studying medicine at oxford

Hi so i am a year 12 student and i achieved 5 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and one grade 7 in my gcse results last year, in which i came in the top 3 of my school, due to which my school has asked me to keep oxford or cambridge in mind whilst applying for uni however i am really confused on whether i should apply or not, and how likely i am to get in and what oxford considers during the applications process could someone please give me some guidance on this
thank you

this might be a bit long but i'll try my best to explain everything clearly for you.
as you probably know, medicine is extremely extremely competitive. your gcse's are incredible, but most medicine applicants do have pretty much all 9s. if you applied to oxford, however, your gcse's would actually look much better to oxford (here's where it gets a bit complicated) than if you were applying to newcastle/UCL/liverpool (anywhere that isn't oxbridge). basically, oxford takes contextual details into consideration: they compare your gcse results to the gcse's that your school typically gets. (e.g. i got all 9s at gcse but that's not uncommon at my all girls grammar school, so someone from an inner city comprehensive who got all 9s looks much more impressive than me because they've had to work harder to overcome educational barriers). therefore in your case, since you came in the top 3 in your school for gcse and oxford can see that your grades are typically better than other students at your school, they won't mind that your gcse's aren't all 9s. (don't think i'm implying here that your gcse's aren't absolutely incredible, i'm just saying that the most competitive courses like medicine look for anything to differentiate candidates because there are so many applications, and someone identical to you but with better gcse results could be more appealing to a university).
basically in conclusion, your gcse results not being all 9s (as most medicine applicants' are) would be more easily looked past at oxford, because they take contextual data into account, than at any other university which doesn't take that contextual data into account and therefore doesn't realise that you did significantly better than all your peers. so it would actually give you an advantage in applying to oxbridge.
in terms of the the general admissions process, it is quite a draining process (i have a cambridge offer rn and applying was difficult). you have to submit a personal statement full to the brim with (for a medicine personal statement) all the work experience you've done and books you've read/why you want to be a doctor etc (on top of the UCAT/BMAT which you have to take for medicine as well). then 50% of applicants progress to interview stage, which you have to prepare for insanely well. you could literally do everything perfectly, but the course is so oversubscribed that you could still be rejected because someone was just slightly better than you. however, this process is obviously so rewarding if you do get an offer - oxford is such an incredibly beautiful place to study and you'll get first-hand teaching from world-class experts. however, there is such a high likelihood that all your hard work will go to waste and you won't get in because there's just not enough space for you.
in terms of medicine though, because you only get 4 choices to apply to university for medicine, you have to think really carefully about how confident you are that you'll get an offer. going to oxbridge is actually way less beneficial to study medicine, though - (obviously, someone doing economics at oxford university is going to have incredible career prospects over someone doing economics at keele, whereas someone doing medicine at oxford ends up in exactly the same place - a doctor - than someone who studied medicine at keele). you have to weigh up a) whether you want to risk one of your four choices for somewhere you're probably not going to get in to, b) if you do get in, whether you want to take that huge oxford workload on when you'll end up in exactly the same place as someone who studies your course at birmingham but has a much less intense workload and a better social life.

Hi so i am a year 12 student and i achieved 5 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and one grade 7 in my gcse results last year, in which i came in the top 3 of my school, due to which my school has asked me to keep oxford or cambridge in mind whilst applying for uni however i am really confused on whether i should apply or not, and how likely i am to get in and what oxford considers during the applications process could someone please give me some guidance on this
thank you

@Oxford Mum would know best I hope it’s alright to tag.

