Is Oxford and Cambridge really that special for medicine?

There is also data from some other specialities if anyone's interested - results are broadly similar to those from the MRCP. Generally 98-2008 data.

GP
O&G
Anaesthetics

In my opinion, Oxbridge is overrated for Medicine, 3 years without any patient contact is horrible.
It should be 1 year without patient contact like traditional London Med schools, never mind that, for traditional British Med Schools.
Even if I get 900 in the UKCAT, and something like 5A*s in A-Levels, I am NOT applying to Oxbridge (for other degrees I most definitely would choose Oxbridge, but not for Medicine).

I'd say they are quite special places yes. Just not necessarily for career reasons!



I don't think clinical contact is not significantly different to other schools. It just doesn't happen until 4th year.



Because of how you've phrased that, it is not true. Oxford grads had the highest average points score for F1 applications this year. MRCP/equiv' pass rates are much higher. There's a good deal of over-representation in senior posts.

Whether that's a correlation with Oxbridge rather than caused by Oxbridge is rather less clear. I would not go around advising people to apply to Oxbridge for career reasons, certainly.

Unless you meant purely in terms of chance of getting an FY1 place, in which case clearly every school is circa 100%

There is also data from some other specialities if anyone's interested - results are broadly similar to those from the MRCP. Generally 98-2008 data.

GP
O&G
Anaesthetics

Where did you get/see the average FY1 score data?

(Not because I doubt you btw, it's well known that being forced to intercalate gives you an advantage, and doing so at Oxbridge gives you a good chance for publication)


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It was data given to us in a lecture on FY1 applications, so i'm afraid i can't provide a reference. I only remember Oxford (score 84), Cambridge and UCL being the top 3, and most figures were in the 70s. Don't think any school was below 70 (?).

It was data given to us in a lecture on FY1 applications, so i'm afraid i can't provide a reference. I only remember Oxford (score 84), Cambridge and UCL being the top 3, and most figures were in the 70s. Don't think any school was below 70 (?).

In my opinion, Oxbridge is overrated for Medicine, 3 years without any patient contact is horrible.
It should be 1 year without patient contact like traditional London Med schools, never mind that, for traditional British Med Schools.
Even if I get 900 in the UKCAT, and something like 5A*s in A-Levels, I am NOT applying to Oxbridge (for other degrees I most definitely would choose Oxbridge, but not for Medicine).

To be honest its just personal preference. I personally love the idea of the 3 pre-clinical years, as I would rather know as much as possible before going anywhere near a patient, whereas for some people that would be hell. Then there's the matter of pbl or traditional (I like traditional). Oxford is an amazing university overall but when it comes to medicine, they're all pretty different, so it comes down to which teaching style suits you best.
Medicine is so competitive, its an achievement getting into any medical school ]