Oxford or cambridge med?

I'm confused as to which one I should I apply to for medicine- Oxford or Cambridge?
The factors influencing my decision are:
-which one's easier to get into? The pooling system at Cambridge seems quite daunting
-which one has more East Asians? Purely for the justified but shallow reason that I only date Asian boys and birds of a feather flock together
-which one has a more active/ modern Christian association eg ocf (overseas Christian fellowship

Reply 1

daisychain_

I think you're meant to choose where you're most likely to get in.

Reply 2

SLMS

Original post by daisychain_

I think you're meant to choose where you're most likely to get in.

Scrapping that first factor of which ones easier to get into because both are equally hard- what about the other factors?
Which one has more East Asians and which one has a more active Christian community?

Reply 3

mishieru07

Original post by SLMS

They're both difficult, but bear in mind that the admissions criteria isn't identical. Oxford chiefly uses percentage A* at GCSEs + BMAT to shortlist candidates, whereas Cambridge relies on AS marks + BMAT. Depending on your grades, either one might be a more tactical choice.

Can't comment about Cambridge, but I'd say there's a decent East Asian population at Oxford. You can use the 2013 admissions statistics as a rough indicator: http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/nationality-and-domicile

The Christian community is also pretty active - there's OICCU, each college has its own Christian Union, and there are several churches you can get involved in (St Ebbe's and St Aldate's probably have the biggest student congregations).

Reply 4

SLMS

Thank you so much, that was really helpful!
:smile:

Reply 5

nexttime

The christian groups might not have many Asians though - are you sure you will be able to cope?

Reply 6

anastasiasays

From what I've seen, competition to get into Cambridge is relatively small in comparison to Oxford (1 in 5 applicants get a place at Cambridge; 1 in 10 at Oxford), so in that respect, Cambridge is easier (but still ridiculously difficult in comparison with many other unis, for a competitive application it has been said that you need >95% UMS for 3 most relevant AS Levels.