this might be a bit long but i'll try my best to explain everything clearly for you.
as you probably know, medicine is extremely extremely competitive. your gcse's are incredible, but most medicine applicants do have pretty much all 9s. if you applied to oxford, however, your gcse's would actually look much better to oxford (here's where it gets a bit complicated) than if you were applying to newcastle/UCL/liverpool (anywhere that isn't oxbridge). basically, oxford takes contextual details into consideration: they compare your gcse results to the gcse's that your school typically gets. (e.g. i got all 9s at gcse but that's not uncommon at my all girls grammar school, so someone from an inner city comprehensive who got all 9s looks much more impressive than me because they've had to work harder to overcome educational barriers). therefore in your case, since you came in the top 3 in your school for gcse and oxford can see that your grades are typically better than other students at your school, they won't mind that your gcse's aren't all 9s. (don't think i'm implying here that your gcse's aren't absolutely incredible, i'm just saying that the most competitive courses like medicine look for anything to differentiate candidates because there are so many applications, and someone identical to you but with better gcse results could be more appealing to a university).
basically in conclusion, your gcse results not being all 9s (as most medicine applicants' are) would be more easily looked past at oxford, because they take contextual data into account, than at any other university which doesn't take that contextual data into account and therefore doesn't realise that you did significantly better than all your peers. so it would actually give you an advantage in applying to oxbridge.
in terms of the the general admissions process, it is quite a draining process (i have a cambridge offer rn and applying was difficult). you have to submit a personal statement full to the brim with (for a medicine personal statement) all the work experience you've done and books you've read/why you want to be a doctor etc (on top of the UCAT/BMAT which you have to take for medicine as well). then 50% of applicants progress to interview stage, which you have to prepare for insanely well. you could literally do everything perfectly, but the course is so oversubscribed that you could still be rejected because someone was just slightly better than you. however, this process is obviously so rewarding if you do get an offer - oxford is such an incredibly beautiful place to study and you'll get first-hand teaching from world-class experts. however, there is such a high likelihood that all your hard work will go to waste and you won't get in because there's just not enough space for you.
in terms of medicine though, because you only get 4 choices to apply to university for medicine, you have to think really carefully about how confident you are that you'll get an offer. going to oxbridge is actually way less beneficial to study medicine, though - (obviously, someone doing economics at oxford university is going to have incredible career prospects over someone doing economics at keele, whereas someone doing medicine at oxford ends up in exactly the same place - a doctor - than someone who studied medicine at keele). you have to weigh up a) whether you want to risk one of your four choices for somewhere you're probably not going to get in to, b) if you do get in, whether you want to take that huge oxford workload on when you'll end up in exactly the same place as someone who studies your course at birmingham but has a much less intense workload and a better social life.

I can echo this. As someone who's just been rejected, it's a rather brutal process, and with Medicine, it's even more cut-throat. I'm also interested to hear OP say that their school says to "keep Oxbridge in mind" but at the same time, has no idea what they actually want to do.

OP, don't let anyone push you into an application or feel obligated to do so, that's the biggest mistake you could make, and you'll either end up regretting wasting a choice, or alternatively, regretting going somewhere you might end up despising.

Wow I really did not expect all these replies I just wanted to say a hugeee THANK YOU to everyone who replied, and took out time to help me , it means a lot. I don’t think i mentioned this before but my school is barely helping me with my admissions process and I felt quite lonely during this time as they expect a lot from me. I will 100% take everything all of you have said on board and I will work extremely hard to achieve a place in Oxford but if I don’t get in at least I would be satisfied that I gave it a shot

Thanks for the advice I have signed up with zero gravity as I go to a state school hopefully this will be very beneficial for me

