Oxford Medicine Students and Applicants

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786girl

You're saying it like u got in or something... Be grateful if u even get an interview!! That tooo for medicinee!!!

Id be grateful if they even look at my application seriously!!! Im just wondering if there is any way to maximise my chances.

Reply 21

JRBDK

Scourfield

Id be grateful if they even look at my application seriously!!! Im just wondering if there is any way to maximise my chances.

there isn't, just go for it. No matter where you apply you'll be competing against clever people, there's nothing you can do to avoid that

Reply 22

ManiaMuse

Scourfield

Id be grateful if they even look at my application seriously!!! Im just wondering if there is any way to maximise my chances.

No. There is no way to maximise your chances other than preparing well and performing well at interviews. Even then there is still some luck involved.

Don't even bother trying to play the numbers game. Everyone gets interviews at at least 2 colleges so if they like you/think you are good enough at one college but are oversubscribed they will do everything possible to try and get you into another college.

Also what tends to happen is that applicants look at the previous year's admission statistics, find the least oversubscribed college for their course and all apply that year to the same college resulting in that college going from having relatively few applications to having loads.

Anyway about Merton, I applied to St. Annes and got pooled to Merton. Most of the people in my year applied to Merton because they liked the college/thought it was pretty/accommodation/size/location....things like that. I never came across anyone who openly said they applied because of the supposed academic prestige.

I'd say from my experience that Merton had slightly above average the number of 'geeky'/work focused students but it was never that noticeable. If anything that was more to do with the fact it is a relatively small college and so some years can be a bit cliquey but not just a load of super bright elite students. There's a mix of people just like at every college.

The academic reputation which it has is a bit of a myth imo. It mostly comes down to the Norrington table which is flawed in many ways as Merton has a very high proportion of scientists to arts/humanities students. The former warden pushed for students to achieve but again the actual results were mostly due to the college having high quality tutors and good student support system. Peer pressure comes into it a bit but you'll find that at every college.

Anyway if you like Merton apply there. However you need to ignore your worries about other applicants - you will have to compete against other applicants and there is nothing you can do about their backgrounds and how clever they are. If they consider you good enough but don't have enough places then they will try to do everything to get you into another college.

Reply 23

hobnob

Scourfield

Id be grateful if they even look at my application seriously!!! Im just wondering if there is any way to maximise my chances.

As far as I know, medicine is the subject which has the most thoroughly centralised admissions system (every applicant is also allocated to a second college and given at least two interviews, there are open offers etc). The actual medics here may be able to give you more details on the admission process, but I'd be surprised if it was possible to maximise your chances through college choice. So if you liked Merton, apply there.

Reply 24

username210636

AnniG

New college for me :smile:

Medsoc pack made me chuckle... speed dating LOL
By the way who is joining the medsoc - the £40 is for life right? Also who is joining the BMJ?

Yeah I'm joining MedSoc (and getting a polo shirt!) and I think I will join the BMJ as well; it looks like it could come in handy! :biggrin:

Reply 25

bmatconfused

Hey guys I cannot decide whether to apply to cambridge or Oxford,I'm an international applicant so haven't visited the unis.
May I know why you selected Oxford over cambridge?

Reply 26

Sarah182

Ignoramus

Yeah I'm joining MedSoc (and getting a polo shirt!) and I think I will join the BMJ as well; it looks like it could come in handy! :biggrin:

Yeah, I'm guessing pretty much everyone joins? My parents are making me get a polo shirt and a hoody, lol. :sigh:

Reply 27

ilikesushi

hey! I'm a german guy applying to oxford for med. i know i should be more worried about bmat atm but i like to plan ahead :smile:

what i heard is that they mostly ask scientific stuff on bio/chem at the interview and maybe physics + maths im not sure. i take math and chem comparably up to A2 level and physics up to AS level. so that shouldnt be a problem but the HUGE problem is that i dont take bio AT ALL :frown:

. i know it was a big mistake. so im really really worried, do you think that they are gonna ask me about biology?? Or will they focus on chem and other kind of questions when they see that i dont have bio on my ucas form??? Because if they start to ask me to identify cells and stuff on pictures took by eclectron microscopes ill completely fail. And theres no possible way i can teach myself bio up to A2 level in less than 3 months with so much other stuff going on (school,research paper bmat and so on). Now im even worried if it makes sense to apply and sit the bmat...

