With enrolment day coming up rather quickly for me (24th August), I thought it would be wise to finalise my choices for college. So to find out more information about what universities expect, I emailed all 32 medical schools in the UK.

I was surprised by the quick responses and huge amount of information they offered me, which just goes to show how much it helps to just ask.

All universities required three A-levels to be taken at college with at least two sciences and maths. Some even required four (Cambridge).

I was wondering whether taking five A-levels instead of four would help my application. Most universities said that this would not have any bearing on my admission, especially Oxford, who insisted that only three A-levels were necessary and any further ones would not help at all. Some, however, did mention that an additional one would demonstrate additional skills.

I’ve decided though that taking five A-levels would be too much work and I would miss out on the social life. I guess you have to balance work and play. I’ve picked

• Maths
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Biology

as my choices. I was thinking about doing either Further Maths or Music as a fifth A-level, but decided against it. These A-levels are enough to get me in to medical school.

If you want to email universities yourself for further information, you can find a useful list of all the email addresses of all the medical schools in the country on my blog by clicking the link.

Remember that your A-Level choices are not everything, just entry requirements for the medical courses. You first need to get the results, plus work experience, write your medical school personal statement, and more, especially to get into the top medical schools.

For more tips on getting into med school and getting your medical degree, visit Nearly a Med Student. There you can find more resources and advice for everything to do with medical school.