Oxford Medicine Students and Applicants

I will definitely have to get in there and dash around to get all this stuff done and sorted, I'm probably too nervous/anxious to do it properly but aslong as it's done I'll be okay! I've completely got myself ready with folders and books and a calculator and pens and pencils and for some reason I bought a pencil sharpener that doubles as a rubber? I have no idea. But back to the matter at hand; I think if I tell them right off the bat then they'll say that I need certain grades to continue on with 4 subjects at A2 because they're not required at all. So that might be the sort of unit I'll be finished with this time next year, I'm hoping to get all the 'easier' ones out of the way and with the highest UMS I can get, then the harder ones like C3/C4 should be met with a whole lot more of revision and help because I've looked at some of the questions and they give me stomach aches just looking at them. I mean I can do integration by parts, and I looked up questions that were from actual exams and they're usually like 3-4 part questions that are worded so differently than anything I've ever seen that I don't stand a chance of working anything out from them

Sorry to put a downer on things, but even with contextual data I don't think Oxford would be a wise choice. A look on the Medicine application website will show you that in 2012 no-one with lower than 60% A*s at GCSE even got invited to interview. Doubtless some of these applicants went to bad schools and some did poorly in GCSEs but had a great BMAT score - even taking these Ito account, the threshold for that year was 60% A*s (note it's not an imposed minimum, just how things worked out).

http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics/

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Well getting the easier ones out the way with now is probably a nice idea. I mean, I've done C3 and it's not too bad, so long as you can sit down and get your head around it. That said, I sat the C3 exam that made the news it was so hard... which put a knock on things (came out rather unscathed with a high A, albeit not an A*). That's the big difference from GCSE and FMSQ... the questions are worded differently, particularly S2, where that makes things genuinely confusing. You should be fine, you look like you work hard and got a decent mark at GCSE

Honestly this new found work ethic is only because I was told by people previously that there wasn't a chance of me getting into any Medicine degree. So I didn't bother at GCSE (STUPID idea, absolutely idiotic I realize now) but 2 years ago I had no idea about importance of AS UMS and UKCAT etc. It was all GCSE's, so now when I've been told that there's still a chance to save those incredibly below-average grades (at least for Medicine), then I'm going to dive on it and just go for it as much as I can. I bet almost everybody says this, get's to a month or two in and then slows down and eventually stops but if I can make it through a year of strict and effective revision then come out with 4 A's then I'll know that it wasn't because I wasn't smart enough. I just didn't put enough work in to get the grades, so either way, thank you! This has only made me more determined to get into Oxbridge, perhaps Oxford is a little out of reach for now, but Cambridge is reachable and I'm going for it

WOO! CAMBRIDGE! I've decided to apply there for Spanish and German... the thought of getting an A* in a language petrifies me though And yeah, I won't lie... I was the whole "I'm going to try really hard and get 100% in everything" at the start of last year and it died quite quickly. I managed to keep on top of things though and I did surprise myself when I got my marks through, so I'm a happy bunny who has his eyes on a Cambridge interview... an offer seems unlikely but what the hey

There are some people who really kicked on at AS and got amazing grades with like 98% UMS averages, even though they 'only' got like 3 or 4 A*s at GCSE so it can be done. In a way, you're perversely in a better position than people who have gotten 9 A*s at GCSE (like myself :P ) and end up getting a little bit complacent (like myself :P). I've heard horror stories of people going from A* at GCSE to Ds in subjects, like my best friend got a D in Latin AS and wants to study Classics at uni :/ So yeah, feel free to kick on and do really well!

Okay I'm an idiot, I just looked at the graph and I was like 'there is gray around the people with no A*s' not looking at the fact that the Key states that they weren't shortlisted for a place. It does seem that people with places were only offered at 0.6-0.69 proportion of A*s at GCSE but isn't that just representative data? So for all we know those who got less than 0.6 had low BMAT scores and borderline A Levels? OR is it possible that even if you got 100% on the BMAT and 4 A*s at A2, that you wont get in because of your GCSEs? I'm really curious about this, because if I genuinely have 0% chance than there's no way I can boost it up, but if it was able to be saved then I'd give it a shot. I know Cambridge is probably my highest-possible 'slightly realistic' target but I'm determined to aim as high as possible so I can motivate myself throughout A Level revision. If you can say that even a person who got 4 As, then 4 A*s and 95%+ BMAT score, wouldn't stand a chance at Oxford with my grades then I'll research it even more and will probably understand that although it's good to aim high, this was just too high for me.

