Oxford medicine applicants 2017

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Teacher and parent here of daughter applying to Oxford. + Imperial, Bristol, UCL ( I know risks of 3 BMAT) Hoping to start in Sept 2017.

GCSE 12 A* - Grammar School. Taken in year 10.
A levels chem, biol, physics & Engl lang
UKCAT 710 - BMAT - Not taken yet.
W. Experience - 2 x 1 week at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
1x week at Royal Free London
1 year weekly help to lady with MS
1x week with Optometrist
3 months of weekly help at care home.

Hopes - to study Medicine at Oxford or one of the above, ideally old college - Magdalen or Merton
Fears- BMAT. How will we feel if we cannot get in.

Unknowns - why Oxford over any other University? other than sounding superficial. Love the traditional course over intercalated or pbl/ cbl aspect plus the tutorial system.

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Reply 1

UniAdmissions

Original post by rugose

Dear rugose,

First congratulations to your daughter on getting such a good result for UKCAT and acquiring all this work experience!
How is her preparation for BMAT going?
Knowing that she has already done very well for the UKCAT, I wouldn't be too worried for the BMAT. To help in her preparation I can recommend our book or may be even a course to consolidate her knowledge.
I would recommend also to try and select less unversities requiring the BMAT. This way you have more chances on your side if you diversify the Universities and their entry requirements.

Hope this helps, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

UniAdmissions

Reply 2

StationToStation

Hey, another Oxford medicine applicant here :smile:

you mentioned that your daughter wasn't sure why she wants to go to Oxford instead of any other university. The Oxford course is very heavily based on science: while at many universities you get to learn clinical skills and bedside manner along the way, students at Oxford are first taught to be scientists and then after the first 3 years the focus shifts more to practical issues. I've also often heard that students from most medical schools learn to think more "pragmatically", while Oxford students are the ones who try to figure out WHY something happens.These might be useful aspects to consider.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 3

rugose

Original post by StationToStation

Hey, another Oxford medicine applicant here :smile:

Thanks for the reply. She is very keen on Oxford. In particular the fact that intercalation is mandatory, not optional and that it is academic.

I hope that if she does get in she actually spends time enjoying the wider opportunities of Oxford rather than focusing sohard on her studies!

Tell me about yourself. How is the prep going for you? Any ideas which college you want to apply to?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 4

StationToStation

Original post by rugose

Yes, the opportunity to work with world class scientists during intercalation is definitely a fantastic opportunity for students at that stage. I'm sure she would - Oxford generally seems to be keen to encourage students to do other things than study!

I live in Finland and I'm reapplying to Oxford. I was rejected post-interview last year, but wasn't really surprised about that, since I decided to apply in the last minute and didn't have any work experience at all etc. I'm doing our national qualifications, and our equivalent to A levels are the only official qualifications we take. I've achieved 7,7,7,7,7,6 while Oxford asks for 7,7,6,6. I did my UKCAT yesterday, actually, and got 753. We aren't allowed to do any shadowing here so on the work experience side my application is pretty weak - I've volunteered in a care home since February and in a hospital since May. I think I'm also going to apply to Aberdeen, Dundee and Durham.

I'm not completely sure about which college I'm going to apply to yet, but I'm thinking of Brasenose or maybe Worcester. Magdalen and Merton seem like fantastic choices too, they're both among the most beautiful places I've ever seen :smile:

By the way, I did the BMAT last year and got 8.3, 5.9 and 3.5A. I found that some of the most useful things for me were to learn fluency in mental maths, to learn how to identify the conclusion statement in the reading comprehension sections of S1 and go from there, and to use the options given (sometimes they are so far apart that you can calculate through really rough estimations etc).

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

rugose

Great UKCAt score.

Good luck with this year's application.

Thanks for the bmat advice. She is looking forward to bmat more than ukcat as she has done a critical thinking as level and can revise for the rest.

Why Worcester and Brasenose? Btw. I love Brasenose's location and buildings. Very popular in the last few years as David Cameron's old College, haven't seen worcester.

Reply 6

StationToStation

Original post by rugose

Thanks, good luck with your daughter's too! They are both obviously gorgeous, but especially the tutors at Brasenose seem fantastic. It feels like a really friendly place and it's pretty close to the MedSci buildings too. I love Worcester's big grounds and the lake with ducks in particular :biggrin:

Reply 7

nexttime

Original post by rugose

( I know risks of 3 BMAT)

I mean... she knows that if it goes badly she's totally screwed right? She will not have anyone else to blame. Whilst having a good UKCAT probably does predict a better BMAT to an extent, it also means that all the UKCAT schools are out there, just waiting for an application...

Visited Oxford yet?

Reply 8

rugose

Original post by nexttime

Hi

Thanks for the reply. Yep, you are right. I too would have been more comfortable if she limited it to a max of 2 BMAT. However I have always left my children to make their own decisions after they have been presented with the facts. I realise she will be quite uncertain with the pressures ahead so it would be unfair of me to be anything but supportive of her choices. She does realise that if BMAT goes horribly wrong she has put nearly all of her eggs in that basket. She has looked at the courses and says that she prefers the courses offered by BMAT. She prefers traditional with intercalation.