this might be a bit long but i'll try my best to explain everything clearly for you.
as you probably know, medicine is extremely extremely competitive. your gcse's are incredible, but most medicine applicants do have pretty much all 9s. if you applied to oxford, however, your gcse's would actually look much better to oxford (here's where it gets a bit complicated) than if you were applying to newcastle/UCL/liverpool (anywhere that isn't oxbridge). basically, oxford takes contextual details into consideration: they compare your gcse results to the gcse's that your school typically gets. (e.g. i got all 9s at gcse but that's not uncommon at my all girls grammar school, so someone from an inner city comprehensive who got all 9s looks much more impressive than me because they've had to work harder to overcome educational barriers). therefore in your case, since you came in the top 3 in your school for gcse and oxford can see that your grades are typically better than other students at your school, they won't mind that your gcse's aren't all 9s. (don't think i'm implying here that your gcse's aren't absolutely incredible, i'm just saying that the most competitive courses like medicine look for anything to differentiate candidates because there are so many applications, and someone identical to you but with better gcse results could be more appealing to a university).
basically in conclusion, your gcse results not being all 9s (as most medicine applicants' are) would be more easily looked past at oxford, because they take contextual data into account, than at any other university which doesn't take that contextual data into account and therefore doesn't realise that you did significantly better than all your peers. so it would actually give you an advantage in applying to oxbridge.
in terms of the the general admissions process, it is quite a draining process (i have a cambridge offer rn and applying was difficult). you have to submit a personal statement full to the brim with (for a medicine personal statement) all the work experience you've done and books you've read/why you want to be a doctor etc (on top of the UCAT/BMAT which you have to take for medicine as well). then 50% of applicants progress to interview stage, which you have to prepare for insanely well. you could literally do everything perfectly, but the course is so oversubscribed that you could still be rejected because someone was just slightly better than you. however, this process is obviously so rewarding if you do get an offer - oxford is such an incredibly beautiful place to study and you'll get first-hand teaching from world-class experts. however, there is such a high likelihood that all your hard work will go to waste and you won't get in because there's just not enough space for you.
in terms of medicine though, because you only get 4 choices to apply to university for medicine, you have to think really carefully about how confident you are that you'll get an offer. going to oxbridge is actually way less beneficial to study medicine, though - (obviously, someone doing economics at oxford university is going to have incredible career prospects over someone doing economics at keele, whereas someone doing medicine at oxford ends up in exactly the same place - a doctor - than someone who studied medicine at keele). you have to weigh up a) whether you want to risk one of your four choices for somewhere you're probably not going to get in to, b) if you do get in, whether you want to take that huge oxford workload on when you'll end up in exactly the same place as someone who studies your course at birmingham but has a much less intense workload and a better social life.

I would echo this. The school is trying to do OP a favour, but at the end of the day it is their choice. Wild horses would not have stopped my son from applying to Oxford and he absolutely loved the extra research he needed to do. Nobody ever had to drag an Oxford student into a library!
Nobody, but nobody, should apply to Oxford if they do not want to do the extra work involved, or feels the learning style is not for them. No, you will not set foot in a hospital until you have finished your first degree (all theory). Yes you will have to do twice as many essays. My son said the Oxford medical course is "ten times better than I imagined" and he has very high standards. What I am saying is, it all depends on your personality.

Medicine is a stressful profession, so that's worth bearing in mind. Every new doctor from every medical school is likely to obtain a medical job, so in that respect all medical schools are equal. I am not a medic. My friends who studied medicine at Oxford think that the deep, wide and intensely academic nature of the course gave them a very good grounding in the fundamentals of medicine and helped them when they chose their specialisms and did their postgraduate training. Doctors learn and train constantly. My friends all ended up as Consultants with teaching posts in large hospitals. Good luck, whatever you choose.

hi, im in year 11 and I was considering applying for medicine at oxford. However, I dont really have a good set of gcse results and i have no work experience so far, so I highly doubt I have a chance of getting into such a competitive course. I was wondering whether there is any benefit to studying medicine at oxford at all? I acknowledge that it is one of the best universities in the world in terms of teaching, but are there any other factors that make it the best medical school (facilities, technology, opportunities etc)? Are you more likely to get a job in healthcare if you were to study at Oxford? I think I've read somewhere that hospitals don't look at the university you went to when applying for a job, but I'm not sure if this is 100% true. Also, looking at the oxford website, i think the course is 6 years instead of the typical 5 years so would this be a disadvantage? (again, I'm not 100 percent sure this is true, i'll have to confirm).
I'm really debating whether I should apply to medicine at Oxford. I already lack the work experience, extracurriculars and grades to form a competitive application, and truthfully the only reason I have to study medicine at oxford is to make my parents proud. So what would be the benefits of going to Oxford to study medicine?

what are you predicting for your gcses?
and defo get some work experience this summer

does studying medicine at oxford have more benefits when it comes to jobs compared to other medical schools?