Shall I apply to Oxford or UCL for medicine?

Hello, so I didn't know whether to apply for Oxford or UCL, my other choices are St Georges, UEA and Imperial.
My stats are:
GCSE: 12.5A* 1A
AS: AAAB (B in english Lit)
Predictions: A*A*A*
Will my application be more competitive for Oxford or UCL(bearing in mind I have not taken the BMAT yet)?

(edited 8 years ago)

Bump

What kind of school did you go too? Because if it was a bad school - you'd stand a great chance at Oxford because they love that kind of stuff. On the other hand how is your whole application - work experience; PS and that stuff - because UCL is more holistic in what they look for.

Reply 3

TheTechN1304

Oxford. You've already applied to Imperial so I don't really see the point in applying to UCL over Oxford. Your grades are good enough so you might as well go for it.

Reply 4

nexttime

You could apply to both. Oxford place a lot of emphasis on GCSEs - data here.

Of note is that Oxford and London are very different places.

Reply 5

Nununu

Lol do ur Bmat first then decide. If its lower then expected go for UCL, although I think all schools that force u to intercalate are taking the piss, but what can u do?

Reply 6

Nununu

I think its better to apply to 3 safer options than only 2 safe options, it does not matter one bit which school u study medicine in.

Reply 7

not you

Original post by Nununu

Lol do ur Bmat first then decide. If its lower then expected go for UCL, although I think all schools that force u to intercalate are taking the piss, but what can u do?

BMAT is sat in November, whereas the UCAS application is submitted in October. They have to pick one first regardless of how they'll do in BMAT.

OT: If you've already got Imperial down I don't see any real reason to put UCL down as well, they're not too different other than the type of teaching they do; traditional (Academic) at Imperial vs integrated (PBL/Academic mix) at UCL, and if you think traditional at Imperial is better for you then it'd make sense to go with the traditional Oxford course too

Reply 8

nexttime

Original post by Nununu

Lol do ur Bmat first then decide. If its lower then expected go for UCL, although I think all schools that force u to intercalate are taking the piss, but what can u do?

You do the BMAT after you've applied.

Personally I would rather go to a school where you know you'll be able to intercalate than a schools where you run the risk of not being able to - intercalation gains you so much CV and postgrad application-wise.

Reply 9

TreeTaps

Original post by cybertron98

Hi, I went to a really bad school for GCSE, my work experience is good, but my personal statement borders on okay.

Reply 10

TreeTaps

Thanks everyone for all the help, I think I will ponder about it further 😊

Reply 11

cybertron98

Original post by TreeTaps

Hi, I went to a really bad school for GCSE, my work experience is good, but my personal statement borders on okay.

Definitely recommend Oxford then. Just make sure your PS has stuff about wider reading and more science based stuff as that is more likely to come up at the interview compared to other units

Reply 12

nexttime

Original post by cybertron98

Just make sure your PS has stuff about wider reading and more science based stuff as that is more likely to come up at the interview compared to other units

Disagree.

Whilst what you say is true, Oxford place very very little emphasis on the personal statement (with some tutors going as far as to not read it!), whereas for other unis it can be one of the biggest factors. Focus on the latter.