Chemistry Alevel and aspirations of doing medicine after a bumpy 2 years due to poor mental health

[T1vol1]

Dd is trying to choose Alevels. The past 2 months have seen her in hospital 5 weeks out of 8.

She’s at a grammar, bright but had a bumpy 2 years due to some shitty life events. When focused she does well but obviously hasn’t been that focused for a while. Has only ever really been interested in medicine but I know chemistry Alevel is incredibly hard. Would it be foolish to take it? How competitive is medicine? Is it something she could try later? What other non nursing medical careers are there? Any good Alevel choices to go with biology and history?

Tia

If she is still interested in medicine then Chemistry is far more important than Biology at A level.
Whether she should take it or not depends on her abilities, motivation and interests. If she has the ability to take the subject and is well motivated and hard-working then it should be possible to take Chemistry A level. I wouldn't describe the A level as "incredibly hard".

Lots of other medical type degrees are available e.g. pharmacy, nutrition, therapists, radiography and biomedical science. So you aren't limited to medicine itself.

There are loads of careers allied to medicine, as PP said. Medical degrees are incredibly demanding and better she works on her mental health first, but no harm doing the prerequisite A levels

It’s also possible to study medicine at postgrad level, with an appropriate science degree, I had a few students who did so successfully.

How about optometry?

Look at allied health professionals, biomedical scientists etc. Step into NHS is a good website for younger students , www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/ and for older I prefer www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/. Am not a careers adviser btw.

So many careers in healthcare other than medicine. I like sound of diagnostic radiotherapy 😁

Medicine massively competitive! What other non nursing medical careers are there? is there a reason for not nursing?

Medicine is seriously competitive entry for undergraduates - typically MBBS degrees require all A's at A Level, with some of the more popular medical schools even asking for A*AA. Also, a lot of medical schools specify that applicants must have A Level Biology and A Level Chemistry, so from that perspective, it's not the case that chemistry's more important than biology.

I did A Level Chemistry and one thing that definitely seemed to affect who did ok and who struggled was how strong people's maths skills were, so it might be worth considering how confident your DD is in that area.

I'd add physiotherapy and paramedic to the list of careers PP have come up with. I'd also echo MichelleScarn's question about why not nursing?

Thanks that’s really helpful. She doesn’t want to do nursing.

Re those other jobs do they all need chemistry Alevel?

I’m worried about how hard working she’ll prove to be in the months ahead re the chemistry. She may not be able to slave away at it.To be honest I’d be happy with her getting a B or C in it. Obviously medicine would be out but would a B or C be good enough for some of those other areas which sound interesting.? She really doesn’t want to do a different Alevel. But will try and look at some other choices.Biology, Chemistry and history have always been the first choices though.

Given circumstances there's no reason why a less good grade at Chemistry GCSE (content heavy subject so time off will hit harder) will lead to a less good grade at A-level so I would not write off medicine at this point. Plus obvious mitigation ...

Consider tutoring to fill any gaps if this is possible.

What is it about medicine that she likes? And don't want to harp on , but why not nursing? Some of the Advanced Nurse Practitioners l work with are highly qualified and experienced. Does she feel its a status thing?

A lot of allied health professions can be just as strict as medicine or competitive just different process or traits they are looking for. It’s mainly competitive because they are limited by placements - physiotherapy and midwifery are ones that come to mind why it’s hard (not impossible though) to get on whose courses especially as a school leaver.
Sometimes as well it’s more than just the grades, it’s about how well rounded a person is. Look at specific universities as they sometimes look for different things. Even in nursing entry requirements vary wildly from CCC to ABB and what subjects they want.
There is a physicians associate which is a new thing - sort of like what a junior dr is except for prescribing (I could be wrong but get the impression that progression can also be more curtailed, but it’s new role so it could change). Maybe worth thinking that if she’s still recovering that it’s worth spending the next year researching and gaining experience where she can to figure out what she likes doing.
Depending on what it is she doesn’t like about a nursing career will also help rule out other health professions.

I know a few people who have come to medicine later in life, 2 vets (still have to do at least 4 years) and 1 architect.

I also know 1 person who did vet at Cambridge with 5 or 6 GCSEs after doing GCSEs homeschooled due to long term illness. Went on to get 3As at A-Level, got into Cambridge on interview and went on to succeed in his career.

Fair few doctors have done a biomedical science degree before med school as well.

Just because most candidates do the traditional route doesn't mean they all do.

Still worth working our "why medicine?" for interview and personal statement purposes though!

Not sure why she’s not keen on nursing. Wondering if it’s a patience thing. You need to be very caring too. Not saying she isn’t.

For any health care jobs you'd need to have patience and be caring!
If she just likes the science how about a degree in biochemistry and lab work?

Nursing definitely suits different personalities to doctors. But then different specialties suit different doctors.

GPs need to be generalists at heart, the personality requirements for a surgeon vs an oncologist are totally different as well.

Being a surgeon may well be less "personal" than being a nurse. Doctors are more focussed on diagnostics, problem solving, nurses are more focussed (initially) on the doing/caring side but obviously there is overlap!

The only reason you've given for her not doing chemistry A-level is that you've heard that it's hard.
Has the school said she will struggle with it?

If she wants to do it, and it fits with the sort of career path she's interested in (whether that ends up being medicine or something related), then it sounds like she should do it, unless the school are telling you she's not up to it. Even then, given that she's had a bad time recently, it might be worth exploring whether a bit of tuition would help her get back on course with chemistry.

Grade B or C in Chemistry would be good enough to pursue some of the other paths suggested if medicine doesn't work out.
Agree with @lanthanum where does this "Chemistry is very hard" come from exactly? Is that your opinion or what the school is saying or someone else? If it's other MN threads then please ignore these.
It would be much more difficult for your dd to pursue a medical career later on if she chose another A level subject now and ended up trying to take Chemistry A level as an adult outside school.