Something I live by and encourage my children/ students to live by is get the information, listen to a wide range of advice but always do what you think is right for you and do not be pressurised into going against what you believe. It would be awful if we went against our own feelings and then failed to meet our targets because we took the advice of someone else. If we fail, fail because of our own decisions.😀

If it does go wrong she can learn from it and re-apply next year. ( something I have learnt this year is that a lot of Oxbridge admissions were re-applications). Which is part of the reason for starting this thread, so that others can use information from all our journeys to help them with their own decisions.

She has visited Imperial, Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff this year. She also visited Oxford ( when she was 14) and is going to the open day in September.

It was the visit when she was 14 that really opened her eyes and inspired her and drove her to get her GCSE grades. This is the reason I have arranged for parties of kids from my school to visit Oxford each year. It seems to inspire them too.

Btw - I have really struggled to find any sources which show any correlation between UKCAT scores and BMAT scores. Do you know any?

Thanks for reading.

Reply 9

nexttime

Original post by rugose

If it does go wrong she can learn from it and re-apply next year.

I disagree with taking that possibility so trivially, but as you say, her choice.

She has visited Imperial, Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff this year. She also visited Oxford ( when she was 14) and is going to the open day in September

Should be enlightening re college choice.

Btw - I have really struggled to find any sources which show any correlation between UKCAT scores and BMAT scores. Do you know any?

No. They're run by different companies so I doubt figures exist. My statement was based on intuition having completed both tests.

There is the medicine applicant profiles thread - you could data trawl to find a correlation. If, you know, you've nothing better to do...

Reply 10

rugose

Original post by nexttime

I disagree with taking that possibility so trivially, but as you say, her choice.

Should be enlightening re college choice.

No. They're run by different companies so I doubt figures exist. My statement was based on intuition having completed both tests.

There is the medicine applicant profiles thread - you could data trawl to find a correlation. If, you know, you've nothing better to do...

Thanks for the reply😊

Reply 11

Emmacrowntree

6A*s 6A's at GCSE
AAAAB at AS (chemistry biology physics History and french)
A*A*A*A* at A2 in chemistry biology physics and history

I'm holding an offer from Barts and the London but have deferred it because I did better than expected so I'm trying to get into a higher university. Will oxford consider me with these grades?
I haven't done my bmat yet and only did ukcat last year so I'm not sure how I'll perform on that but what are my chances given my current stats?

Reply 12

studentsixth

Does anyone have a clue how much the workload at Oxford is for medicine? I've heard it's substantial but is it not just the case that the workload for medicine is substantial anywhere? I'm worried that it'll be too much for me as I also value socialising as equally important as the course.

Reply 13

nexttime

Original post by studentsixth

Its a universally difficult course which requires lots of contact time, especially in clinical years with placements etc. Medics tend to embrace that though and make the most of the time they do get.

Is it different to other unis? Hard to tell - no one's been to more than one. There was a survey* done a few years ago asking med students how long they work. The average for Oxford medicine was 42.1 hours per week, the same as Cambridge and about 6 hours more than Imperial. The differences probably aren't that great. Smaller than the arts-science divide I'd wager anyway.

It will be hard work, but if you don't mind just getting by with a mid to low pass grade then there's plenty of time for socialising. I only worked about 30 hours per week tbh. The best predictor will probably be how hard you work now - the most likely scenario is you will work a bit harder... but not that much harder. Outside of exam time anyway. And Oxford is actually willing to treat you more like adults once you reach clinical (unlike some unis who make you sign into lectures and in and out of the wards etc).

* http://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/44-Oxford-and-Cambridge-full.pdf

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 14

nexttime

Original post by Emmacrowntree

You've already deferred? I wouldn't have personally. What do you think you will gain by going to a "higher" uni?!

But to answer your question: I think it will depend on your BMAT. Normally those GCSEs would rule you out but since you're post-A-level (and with good grades even by Oxford standard) may make up for it. The BMAT is their universal decider, so that will determine whether you get an interview, and the interview will be vital too thereafter.

You could e-mail them if you.

Reply 15

Zedna

Hi people
I think I'm going to have a go at Oxford though I'm not 100%.
12 A*s GCSE, AAAA at AS. I've only been to Oxford once on a school trip so I didn't get to look round many colleges. I'm thinking Oriel maybe at the moment?

Reply 16

ozmo19

I haven't decided if ill apply seeing as it could be a wasted choice but here are my stats...

GCSEs: 10A*s 1A
AS-Levels: AAAA
Predicted A-Levels: A*A*A*A*

Work Experience so far:
3 days split between paediatric endocrinology and palliative care
1 day shadowing in neurosurgery
1 day shadowing in cardiology
Various workshops/wider reading
+2 weeks placement abroad next summer (hopefully)

Yet to take the UKCAT or BMAT.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 17

Lainathiel

Original post by StationToStation

Apply to Worcester :wink:

Reply 18

Lainathiel

I'm just stalking the thread if anyone has any questions about applications: I've just finished y13 and am starting medicine at Oxford in October. :smile:

Reply 19

Zedna

Original post by Lainathiel

I'm just stalking the thread if anyone has any questions about applications: I've just finished y13 and am starting medicine at Oxford in October. :smile:

Hi, congrats! Are you going to Worcester? I haven't really seen many of the colleges but Worcester looks really nice in pictures, what's it like? Is the accommodation nice?
Also what was the interview like? Were the interviewers scary? I've heard they ask quite a few Physicsy questions but I haven't done physics since GCSE and I hated it with a passion :redface: