Is it too late to think about Oxford? A real dilemma...

yo.

I'm in year 12 at the moment and am doing maths, biology, and chemistry. I know in the future I want to go into zoology, but I'm not sure if I want to specialise in it just yet. I love chemistry as a subject but also the stuff we do in biology and I don't know if I want to give up all of the other things I love about biology just yet. Oxford is sort of my absolute dream university, and if I got in it would be very convenient as my parents live about three hours away. Also OXFORD. However, my GCSE grades (997A*AAAABBC) are quite low for the average Oxford applicant and I was wondering how that would affect me, applications wise. If I were to do zoology I would apply to Edinburgh, Exeter, and Bangor, but now I'm really not sure. My minimum target grades are AAA, but I am confident I can achieve better than this.

So is Oxford out of the question? I don't want to waste my time applying if I won't have a chance of getting in, but it is truly my dream.

Ta lads

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Phrases like "it's my dream" are meaningless. Once, I dreamt that @AngryJellyfish and I went narrowboating together.

You need to figure out why you want to go there. Take the emotion out of it. So far, you've worked out that it has a good location - but many other unis will too. Does it do a degree that you like? Do you like the teaching methods? Do you like the facilities? Can you afford the accommodation and any other associated costs?

You haven't done anywhere near enough research to decide whether Oxford is appropriate for you or not.

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Phrases like "it's my dream" are meaningless. Once, I dreamt that @AngryJellyfish and I went narrowboating together.

You need to figure out why you want to go there. Take the emotion out of it. So far, you've worked out that it has a good location - but many other unis will too. Does it do a degree that you like? Do you like the teaching methods? Do you like the facilities? Can you afford the accommodation and any other associated costs?

You haven't done anywhere near enough research to decide whether Oxford is appropriate for you or not.

Precisely...take the emotion out of it. The process should be totally scientific and based on logic. Dreams are just that dreams, do your research, formulate your options and set your aspirations.
For instance your description of the subjects you enjoy doing, i would say set you up nicely for the broad natural sciences course at Cambridge, where you dont have to particularly let go of some aspects of the course. Unlike in oxford where you would have to specialise in a particular science.
Please, dont bother about your GCSE's and dont let applicants with three 9s and 6 A*s bother you, thats the past and you can only work on the present(ie focus and get the best grades possible) and hope for the best in the application process

In a nutshell, research into the universities which spark your interest, understand the requirements and work towards achieving them.

Good luck

Even the 'best' applicant is guranteed an offer. Do your research and apply, you have four other UCAS spots. You're guranteeing yourself a rejection by not bothering to apply and there's nothing much you can do about your GCSEs now.

Even the 'best' applicant is guranteed an offer.

I would apply to Cambridge but I went for a taster day thing and HATED it, the environment, everything really, I had really bad experiences of that day and it's sort of ruined the idea for me.

....The main point of discussion really is whether my GCSEs are high enough and whether I should plunge straight into zoology or not (which I could not do right off the bat at Oxford).

Unfortunately, Oxford is probably the most GCSE heavy university you can apply to, and really the only way you can make up for your GCSEs is by doing amazing in their entrance exams, which is obviously very difficult, for Medicine they use an algorithm with 50% being GCSE and 50% being the entrance exam, they don't even look at the personal statement before interview, so even if your PS was amazing, it wouldn't make up for your GCSEs unfortunately, at least for Medicine, but I'm pretty sure it's similar for most other courses. I'd seriously recommend Cambridge instead, they're pretty much the same, idk why you hate Cambridge but dream of going to Oxford.

Prove it

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics

as you can see, the average number of A*s for a SUCCESSFUL applicant is 10.5, and the average percentage is of A*s is 93% lol and the average BMAT is around 63% which equates to 6.0, 6.0 and 3A roughly I think, the actual average for the BMAT in general across the country is usually around 4.5 4.5 3A, so even with amazing GCSEs you still need to be significantly above average to get an interview, so it's even harder if your GCSEs aren't up to scratch. For other courses at Oxford, it's probably slightly less competitive, but I'd still imagine that you'd need around 5-6 A*s at least for courses like Biology.

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics

as you can see, the average number of A*s for a SUCCESSFUL applicant is 10.5, and the average percentage is of A*s is 93% lol and the average BMAT is around 63% which equates to 6.0, 6.0 and 3A roughly I think, the actual average for the BMAT in general across the country is usually around 4.5 4.5 3A, so even with amazing GCSEs you still need to be significantly above average to get an interview, so it's even harder if your GCSEs aren't up to scratch. For other courses at Oxford, it's probably slightly less competitive, but I'd still imagine that you'd need around 5-6 A*s at least for courses like Biology.

What you imagine may not accord with reality.

There is no aptitude test for Biological Sciences at Oxford.

A quick scan of the statistics for Biological Science applications (as opposed to Medicine) shows that a significant number of places are offered to people with fewer that 5-6 A*s. Here for example.

Unfortunately, Oxford is probably the most GCSE heavy university you can apply to, and really the only way you can make up for your GCSEs is by doing amazing in their entrance exams, which is obviously very difficult, for Medicine they use an algorithm with 50% being GCSE and 50% being the entrance exam, they don't even look at the personal statement before interview, so even if your PS was amazing, it wouldn't make up for your GCSEs unfortunately, at least for Medicine, but I'm pretty sure it's similar for most other courses. I'd seriously recommend Cambridge instead, they're pretty much the same, idk why you hate Cambridge but dream of going to Oxford.