BMAT - How big a factor?

How much of a role does your BMAT score tend to play when admissions tutors are deciding on whether or not to give you an offer? Also, are there any Oxbridge medics here who got average/below average BMAT/MVAT scores? Trying to decide whether or not the test is worth stressing over this much, lol.

Reply 1

laura789

im no medic but i can guess that the answer is gonna be that it has a huge impact

Reply 2

Elles

friendlyneutron

Also, are there any Oxbridge medics here who got average/below average BMAT/MVAT scores?

you're the 'Bridge' part - so it seems less defined.

if you were the 'Ox'-part applicant with a below average (below top 50%) BMAT score then you probably would probably be desummoned (not called for interview) unless you got (using last year's stats) 90-100% of your GCSEs at A*. & even so, your BMAT needed to be top 63% or top 57%. OR your UCAS form suggested there were exenuating circumstances surrounding your background.

so this perhaps suggests why the 'oxbridge' catch all is rather misleading. :wink:

check what the Cam policy is on it?
but if it's less defined then all you can get is anecdotes.. so unless you're cocky you'll be amazing at interview then a bit of BMAT stress if channelled productively is probably prudent! :p:

Reply 3

<A-S-H-I-Q-U-E>

friendlyneutron

How much of a role does your BMAT score tend to play when admissions tutors are deciding on whether or not to give you an offer?

Well, BMAT scores are not actually used to give offers but to select applicants for interviews.

BMAT scores are mainly used by Oxbridge to shortlist applicants for interviews. However, provided you've A* grades from your GCSEs, you still might get considered for interview even if you obtain below the minimum average scores. The following is what Oxford said last year:

"We had approximately 1100 applications for 150 places this year(2004). To ensure the consistency of the final decision-making we need to be able to interview all short-listed applicants at two colleges, for which purpose we have had to restrict the shortlist to 425 candidates.

The two quantitative and objective measures used in the short listing process were performance at GCSE and at BMAT. If you had not taken GCSEs, we gave more weight to your BMAT result. In order to get onto the shortlist you therefore need to fall in approximately the top 40% of candidates based on these two parameters. There was no minimum score on BMAT for interview.

The average GCSE performance of our applicants was 67% A*.
In Section 1 of BMAT, the average mark of all our applicants was 5.0.
In Section 2, the average of all of our applicants was 4.6.
In Section 3, the average score was 7.6.

All candidates not making the initial automatic shortlist were reviewed in detail (taking into account such information as their personal statement and school reference) and those at the margins were further scrutinised by a cross-college panel. As a result of this process another 10% were added to the shortlist."

On the other hand, UCL doesn't deselect applicants by using the BMAT scores. Nevertheless, applicants are guaranteed to be invited for interviews on obtaining minimum 5.5 in each of sections 1 & 2.

Hope this info can give you some ideas about the consideration of BMAT scores. :smile:

Cheers,
Ashique

Reply 4

Yellowmellow

the tutors at Queens' in cambridge inferred that the BMAT just added another method of comparison between applicants, although they did say that cambridge has a policy of not offering a place to someone who gets two 'C' grades in the first two sections of the BMAT.

Hope I remembered that correctly lol. I think it's best to try as hard as possible for the BMAT, it can only work in your favour if you do better than the majority of other med applicants.