The entry requirements are a reflection of the popularity of the course relative to the places available, not its intellectual rigor, the same is true of every university course. Not to say the course is not academically demanding, it certainly is, but that is not what determines the entry grades.

Sarah, London, UK

The entry requirements are a reflection of the rigour of the courses, or at least that is the clear impression from what I see my friends studying medicine going through.
Whether that leads to better doctors is questionable. What correlation between good A-level grades and good bed-side manner?

Guy, Oxford,

This is dumbing down in the worst way. Yes i think everyone should have a chance in life but the last thing this country needs is something else to undermine the legitimacy of our healthcare. Remember when public schools took kids for free from the east end? 80% dropped out. It is too idealistic.

Alex, London, England

Opening Teaching up to adults with few, if any, formal qualifications has been bad enough. Some of them can't string a coherent sentence together. Are we going to have to suffer the same terrifying drop in standards from the medical profession? It's time to leave Britain I think.

judy, liverpool, england

“A new type of doctor is being created that, among other things, better reflects the social diversity of London's population.”
In other words, yet another social engineering scheme to excluded higher achievers in favour of dross.

John, London, UK

I think you will find it is 190k per student per year extra. The pass rate for BSc is not the same and so I also doubt the quality of the doctors that are being produced at the other end, many more may be just scraping through.

Pete, Edinburgh,

£190, 000 per year - around £6000 per student? Not much compared to the amount of money spent by the middle classes on their offspring. Also the "3 C-ers" should be higher future earners because of the scheme, so paying more tax.

Diana, derby, UK

High grades can be an indicator of intelligence but can also be an indicator of parental wealth buying the best coaching. As a university teacher, years of experience tell me that a student with Bs or Cs obtained from a tough comp will often easily outshine the straight A fee paying school student.

Graham, Oxford, UK

I don't understand why the Government has picked medical school as their venue of choice for their social engineering programme. The extra cost of training could be used to improve state schools for everyone, instead of helping a few become doctors.

Naveed, West Bridgford, UK

I agree I got into nursing in the late 1970's on 3 O levels only [one being a GCE level 1 equivalent pass]. I was a nurse for 23 yrs - it didn't downgrade my care. The will suceed in ones career comes from the heart, not a pen or computer screen via an exam.

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

But high grades are an indicator of intelligence and/or hard work (one does not need both before university). As such, in most cases, high grades will indicate a characteristic required to succeed. Of course, where the (state) education system has failed individuals this needs to be reconsidered.

John Scott, London,

In contemporary medicine where most medical practitioners just follow instructions C is more than enough. Now they should try D and E

Dave, London,

Too true. Near-perfect results to study medicine (including dentistry), law and other popular courses are more an easy -to-apply culling tool than a reflection of the actual requirements needed.

Angela, Epping, Australia

It must be noted that medicine has never traditionally been seen as an AAA subject.

The strict A-level requirements have only really been used recently because of the massive number of applicants for relatively few places.

James, London,