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University of Cambridge A100 2021 Entry


Welcome to the Cambridge A100 2021 Entry Discussion.

Cambridge A100 2020 thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6022368

For general information click: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/medicine

For entry requirements click: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/medicine_subject_requirements.pdf

Okee guys Cambs MED A100 INTERVIEW TRACKER: Thanks to @Medi-cry

When you get an interview, the form is here: https://forms.gle/qmiwSiwQ4FkS4dtR7
And the spreadsheet to stalk is here: http://shorturl.at/yER09

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Good luck!


Post originally created by ecolier.
(edited 3 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

lets do this y'all...cause y'know, I'm curious

Comment GCSE grades, A-Level predicted and subject, College, Work Experience and any personal statement stuff
Very good - I'm stuck between oxford and cambridge (like you I believe)
But here goes:
GCSE - 9999999998
A level predicted - haven't been given but I would say bio, maths and physics A* and chem A/A* (because grade boundaries are so high!)
college - not sure yet like emmanuel + jesus but may not even apply to cambridge
work exp - 1 week cardiology, 1 day paed oncology, 1 day geriatrics (3 hours), 1 week GP, 4 months volunteering + 2 weeks (full) at a SEN school
Read a fair amount of medicine books - Fragile Lives my favourite
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by forbearne
Very good - I'm stuck between oxford and cambridge (like you I believe)
But here goes:
GCSE - 9999999998
A level predicted - haven't been given but I would say bio, maths and physics A* and chem A/A* (because grade boundaries are so high!)
college - grammar school since y7 (can't say for confidentiality)
work exp - 1 week cardiology, 1 day paed oncology, 1 day geriatrics (3 hours), 1 week GP, 4 months volunteering + 2 weeks (full) at a SEN school
Read a fair amount of medicine books - Fragile Lives my favourite

I think by 'college' they mean the one you intend on applying to study medicine at, rather than the one you're currently studying a levels with :smile:
Original post by forbearne
Very good - I'm stuck between oxford and cambridge (like you I believe)
But here goes:
GCSE - 9999999998
A level predicted - haven't been given but I would say bio, maths and physics A* and chem A/A* (because grade boundaries are so high!)
college - not sure yet like emmanuel + jesus but may not even apply to cambridge
work exp - 1 week cardiology, 1 day paed oncology, 1 day geriatrics (3 hours), 1 week GP, 4 months volunteering + 2 weeks (full) at a SEN school
Read a fair amount of medicine books - Fragile Lives my favourite

Woah you have amazing stats mate! Which Oxbridge uni are you leaning towards? I feel like with your GCSEs you have a shot for both
Original post by allpeachy
Woah you have amazing stats mate! Which Oxbridge uni are you leaning towards? I feel like with your GCSEs you have a shot for both

honestly i don't know - GCSEs aren't considered for Cambridge and I think that their application process is honestly a lot better than Oxford's (they look at everything whereas oxford single you out immediately based on GCSEs and BMAT.)
That being said, Oxford's closer to home (1 hr drive), prosection over dissection and their clinical school is really amazing.

I also was leaning towards September BMAT (so Cambridge) but the exams for our predicted grades will now take place 2 days after September BMAT, so the chances of that happening are near 0.
@forbearne
@allpeachy
@king axolotl
@PanickedPangolin
@VanillaCream
@littleflower16

Hi Everyone!

I am glad to see this Med thread has finally been set up. I empathise with the situation you guys are finding yourself in right now - school closure, worries about work experience, and perhaps increased competition due to current Year 13s deferring. Applying for medicine anywhere is hard enough on its own and I know that this COVID-19 Pandemic just won't help but I would like to give you all as much help as possible.

If you don't know me/haven't seen me here before, I am New Wonder and I set up the 2020 Cambridge Thread. During this admissions cycle, I was incredibly lucky and blessed to be given an offer by Cambridge University for Medicine. I know how you must all be feeling right now because I was in the same shoes as you are a year ago. If you ever need any help or have any questions about anything please feel free to drop me a PM and I will do my best to help you all out!

I will try and tag other offer holders in here so that they can help out too.

