Cambridge yes or no?

Looking for answers from successful Cambridge medicine applicants. Please post your GCSE AS A2 and BMAT scores. And please give me advice whether or not I can apply to Cambridge for medicine by compensating for these GCSE's

Biology-A
Chemistry-A
Physics-A
Maths-A
French-A
History-A
Additional Maths-A
English-
Ict-B
Short course RE-B
Can I compensate by getting high As and BMAT to do medicine at Cambridge and what marks roughly

OP

English-B

Original post by BigDreamer123

Looking for answers from successful Cambridge medicine applicants. Please post your GCSE AS A2 and BMAT scores. And please give me advice whether or not I can apply to Cambridge for medicine by compensating for these GCSE's

Biology-A
Chemistry-A
Physics-A
Maths-A
French-A
History-A
Additional Maths-A
English-
Ict-B
Short course RE-B
Can I compensate by getting high As and BMAT to do medicine at Cambridge and what marks roughly

Technically yes you could compensate but you need to think about why you didn't do better at GCSE and if it's realistic for you to get 90%+ in every one of your a level exams.
What makes you want to do medicine at Cambridge more than any of the other 30 something med schools?

Reply 3

Ghys

2

Cambridge offer from Trinity Hall with 9 A*'s and an A at GCSE, 5 A's at AS (95.7% UMS) and 5 A* prediction for A2. BMAT: 9.0 6.6 3.5A

Honestly I would say that those GSCE's are quite low, but if you have extenuating circumstances then it could be passable, you would need high UMS at AS though and a good BMAT, plenty of other options than Cambridge though.

Reply 4

BigDreamer123

OP

1

Original post by em.d_4

Technically yes you could compensate but you need to think about why you didn't do better at GCSE and if it's realistic for you to get 90%+ in every one of your a level exams.
What makes you want to do medicine at Cambridge more than any of the other 30 something med schools?

Cambridge is my dream school like a goal something that tells me if I can do it there I can do it anywhere. Kind of a confidence booster

Reply 5

BigDreamer123

OP

1

Original post by Ghys

Cambridge offer from Trinity Hall with 9 A*'s and an A at GCSE, 5 A's at AS (95.7% UMS) and 5 A* prediction for A2. BMAT: 9.0 6.6 3.5A

Honestly I would say that those GSCE's are quite low, but if you have extenuating circumstances then it could be passable, you would need high UMS at AS though and a good BMAT, plenty of other options than Cambridge though.

Would doing 4 AS's hinder me though?

Reply 6

theresheglows

12

Original post by BigDreamer123

Looking for answers from successful Cambridge medicine applicants. Please post your GCSE AS A2 and BMAT scores. And please give me advice whether or not I can apply to Cambridge for medicine by compensating for these GCSE's

Biology-A
Chemistry-A
Physics-A
Maths-A
French-A
History-A
Additional Maths-A
English-
Ict-B
Short course RE-B
Can I compensate by getting high As and BMAT to do medicine at Cambridge and what marks roughly

Here are the stats from successful applicants in 2012, bear in mind that grades will likely have gone up further since then
http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/teachers/docs/student_conference_teacher_forum_presentation.pdf

Reply 7

MedAppli

1

No offense but forget Cambridge unless you get 95% average in your top 3, if you really want to do medicine you need to apply to universities that fit your strengths and Cambridge may not be one

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

Ghys

2

Original post by BigDreamer123

Would doing 4 AS's hinder me though?

Not at all, the majority of people do 4, better to do excellent in 4 than average in 5.

Reply 9

BigDreamer123

OP

1

Original post by Gott

You got an A in add maths? Wtf. Well done, I got a U as did most others (:

Thanks haha its because I got 94 in paper 1 but 54 in paper 2

Reply 10

BigDreamer123

OP

1

Now a new question beckons is it too late to start working my socks off to get a UMS of 95%+ in my as?

Reply 11

Ronove

18

Original post by BigDreamer123

Cambridge is my dream school like a goal something that tells me if I can do it there I can do it anywhere. Kind of a confidence booster

You need to examine your thought processes rather than keep fixating on a need to study Medicine at Cambridge. It will serve you far better in the long run. Otherwise the kind of skewed/warped core beliefs that you must have going on to cause you to have these thoughts are going to cause you immense pain when something or other happens that clashes with them in a bad way (eg. not getting an interview at Cambridge, fluffing an interview at Cambridge, getting rejected). Not to mention that you're setting yourself up to not be able to enjoy and appreciate a whole load of other achievements, just because, in your head, they pale in comparison to the 'ultimate goal' you've pinned all your hopes on.