P.S - I know it's incredibly unlikely I'll get 4 As then 4 A*s and even a 90%+ BMAT score, it's just a scenario that I thought might be helpful

I'm sure you'll get in! I mean if you take your own advice you'll be sure to get that A*, 94% UMS in Spanish 92% UMS in Maths 85% in English Literature and 83% in German those are amazing results! You could still get A*s, but especially for maths doesn't your UMS in C3/C4 have to be an average of 90%+? I think that means you'll need 93%+ in C4 to get an A* in Maths? That maths is probably incredibly flawed but either way those are incredible results!

x

So if I were to get it wrote in July, I'd not find out the actual UMS scores until August? Could you give an example of how they'd be 'imbued' with the reference, just so I can make sure that there's nothing like wrong or sort of 'invalid' with the reference which might void it

Oh don't get me wrong... I'm over the moon. I fluked them so hard I'm in a position where it's a bit below the whole 95% average offer statistic and my German's not 'Cambridge-esque' but I'm so happy to be reasonably competitive for an interview. I mean, I'm the first in the family to go to university... so there's no pressure there and there are plenty of other places to go to that are still incredibly good, so no Cambridge offer wouldn't be terrible And yeah, 93%+ for an A* in C4... although I'll retake C3 just in case. I have to get an A* in a language though, which is notoriously fiddly. It's half as likely to get an A* in a language than Maths, plus there are loads of native speakers clogging up the system... but i'll give it a go And yeah... I'm so pleased I avoided the carnage on Results Day. It was devastating to see so many people's Oxbridge dreams explode :'(

First of all the website implies that AS results won't really be a big factor in deciding who gets an interview (mainly because they don't ask for UMS and the vast majority of candidates will have AAAA+ so I wouldn't rely on AS scores being a saving grace)

It's hard to tell whether there's some other factor that's making it seem like Low GCSE applicants have little hope of interview. One might indeed expect the people who have low A*s at GCSE to be the ones with a low BMAT, but I would be surprised if not one of those applicants in the sub 60% region did well in the BMAT - I would be inclined to believe that there were a few people with a high BMAT and low GCSEs who were still rejected pre-interview. This is just speculation but I think it's a reasonable assumption.

You seem very motivated though so I'm sure you do indeed have a shot at medical school, wherever that may be!

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It's depressing to see how few the entries are to MFL A levels are. At first I thought 'how can the influence of a minority of entrants (native speakers) really have that big an impact on marking?' Well if only 11000 people are doing French etc then obviously they can!


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As I have said recently elsewhere in this forum, the key issue is not whether it's completely impossible for you to get into Oxford, or just highly unlikely. The problem is that in either case, you're very unlikely to get in and with only four spaces on your UCAS form for medical applications, you'd be far better served to use your spots to apply to more realistic universities unless you want to face the disappointment of not getting in for medicine anywhere, never mind Oxford.

It's depressing to see how few entries for MFL A levels there are. At first I thought 'how can the influence of a minority of entrants (native speakers) really have that big an impact on marking?' Well if only 11000 people are doing French etc then obviously they can!


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So you think that even Cambridge may be a reach too far? I'm hoping that good AS results can be a savior for me and give me more of an edge when applying for university, but ofcourse it's limiting to what i can get (4 As) which I'm sure 1000's of people will get. I'll try and incorporate more volunteering aswell? Perhaps that'll be a good way to get a better shot at Medicine, but either way thank you for your help! I understand that even people with 10 A*'s at GCSE can be rejected so it's good to know that although Oxford is out, Cambridge is still in.

4500 German entrants this year (or thereabouts)... i've never seen grade boundaries so high ever, and it wasn't an easy paper :'( Strangely enough, there were more Spanish applicants than last year and the grade boundaries were really surprisingly low. I don't understand why there isn't a native paper, like the IB has... then us non-native peeps can be examined properly.

Well I imagine your teacher might put 'this is shown by Eskyy's exceptional UMS score in Maths, at 300/300' or something like that. It would just be an extra reason, and not a point in itself. Your teacher will know how to write a reference - don't worry about that.

Forget Oxford medicine with those GCSEs. You've got 4 choices for medicine, so make them smart ones - I can't see why there are so many medics obsessed with going to Oxford or Cambridge.

I don't know anything about Cambridge admissions. If you get outstanding AS results, maybe you can still apply there.