Oxford demystified - Medicine

Not sure if the question can be passed on or OM could answer from her knowledge, but I thought most medicine courses required biology? How did the OP get around this?

Great chapter by the way!

OXFORD DEMYSTIFIED

Hey there! My name is .........., I’m from Swansea (originally Swindon - all the Sw’s I know!) and I am currently holding an offer to study Medicine at LMH.


Why did you want to study your subject?

My aspirations to study Medicine actually came pretty late! I’m used to a lot of people saying ‘I’ve wanted to be a doctor since X age’, but that was never me. I was convinced I wanted to study Maths in Y11 and the first part of Y12, so I chose to study A-Levels in Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and Statistics. Around Christmas of Year 12 I was researching for my EPQ and realised that my interest in Maths wasn’t as big as I once thought, as I found doing research a task rather than pleasure. As a result I tried to do something else that interested me more, and then I found some online sources like The Lancet and BMJ and I couldn’t stop reading from that point. I researched Medicine a bit more and decided that it was definitely what I wanted to study.


Why Oxford?

I’m from a quite regular comprehensive school who sends only 1 or 2 people to Oxbridge each year, and the school isn’t all that focused on encouraging students to apply. Due to this, I hadn’t thought all that much about the opportunity to apply to Oxford. It was when a LMH representative gave a talk at my school speaker session that made me think more about the opportunity of aiming so high. I debated for a while whether I would count Oxford as one of my 5 choices as I knew I could do it but just felt slightly apprehensive, especially applying for Medicine out of all subjects. I was sitting or preparing for both BMAT and UKCAT anyway, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t have lots of opportunities as sitting both enabled me to consider a few medical schools. Anyway, I decided I would apply around June of Year 12 which is quite late really, but luckily I had an array of super curricular under my belt by this point so I felt slightly at ease in firmly deciding Oxford as a choice. I also visited Oxford on their open day and it persuaded me even more.


Did any of your teachers inspire you? Or any other expert (TV presenter etc)

Not particularly to be honest! As Medicine is a combination of quite a few subjects it wasn’t like there was a particular teacher that inspired me as I never had any lessons in Medicine! Seeing a few blogs from medics was handy and did inspire me a bit, but I was quite independent in discovering my passion for Medicine.


Which resources did you use (please name as many as possible) Which books/journals did you read? Which did you like best, and why? What did they teach you?

Where do I start! As I didn’t study Biology at A-Level I spent quite a lot of time researching and reading to improve the awareness of biological concepts and then I read a lot of medical related books.

The Health Gap by Michael Marmot
Medicine and what happens in the end
British Medical Journal
The Lancet
This is going to hurt
Breaking and Mending

I actually don’t have a favourite! I really liked the Health Gap as it provided a very detailed perspective of health in an unequal world, and it really enabled me to reflect on my own medical perspective, and therefore I think this was one of the most powerful reads! All of the reading supported me in different ways and I’d say it's important to do all extra reading with an open mind, it is likely it will challenge your own views at times, but that’s the power of academic reading, and something I only realised once I got my offer was something Oxford looks for in a candidate.

Did you attend any lectures, or take part in any competitions? If so, would you recommend them, and why?

I attended some local lectures, and travelled to Birmingham and London with my foster carer at the time to attend 3. They were all slightly different and sometimes quite challenging to understand but I’d say if you can get a few thoughts from it when you get home, it’s most certainly worth it! I have specific interests in international and tropical medicine so I tried to initially attend a lecture on this, and as I grew more confident with the environment went to a few that I thought may be helpful. I didn’t do any competitions, and I wouldn’t really say it's necessary - I think it's good to help you understand more about your subject, but not essential. I would assume doing an extended essay would show you whether you are willing to spend time on your subject and challenge whether your passion is genuine, but I felt I already knew I was passionate enough.

Did you have any work experience? If so, how did you find it?

I had a work placement in a care home each week which was really rewarding and taught me a lot of practical skills which I didn’t expect I’d get - including how to play bridge from a lovely elderly lady! I also did a day with a cardiologist and a day with a consultant in a tropical medicine hospital. I emailed/called loads and loads of potential options in my area and many came back and said no, but a couple said yes so I just grasped the opportunity when I could really. It takes a lot of work to be able to convince people to give you a placement as it is so competitive, especially in my area. I think especially for Medicine, work experience is truly essential to be able to both develop your knowledge of caring and assistance and knowledge of medicine as a subject. I know a few people who did work experience and realised they weren’t best suited to such a practical job, so decided to apply for Biomedical Science instead - I think work experience truly helps you to either discover your passion or invigorate your interests further.

Did you have a specialist subject/EPQ? What was it? How did you go about your research?

As mentioned previously, I started an EPQ on maths, and then switched the focus to International and tropical medicine. My EPQ was on Africa’s governance and the development of health inequality and medicine. It was a very interesting project, and I found it more of a thrill than a task - i’m predicted an A* so hopefully it will all pan out OK!

What did you mention in your personal statement and why?

