Poorly chicken

[helenc]

I would agree that the workload is massively increased from GCSE to AS level and again to A level, my daughter is currently in year 13 and has offers to study Maths - so she is just deciding where to go to.

 

My daughter gained 9a*s and 2a's at GCSE and took 5 subjects at AS level - Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Ethics and Philosophy and Critical Thinking and got a's in all of them although there was very little work that she needed to do for Critical Thinking, she has carried on with the 4 academic subjects and her school timetable is very full she has 2 free periods per week, her peers who take 3 subjects have on average 12, which makes a big difference in the amount of time you need to spend doing homework at home, she also said that the differences between the subjects are that Ethics takes a lot of time reading, researching and essay writing, Physics is mainly learning information but Maths is all about practice and the more questions you do the better you get at answering them, so for Maths she needs time where she can sit and concentrate for longer time periods which she doesn't have at school.

 

The A level exam system changed this year there are no exams in January so all are taken in June, which means 2 written exams and for each science subject and 3 for each maths subject at the end of year 12 and year 13, plus the science practical exams which are taken earlier, so if she does taken 5 subjects she will have a lot if exams to do

. One thing that my daughters school stressed was the importance to achieve a grades at AS level as to get an a at A level you need an average of 80% across all the papers you take in both AS and A level and for an a* you need 90% average in A2 papers (although its slightly different for Maths where its 90% average across C3 and C4)

 

At a parents information evening last year there were talks from university admissions tutors, I went to the science and maths one (given by someone from Nottingham University) the tutor talked about science in general and said they prefer students to have Maths A level when they are applying for a science degree and she also wanted to see anyone applying for medicine had done a lot of voluntary work. The school also recommend that the girls take Ethics and Philosophy to AS level if they haven't done it at GCSE to help with the ethics type questions, although the school does run sessions separately for them if they don't.

 

To find out which Universities run which courses have a look on UCAS as they will list which ones do which subject and usually which grades and any specific subjects required

 

Hope that helps

 

Helen

[freddie]

My next door neighbour has DD doing childrens nursing at Cardiff. The teaching hospital is close enough she can stay in her rooms for her placements out, so avoiding additional costs, and she's loving it. She has people in Plymouth doing same thing, and having to book B+b 's Jst a thought.. Well done Rosie, My ES is doing 2nd yr A levels x4 in math/science, and the workload is much higher than gcse

[Leicester_H]

The teaching hospital is close enough she can stay in her rooms for her placements out, so avoiding additional costs,

 

Leicester uses the 3 Leicester hospitals plus about 6 other hospitals - giving a variety of experiences.

Students alternate between in Leicester blocks and out blocks.

Unless it changed, they provide free local accommodation on out blocks.

 

H

[Nikipins]

I went to Birmingham medical school so have a biased insiders view. It is a great medical school and I got a very good rounded medical degree. The advantage of a medical school in a big city is that there are lots of opportunities for placements, diverse expertise and a broad spectrum patient base available close to the medical school. Placements therefore tend varied and in or close to Birmingham. It is a number of years since I was a student and a lot has changed with the medical degree but I think the medical school is still rated very highly. However I do agree with the previous comment that medical degrees are highly regulated and I suspect the teaching at all of them is of a good standard.

 

Getting a place a at medical school is a major challenge. One of my colleagues who is involved in the admissions procedure says how difficult it is to separate the applications when all of them have fantastic predicted grades, extensive extracurricular hobbies and relevant work experience. Having a hook to drag the selectors in is important, something to make her stand out from the other applicants.

 

My advice is if she really wants to do medicine go for it. There are multiple opportunities to step out and do research or a separate biomedical degree along the way (I stepped out and did a pathology BSc in my fifth year before my final year of MB ChB) and if she feels research is where her calling is then there are lots of opportunities to do this in the long term. The basic medical degree is really a passport to other options (clinical medicine with all the varied specialities, pathology/laboratory work, academic medicine etc). If she does a biomedical degree first with the aim of doing medicine she still has the hurdle of getting a place at medical school at the end of the degree (there are a number of medical schools which take a high proportion of graduate entry students such as Warwick but competition for these places remain very high). One upside of graduate entry is that the individuals are more mature and my experience of them on the wards is that they cope better with the demands of the medical training.

