths physics are the standard subjects for medicine.Don't know if only one out of these would be acceptable.

There are no standard A levels for medicine, some need Chem, some Bio, some both. And in the case of Newcastle, you need no science A levels at all ! And no one cares what the 3rd one is - drama, PE, history all acceptable.

I’m not sure how a student without chemistry A level thinks they are going to cope with the pharmacology & biochemistry content of a medical degree. It’s pretty fundamental.

@TAmum123 thank you, and fingers crossed for your DS too.

@SpottedDonkey many Unis think it's v possible and produce graduates every year with no chem A levels

There are a lot of people telling you nonsense here AlphaApple. No you don't necessarily need chemistry or maths for medicine. Absolutely no reason why your dd couldn't be a doctor if that's what she really wants. On the other hand, physio or midwife are very different jobs from doctor. If they appeal more than medicine then perhaps dd should explore those.

The one absolute expert in this field is @mumsneedwine who I'm glad to see is already providing you with the facts. She knows her onions!

@Amoamasamat well I'm blushing 😊. Think I've been doing this so long now I've gained a reputation 🧅

My sister studied Biomedical Science at university with A Levels in Biology, French, Philosophy and something else I’ve forgotten (definitely NOT maths or physics!) then after a couple of years realised Medicine was more her bag.

I know some students are able to do conversion courses after biomed, but my sister couldn’t get onto one, so after she graduated she went BACK to school at 21 and got her chemistry A Level - then started a medical degree from scratch after that.

She qualified as a doctor in her late 20s but had problems trying to secure student finance for the second degree - so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this route!

When I was at school, someone did an extra 6th form year to do an a level they needed for uni.

could your daughter speak to the head of 6th form? She could start chemistry in y13 and stay for y14 to complete.

Undergrad medicine is pretty academic, and there’s a lot of science / maths theory that’s missing from those a levels.

Graduate medicine may be one to consider (Keeps options open for longer and teaches based on a broader intake).

If has a strong interest in women’s health - pelvic physio would be worth reading up on. Gives a wider range of career options, nhs / private / mixed. Straight physio or mixed with Pilates.

Please please please do not let anyone think you need A level Chem. 3 examples below (UEA, Leicester and Newcastle)

Thanks again, really useful to explore all options. I don't think staying on at college for a third year is an option (complicated situation) but there are a handful of universities where she does seem to meet the minimum entry requirements.

We have one relatively young doctor in the family who had the right A Levels but very average GCSEs (was bright but more interested in playing hockey than studying at 15/16). He's passed every single exam with flying colours. I know they need to set high minimum entry requirements, but that's as much to do with academic rigour as it is keeping the selection process manageable...

Would she cope with the chemistry on the course, why didn't she do it at a level, because she hated it or just she preferred the other subjects. I guess I'm thinking if she's rubbish at it it may not be the right option etc 😁

I think the thing she will need most is determination to succeed. If she goes somewhere to study without the A level chemistry you can be 100% sure she will need to acquire a very high level of understanding of it.

Because chemistry / biochemistry etc forms the basis for understanding drug interactions / disease mechanisms, how the body works essentially and how to treat illnesses on that basis.

If she is mostly interested in helping patients, alleviating their pain / suffering and advising them, then she really should reconsider nursing / PT. I've had some horrible, life threatening stuff in the past 5-10 yrs and some horrible operations. I have to say the people have helped me the most, made me feel like I can get past it, have been these peripheral medical staff more than the specialists themselves.

Completely irrelevant tangent.
I listen to A Life Scientific on Radio 4, very often they have medical doctors on it. I'm always amazed by the number who say they had to retake A Levels, didn't do very well, took a gap year to take the third A Level needed etc before medical school. Given how competitive medical school is now, I don't think half of these, absolutely brilliant doctors, would have even got in.

She actually did fine at chemistry at GCSE but didn't love it and didn't fancy it for a level. And at the time of picking a levels she wasn't thinking about medicine.

There are about 10 med schools in the UK that don't ask for chemistry

The person to listen to on this thread is @mumsneedwine she has years of experience supporting young people in her school to find the best medical school to suit their needs. Follow her advice. Find the medical thread for 2026 entry.

My second year medic says the most useful A level subject so far has been Psychology, followed by Biology and Chemistry hasn't been particularly useful yet. Medical schools which do not require Chemistry will be aware that a substantial number in their cohort will not have an A level understanding and will teach the subject accordingly. There is a substantial amount of the A level chemistry curriculum which is not relevant for medicine so it is not that they have to cover all of it. Some of the relevant curriculum is also covered in Biology anyway.

She should focus on gaining relevant experience beyond work experience so working/ volunteering in a care home/ hospice or other care setting would be helpful. Also start to prep for the ucat because she does not want her options to be restricted further by a low ucat. Be prepared to take a year out after A levels to work in a relevant field and gain work experience and side benefit of earning some money.

When I was younger prospective medics could do a year of additional science study at uni to fill in the science gaps where they hadn’t done eg chemistry

No

And another one is ARU, in my opinion quite a hidden gem of a course.

Another vote for ignoring everyone except @mumsneedwine as she’s the med school app expert!

Bit of a side quest, but get her to look into all the allied health careers. A lot of students aren’t aware of all of their options in AHP but often find something they weren’t even aware of and love it. These courses also offer a big bursary to study which can help with finances. Physio is an AHP but there’s a lot more!