A girl at my college

Got 6 A grades at AS in Chemistry, Biology, Maths, French, Spanish and Critical thinking, has lots of work experience, and a great personal statement, Oxford wouldn't even interview her. How odd is that?

is thats for medicine, I know two other people in the same position.

is thats for medicine, I know two other people in the same position.

I thought they interviewed 90%, wow.

This year they interviewed about 35% because of the new system they have going on. Apparently they were going to interview all applicants but then it was extremely oversubscribed this year so they couldn't accomodate/interview us all. They even had to interview the shortlisted people in two batches this year.

I see, wowee, I'm surprised at her, I know it wasn't good tutoring that got her those As but sheer intelligence, that sort of thing really isn't normal in my college. Oh well, I guess in the overall scheme of things it's fair, and one can only assume she would have been rejected under the old system too. Perhaps this is fairer, because it's easier to bullshit and interview than an exam.

The head boy at my school (independent) got rejected despite 5 As in Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Arabic (ok, he was Arab) from Cambridge, also for Medicine. He did badly in the test they gave him (could be this BMAT you're talking about).

Hmm that's a bit weird, was it for an overly competitive college or something? Because I know someone who got way below average for the BMAT (it would have been the BMAT he took) and ABBB at AS but was still given an interview. Cambridge are definitely interviewing around 80% of medical applicants though, that's very strange!

He applied to Churchill, so I guess it must have been pretty competitive, since it's "the" science college (or so I was told). He got a C in that test, where they asked questions such as "Why do plants not have brains?" Which I thought was quite funny, but he didn't like it. He wasn't too good at thinking "outside the box", and I think that's what they looking for in everyone, more than the grades. That would explain some of the oddities of the admissions process, with candidates with lower grades getting in and the ones with higher grades getting rejected. He was given an interview, that was last year. It went okay apparently, they just didn't like the grade he got in the test.

Besides, I've applied to St. John's Cambridge this year for History, interviews went ok except for the source I had to discuss, which was a right bugger.

Ah ok that makes sense (i.e. that he was given an interview). I quite liked last years paper compared to this years especially the essay component (that's the "Why do plants not have brains?" part) - just because this year it seemed a lot more philosophical rather than scientific which I didn't particularly like. Yeah, I don't really know people who have gotten in with Cs, I definitely know people who have gotten in with Bs (which is supposed to be average/good) and people who have been rejected with As (probably mucked up the interview).

Oh well, at least the whole interview process at Cambridge has finished now so no more stress for candidates or anything St John's is supposed to be very nice, infact I have a friend applying there for medicine

How would you answer that plants question? Would you just talk about why they don't need them, or what? I didn't realise such questions came up for you, you poor things.

How would you answer that plants question? Would you just talk about why they don't need them, or what?

St. John's is great! Where will you be applying / have you applied?

I applied to Ox for medicine - I had a total of three interviews plus the test. Oxford's new system also meant that all candidates (rather than some) received interviews at two different colleges.

Why is that (Interviews at two different colleges I mean)??? Doesn't it make the whole thing more complicated, stressful and confusing than it already is? At Cambridge, I had one general interview, one subject interview, and that was it. Unless I get pooled, of course. Sorry I don't know much about the Oxford system, I prefer Cambridge...

Good luck!!! Dr Lucy...