Biomedical Science

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 21:21

Hey all

I was wandering if anyone did/is doing/is about to do Biomedical Science at Uni.

What ALevels did you take?

Is maths really necessary, I have heard its preferred and stuff but I'm not too sure.

Any advice would help, thank you

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 21:29

I've just finished a Masters degree in biochemistry.

Personally, I took Chemistry, Biology and Psychology at A-level and Physics at AS.

Maths wasn't required at A/AS-level for my degree - however I was required to do a first year module in mathematics (mathematics for biochemists).

GiraffeGirl · 20/08/09 - 21:37

A friend did Biomedical Science at uni, she took Biology, Chemistry and RS (random!)

Errodiel · 20/08/09 - 21:39

I have a BSc in biomedical science. My highers were English, maths, biology, chemistry and French which got me a few unconditionals and I think 2 conditionals at various unis. In 6th year I went on and did higher psychology and A-level biology.

So no, a-level maths/chemistry not required by any means! Do be careful about what unis you choose though; do you want to be a Biomedical Scientist, that is go straight from uni to work in an NHS lab or similar? If so, make sure the degree you sit is accredited by these people[//url] or a similar professional body. My degree was not, and I wasn't even aware that such a thing existed until sometime in second year; it meant that if I wanted to do work of that sort I'd have to do an extra year of training.

However, if you're interested in going the academic route (going on for MPhil, PhD, etc) then accreditation isn't particularly important, and you may even be better off going for a more academic/less vocational course. You will spend proportionately more time in lectures and less in labs, but there should still be plenty of lab work ;-)

Feel free to come back to me with more questions - while I'm not in science any more I really loved my degree, and only graduated about 4 years ago

EDIT: List of IBMS accredited degrees here: http://www.ibms.org/pdf/acc_honours_july09.pdf

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 21:40

I'm just about to start my 3rd year of Biomedical Sciences. I took Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A level, and did half an AS in Sociology (dropped out as I hated it).

I dont know about other unis, but my one you had to have 2 science subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics). I know people that didn't take Biology and struggled a bit in the first year so I would definately recommend you take that!

In my first year I had to take a Chemistry for Biological students which was similar to A level Chem. I have barely had to do maths at all beyond the basic graphs / stats work for experiments and they go over that with you.

When I applied a few years ago they were offering places for BBB but I dont know if thats still true.

Hope that helps!

Errodiel · 20/08/09 - 21:43

To add to what Popcorn Monster has said, it was similar for me; needed 2 science subjects, which was usually 2 of maths, biology, chemistry and physics, and I think for highers they wanted ABB; A levels was possibly BBB. Check out a few uni websites though, they will have more detail on that kind of thing if you can find the specific biomed pages.

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 22:00

hi thanks for the replies so far

Im in my AS year atm & I initially wanted to do Medicine, but when it came to exams, I just knew I wasnt gonna do well enough, then I had been told that a popular route for medicine is to do a Biomedical Science degree then a 4 year Medicine course. So I decided to go for that.

Just gotten my results, which were terrible, but I knew they were gonna be bad as I had some health issues throughoutthe exam period

, in fact I may have to resit my year 12

!

Ive checked around and most unis dont mind resit candidates. I did physics maths bio n chem for my as, i hated physics with a passion and that showed by my fail

:(. I passed the rest but not with grades that were great and I have been called to discuss my results tomorrow with some teachers. If i have to resit a whole year they may make me change my options, Im actually good at Bio and Chem (well my teachers seem to think so anyway), and wanna stick with them, I find maths difficult and my teachers know. I have always loved to do psychology and I think I might pick that if I have to change.

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 22:27

SophStar wrote: »

Im in my AS year atm & I initially wanted to do Medicine, but when it came to exams, I just knew I wasnt gonna do well enough, then I had been told that a popular route for medicine is to do a Biomedical Science degree then a 4 year Medicine course. So I decided to go for that.

Oh, you're one of "those" - don't worry, there were a lot of failed medics on my course. Some tried to get onto the postgrad medicine course - I know one succeeded (she aced the GAMSAT).

Ive checked around and most unis dont mind resit candidates. I did physics maths bio n chem for my as, i hated physics with a passion and that showed by my fail :(. I passed the rest but not with grades that were great and I have been called to discuss my results tomorrow with some teachers. If i have to resit a whole year they may make me change my options, Im actually good at Bio and Chem (well my teachers seem to think so anyway), and wanna stick with them, I find maths difficult and my teachers know. I have always loved to do psychology and I think I might pick that if I have to change.

My physics AS helped me during my degree - probably more so than my A-level biology.

Take psychology if you want to - it's not going to harm your chances, as I believe a significant proportion of unis only want 2 science subjects at A-level.

The most important subject to do well at is chemistry. That will definately help you through university.

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 22:35

I initally wanted to do Medicine too but after dropping Sociology that wasn't an option for me. I was going to do the 4 year degree option but I was told that I would need to bump up my B grade Chem to an A to even be considered on top of a 1st class degree :S but thats just one unis opinion. As I'm doing my degree i have found much more interesting things to me that I never knew existed.

