Oxford Vs Cambridge Medicine

3

Can anyone explain the differences (deciding factors) between Oxford and Cambridge medical schools please?

My YP already submitted their UCAS form to school last week and put down Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Leicester as their four choices, but they're having a second thought about swapping one of them with Oxbridge after speaking to school.

YP's stats are UCAT 2400+, 9 × Grade 9 GCSEs, predicted 3A* & A (Chemistry but might become A*). Non contextual, non WP home student.

We decided to go against Oxbridge. The reasons are: (1) Having seen the preliminary UCAT deciles and the increased number of students taking it, my YP's score won't make this year's cut off for those unis unless they increase the number of intakes accordingly, (2) YP only did 9 GCSEs, so a couple less than the average Oxbridge candidates, (3) The predicted grade for Chemistry is currently A, which rules out Cambridge (4) Most importantly, YP wasn't convinced as to why they wanted to study at those unis over the other unis (apart from the fact that these unis are more prestigious - but that's not a good enough reason!).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Reply 1

Muttley79

20

Original post

by TescoRestroom

Can anyone explain the differences (deciding factors) between Oxford and Cambridge medical schools please?
My YP already submitted their UCAS form to school last week and put down Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Leicester as their four choices, but they're having a second thought about swapping one of them with Oxbridge after speaking to school.
YP's stats are UCAT 2400+, 9 × Grade 9 GCSEs, predicted 3A* & A (Chemistry but might become A*). Non contextual, non WP home student.
We decided to go against Oxbridge. The reasons are: (1) Having seen the preliminary UCAT deciles and the increased number of students taking it, my YP's score won't make this year's cut off for those unis unless they increase the number of intakes accordingly, (2) YP only did 9 GCSEs, so a couple less than the average Oxbridge candidates, (3) The predicted grade for Chemistry is currently A, which rules out Cambridge (4) Most importantly, YP wasn't convinced as to why they wanted to study at those unis over the other unis (apart from the fact that these unis are more prestigious - but that's not a good enough reason!).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

There's absolutely no benefit in applying to Oxbrdge for Medicine - all degrees are considered the same and where you do your degree isn't relevant when you apply for jobs [institute blind applications]

Many students prefer the course structure outside Oxbrdge because it prepares you better fo being a doctor.

Why change now?

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post

by TescoRestroom

Can anyone explain the differences (deciding factors) between Oxford and Cambridge medical schools please?

My YP already submitted their UCAS form to school last week and put down Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Leicester as their four choices, but they're having a second thought about swapping one of them with Oxbridge after speaking to school.

YP's stats are UCAT 2400+, 9 × Grade 9 GCSEs, predicted 3A* & A (Chemistry but might become A*). Non contextual, non WP home student.

We decided to go against Oxbridge. The reasons are: (1) Having seen the preliminary UCAT deciles and the increased number of students taking it, my YP's score won't make this year's cut off for those unis unless they increase the number of intakes accordingly, (2) YP only did 9 GCSEs, so a couple less than the average Oxbridge candidates, (3) The predicted grade for Chemistry is currently A, which rules out Cambridge (4) Most importantly, YP wasn't convinced as to why they wanted to study at those unis over the other unis (apart from the fact that these unis are more prestigious - but that's not a good enough reason!).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As I understand, Cambridge is quite anatomy heavy and also has dissection throughout the preclinical years (although that may have changed in recent years)? Oxford on the other hand is lighter on anatomy and just has prosection (although I've heard it said by medical students that prosection is more useful for learning as you see a trained specialist doing the dissecting and showing the anatomy rather than potentially cutting things wrong or such).

For the intercalated year at Cambridge in principle I believe any Part II course is possible although as I understand in recent years is much less common to do take non-nat sci Part II options (and it's subject to DoS presumably so something completely left field someone with no background in is unlikely to be approved I would guess). At Oxford on the other hand I believe it's more narrowly one of the specialisms available to third year biomedical science students.

Admissions-wise Oxford is regarded as much more GCSE heavy as they only use the contextualised GCSEs and UCAT score to shortlist applicants and I believe interview a smaller proportion of applicants. Cambridge are broadly considered more holistic when shortlisting applicants and aim to interview all who have a reasonable chance of an offer potentially, but as they generally (not medicine specific) interview a higher proportion of applicants to start, a smaller proportion of interviewees will get an offer. Also notably Cambridge require A*A*A and historically at least to achieve a competitive interview score, you would need to be taking 3 STEM subjects at A-level. Oxford I believe is A*AA and those with 3 STEM subjects have similar success rates as those with 2 STEM subjects and one non-STEM subject.

If you mean relative to other medical schools then aside from admissions and course structure comparisons it is worth noting as above it confers no direct "benefit" for a career as a doctor. Foundation placement is essentially random now it seems and sorted by algorithm, and specialty recruitment is done medical school blind to ensure there is no bias. The GMC and NHS both consider all medical schools equal. While graduates from Oxbridge are correlated with a higher first-time pass rate for some of the postgraduate exams medics take in various specialties (e.g. MRCP, MRCS), this is more a time/money/stress saver rather than a career breaker since my understanding is that there is no detriment to taking it a second time (and I gather pass rates for second attempts are much higher - possibly due to a finite questionbank which candidates will have seen many of by the second time).

It sounds like your child is not interest in either of them though and there's no particular reason to focus on them specifically - even if one wanted e.g. a more science oriented preclinical curriculum there are other options (e.g. Imperial), or for a sharper clinical/preclinical divide also (e.g. the St Andrews programme). Long term if working in the UK as a doctor it seems unlikely to impact the overall career trajectory. Applying to medicine is really about applying tactically to maximise chances of getting an offer - making a conscious decision to not chase "brand names" unnecessarily or get starry eyed over some Harry Potter experience or similar and focusing on making pragmatic decisions based on concrete evidence (i.e. their paper applicant profile) supported by personal preferences (in terms of location etc) seems a much better way to do it :smile:

Oxford Vs Cambridge Medicine

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated