Oxford Demystified - Medicine from a parent's point of view

As @ecolier ( a qualified doctor) has recently said on another thread, if you have a choice between medicine and something else, do that something else.

I had a medic friend at Manchester. He was only in it for the money and to impress his father, who was very wealthy and successful. He just spent all his time posing around as a medic rather than doing the work. Of course he failed all his exams. He talked to the uni and said his main motivation was to be wealthy, and they told him to change to another course!

Medicine is not a career that will make you well off ( and I used to be a doctor’s wife!). But it will make you wealthy in terms of job satisfaction. My son, for example could never conceive of doing anything else. Talk about medicine and out will come a torrent of excited medical terms that I can’t for the life of me understand.

Medicine can be very addictive as a subject, and people pursue it despite the exhaustion, stress etc.

But hold on, isn’t it your son who has to decide? Let him balance up the different subjects and go where his heart leads him, rather the most prestigious course.

Thanks a lot for your response on my question. Its very useful. Thank you everyone who also responded to my question. Really appreciate it. I completely agree it is upto students to decide what they want to do it. We can present facts to them. They should pursue what they like. Once again thanks everyone!

Thank you @tiwariph. It's always worth asking the question, otherwise you will not get the answer!

If your son really does want to do medicine there are many ways you can help him. For example I took my son to St John Ambulance every week. You can look at colleges together. You can take him to Oxford and to the Cambridge Science Fair. You can provide him with a quiet place to study. You can give encouragement. You can point him in the direction of the Cambridge medical essay competitions etc. You can order him cheap books he needs from Amazon. If your son wishes to pursue another subject, you can do the same with that.

As I always say, your son may be on the tightrope, but you are the safety net.

PRSOM I say that too Oxford Mum a constantly moving one!

Is Oxford Medicine for me?

The most obvious thing about Oxford Medicine is that it’s extremely hard to get in. As the world number one in the Times Higher Education’s rankings, this is the sizzling hot ticket for an already mega popular course.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-medicine#survey-answer

Before you apply, be honest with yourself and think. Have you got around 9 or 10 A*s, or grades 8 or 9 in your GCSEs? Do you have enough stamina to keep at your studies and do your extra reading and activities as well? Can you keep going when others falter? These are the GCSE statistics for Oxford Medicine applicants

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/me...cal/statistics

Admissions statistics for the Oxford Medicine course
https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/bms/applying/admissions-statistics

If you are an international student, the dream is even more distant. The quotation below is taken from the Oxford University medicine website:
“Competition for places on the Medicine course at Oxford University for international students is very strong as the Medical School is required by the government to restrict the number of students who are classified as international students for fees purposes to a maximum of fourteen each year, across both the standard (A100) and Graduate Entry (A101) courses.”

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

The course itself is not everybody’s idea of academic paradise. You will not set foot in a hospital until year 4. There will be at least twice as many essays as at other universities (and medicine is tough going there as well). Some find the pressure and expectations hard to get used to at first. However if you are determined and expect life to be this way, you will cope. Instead of interacting from day one with patients, you will, for example, spend ages just learning about cells.

Here is the medicine course structure

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

and here is a first year medic’s impression of the course
https://www.uniadmissions.co.uk/fresher-life-as-a-medical-student-at-oxford/

Thank you @tiwariph. It's always worth asking the question, otherwise you will not get the answer!

If your son really does want to do medicine there are many ways you can help him. For example I took my son to St John Ambulance every week. You can look at colleges together. You can take him to Oxford and to the Cambridge Science Fair. You can provide him with a quiet place to study. You can give encouragement. You can point him in the direction of the Cambridge medical essay competitions etc. You can order him cheap books he needs from Amazon. If your son wishes to pursue another subject, you can do the same with that.

As I always say, your son may be on the tightrope, but you are the safety net.

i only got 6 8s and 9s in my gcses, maybe 7 after i get my grades after remarks, but i went to such a bad school and that was one of the best grades there. i heard oxford look at your gcses based on where you live (in terms of your postcode/town) and what grades other students got in your school. but still, you need majorirty A*s at gcse to go to oxford.

i will do my best to get 3 A* at a level.

hi, in terms of studying, should i study at home or at the library? my house can get quite noisy and i haven't got a "study room".
I should probably go to my local library right?

My son used to wear headphones, but don't know if you can study to music. Yes, you could go to your local library but they might not be open late.

It is important to tell your parents that you need a quiet space to study, and tell them why. I had to make sure I kept noise from the TV down etc. Hopefully your parents and siblings can be supportive.

That's the spirit! Just be aware, however, that the average number of A* at GCSE for a successful medic at Oxford is 10. I have included the GCSE statistics in the chapters I sent to you.

yh, they take education seriously, i used to have headphones that take out almost all of the noise in the background, you know the ones that people who work in the airpot and direct the planes on the ground. i might have to buy similar ones from amazon. i can study in my room, i used to due that. infact, i studied well in my room a few years ago. i just have to use a revision guide and not watch videos.

Thanks for being so cool

I got musician earplugs which have been an absolute life saver. They're moulded to fit you ears and I can have conversations with people if they're in but I can't hear myself type on a keyboard for example.

I got musician earplugs which have been an absolute life saver. They're moulded to fit you ears and I can have conversations with people if they're in but I can't hear myself type on a keyboard for example.

mmm, that sounds great. however, i need to use headphones were i can't hear anything at all.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mpow-Defenders-Protection-Construction-included-Black/dp/B01KBZDB4K/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=soundproof+headphones&qid=1572784309&sr=8-3

this is what i am going to get.

yh, they take education seriously, i used to have headphones that take out almost all of the noise in the background, you know the ones that people who work in the airpot and direct the planes on the ground. i might have to buy similar ones from amazon. i can study in my room, i used to due that. infact, i studied well in my room a few years ago. i just have to use a revision guide and not watch videos.

Thanks for being so cool

That's it, the important thing is not to be distracted from your aim, ie getting into med school. Most of it is about being driven and working hard. If you want advice about how to apply to medical schools tactically, please go to this thread. It is my fave thread on TSR and is manned by qualified doctors

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5476254&p=85809794&page=70&highlight=uberthread#post85809794

thanks for this.

Gosh, we are having quite a conversation on here, aren't we? But to be honest, it's these convos that I like the best.