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Are my AS grades competitive for Oxbridge?

I sat 4 A levels exams in the last month - Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths. All are reformed except maths, and my internal results have now come back.
Biology- A- Will be Predicted A*
Chemistry-A-Will be Predicted A*
Physics-A- Will be Predicted A*

I understand these results are the best I can do for a good application, however my maths results(which come back in August) will not be as high, as I have a strong feeling I will not have achieved above a C for a variety of reasons. Would an application to Medicine at Oxbridge still be competitive considering my potentially poor maths grade? Thanks
Original post by s4l4l
I sat 4 A levels exams in the last month - Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths. All are reformed except maths, and my internal results have now come back.
Biology- A- Will be Predicted A*
Chemistry-A-Will be Predicted A*
Physics-A- Will be Predicted A*

I understand these results are the best I can do for a good application, however my maths results(which come back in August) will not be as high, as I have a strong feeling I will not have achieved above a C for a variety of reasons. Would an application to Medicine at Oxbridge still be competitive considering my potentially poor maths grade? Thanks


Honestly, you might struggle to get an offer - a C would cause issues for any subject at Oxbridge, and much more so for Medicine, which is beyond competitive. If the reasons you have are extenuating circumstances, that can be mentioned by your teacher in your reference, then there wouldn't be issues, but I'm presuming you're not in that scenario. If it does end up being a C, I advise researching other medical schools, and apply to maybe three, based on your application strengths. I'd then perhaps use the remaining two offers for biomed or something similar. If you do extremely well on the entrance exams and at interviews, you do have a chance at getting a medicine offer... but it's ridiculously competitive at any uni, and at Oxbridge near impossible - there will be far too many candidates with four As at AS than there are places, and even more with AAAB, so AAAC would disadvantage you significantly.

A disclaimer: I've not been a medicine applicant, but a friend applied to Cambridge medicine, and I know two others who applied to Cambridge, so I have experience with the process. My friend had 5 As at AS, an average of around 97% across his AS subjects, was predicted all A*s, did extremely well on the UKCAT and BMAT... and was still pooled by Cambridge, albeit successfully for medicine, so came close to not getting in. Another friend got AAAA at AS and applied for a subject other than medicine, and didn't get in. If your application and entrance exam results are truly amazing you could have a chance at Oxbridge... but just be aware of your chances. With a maximum of four medicine applications, I wouldn't waste one that's almost definitely going to be a rejection.
Reply 2
I think if Maths is anything but an A, the chance of an offer is extremely slim.
For Medicine (or any other subject, for that matter) at Oxbridge, they have way more applicants with straight As than places, so they have no reason to offer a place to an applicant with anything less.
I can't say anything for sure of course, but this seems to be the case ^^
Original post by s4l4l
I sat 4 A levels exams in the last month - Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths. All are reformed except maths, and my internal results have now come back.
Biology- A- Will be Predicted A*
Chemistry-A-Will be Predicted A*
Physics-A- Will be Predicted A*

I understand these results are the best I can do for a good application, however my maths results(which come back in August) will not be as high, as I have a strong feeling I will not have achieved above a C for a variety of reasons. Would an application to Medicine at Oxbridge still be competitive considering my potentially poor maths grade? Thanks


It depends on what those variety of reasons are -- if you literally had no teaching or were seriously ill during those exams it might be worth applying. What are your GCSE's like? In most cases, I think it is inadvisable to apply for Medicine at Oxbridge with lower than AAAA at A-level, since Medicine is so competitive at all universities that you can't really afford to throw away a spot on UCAS on a slim chance at Oxbridge (additionally, Oxbridge isn't any better than any other med school in most ways).
Reply 4
Hi, thanks for your help, really appreciate your response. I think I may have confused you slightly with what grades will go on my UCAS application. I got 90%+ on all of my exams, so as per my college policy my results for this year will be A*A*A*C on the application. Would this change the way the offer is viewed? Thanks
Original post by s4l4l
Hi, thanks for your help, really appreciate your response. I think I may have confused you slightly with what grades will go on my UCAS application. I got 90%+ on all of my exams, so as per my college policy my results for this year will be A*A*A*C on the application. Would this change the way the offer is viewed? Thanks


Regardless, if you are applying for any science based degree at Oxford or Cambridge (Chem/Bio/Physics/Natural Sciences/Engineering/Maths/Medicine/Vet Med) then having the C in maths is going to affect your application. A lot of the applicants are applying with 90+ UMS in all 4 subjects (especially Cambridge with most offer holders having 93+). There's nothing wrong with applying, just note that a large section of the application pool will have straight As, and high As at that.
I know a girl who got an offer for Medicine at Oxford with the following:

GCSE: 11A*
AS: AAAB (A's in Bio/Chem/Spanish, B in Maths)
A2 Predictions: A*A*A*
BMAT: 72