Keep Safe & Stay Happy!
New Wonder
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by New Wonder
@forbearne
@allpeachy
@king axolotl
@PanickedPangolin
@VanillaCream
@littleflower16

Hi Everyone!

I am glad to see this Med thread has finally been set up. I empathise with the situation you guys are finding yourself in right now - school closure, worries about work experience, and perhaps increased competition due to current Year 13s deferring. Applying for medicine anywhere is hard enough on its own and I know that this COVID-19 Pandemic just won't help but I would like to give you all as much help as possible.

If you don't know me/haven't seen me here before, I am New Wonder and I set up the 2020 Cambridge Thread. During this admissions cycle, I was incredibly lucky and blessed to be given an offer by Cambridge University for Medicine. I know how you must all be feeling right now because I was in the same shoes as you are a year ago. If you ever need any help or have any questions about anything please feel free to drop me a PM and I will do my best to help you all out!

I will try and tag other offer holders in here so that they can help out too.

Keep Safe & Stay Happy!
New Wonder

Hi! Thanks so much for tagging me here :smile: I have a short question, what other unis, besides Cambridge, did you apply to/got offers from?
Original post by VanillaCream
Hi! Thanks so much for tagging me here :smile: I have a short question, what other unis, besides Cambridge, did you apply to/got offers from?

In addition to Cambridge, I applied to and got offers from Imperial College London, Edinburgh, and UCL.
Original post by New Wonder
In addition to Cambridge, I applied to and got offers from Imperial College London, Edinburgh, and UCL.

Nice work well done! Seeing as you gave 3 bmat unis, did you do BMAT in August? And how was your score?
Original post by forbearne
Nice work well done! Seeing as you gave 3 bmat unis, did you do BMAT in August? And how was your score?

Hi forbearne,

Thank you! No, I choose to sit my BMAT in October because I was too busy with the UCAT during July and August. Although my BMAT score was relatively well, in particularly section 2, I think I could have done better in the other section, especially section 3 where I got a 3A. Not everyone's standards are the same - for instance, my idea of a great result would have been 7.0, 9.0, 4.5 A) and my results were a bit lower than this but, ultimately, I was happy with my BMAT score! However, it's worth pointing out that Cambridge's admission system is holistic and the BMAT is one of many aspects that are taken into consideration by the admission tutors. I will elaborate on this below.

In hindsight, I would advise anyone who applies to more than two BMAT unis, to take the August BMAT because the level of difficulty between the two sittings is exactly the same but having your results before you apply is always an advantage as it allows you to apply to colleges and universities more strategically so that you can enhance your chances of an offer. Perhaps you could do a trade-off and sit the UCAT at the beginning of October (between 1st and 2nd of October which is the deadline) and sit the early BMAT at the end of August/beginning of September so that you can use the entire summer to practice for the BMAT if you are applying to more BMAT unis than UCAT ones. If not the choice is yours. But be aware that applying to more BMAT unis than UCAT ones and vice versa is associated with greater risk because if your UCAT/BMAT score is less than average then that could seriously hurt your chances of getting an offer. Additionally, past performance (e.g. GCSE grades, olympiads, competitions) is no indicator of how you will perform in the BMAT. I have heard of individuals who had 9s across the board for GCSEs during the current admissions cycle and they had BMAT scores of 4.3 and less in both section 1 and section 2. The BMAT and UCAT are very different exams to anything you have and probably will ever sit. However, it is imperative to point out that even the BMAT is just one part of the application and most universities (except for Oxford and perhaps Imperial) will view your application holistically and will consider ALL parts of it including the interview which might perhaps be of greater importance or could make up for a weaker BMAT performance so if you are having a bad day and your BMAT score is not what you would hope it would be don't despair - your chances might have been hurt a little but that is just one more obstacle to jump through. The same applies to the UCAT.

Hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions.

Best wishes,
New Wonder!
(edited 3 years ago)
Hi New Wonder,I was hoping I could ask you a few questions about the interview process. Which college did you apply for if you don’t mind me asking? Also were your interview questions mainly biology/medicine based or chemistry?Many thanks :smile:
Original post by New Wonder
@forbearne
@allpeachy
@king axolotl
@PanickedPangolin
@VanillaCream
@littleflower16

Hi Everyone!