I wouldn't worry about your AS level grades too much, I resat one of mine 4 times (Statistics!) and 4 out of the 6 modules i did in AS levels due to my own laziness the first time round before finally getting a good grade and it never counted against me - I got accepted into Southampton among others. One thing I regret is not taken a 4th AS in my second year at college - do you think yours would let you do that?

Good luck with your discussion tomorrow!

[Deleted User] · 20/08/09 - 22:48

Cyeic wrote: »

Oh, you're one of "those" - don't worry, there were a lot of failed medics on my course. Some tried to get onto the postgrad medicine course - I know one succeeded (she aced the GAMSAT).

My physics AS helped me during my degree - probably more so than my A-level biology.

Take psychology if you want to - it's not going to harm your chances, as I believe a significant proportion of unis only want 2 science subjects at A-level.

The most important subject to do well at is chemistry. That will definately help you through university.

Right there that just made me feel like crap lol.:cool:

Thanks for the other help too though.

Popcorn_Monster wrote: »

I initally wanted to do Medicine too but after dropping Sociology that wasn't an option for me. I was going to do the 4 year degree option but I was told that I would need to bump up my B grade Chem to an A to even be considered on top of a 1st class degree :S but thats just one unis opinion. As I'm doing my degree i have found much more interesting things to me that I never knew existed.

I wouldn't worry about your AS level grades too much, I resat one of mine 4 times (Statistics!) and 4 out of the 6 modules i did in AS levels due to my own laziness the first time round before finally getting a good grade and it never counted against me - I got accepted into Southampton among others. One thing I regret is not taken a 4th AS in my second year at college - do you think yours would let you do that?

Good luck with your discussion tomorrow!

Thanks for your post, I dunno about doing a 4th AS tbh!

Also can anyone advise me on what kinda voluntary work would be good for biomed?

[Deleted User] · 21/08/09 - 09:35

I did a bit of volunteer work at my local hospital. I dont know if yours has a trolley service, a shop etc that let people volunteer. Think mine was called WRVS or something. I also did a lot of work experience at various places to see what sort of thing I wanted to do.

Some of my friends did things like the Red Cross, working as a receptionist in GPs, going to other countries for those schemes that build houses. Depends how far you want to go!

Although I didnt do much volunteering I had a lot of other stuff like a highish position in my part time job, i had a horse played instruments so I think things like that would help.

Errodiel · 21/08/09 - 09:37

Yeah there are a LOT of wannabe medics in biomed, and to be honest it can get irritating for those doing biomed because they love it as a subject in itself. So maybe don't shout about it when you get there!

At some unis there is a chance to do 1st year biomed then apply for transfer to 1st year medicne. They take about 5 people, and probably 50 people will apply for the places, but it's an option.
For post-grad, 4 year medicine, beware that the intake is much smaller than standard undergrad medicine.

As for work experience for biomed, it's not necessary; it's primarily an academic subject, not a vocational one. Concentrate on getting work experience for medicine, because showing that you're dedicated enough to be getting work experience for years before you even apply will help your cause.

EDIT: just to expand on the medicine/biomed issue a bit...it's to do with the attitude of medics. I don't know whether it's a natural characteristic of someone with that degree of ambition, or to do with the way potential medics are treated by those around them (and by lecturers when they get to uni), but a hugely disproportionate number of medical students are stuck up ar$eholes! I was once asked (while standing in a building where in excess of 20 subjects were taught, not to mention where several 100 postgrads were housed); "are you a medic or dentist?". Which about sums it up; somehow these kids get it into their heads that only medicine and dentistry are worth anything, and anyone studying a related subject must have failed to get the grades. So you can imagine after just a few months of putting up with that attitude, there can be a whole lot of pissed off physiologists, microbioligists, immunologists and so on and so forth.

[Deleted User] · 21/08/09 - 10:57

Thanks for the replies. I will think about work experience in gp's n hospitals.

God the wannabe medics & dentists can be right ergh can't they. Okay I may want medicine and tbh the reason I am considering biomed isbecause of medicine. It's all I want to do, but being a dick doesn't really help getting along with people who are doing it too.

Mexie · 21/08/09 - 11:05

I thought about going for postgraduate medicine if I didn't get onto my preferred training. I didn't look into it very thoroughly, but fees were about £12,000 a year and I don't think you get paid while training so I worked out I would need about £80,000 in the bank to cover fees and living costs. It's an option if you've got the money, but you would be much better off trying to get into medicine from the start or switching once you get to uni.

I did biological sciences and took biology, chemistry, physics and maths with mechanics A levels. I would say biology is a must and I'm glad I did maths because there was a lot of that on my course, though stats would have been more useful than mechanics.

salo · 21/08/09 - 11:15

I did biochemistry rather than biomedical sciences but a lot of my class was failed medics - there was only 1 person there that had picked it as 1st choice however only 1 person went on to do medicine after. In our fnal year we had several medical students joined to do biochemistry for their intercalated year there were more joined us than any other group. I'm not saying that is the way to go but you should consider other science subjects so you have one that wll be of most benefit for when/if you go on to do medicine.
My uni also had a maths module for 1st year people without maths - my friend who did it said it was much easier than it had been at school but I guess that is associated with who teaches it.

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