So if you can 'do Medicine' at Cambridge, you can do it anywhere, is your belief. This might be the case - the workload/intensity is supposed to be immense there. Though the kind of pressure that goes along with that is a recipe for disaster for many people, and especially for people who pin their entire self-worth on academic attainments.

What if you can't do it at Cambridge? Either because you can't hack the pressure/workload/particular environment, or because you just get off to a bad start socially and become unhappy, or because you simply don't end up getting in at all - does that then mean you can't hack Medicine anywhere else? No. It does not. Does it mean you'll be a worse doctor than you otherwise would have been had you studied at Cambridge? Unlikely. In fact, if you don't get into Cambridge, does it mean you wouldn't have been able to hack Medicine at Cambridge? Not necessarily. You just didn't get selected for whatever reason.

Do not derive your self-confidence from this kind of thing. You have nothing to prove to anybody. Be kind to yourself. :smile:

Reply 12

em.d_4

17

Original post by BigDreamer123

Cambridge is my dream school like a goal something that tells me if I can do it there I can do it anywhere. Kind of a confidence booster

Also a bit of a confidence trasher when you don't get in. But you'll know where you stand better after AS results.
Have you thought about where else you'd apply?

Reply 13

BigDreamer123

OP

1

I was considering barts and the London but I only took 4 AS's and I don't play any music

Reply 14

JustAnotherMe

1

Original post by Ronove

You need to examine your thought processes rather than keep fixating on a need to study Medicine at Cambridge. It will serve you far better in the long run. Otherwise the kind of skewed/warped core beliefs that you must have going on to cause you to have these thoughts are going to cause you immense pain when something or other happens that clashes with them in a bad way (eg. not getting an interview at Cambridge, fluffing an interview at Cambridge, getting rejected). Not to mention that you're setting yourself up to not be able to enjoy and appreciate a whole load of other achievements, just because, in your head, they pale in comparison to the 'ultimate goal' you've pinned all your hopes on.

So if you can 'do Medicine' at Cambridge, you can do it anywhere, is your belief. This might be the case - the workload/intensity is supposed to be immense there. Though the kind of pressure that goes along with that is a recipe for disaster for many people, and especially for people who pin their entire self-worth on academic attainments.

What if you can't do it at Cambridge? Either because you can't hack the pressure/workload/particular environment, or because you just get off to a bad start socially and become unhappy, or because you simply don't end up getting in at all - does that then mean you can't hack Medicine anywhere else? No. It does not. Does it mean you'll be a worse doctor than you otherwise would have been had you studied at Cambridge? Unlikely. In fact, if you don't get into Cambridge, does it mean you wouldn't have been able to hack Medicine at Cambridge? Not necessarily. You just didn't get selected for whatever reason.

Do not derive your self-confidence from this kind of thing. You have nothing to prove to anybody. Be kind to yourself. :smile:

I don't know how it stumbled onto this particular thread, but I'm glad I did. Although this was targeted at the OP your words speak volumes. I applied for medicine at cambridge this year and I feel like perhaps I only did it for the need to feel important to prove to those who said I couldn't that I can. I still haven't been rejected but I'm swimming in the pool hoping for an offer but I think i now realise it's ok if I don't. If the OP reads this I want you to know its ok to want the best but you have nothing to prove and where ever you go you can do well. Don't be fixated on cambridge it's not that special and even when I went for my interview it was clear that I could be happier elsewhere. It's alright to big dreamer but don't let your dreams define you sometimes we have to wake up and see that there is so much more for us out there.

Reply 15

vale98

Original post by Ghys

Cambridge offer from Trinity Hall with 9 A*'s and an A at GCSE, 5 A's at AS (95.7% UMS) and 5 A* prediction for A2. BMAT: 9.0 6.6 3.5A

Honestly I would say that those GSCE's are quite low, but if you have extenuating circumstances then it could be passable, you would need high UMS at AS though and a good BMAT, plenty of other options than Cambridge though.