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am i good enough for oxbridge medicine?

GCSEs: A* in: maths, English language, geography, history, french, IGCSE chemistry biology and physics
A in: English literature, IGCSE business

ASs: doing 4 a level so only had maths AS this year got 99% average across maths modules.
Studying bio, chem, physics and maths a levels and AS further maths
Work experience:2 weeks at a GP surgery, 1 month at a pharmacy, 1 week at st Mary`s hospital across several specialities. volunteer at the royal free hospital and have done fundraising activities at school for the British Heart Foundation and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Predicted: not sure but i think A*AAAa or something like that with the A* in maths and the a in further maths

Chairman of school council at school and student editor of school magazine.
any help from current or prospective students would be much appreciated
(edited 7 years ago)
Your application sounds fairly strong overall. For Oxford you'd ideally need a bigger proportion and number of A* at GCSE (you could compensate with a brilliant BMAT though), and for Cambridge you'd need A*A*A at A level (plus ideally an UMS average of >95%.). I think you have a reasonably realistic chance of an offer so by all means go ahead and apply if Oxbridge is your dream. Just ace the BMAT, and don't apply to Cambridge unless you're predicted A*A*A. :smile:
Original post by glad-he-ate-her
GCSEs: A* in: maths, English language, geography, history, french, IGCSE chemistry biology and physics
A in: English literature, IGCSE business

ASs: doing 4 a level so only had maths AS this year got 99% average across maths modules.
Studying bio, chem, physics and maths a levels and AS further maths
Work experience:2 weeks at a GP surgery, 1 month at a pharmacy, 1 week at st Mary`s hospital across several specialities. volunteer at the royal free hospital and have done fundraising activities at school for the British Heart Foundation and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Predicted: not sure but i think A*AAAa or something like that with the A* in maths and the a in further maths

Chairman of school council at school and student editor of school magazine.
any help from current or prospective students would be much appreciated


Hello glad-he-ate-her,

In general, you have a strong application on paper with no obvious wekanesses. Ideally you would have got straight A*s in your GCSEs for Oxford but that still shouldn't put you off applying.

The next important thing will be to score well on the BMAT- regrettably, lots of applicants fall down at this hurdle so its well worth investing a significant amount of time on the test.

UniAdmissions
Thanks for your reply. Do you think I'd be better off applying to Oxford or will they be put off with 80% A*'s at gcse.

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Reply 4
Original post by glad-he-ate-her
Thanks for your reply. Do you think I'd be better off applying to Oxford or will they be put off with 80% A*'s at gcse.

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As others have mentioned, the 80% A* at GCSE will disadvantage you if you apply to Oxford (although you can make up for it with a very good BMAT score, but that's never certain). I'd suggest Cambridge might be a safer bet, given your 99% maths UMS. Cambridge also have twice as many medicine places as Oxford, and practically everyone who applies gets an interview, so there's more scope to shine in the Cambridge application than the Oxford one (Oxford only interview 1/3 applicants, and those are mostly decided by a computer system that ranks people in terms of BMAT score and GCSE performance, hence why your 80% A* is not ideal).

-Ali
5th year medic, Cambridge
Original post by 6med
As others have mentioned, the 80% A* at GCSE will disadvantage you if you apply to Oxford (although you can make up for it with a very good BMAT score, but that's never certain). I'd suggest Cambridge might be a safer bet, given your 99% maths UMS. Cambridge also have twice as many medicine places as Oxford, and practically everyone who applies gets an interview, so there's more scope to shine in the Cambridge application than the Oxford one (Oxford only interview 1/3 applicants, and those are mostly decided by a computer system that ranks people in terms of BMAT score and GCSE performance, hence why your 80% A* is not ideal).

-Ali
5th year medic, Cambridge

thanks for your help. my teachers at school had been suggesting cambridge to me as well and i think it would be a better fit. do you think an open application is a good idea since i dont really mind which college. does it give you slightly better chances
Original post by 6med
(Oxford only interview 1/3 applicants, and those are mostly decided by a computer system that ranks people in terms of BMAT score and GCSE performance, hence why your 80% A* is not ideal).

-Ali
5th year medic, Cambridge


Agreed but I'll just emphasise that whilst a "computer system" (aka spreadsheet) is no doubt involved at some point, all applications are looked at by a human to identify anomalies, extenuating circumstances etc.

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics
Reply 7
Original post by glad-he-ate-her
thanks for your help. my teachers at school had been suggesting cambridge to me as well and i think it would be a better fit. do you think an open application is a good idea since i dont really mind which college. does it give you slightly better chances


From what I understand, statistically there's no difference between Open application and college application. Admissions tutors say that the 'pool' evens things out, so if you're good and you apply to a college whether there are lots of 'good' people, you'll either get accepted or end up in the pool, and another college will pick you out of the pool. I'd always suggest applying to a specific college - before getting in, a lot of people think 'I just want to get in, I don't care which college', but there'll almost certainly be some colleges you like more than others, so it's worth having a look and deciding from there :smile:
Original post by 6med
From what I understand, statistically there's no difference between Open application and college application. Admissions tutors say that the 'pool' evens things out, so if you're good and you apply to a college whether there are lots of 'good' people, you'll either get accepted or end up in the pool, and another college will pick you out of the pool. I'd always suggest applying to a specific college - before getting in, a lot of people think 'I just want to get in, I don't care which college', but there'll almost certainly be some colleges you like more than others, so it's worth having a look and deciding from there :smile:

thanks again for all your help. so you're saying i have a good chance of getting into Cambridge with my qualifications? as in is any one of them not ideal in some way
Reply 9
Original post by glad-he-ate-her
thanks again for all your help. so you're saying i have a good chance of getting into Cambridge with my qualifications? as in is any one of them not ideal in some way


Your qualifications won't hold you back, if that's what you mean. That's not quite the same as 'good chance of getting into Cambridge with my qualifications', if we're being pedantic with terminology :smile: But yeah, your grades so far are fine - it's the BMAT and interview that will be the deciding factors.

-Ali
Original post by 6med
Your qualifications won't hold you back, if that's what you mean. That's not quite the same as 'good chance of getting into Cambridge with my qualifications', if we're being pedantic with terminology :smile: But yeah, your grades so far are fine - it's the BMAT and interview that will be the deciding factors.

-Ali

Alright thank you very much for your help

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