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

I know a doctor who did the science A levels, went to drama school, acted for about 1 yr. Wasn't really getting any acting work, then went to medical school.

I also know some comedy writers who worked as doctors for years and then gave it up for stand up.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Your DD sounds like a very talented young person @Flockchaise and would make for an excellent med school candidate, I’m sure. Art is a great subject for a future medic, and probably not as unusual as you think.

There’s a lot of out-of-date/just-plain-wrong advice on this thread though about what you do and don’t need to make a competitive application. You definitely need some advice from @mumsneedwine who is very active on the medicine application threads and is well-informed on the latest requirements.

My own DD has just finished her first year at med school (and it went very well, top decile!) and she did bio, chem and philosophy. She got 4 offers also (one was Bristol too, which does not require 3 sciences) because she did well enough in UCAT and BMAT to get interviews at where she applied, and then she prepped hard for the interviews and did well at them all. No EPQ or fourth A-level. Her friend actually did Bio, Chem and Art (and an EPQ) and also got 3 offers from her interviews, and chose Nottingham.

In my DD’s experience, the timeline of important stuff is:

1. GCSEs - some unis use it for shortlisting, so the better they are, the more options you keep open.
2. Work experience/volunteering/part time job - all helps with interviews in particular, and with PS for the few that score them for interview selection
3. A level predictions - Exeter use this for interview screening
4. UCAT - all unis use it to some degree for interview selection so again keeps more options open if score is decent. Amount of prep varies but my own DD really worked at it for almost 2 months solid
5. Interviews - need to spend time prepping for these
6. Study for A levels - hopefully will meet offer and head off to 5/6 years of fun!!

If she can confidently add in more to the above, ie a fourth A level, without compromising any of the above, then crack on!

@Matisser - amazing, thank you so much for such insightful, and also reassuring, advice. Congratulations to your DD - it sounds like she is doing very well! X

There is a lot of bad and general advice on this thread. I do agree though that munsneedwine is so helpful!

Bristol 2026 entry, straight from the horse's mouth:

AAA including Chemistry and either Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics. Graduates are required to obtain a 2:1 in their degree plus BBB at A-level, including Chemistry and either Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics.

Check in the year you'll be applying as requirements change, often quite a bit.

This makes sense.

The Medical Schools Council has entry requirements information supplied directly from all medical schools, this below is for 2026 entry. You can look at individual up to date med school requirements.

Many of the medical schools will accept a non science non Maths subject as the 3rd A level (excluding General Studies, Critical Thinking and a few others) I know prospective med students studying History, English Literature and other non-science subjects as 3rd A level.

https://www.medschools.ac.uk/for-students/applying-to-medical-school/entry-requirements/?course_type=standard-entry-medicine

A friend is at Southampton with those exact A levels.

But it is true
They had bio, chem plus English lit. Not maths.
They interviewed and had an offer

They had a very high UCAT score

Why don't you have a look at the med schools council link posted above, searching Bristol. This is irrelevant and outdated Requirements change quite often. For 2026 it wouldn't be accepted. Maybe by the time OPs daughter is applying the pendulum will swing again and it will be fine. If not, there are other options where it would be fine now. Absolutely no one is saying an arts third or fourth a level make this impossible. Just that there are ways of doing this that will maximise the OPs DD chances rather than limit them and to check up to date info when she applies

So not 3 sciences then. Chemistry and one other out of biology, physics, mathematics or FM. That quote doesn’t mention requiring a third science.

WRT the foundation year, could she apply for medicine,v secure a place,v then see if she can defer? If she can, then she could apply as a late applicant for the foundation year if she still wants to do it.

@Flockchaise I’m just offering a different perspective/opinion. You obviously don’t agree with me and that’s fine <shrug>

FWIW (probably very little as I’m talking about the mid-80s 😂) I loved my foundation year and subsequent art degree.

a close family friends daughter did maths biology chemistry and art a levels, an art foundation and then medical school. Now 2nd year Leeds and loving it.

I just looked up Bristol as I was surprised that three sciences were needed for med school (like a lot of others on this thread, I know a number of YP with med school offers from bio, chem + a n other such as history) and this post is correct indeed - and it says the requirements are Chemistry and one of the other sciences mentioned. Nowhere does it say you need chem, bio and a third science which is what you have said is needed for Bristol.

@Flockchaise I am no medical expert but if your DD really has medicine as a calling then I suggest she focuses on that. Your DD took four inc art and was OK; you know of YP taking four and applying to medicine; but do you crucially know anyone taking four including art and applying for med school? Bc that does seem to me to be a lot to take on.

anikarice asked when this was and what universities - and I clearly stated it was for 2020 entrants and it was true at that time. Where did you read that I've said it's true for current entrants?
I've not provided any bad or incorrect advice.