 

I hope that is of some help. Visit as many open days as possible and try to talk to current students who are likely to give you a true assessment of the course and teaching.

 

Good luck to her. Medicine is a great career, stressful, frustrating and demanding at times but rewarding, challenging and great fun as well.

[Leicester_H]

Getting a place a at medical school is a major challenge. One of my colleagues who is involved in the admissions procedure says how difficult it is to separate the applications when all of them have fantastic predicted grades, extensive extracurricular hobbies and relevant work experience. Having a hook to drag the selectors in is important, something to make her stand out from the other applicants.

These days Medical Schools (and Unis generally) have to be seen to have a fair admissions system. I expect most/all Medical schools publish their systems.

See eg. Leicester Medical School's http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/msce/undergraduate/medicine/documents/2014A100Scoringupdated22Aug13incSJT.pdf

"Following scoring of academic ability and UKCAT, applicants will be ranked. The highest ranked applicants will be invited for interview. The lowest ranked applicants will not be considered further. The personal statement and reference will be used to allow us to distinguish between borderline applicants"

 

Also, http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/msce/undergraduate/medicine/admissionsupdates

[ubereglu]

The head of sixth form and I are trying to talk her out of the further maths as the unis would prefer her to have 4 very good A levels rather than 5 mediocre ones and a frazzled student.

 

If she does just 4 subjects, then she will have time for her music and sport, both of which she'd like to take further.

 

Claire; I am encouraging her to look at unis further from home... it would do her good to be away and more independent.

 

Haven't been on here in a long time, what with only having internet at work. I definitely agree with you about the 5 A levels=frazzled. I have a very clever friend who started off doing 5 and he was just exhausted, what with the other extra-cirricular activities he also got up to. 4 is definitely more manageable. I did 3 A levels, but 4 at AS, and did an EPQ in my 2nd year of college instead of taking up another AS (I'd thought about doing chem AS whilst doing the A2 year, but decided against it due to the quality of teaching).

 

Her A level choices sound good-I did Physics, Maths and Biology and really enjoyed it mostly-it's definitely quite a step up from GCSE as there's a lot more content. I'd advise her to keep her options open though, as many people change their minds about courses between GCSE and A level and then actually applying. I think only one person I know out of 5 actually went on to do a medicine degree which is what they'd wanted at 16, and I went from being dead set on Optometry to doing a Biology degree instead and now want to go into Plant Science...

 

I just can't believe Rosie is actually that old, as it's many years since I met you in Dorset! The Birmingham medical school is really good, has brilliant facilities and I think it's definitely worth a look at for Rosie. I know many people who are training to be medics there and they're all really lovely and are dear friends.

 

Whatever Rosie decides make sure she takes her time and doesn't get rushed into decision making-everything has to ultimately be her choice. I'm sure she'll do well regardless.

[lillybettybabs]

My oldest ss is in the same boat but i think he will be dropping one at AS level leaving him with 4 A levels to

complete.

[chickencam]

My ED did 4 and she found that tough, there is still debate between her and my OH about what grades she would have got by doing just 3, she thinks 3 As which would have still got her uni place, he thinks that she only got uni place by doing 4, she got 3As and a B, he thinks that it gave her a margin for error. I notice however he didn't make a fuss when DS said that he was only going to do 3, he is also doing an EPQ

[Chickabee]

My daughters friend, one of the cleverest in her year, is studying medicine at Southampton. She's 21 now and the RAF are sponsoring her, as she wants to be a milatary medic

[The Dogmother]

That's interesting Chickabee, as that's one of the options that R is looking at.