Art a-level/foundation…followed by medicine?! Is this crazy?

[Flockchaise]

DD a while off having to make decisions, but with an older sibling off to uni in the autumn, she loves to talk and think about it 😂

She is currently set on studying medicine, and has been for several years. She is very academic but also loves art - wins prizes at school blah blah. Two questions-

Dd plans to do biology, chemistry, history and art a-levels. Her school always starts them on four. Might the art a-level work against her? Aware unis usually offer on three - but with medicine being so competitive, surely she’ll be up against candidates with 3 sciences plus maths or whatever? Her sibling has an Oxbridge offer - also does art a-level, and their offer excluded it! 🤪

She is quite keen on doing an art foundation before she starts her medicine degree. Would this be nuts? We are in London so she could live at home…

Totally aware things might change before lots of people tell me this is all premature thinking! But just mulling at this point and thought it would be useful to get thoughts x

One of DC's closest friends did this. Got excellent grades in all four A'Levels including Art.

Didn't though have time to study for BMAT so didn't get a good score so no medical school offers. They went and did an Art Foundation and reapplied post A Level and got an excellent offer and are doing well and loving med school.

Um, what happened to art for art's sake?

Besides, plenty of people straddle medicine and the arts, from Jonathan Miller to Harry Hill, and the Wellcome Foundation exists to connect health and arts as part of the human experience. It's only recently that education has become so wedded to what you do as a job like it has no value if you don't go onto become exactly what you qualified as, as if there's no wider virtue in learning and less literal ways it can pay off. You don't know how the skills and perspectives they learned in that year has informed their futures, just because they haven't become a designer like you.

She would have to take the UCAT and do the interviews during the foundation art year as you need to do the test the year you apply (no BMAT any more.) Then she'd have to do interviews during the art foundation year - these can be a full day of mini interviews in a rotation and you have to be in a very Medicine focused headspace for them, with all your work experience and volunteering processed into interview format at the front of your mind.

Its also much more work than the usual four A level combo of Biology, Chemistry, Maths and FM. Those intersect; A level Chem is a huge step up from GCSE, already one of the hardest subjects to get an A star in and you are approaching it with one hand tied behind your back without A level Maths. So you are looking at additional work for the Maths heavy parts of Chemistry, that won't pay off in any of your other subjects, plus additional work for Art as a fourth A level, that is already a very time consuming choice.

What about throwing all eggs in the Medicine basket if she's genuinely passionate about it and maybe find a course with an intercalated year that would allow Art? Or, again, an Art EPQ which would count towards her med school application.

@Twelftytwo - exactly that - for the love and enjoyment of it. Art foundations are free and she would live at home - also free! But yes, I do wonder if medicine admissions would question her commitment as it’s so unrelated as a gap year plan…

@Juja and @pinkdelight - thanks for encouraging words! I really agree with you @pinkdelight that our young people are so steered towards very clear paths these days, most certainly as a result of student debt and numbers going into higher education. Does seem a bit of a shame…but we are where we are.

@Anna20MFG - that’s REALLY useful advice, thank you. Looks like a third science (or maths), plus an art epq might be the way to go.

If she really wants to do medicine, why not do three sciences and or Maths, in order to give herself the best grounding for a medical degree? Keep the art and history as hobbies!

@Flockchaise oh right, so kind of using it as a finishing school while you decide which ‘proper’ subject you’re going to do? Gotcha 🙄

Lots of people don't realise the EPQ can be an art project but it can be done very nicely that way. And my dc (starting med degree hopefully, dependent on A level results) had a reduced A level grade offer based on his. Good luck to your daughter, she sounds like a very talented all rounder!

Why not? A friend has just finished y1 having done exactly that.

@Barkcloth - not sure why you’re so damn chippy! No-one said anything about an art foundation being a finishing school, and my dd knows what she wants to do, it’s the whole point of the thread. She’d just love to spend a year doing art as well…she’s allowed to feel that, isn’t she?! It might not be the most practical option though, so that’s why I came on here asking for advice…

I think it sounds fine. Doctors are people too and God knows they need a creative outlet - it's a hard life!

I have two friends doing consultant roles in elderly medicine.

One makes pottery in her free time.

The other is a black belt in karate.

The only person whose advice you must seek is the school's HE advisor.

Wouldn’t you need to apply for art foundation via UCAS? Would it actually be possible to apply for art foundation this year and medicine next year on the same application?

I don’t see an issue with doing art first and then applying for medicine the following year with her Alevels in hand. Lots of people take odd routes into medicine.

Not a medic but I did that - 3 academic subjects plus art at A level, followed by an Art Foundation course and then an academic degree. I then became a lawyer; the art A level and foundation course did not affect my career. If anything I think it made me slightly more interesting than other candidates. I think the best thing to do if she is dead set on art foundation would be to apply for a medicine degree now, deferring it by a year (if that's a thing still?) and then do the art foundation as a gap year.

I don't think the OP requires advice or takes much of it anyway.

She seems to have all of the answers to the questions she asks!

@TripleThree - if I had answers to my questions, I wouldn’t be asking them 🤪 But if posters are going to say things that I know to be wrong - eg ‘you’ve got to have maths and physics for medicine’ or ‘art as a fourth a-level is an impossible workload for everyone’, I’ll challenge those views. Think that’s fair…

I did Music as a 4th subject and it's been surprisingly useful, even though I've never worked professionally as a musician. The creative subjects involve a lot of problem solving.

They started 2020 and finished this year
chem
bio
English lit

Exeter
Bristol
UEA
Sheffield

Sorry but this is just not correct. Bristol require Chemistry plus another science/maths and from previous years stats they requirethe highest UCAT score of any med school including Oxbridge.

There are unis where a third science or maths isn't required, and Exeter is one, but if the Ops dd really wants to do this, why would she limit her options when it is so competitive? She can do art during an intercalated year once she is in!

But @Anna20MFG - @ramonaquimby said her child did chemistry and biology…

Bristol requires a third science or maths, not English.

Each med school prioritises slightly different things. Bristol is also known for taking the absolute top UCAT scores only. There's a spreadsheet that does the rounds with this info, you can probably find it on student room somewhere.

@Anna20MFG - sorry I misunderstood and thought you meant Bristol required chemistry plus one other…. I will look up that spreadsheet, thanks.

I’ve seen plenty of students do a level art who have gone on to do medicine. It gives them a creative outlet and is considered quite a good a level for thinking outside of the box etc. I have seen students do one year and then stop and also some stopped art lessons for a short while to concentrate on their academic studies but then still sit the art exam later. If your child is bright and committed they can do what they want. No one should stop them. If they find it too much they can drop art later on.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear! All the requirements are also on the course page for each uni. Also maybe list those that offer intercalation - - this is an additional year in which, at some med schools, you can take courses from any other degree offered. Art, English or History would work well, it's designed for breadth and balance. Good luck.