Sixth forms in Cambridge - aiming for medicine at uni

[Dulcamara]

DS will be in Y11 in September and we’ve booked to go to open days at the following sixth forms in Cambridge: Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology; Hills Road; Long Road; Oakes; Perse; Stephen Perse; and Leys.

DS is bright but not particularly motivated to study or self organise his work, or at least it’s something we haven’t seen at home. His predicted GCSE grades are 7 for further maths, biology and physics; 8 for maths; 9 for chemistry.

Are any particular sixth forms in Cambridge better if DS wants to eventually study medicine at uni? Not necessarily Oxbridge.

We live in Cambridge and are hoping DS can cycle to/from school, so we’re not looking outside of the city.

I went to hills road 20 years ago. Lots of my friends were planning to go into medicine.

I went to hills road and did medicine. Will need to be highly motivated and organised at hills road, but if lacking those skills, is medicine going to be the best career choice long run?

With a predicted 7 in biology and issues with self motivation is medicine really the right career path? Maybe something adjacent / allied health professional?

all the aspiring medics at DC school got 9s for triple science and usually maths, maybe an 8 if they dropped the ball. They wouldn’t even be able to take a science for A level unless they got an 8 minimum. And then…students with straight As at A level didn’t get offers.

I would ask for advice on the WIWIKAU (what I wish I knew about university) Facebook group. Sadly although they are good predictions I'm not sure they'll be enough for medicine.

He'll need to be self organised and determined to get straight 9's for medicine!

Hills Road is very selective. They offer a lot of extra curricular and will be very familiar with entry requirements for medicine. It's big and busy and some students struggle with the transition from a school,

As others have said it's a hard degree to get into.

Long Road does a levels and BTECs and is much easier to get into.

No recent experience of either of the Perses.

You have to be very self-motivated and organised to get the most from Hills. Parents have little involvement. Private school will provide much more hands on support and guidance.

Medicine appears to be hideously competitive. Even kids with stella grades don't seem to get offers. It may be worth getting some realistic careers advice.

It's not they need 9s in all their GSCEs to get a medicine offer, it's more the type of student who gets predicted A*AA in science subjects and gets a high UCat score tends to find GCSE quite straightforward so often has nearly all 9s if that makes sense

Hills needs self sufficient young people - ready to work for lower 6th mocks (before may half term) to get good predictions and to sit the required medical school tests just after the summer as well as working for the actual résults and a 12 week placement at addenbrookes to ger experience which they apply for in year 11.

Your son needs to engage with all of this - without someone pointing him in the right direction or r asking him (and the emails do not come to parents so you can't chase)

If he can do that Hills is awesome

If he can't then if he wants medicine and you can afford private I would explore that

CMAT - in my opinion is a bit limited - great for those into computer science but wider

Long - awesome sixth form much more supportive and may suit your son but it's a bit of trek

Hills have a points system for admission. See if he will get in with 7s for his A level possibilities. They ask for higher points for maths/sciences. Perse might actually be a good choice if they will let him do A levels from a 7 at GCSE. He'll have help structuring and organising himself which he might not get at Hills. There is a table online somewhere showing the percentages of students who have a 9/8/7/6 etc and who go on to get A* A B etc at A level. It is pretty sobering reading, so just encourage him to be realistic.

I’m a bit surprised that a couple of posters have written that schools may not allow students to take a subject at A level if they only have a 7 at GCSE.

Is this what most places say?

No. Hills Rd sixth form is very competitive: one of the few state sixth forms that gets a lot of students into Cambridge.

You don't have Chesterton Sixth on your list - maybe you're the other side of the city. It has the advantage of smaller groups where it's harder to hide. They check on them during guided study periods, and they also seem to be quite proactive where there are problems - a regular extra class after school for some who were finding one subject harder, more supervised study for some than others. The first cohort have only just finished, and there were no medics (one considered it but decided on biomedical sciences, I think), so they don't yet have experience of that, but they were supportive of the Oxbridge applicants and their extra tests, and gave lots of individual support with their UCAS applications.

If he isn't self motivated Medicine is not the career for him. Not getting in at the start would be a lucky escape- although it may take him a long time to see it that way.

@JuneIsBustinOutAllOver yes that's the rule at our school sixth form (although there is leeway with a 6 if that was not your usual level of working)

I have seen on here somewhere a poster that shows how the grades you get at gcse translate into your predicted A Level grades.
A Levels are such a jump up from gcse.

And actually for maths and further maths A Levels I'm pretty sure they ask that you have to get an 8 or 9 at gcse to do those A Levels.