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?

@ChangeitUp2you gave to learn lots of new things at Uni. Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology. V little A level chemistry is needed for medicine (periodicity and shape of electron shells is really not relevant 😊).

@mumsneedwine
I’m sorry you find it boring!
But you are often quoted as being the one to go to for med school applications.
The reason you have to keep repeating yourself is that you’re always speaking to different cohorts!

Forgive me because I am not a STEM person, but isn't Pharmacology itself a chemistry-based knowledge?

Where did you get this from? Simply not true. OP, don't listen

medicmentor.org/entry-requirements-for-medical-schools/#:~:text=If%20you%20don't%20have,Chemistry%20with%20Physics%20or%20Maths.

Every year. The same rubbish advice is given out by people who have not applied for medicine.or done so in the last 10 years. Unis are quite capable of teaching the required content - they do it every year. 11 don’t require chemistry. Newcastle don’t even need sciences !

I think it's possible that @PersonaPersona means "core subjects for most medical schools" can mean taught in medical school, it's not exclusively a comment on A level requirements? and therefor not "simply not true".

But they are not core subjects at medical school? Most of chemistry A level &
lot of A level biology have no relevance to medicine. The bits that do can easily be taught in the first term. Everyone turns up having done different things anyway as exam boards differ by quite a lot.

Mumsneedwine has infinite patience in answering questions for parents on the med threads. I would imagine the issue is more having to repeat things over and over to the randoms on other threads who feel the need to post what they think they know about studying Medicine despite not having the first clue.

You haven't answered my question about whether Pharmacology is essentially Chemistry based?

MrsMedic are you mumsneedwine?

@ChangeitUp2I’ve never studied pharmacology so don’t have a clue what it requires. But Unis teach it without chemistry a level so they think it’s possible, which is what matters, not what I think. Pretty sure it’s more biochemistry based

@ramonaquimbyno. I’m me 😜

@MrsMedic I find repeating the same info on the same thread boring. Same cohort just some people like to post rubbish advice which is v annoying. If you are not 100% accurate about the advice then don’t give it, as people get put off applying because of this. Happy to help anyone who asks! My spreadsheet is freely available to anyone who wants it.

@MrsMedicsorry meant to tag the original poster not you 😂

Please listen to @mumsneedwine - my daughter applied last year for medicine and she was such an amazing help
My daughter did do chem, bio & maths but I’m happy to answer any questions - your daughter doesn’t need all 9’s at GCSE’s or all A star predicts

@2kidsand1dog hope she’s enjoying herself.

aa long as have 7 7s at GCSE you are fine at most Unis. Even with less you still have a few options. UCAT is so important !

Thanks @2kidsand1dogI hope your daughter was successful in pursuing her dream!

We now have a spreadsheet up and running and are starting to look at open day dates. She may end up going down a different path but I think she would regret not giving it her best shot for now.

@AlphaApplelook at things like full
body dissection vs prosection, early placements and where they are (& do Uni provide accommodation if far away), style of teaching (PBL is not for everyone) & location & costs. Just a few things to think about. And rule out any you can now (if don’t have awesome GCSEs discount the ones that use them for selection). And have a spread of usual UCAT scores. Good luck !

@mumsneedwine and @AlphaApple she’s really enjoying the med course in Sheffield - thank you for asking!

The thing is, MN is not a certified .org information providing service, its just a talk board so its full of opinions and conjectures, theories and narrow experiences.

So getting annoyed about people giving out information, or rather "opinions" that you think don't best represent your own knowledge, is a waste of time really, especially on the higher ed board.

And you couldn't answer my question about the basis of Pharmacology and whether it is mostly some form of Chemistry or not. Given you're only a school teacher of Chemistry it seems you're not really qualified to comment on the content of medical degrees.

So ignore me then, but don’t give out rubbish advice. So many students get put off applying for medicine because idiots give out the wrong information. Opinions don’t matter, facts do.

Although do be aware that it is anticipated that 20,000 UK trained doctors will be unemployed this August. None jobs.

And I did answer you question. I know nothing about pharmacology as I’ve never studied it.

tell me what rubbish advice I gave out

You were unable to answer my question because you simply had no knowledge whatsoever on the subject... hum...