I mentioned a few things in my personal statement which I think is worth mentioning:
I started my personal statement explaining how through being cared for in care has motivated me to want to give back, and how my personal experience will help me in the practical and sympathy side of medicine.
reflecting on books i’ve read and articles
my EPQ
my work experience and reflected upon what it taught me about the demands of medicine as both a subject and as a doctor.
Overall, I do think it is important to illustrate your specific areas of intrigue as it shows you are dedicated and passionate as you’ve gone out of your way to research not just into medicine but into a specific area of medicine too.

Which techniques did you use for the entrance test?

I’ll be honest - I found the UKCAT and BMAT really tricky. I worked really hard to improve my scores, and I think my lack of Biology A-Level was to blame. As with my A-Level revision, repetition is the key to success. Ensuring I have nailed the technique of answering questions in a good time is essential. A good technique is to use a highlighter and read through the question and highlight the bits that give you information or analysis which is needed in order to answer the questions correctly.
I worked so hard on the technique for both tests that when it came round to the actual exams it was like second nature. I didn’t burn myself out though, it’s definitely a case of spending 30-1hr a day working through questions - revisiting them and ensuring you are confident in every area that could be examined.

I think my technique paid off as my scores were:
UKCAT - 850
BMAT Section 1 - 8.2
BMAT Section 2 - 7.3

Apparently it’s rare people get over 7.0 so I was really chuffed! I think it might have been one of the things that convinced the tutors to offer me a place (that’s what they spoke about in the feedback I recently requested so I could write this!).

How did you choose your college? Did you go to an open day and if so, did it help you to decide?

As said earlier, an LMH representative came to my school so that was a motivator. I went to an open day, and that did confirm my love for the college, but I very nearly did apply to Jesus because of my Welsh roots.
Also I was very naive not realising the process was universal in ensuring a equal distribution of candidates per place at colleges, and someone told me that because I got 10 A*s and 1 A, I’d be at more of an advantage if i applied to LMH - complete rubbish, just apply to the place you like the look of.

How did you find the interview process? (NO INTERVIEW QUESTIONS PLEASE - this is against TSR guidelines)

I was so so surprised to get an interview to be honest, just as medicine is so competitive and I never expected my BMAT score to be strong enough - I was wrong!
The interview process was interesting, but I wasn’t completely worried. I was obviously worried about how I’d do and thought deeply about it a lot, but I just knew that if I try my best and know that I’ve done the most that I can, that’s all that I can do! I wasn’t really expecting to get an offer because I thought my lack of Biology knowledge would shine straight through.
The questions they asked me were interesting, and certainly at times challenging. I found it best to just not speak for 5-10 seconds after they asked me the questions, just to give me time to think. I treated it as a conversation where I just delayed my responses a bit. I was interviewed at 2 colleges LMH and St Hilda’s.


Any interview tips?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions!! This is such an important thing to remember for interviews because if you feel as if you could do with an explanation of a certain term or phrasing, sometimes it creates a light bulb moment like it did in my St. Hilda’s.

Did you socialise during interview week? If so, what did you do?

Yes quite a lot actually! I was in Oxford for a few days so I made sure I spoke to people at dinner and just to anyone who seemed like they wanted to talk. This helped me to have a few friends I could speak to and go into the centre on the second and third days. It’s definitely worth socialising as much as you can, and spending maybe 1-1.5 hours before the interview making sure you're confident with your personal statement and common concepts etc.

How did you feel after the interviews?

Mixed! My St. Hilda’s interviews were a lot stronger than my LMH interviews, so I had some confidence but I just thought it was best to put it behind me and move on because anticipation doesn’t help anybody. Also as I said earlier, you can’t change anything when the interviews are over so as long as you’ve given everything you can there’s not much point stressing. I really liked Nottingham too so if I didn’t get an offer I was still so happy to take up that offer.


Where were you when you got your offer? How did you react?

I was in my Further Maths lesson and I felt my phone vibrate and immediately knew it was my decision just by my gut. I checked to see if it was by looking at my phone in my pocket quickly but wasn’t allowed to open it in the lesson of course. Let’s just say the 40 minute wait felt like forever! It was then break so I checked my phone with my friend who also had her email yet to open for PPE. Luckily we both received offers so it could have been really bad if one of us hadn’t got in and slightly awkward.

Are you looking forward to coming up to Oxford?

Yes very much so! I am writing this 2 weeks before results day so I’m getting quite nervous. Even though i’m predicted A*A*A*A my mocks were A*ABB so I'm very worried about achieving the grades, but I was a bit ill on the day so hopefully my teachers take that into consideration. Also that was in November so who knows! If I do get the grades, I’m really excited to get to Oxford and meet new people!!

Not sure if the question can be passed on or OM could answer from her knowledge, but I thought most medicine courses required biology? How did the OP get around this?

Great chapter by the way!

Only a minority require it - approx half last time I checked.

The general trend is that they are slowly becoming less strict about what subjects they allow, with one uni (Newcastle) having no subject requirements at all.

We'd still stick to the 'bio, chem + one other' recommendation though as it gives the most options, and with the huge myriad of different entry requirements that med schools have set up, you may well not have to be to fussy about where you apply. More options can make a difference.

Just to add, too, that the whole idea of Oxford Demystified is to give prospective students as many different ideas for further study as possible, joyful! You have just given us another perspective, and that can be very useful to others.