PRE-APPLICATION SEASON
This section is dedicated to providing useful information to help you plan ahead of your application season in terms of choosing the right curriculum, and, the basic entry requirements that most universities in the UK would consider.
For a little background knowledge, we’ve completed the IB (international) and CBSE (Indian) curriculum, so can definitely help provide some useful points when deciding which is the right curriculum for you. We’ve mostly included the international ones - IB, A levels, American AP and will touch upon ICSE and CBSE as we have experience with them as well.
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On this page, we've just talked about the minimum entry requirements that most universities look for based on the specific curriculums. In our PDF document, we've also constructed timelines to help you balance out school work with your university application - how to balance studying for your exams and writing your personal statement and meeting important application dates.
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More information on the entry requirements for the different medical schools can be found here
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE(IB):
Most universities require you to take HL Chemistry and Biology (and sometimes HL Mathematics depending on the university). The grade requirement for both Chemistry and Biology is a 6 overall (the highest being a 7) and most universities would need a minimum grade of 36-38 points without including your bonus EE and TOK points. Oxbridge has a higher condition of between 40-42 points (with a 7,6,6 at HL for Oxford and 7,7,6 at HL for Cambridge).
A LEVELS:
For medicine, Chemistry and/or Biology, Physics, Math (depending on the university) are must have subjects. Minimum university requirements for A levels are AAA-AAB (while some are higher aka A*AA, etc.). Oxford and Cambridge have slightly different requirements with A*AA at Oxford (with an A in Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, or Math) and A*A*A* at Cambridge.
AMERICAN (AP):
Most medical schools require students who complete the American syllabus to undertake a couple of AP or Advanced Placement classes. These are regular subject classes but at a more advanced level - most schools often ask for scores between 4,4,5 (minimum entry requirement) to 5,5,5).
Although the subjects aren’t specified, students who wish to pursue medicine would probably want to take up AP Chemistry, Biology and Maths. A minimum GPA requirement for most UK medical schools would be somewhere in the range of 3.0-3.5 on a 4.0 scale.
Supplementary tests such as SAT and ACT are also considered by medical schools. A minimum ACT would be a 28 and a minimum SAT would be 650 in both sections (1300 overall). Students may also be inclined to take up SAT subject tests in specific subjects (Chemistry, Biology) which is also considered by many schools (a score of 650-700 being the minimum).
ICSE/CBSE:
The minimum requirement for your application to be considered is a predicted 85% for each subject, however, due to many international student applications, a predicted of 90% or above would give you more choices and increase your chances of receiving an offer.
Based on your predicted grades you will be offered a conditional for your final exams where your average of top 4 subjects are taken. It is important to note that certain universities do not accept the CBSE course. Oxford and Cambridge require 90% or higher in all 5 subjects.