science dual award gcse or triple science

[Yamin151]

I have genuinely never met someone who got into Medicine with anything less than 3 As. Even if they had wads of work experience and may not have got offers first time round, they have still had top grades in one sitting. I'm talking about people I have met in the last 10 years. However, as I have a son who wants to do Medicine, and should get the grades, if you have any concrete egs of unis who are interested in people who maybe don't get full grades but have lots of work experience, please do pass that on mystery, as it is good to have back ups in case things don't go as planned!

So so wrong on so many levels (not you KCG but the facts you present which I'm sure are true sadly)

- The A* students do NOT make the best vet/med students. Applications should be decided on a certain level of academic achievement (much lower than straight A's) to show aptitude and then interview, that ain't going to happen now I know, but the number of straight A docs I have met with a total lack of bedside manner.......And what about the child who bombs out on GCSEs, but then matures, gets life experience, experience of failure, then comes back fighting and ever more determined to do well next time around and thus DOES get great A levels. Arguably that level of determination is far more useful as a student and their GCSEs should not count against them!

- Such degrees should neither be based on volunteer work. Teenagers SHOULD be able to hang around and do nothing in their free time, not have it filled with a programme of volunteer work, D of E and box-ticking exercises to make their CV look good for uni. Granted, some may love it, but less than parents claim I am sure. I know this is a controversial view but I truly believe that school and exams are hard enough without taking away all their free time too. It seems sometimes that 'hanging around' doing the modern equivalent of 'listening to records' is seen as a failure. For a teenager to like doing nothing is NORMAL, not an indicator that they are not truly keen to become a doctor! Again, the best indicator of a committed and good doctor is an interview process, and the presence of volunteer work or being cricket captain or head girl does NOT a good doctor make (necessarily) - did you hear Radio 4s Now SHow? Harold Shipman was cricket captain and got straight A's, lol!

[tiffinboys]

lovely post by Yamin151.

[kenyancowgirl]

I completely agree Yamin! Our very good friend is a retired doctor who reckons that Bs at A level are the right academic level - and all the current medical students we know say the volume of work is tough but the level is at around a b grade A level.

I do think however that nobody should be allowed to train as a medic without having had some work experience in a medical setting - they need to have sat with a GP or nurse all day to see what sort of things they are presented with - ideally work shadow in a hospital setting - more so the young person knows what it is like and whether they still like the idea of it. just having voluntary work for works sake proves nothing though - take child one, turning up every week at a care home and going through the motions because they have been told they have to do it, versus child 2 who goes in and embraces a session with the elderly people there. Both can write that they have done the work experience but one is arguably slightly "better" matched to the medical profession (in terms of what we are told the universities are looking for)....

There is still far too high a proportion of young people who drop out of medical training - because it is not what they were expecting and it's long hours etc - this used to be 30% but think it has dropped to around 25%, so universities are improving with their selection, slightly - but spending time with medics in the setting might help further - this is different to work experience though...and there is far too much of the tick box culture around that.

I am with you - I always find it interesting when parents tell me their child loves spending every hour being worthy (I'm being extravagant for humours sake) - I don't always - or often - believe it...as you say, it is far more normal for teenagers to want to do nothing, or sit on a playstation, or hang around with their friends, go to the gym, cinema, cooking, reading, whatever, and is what we would have done too. They are worked so much harder these days and filling their downtime with things that look great on paper (even if they do contribute to their being "better individuals" etc as well) doesn't allow them to switch off fully. And that is so, so, so very important. Because, at some point in the not too distant future, they will not have a parent around them at all times to tell them how to fill their hours, and they need to be able to recharge sensibly and sit and watch the world go by.

DS1 is trying to get a balance - he has absolutely loved the work shadowing he has done, enjoys some of the work experience he is doing as part of the 6th Form requirements at school, and tolerates the other - it is helping him narrow down which areas in medicine he might have a better afinity for but he is not doing anything else that he sees as purely tick box (DoE etc) If this does not get him into Medicine then I guess, so be it...meanwhile I continue to encourage him to watch Hospital as, if that doesn't put him off, then I don't think anything will....

[Yamin151]

I completely agree Yamin! Our very good friend is a retired doctor who reckons that Bs at A level are the right academic level - and all the current medical students we know say the volume of work is tough but the level is at around a b grade A level.

I do think however that nobody should be allowed to train as a medic without having had some work experience in a medical setting - they need to have sat with a GP or nurse all day to see what sort of things they are presented with - ideally work shadow in a hospital setting - more so the young person knows what it is like and whether they still like the idea of it. just having voluntary work for works sake proves nothing though - take child one, turning up every week at a care home and going through the motions because they have been told they have to do it, versus child 2 who goes in and embraces a session with the elderly people there. Both can write that they have done the work experience but one is arguably slightly "better" matched to the medical profession (in terms of what we are told the universities are looking for)....

There is still far too high a proportion of young people who drop out of medical training - because it is not what they were expecting and it's long hours etc - this used to be 30% but think it has dropped to around 25%, so universities are improving with their selection, slightly - but spending time with medics in the setting might help further - this is different to work experience though...and there is far too much of the tick box culture around that.

I am with you - I always find it interesting when parents tell me their child loves spending every hour being worthy (I'm being extravagant for humours sake) - I don't always - or often - believe it...as you say, it is far more normal for teenagers to want to do nothing, or sit on a playstation, or hang around with their friends, go to the gym, cinema, cooking, reading, whatever, and is what we would have done too. They are worked so much harder these days and filling their downtime with things that look great on paper (even if they do contribute to their being "better individuals" etc as well) doesn't allow them to switch off fully. And that is so, so, so very important. Because, at some point in the not too distant future, they will not have a parent around them at all times to tell them how to fill their hours, and they need to be able to recharge sensibly and sit and watch the world go by.

DS1 is trying to get a balance - he has absolutely loved the work shadowing he has done, enjoys some of the work experience he is doing as part of the 6th Form requirements at school, and tolerates the other - it is helping him narrow down which areas in medicine he might have a better afinity for but he is not doing anything else that he sees as purely tick box (DoE etc) If this does not get him into Medicine then I guess, so be it...meanwhile I continue to encourage him to watch Hospital as, if that doesn't put him off, then I don't think anything will....

Spot on KCG, completely agree

[Surferfish]

I know this is a controversial view but I truly believe that school and exams are hard enough without taking away all their free time too. It seems sometimes that 'hanging around' doing the modern equivalent of 'listening to records' is seen as a failure. For a teenager to like doing nothing is NORMAL

+1

I'm reminded of the words of A. A. Milne:

"What I like doing best is Nothing," said Christopher Robin.

"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh after he had wondered for a long time.

"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, 'What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?' and you say, 'Oh, Nothing,' and then you go and do it.

It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

"Oh!" said Pooh."