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GCSEs and Oxbridge (Medicine)

hey guys,
to what extent do Oxford and Cambridge look at GCSEs, especially for medicine applications? In in y12, and I got 888888776 for GCSEs. Especially since I didn’t get any 9’s is it a long shot if I apply to either? Should I just stick to another safe option? Will a good UCAT score bring up my odds? Thanks! honesty would be best so I don’t get my hopes up😅
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I think getting a really high UCAT will offset ur gcses grades but they are definitely not bad. IMO cambridge looks at 8 and 9s the same because they’re both considered A*s. But makes sure u aim for all A*s for predicted A-Levels and getting a high ucat score because if you have that, you can definitely apply to cambridge, not sure about oxford tho because oxford weigh GCSEs more than cambs
Reply 3
Original post by rayaaaa19
I think getting a really high UCAT will offset ur gcses grades but they are definitely not bad. IMO cambridge looks at 8 and 9s the same because they’re both considered A*s. But makes sure u aim for all A*s for predicted A-Levels and getting a high ucat score because if you have that, you can definitely apply to cambridge, not sure about oxford tho because oxford weigh GCSEs more than cambs


Thank you so much!! This helped a lot ◡̈ <3
Reply 4
Original post by luvkatz
hey guys,
to what extent do Oxford and Cambridge look at GCSEs, especially for medicine applications? In in y12, and I got 888888776 for GCSEs. Especially since I didn’t get any 9’s is it a long shot if I apply to either? Should I just stick to another safe option? Will a good UCAT score bring up my odds? Thanks! honesty would be best so I don’t get my hopes up😅

Listen, if I was in your situation I would consider Cambridge more. Both unis look at GCSEs but Oxford use 50% GCSEs and 50 UCAT to invite people for interview. So you would probably need a top 3% score for Oxford. My friend got into Oxford med and he has a top 5% UCAT score and is technically below average from the people who were invited to an interview. Just google ‘Oxford med stats 2025’ and look how crazy it is.

Cambridge on the other hand interview much more people than Oxford (roughly 75-80% depending on the college). This means that the interview is possibly the biggest factor when deciding who gets offered a place. In terms of getting invited to an interview, Cambridge look at your application ‘holistically’, but with those GCSEs (which are in no means bad) you will still need a very good UCAT score.

I apologise if this seems harsh, but it is the truth.

Let me know if you have any questions
Reply 5
Original post by saif.th
Listen, if I was in your situation I would consider Cambridge more. Both unis look at GCSEs but Oxford use 50% GCSEs and 50 UCAT to invite people for interview. So you would probably need a top 3% score for Oxford. My friend got into Oxford med and he has a top 5% UCAT score and is technically below average from the people who were invited to an interview. Just google ‘Oxford med stats 2025’ and look how crazy it is.
Cambridge on the other hand interview much more people than Oxford (roughly 75-80% depending on the college). This means that the interview is possibly the biggest factor when deciding who gets offered a place. In terms of getting invited to an interview, Cambridge look at your application ‘holistically’, but with those GCSEs (which are in no means bad) you will still need a very good UCAT score.
I apologise if this seems harsh, but it is the truth.
Let me know if you have any questions


No need to apologise ! Thank you for the input, this helped a lot. I’ll look into the stats for oxbridge med

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