How to stand out in cambridge (and other) applications?

I'm applying for medicine, Cambridge is one of my top choices.

But most universities for medicine publish how they select for interview, and for offer. Meaning that for most, you have a good idea if you will get an interview before even applying. And you know how strong you are by their own guidelines on wether you might get an offer.

But with Cambridge everything is holistic. Plenty of people apply with 4A* at A-level, an epq, 10A* at GCSE, 10 months work experience and everything else you could want and still get rejected. Similarly plenty of people apply with relatively poor stats and get in.

I'm a middling applicant, should be 3 A* prediction, maybe A* A* A, 98888777777 GCSE. Just started volunteering and have done some further reading. So that makes me just about identical to every other applicant, what can I actually do to get an interview. How do Cambridge select for med interviews, when most applicants are the same. I've seen a lot of variation with BMAT scores in people who are interviewed, but I assume its mainly that.

After an interview, is the interview performance the most important thing in getting an offer?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

For Cambridge I think the main consideration for shortlisting for interview will be your BMAT score, and subsequently then if you are interviewed I expect the interview will be the dominant factor. The interview is in part there to assess how well you can be taught in the Cambridge supervision format, which is central to the course and unusual among UK universities - and not everyone will learn that well in that kind of environment (which is not a failing by any means, different people learn best in different ways).

So they can have applicants who are very strong academically but they find in interview they just wouldn't learn well in the supervision format and so aren't made an offer. They can have other applicants who meet the minimum academic criteria but demonstrate qualities which indicate they would flourish in that supervision teaching format, for whom Cambridge would likely be keen to make an offer.

But they don't tend to consider any one factor in isolation and do try and take into account the "full picture". But they want to make sure they take students who will thrive in their course format (and not all necessarily will) and the interview specifically tests this more than any other part of the admissions process - so as a result the interview is probably fairly important in the overall scheme of things.

Reply 2

Reality Check

22

Original post by pepsiu

I'm applying for medicine, Cambridge is one of my top choices.

But most universities for medicine publish how they select for interview, and for offer. Meaning that for most, you have a good idea if you will get an interview before even applying. And you know how strong you are by their own guidelines on wether you might get an offer.

But with Cambridge everything is holistic. Plenty of people apply with 4A* at A-level, an epq, 10A* at GCSE, 10 months work experience and everything else you could want and still get rejected. Similarly plenty of people apply with relatively poor stats and get in.

I'm a middling applicant, should be 3 A* prediction, maybe A* A* A, 98888777777 GCSE. Just started volunteering and have done some further reading. So that makes me just about identical to every other applicant, what can I actually do to get an interview. How do Cambridge select for med interviews, when most applicants are the same. I've seen a lot of variation with BMAT scores in people who are interviewed, but I assume its mainly that.

After an interview, is the interview performance the most important thing in getting an offer?