Apparently her interviews didn't go as well as she hoped, so I imagine it was the BMAT score that saved her. She didn't get in at her first choice college. Obviously a B is a bit higher than a C, but you don't necessarily need a full set of A's for Medicine. Having said that, it is EXTREMELY competitive so obviously the more A's the better, and getting a straight set of perfect results is far from a guarantee that you will be successful. I imagine your chances will depend on the BMAT for Oxbridge, or the UKCAT for elsewhere.
Original post by s4l4l
Hi, thanks for your help, really appreciate your response. I think I may have confused you slightly with what grades will go on my UCAS application. I got 90%+ on all of my exams, so as per my college policy my results for this year will be A*A*A*C on the application. Would this change the way the offer is viewed? Thanks


Your actual AS grades and predicted A2 grades are separate on the UCAS form. Are you continuing Maths to A2? If so, a prediction of A*A*A*C would look poor -- even if you have extenuating circumstances for your C at AS, your teachers should have enough confidence to predict you a higher grade at A2, where (presumably) circumstances will be better. It isn't possible to have actual AS grades of A*A*A*C on the UCAS form, since you can't get an A* at AS, and you don't specifically put down your mock results.
Reply 8
Original post by sweeneyrod
Your actual AS grades and predicted A2 grades are separate on the UCAS form. Are you continuing Maths to A2? If so, a prediction of A*A*A*C would look poor -- even if you have extenuating circumstances for your C at AS, your teachers should have enough confidence to predict you a higher grade at A2, where (presumably) circumstances will be better. It isn't possible to have actual AS grades of A*A*A*C on the UCAS form, since you can't get an A* at AS, and you don't specifically put down your mock results.


I'm hopeful my teachers will predict me higher than a C in my A2 predictions as I have been averaging A's throughout the year, so I guess my predictions wouldn't include a C but something hopefully higher. Im slightly confused about what you say about the UCAS application- you say AS are separate on the UCAS form but don't include mock results? Does this mean only the predicted grades will be on the UCAS form + any external exam results? Thanks
Original post by s4l4l
I'm hopeful my teachers will predict me higher than a C in my A2 predictions as I have been averaging A's throughout the year, so I guess my predictions wouldn't include a C but something hopefully higher. Im slightly confused about what you say about the UCAS application- you say AS are separate on the UCAS form but don't include mock results? Does this mean only the predicted grades will be on the UCAS form + any external exam results? Thanks


Yes, on UCAS you will fill in the grades you've achieved in external exams so far, in your case I presume GCSE's and a C in AS Maths. Then your teachers write a reference for you with your predicted grades, in your case A*A*A*A or so.
Original post by s4l4l
I sat 4 A levels exams in the last month - Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths. All are reformed except maths, and my internal results have now come back.
Biology- A- Will be Predicted A*
Chemistry-A-Will be Predicted A*
Physics-A- Will be Predicted A*

I understand these results are the best I can do for a good application, however my maths results(which come back in August) will not be as high, as I have a strong feeling I will not have achieved above a C for a variety of reasons. Would an application to Medicine at Oxbridge still be competitive considering my potentially poor maths grade? Thanks


For Oxford in particular, your GCSEs are important. I don't think your A Level results necessarily make an application unrealistic but unless you've got 9 or more A*s at GCSE, I'd strongly advise against applying to Oxford.
Why not just drop maths so you get predicted A*A*A*. They can't discriminate between someone with four a levels and someone with three.
Original post by JRKinder
I know a girl who got an offer for Medicine at Oxford with the following:

GCSE: 11A*
AS: AAAB (A's in Bio/Chem/Spanish, B in Maths)
A2 Predictions: A*A*A*
BMAT: 72

Apparently her interviews didn't go as well as she hoped, so I imagine it was the BMAT score that saved her.


That generally means that they did go well. If you think you've managed to answer all the questions... then you really haven't understood what they were asking. If you think it was a disaster then good, that's what its meant to be like!
Original post by nexttime
That generally means that they did go well. If you think you've managed to answer all the questions... then you really haven't understood what they were asking. If you think it was a disaster then good, that's what its meant to be like!
Not necessarily, when I was doing my own interviews I spoke to plenty of people after and a lot of those who said they thought their interview went well did indeed get in, whilst those who thought their interviews didn't go so well tended not to. In all honesty, there's no real way to know until you get the letter. Sometimes you'll think it went badly (one girl was crying afterwards) but then get in (she did), others it will feel like it went well and it actually has.
(edited 7 years ago)
If you get a C at AS, you can probably ask your teacher to predict you a B at least for A2. I personally think A*A*A*B is competitive enough for Oxford. However, if you make sure you have a good BMAT score and GCSE A* proportion (0.9 or more) you should be able to make up for the B anyways. The B shouldn't make much of a difference.

And by the way, Oxford don't use AS levels in a mechanistic way when dealing with applicants unless you a) Have taken an reformed AS subject which now needs to go on your application or b) You willingly put it up there yourself. Maths is unreformed so you don't need to put it on your application for Oxford.
(edited 7 years ago)

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