I am glad to see this Med thread has finally been set up. I empathise with the situation you guys are finding yourself in right now - school closure, worries about work experience, and perhaps increased competition due to current Year 13s deferring. Applying for medicine anywhere is hard enough on its own and I know that this COVID-19 Pandemic just won't help but I would like to give you all as much help as possible.

If you don't know me/haven't seen me here before, I am New Wonder and I set up the 2020 Cambridge Thread. During this admissions cycle, I was incredibly lucky and blessed to be given an offer by Cambridge University for Medicine. I know how you must all be feeling right now because I was in the same shoes as you are a year ago. If you ever need any help or have any questions about anything please feel free to drop me a PM and I will do my best to help you all out!

I will try and tag other offer holders in here so that they can help out too.

Keep Safe & Stay Happy!
New Wonder

Thank you so much for this! And congrats on your offer! I'm sure all your hard work has paid off!

Is there any general medicine app advice you can give? Interview prep or BMAT? I personally am more freaked out about the UCAT than the BMAT, but it does scare me nonetheless.

I'm writing my personal statement right now and apparently my introduction is too "dark" (oop- i love dark and twisted horror stories too much!). I'm struggling to think of another opening, one that isn't too cliche. Are there any tips you can give about writing PS to make it engaging for admissions tutors whilst getting my point across?
GSCE-99988887766A*B (kinda worried about this)
A Level Predicted - Biology A*
Chemistry A*
Maths A*
EPQ -idk yet
College-don't know yet but jesus looks good
Work Experience- 7 months at local care home, 1 week at histopathology, 1 week at cytology, 2 days at GP practice, a year and a bit at my local oxfam shop
Personal Statement stuff- wider reading, olympiads (Intermediate Biology and Cambridge Chemistry Challenge) and just keeping up with healthcare news
thanks for the reassurance
yes they are but you have to do it through school so if your school doesn't do it just send an email to you head of chemistry (that's what i did)
http://www.c3l6.org/
oh I don't know about that but we'll probably get some details about it soon
Hi fellow medics.

Cambridge University recently published its Admission Statistics for the 2019-2020 Application Cycle (click here to access the data and scrutinise it). An interesting thing that stands out, and I don't want to panic you here, but it seems that the offer rate for this year's medicine applicants to Cambridge has fallen rather significantly.

Let's take a closer look at the data!

This is a Snapshot of the data in relation to Medicine Applicants to Cambridge's Medical School:
Cambridge Stats.PNG

The offer rate for the past 5 admission cycles has been as follows:

2015-2016: 22.76%
2016-2017: 21.77%
2017-2018: 22.74%
2018-2019: 20.39%
2019-2020: 16.84%

Between 2016 - 2019, the offer rate has remained more or less stable, fluctuating between 20.4 - 22.8% but this year it seems to have dropped by about 3.6% due to:

1. Increased number of applicants - in 2020 there were 1,817 applicants, a rise of 233 from 2019 (1,584)
2. A decrease in the number of offers made - in 2020 the University gave out 306 offers, a fall of 17 from 2019 (323).

But, please be cautious with the way you treat this data. We have no real context to attribute to these numbers - the rise in application numbers may be due to more international applicants applying to Cambridge for whom there is a fixed quota. As someone who was always trying to play the number's game, don't dwell too much into these statistics - after all "records are made to be broken" - Terry Vaughn.
@New Wonder - thanks for sharing the data - just from looking at the graph, the glaring thing for 2020 was the massive increase in applications, and since colleges can't really change their intake that much, this would be the single biggest factor probably for the increase in competition. But you are absolutely correct in that numbers are dangerous and can't ever be the only thing that influences decisions.
Original post by New Wonder
In hindsight, I would advise anyone who applies to more than two BMAT unis, to take the August BMAT because the level of difficulty between the two sittings is exactly the same but having your results before you apply is always an advantage as it allows you to apply to colleges and universities more strategically so that you can enhance your chances of an offer.

Just a quick heads up that the September BMAT has been cancelled this year due to Covid-19. All UK applicants will need to sit the session on 4 November 2020.

www.admissionstesting.org/campaigns/coronavirus/