OP, good luck to your daughter in any case. It's a tough slog for sure, my DC is looking forward to starting F1 in a matter of days, and is ok not knowing how the next few years will play out.

I would very strongly suggest talking to or showing doctors to see it the reality aligns with her expectations. My DD thought she might like to and shadowed a gp for a couple of days and found it an absolute eye-opener in terms of the stress and workload. The tiniest mistake or delay in picking up a message for exampl, can have massively stressful repurcussions

@Barkcloth - great that you enjoyed your art foundation and degree 40 years ago, but your responses were pretty snippy. It’s not about ‘disagreeing’ with you, it’s about me asking advice for my dd future path.

Thanks so much to everyone for the constructive and insightful advice. Masses to think about here and it’s been really helpful.

Lots of unis don’t care what the 3rd A level is ( with a few exceptions ).

It makes sense to choose a 3rd subject that you know you can get an A* or A in.

Most kids applying for medicine / dentistry / vet Med do their school exams AND volunteering AND playing in the orchestra / being head girl / playing sport at a high level. So I don’t see why the Ops DD can’t do a 4th A level instead, if that’s her main “ hobby “. She can also link her volunteering to that eg helping at an art club for people with dementia / asylum seekers / teens with additional needs.

re a gap year - some unis will allow you to apply for a deferred place but not all. Most do have an opinion about what you do during that year, especially if you are out of formal study .It might be helpful to also do a college or open university module in something like anatomy during that year.

The best people to ask are not the child’s school, they are often out of date. The people to ask are the admissions tutors for the medical schools she is interested in. Always email, dont phone. Keep a copy of their reply.

I was chatting to some of the med students at work who do HCA shifts and was impressed and surprised to find out that they had all done a third arts A Level and that it had been well received at application and selection. They are all at a relatively competitive uni too. Sample of three but I did basically assume they all did sciences and maths exclusively up to this point.

DS2 has just finished Yr 2 of a medical degree. I sat through a lot of talks at his school about applying for medicine. The vast majority of med schools want Chemisry, one other science (physics, bio, maths) and ANY other 3rd A level. (Excpet general studies, critical thinking)
My DS did chem, bio, maths and music. Was advised to drop music by school but didn't because he loved it and had 3 A star predicteds ( and an A in music). Got 3 medicine offers.
Art as a 3rd or 4th A level will not count against her.
Key is getting (3) great predicted grades & maximising the UCAT score snd then applying strategically once both those are known.
There is no advantage to certain combinations of A levels as long as she takes chemistry and another science.
Interestingly DS1 took chemistry, bio and Art A levels. He could easily have applied for medicine with his predicted grades (3 A stars) But he did an art foundation course and is now 2 years into a Fine Art degree. I would say it is as hard as my other DS medical degree

To what end?

If she's looking at doing an art foundation degree just for fun and interest, I wouldn't. It won't look great on applications for medicine and it'll just distance her from her work experience by a year. But if she's interested in combining her loves of medicine and art into a career, then it could potentially be an interesting element to include on applications. For example, would she potentially pursue a career in anatomical illustration, or as an ocularist (who designs and creates prosthetic eyes)? These are fields related to medicine where a background in art would be very useful.

I can't comment on the requirements for a medical degree but in terms of personal development I think this is a brilliant idea and I think your daughter @Flockchaise will really benefit from it. I'm an academic and I often think that many students (most if not all) would benefit from taking a year out to do something different. Then they're coming to university with an extra year's maturity and a whole new set of life experiences. I also think @N0Tfunny 's suggestion of linking her art to relevant experience for medicine is a brilliant one.

Good luck to her, I hope it works out. I also did art level alongside sciences and yes it's a lot of work but something being 'a lot of work' isn't in itself a reason not to do it.

Just on this very narrow point, most "Foundations in Art and Design" are independent of UCAS. It doesn't help that they're not the same thing as "Foundation Years" of degrees despite the similar names (which are through UCAS and offered by most art-schools). I have a thread on this somewhere if anyone is interested!

ETA link: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4795276-art-and-design-at-university-for-past-present-and-future-students-and-parents?page=1

One other point is that Art A-level can be, depending on how it's taught, not only a lot of work but also more about a tick-box exercise than actually producing good art. I don't know how possible this is, but OP's DD could in theory apply to a FAD on the basis of a strong portfolio produced outside of class time, rather than in the context of an A-level.

I didn't do Art A level so can't comment on that specific workload, but my DC is doing an art-based subject as well as a STEM subject and the workload from the art subject is by far the most intense and time consuming. However I think there are a lot of transferable skills from art which would be highly relevant to a medical school.application - demonstrating being able to cope with a heavy workload being one of them. Time management, task prioritisation, being able to adapt or change a project in light of new information or requirements, dealing with uncertainty, being able to start over if things don't go to plan, being able to focus on detail while being aware of the bigger picture (literally!)...and so on.

A levels are fine. No one will care about art.