Medicine - Oxford or cambridge

Cambridge for preclinical. Oxford for clinical.

Don't get too wound up over the MRCP results. The reason why Oxford is disproportionately better than all the other universities is more to do with the quality of the graduates (which is at a very high level) rather than necessarily the quality of the medical school.

Sorry, I know this thread is long dead but I was just curious for my own situation. I got 8A*s, 2As and a B (As in mathematics and religious studies, B in ICT). And I noticed that Oxford looks at the percentage of A*s at GCSE and whether they will then interview you. Obviously other factors are taken into account but with the sole information that those were my GCSEs and that I had missed a solid six month period of my studies (due to illness) would I stand a shot?
I know you guys get loads of these questions of 'am I good enough?' But I have done a fair bit of research and came across this thread and am curious. Thanks.

Muppet Science

About A* percentage, does this mean that my 8A*s and 5As will be worse that 8A*s and 2As?

Sorry, I know this thread is long dead but I was just curious for my own situation. I got 8A*s, 2As and a B (As in mathematics and religious studies, B in ICT). And I noticed that Oxford looks at the percentage of A*s at GCSE and whether they will then interview you. Obviously other factors are taken into account but with the sole information that those were my GCSEs and that I had missed a solid six month period of my studies (due to illness) would I stand a shot?
I know you guys get loads of these questions of 'am I good enough?' But I have done a fair bit of research and came across this thread and am curious. Thanks.

Muppet Science

wow strong 3 year bump

Circumstances like that make them much more lenient, with that information your grades go from being slightly bellow the average to surprisingly impressive.

You'll need your GP to provide evidence of your illness I expect.



well, thread is still relevant, and will continue to be so until both Oxbridge unis no longer offer undergraduate medicine.

If you missed that much school it is definitely worth mentioning. This thread was probably a better place to ask though



At that stage of the application, yes.

...my UMS scores at AS Level, as well as my percentage of A*s at GCSE.
Ideally, I'd prefer to apply to Oxford because I like the city more than I like Cambridge; however, I will apply to whichever one I am better suited to based on my grades, scores etc...I know that Oxford look mainly at BMAT/A*s at GCSE, whereas Cambridge look at UMS scores.

At GCSE, I got 10A*s, 1A, 2Bs, which gives me an A* percentage of 77%...I'm worried that this isn't high enough for Oxford, most people I've heard from have said 80%+ ?

As for UMS module scores for AS (I'm carrying on with all 4 at A2, predicted 4A*s):

I think my UMS scores are quite high, so am I right in thinking this would put me as better suited to Cambridge, compared to my GCSE A* percentage?

Many thanks for all the help and advice,
Sunny

...my UMS scores at AS Level, as well as my percentage of A*s at GCSE.
Ideally, I'd prefer to apply to Oxford because I like the city more than I like Cambridge; however, I will apply to whichever one I am better suited to based on my grades, scores etc...I know that Oxford look mainly at BMAT/A*s at GCSE, whereas Cambridge look at UMS scores.

At GCSE, I got 10A*s, 1A, 2Bs, which gives me an A* percentage of 77%...I'm worried that this isn't high enough for Oxford, most people I've heard from have said 80%+ ?

As for UMS module scores for AS (I'm carrying on with all 4 at A2, predicted 4A*s):

I think my UMS scores are quite high, so am I right in thinking this would put me as better suited to Cambridge, compared to my GCSE A* percentage?

Many thanks for all the help and advice,
Sunny

I think you would stand a better chance at Cambridge, yes. Oxford would still be possible but you are counting on getting a high BMAT, and without that you won't even get interviewed! Cambridge will at least interview you for sure.

The most important parts of the application are still to come though - BMAT and interview.

77% is high enough for Oxford.
Your ASs are great for Cambridge.

neither are high enough to get you in without doing well on BMAT, but do stand a better chance at Cambridge, as relatively the AS results are better and Cambridge interview more.

However, it's a pretty slim margin, not enough to base a decision on. You can make a competitive application for either, and if mentioned on your reference Oxford will also take your UMS into account.

Better to look at the differences between the courses and colleges, and go on that.

Thanks very much guys...if you think it's a slim margin, I'm still gonna apply to Oxford...given I'm gonna be living there for 6 years if I get in, I think that's a rather big factor
I'll start preparation for the BMAT fairly soon...got a good score on the UKCAT, so I'm hoping I'll do relatively as well on this too.
If I do ask my tutor to mention my UMS on my reference, to what extent will Oxford actually take it into account at all?

Thanks again for the help,
Sunny

Hi, I had the same dilemma as you, so I'll try to be helpful!

I personally don't think you can choose between Oxford and Cambridge based on "accommodation/food prices and quality, teaching quality, amount of patient contact in the first 3 years and class sizes" because from what I saw, they're both similar in those respects!

I visited both to help decide which one I preferred and went on my gut feeling, so i reckon that's the way to go Alternatively, you could look at the different admissions processes (I chose the one that didn't involve staying over several days for interviews!), the differences between the two courses (as I understand, the 3rd year in Oxford is almost always research whereas you seem to have more options at Cambridge), whichever place you like best or the facilities- there is a central medical school in Oxford, whereas at Cambridge there is not one specific building for teaching.

Good luck and PM me if you want to ask anything more I'm won't pretend to be an expert about either uni but I'll try and help!

Sorry for asking which one did you finally choose then? Ox or Cam?

a) their signature says Cambridge b) they have been inactive for 3 years - i highly doubt they would respond to anything c) this was written 6 years ago - stuff may have changed since then.

If you're really reading through such old threads, i may as well point out that some of what they said is wrong: There are some notable differences in accommodation, Oxford is two days one night for medicine interviews not 'several days' and there are much more notable differences in admissions than that one small annoyance, and Oxford 3rd year involves some research bit it is only a small component.