Reply 28

Huw Davies

ilikesushi

hey! I'm a german guy applying to oxford for med. i know i should be more worried about bmat atm but i like to plan ahead :smile:

I didn't do Biology beyond GCSE. At my interviews (5 years ago), one college had a set of problems that they gave a couple to work through - I got given a physicsy and a chemistryey pair, I saw a bio one underneath on the pile and I'd presume they gave you ones appropriate to what you studied. The other college asked me to talk about something I'd found particularly interesting during my A-levels.

If A-level Biology knowledge was expected, they would make it a formal requirement. If your choice of subjects meets the requirements, you are going into the interviews (if you get one) on a level playing field with everyone else.

Reply 29

username210636

Sarah182

Yeah, I'm guessing pretty much everyone joins? My parents are making me get a polo shirt and a hoody, lol. :sigh:

Heheh, they're too expensive for me to get both alas, and I think I'll wear the polo shirt more; I aim to add to my collection of science-related t-shirts at uni. :biggrin:

Reply 30

John Locke

Ignoramus

Heheh, they're too expensive for me to get both alas, and I think I'll wear the polo shirt more; I aim to add to my collection of science-related t-shirts at uni. :biggrin:

love that

, has anyone actually seen a picture of either the hoodie or polo? or is it buying blind :p:

Reply 31

username210636

John Locke

love that

, has anyone actually seen a picture of either the hoodie or polo? or is it buying blind :p:

You can specify colour, size and the logo you want so it's not really buying blind, but I guess you could wait until you get there and look at some already-bought examples!

Reply 32

John Locke

Ignoramus

You can specify colour, size and the logo you want so it's not really buying blind, but I guess you could wait until you get there and look at some already-bought examples!

mmm i know but even with that you dont know the style etc, i want to know what they do with the first logo if its on a black hoodie..

Reply 33

AnonymousPenguin

Huw Davies

I also didn't have Biology (I did read the entire Biology book just in case), but I got the bones and microscope pictures just the same as everyone else. I would be totally stumped if I didn't prepare for that. The fact is that you can get in without Biology, you just need to know quite a fair bit of it. This year's statistics show that 1% of successful applicants didn't have biology at A-level. That's 1 person + possibly some others (like me) who didn't do A-levels.
I was on a gap year so I had quite a bit of time on my hands, but familiarizing yourself with A2 content without the plants bits shouldn't be too hard.

Reply 34

username210636

Scourfield

Id be grateful if they even look at my application seriously!!! Im just wondering if there is any way to maximise my chances.

As hobnob has said, the admissions process for Medicine is centralised so candidates are allocated a random second college at interview; this is designed to try and prevent people being disadvantaged by college choice. Do bear in mind, however, that picking a less competitive college isn't necessarily a bad idea, as you'll be guaranteed an interview at that college if you make it to the interview stage.

There's not very much in it though, so if you like the look of Christchurch/Madgalen/etc. by all means go for it!

Reply 35

AnniG

Hey all! I have a couple of random questions! Firstly, what are people doing about sub fusc?? Are people getting it when they get there or pre-ordering or what? My college hasn't told me anything about it! Also no one got set any medicine-y work to do before fresher's did they?? Coz I didn't.... Thanks!!!

Reply 36

AnonymousPenguin

AnniG

I haven't been set any work (yet?) - just that list of books from the faculty.

I'm getting sub fusc when I get there as recommended in the sub fusc thread in the oxford sub-forum.

Reply 37

Sarah182

hold on, sub fusc is different to the cap and gown right? I'm gonna have the sub fusc before I go... I think I'll probably get the cap and gown when I'm there yeah, although I'm tempted to order it now, just bcos I want it :lol:

No, don't really have any work.. A few things to look at/read over, but that was just from my college :smile:

Reply 38

John Locke

what's work? i thought we just got degrees..

Reply 39

Calumcalum

For those of you considering joining Medsoc... be careful. All my friends at College joined and none of them thought it was worth £40 :P

Although it does mean that you get to run for positions in Medsoc next year!