Best A level choices for oxbridge medicine?

Hi I am Y11 as well and will potentially apply to Oxbridge in the future (but for engineering). Looking at your really good grades and aims, the subjects you have decided to take are great for Oxbridge medicine! Honestly if you like English Lit and are good at it then take it, it's apparently helpful for getting into medicine. Do that instead of psychology, as doing 5 subjects is demanding and will probably tire you out before you achieve your aims... Good luck for your future tho. I know you'll do great.

biology, chemistry, maths for oxbridge. my cambridge tutor recommended at least 3 science or maths subjects if you want to do any STEM course at oxbridge and top unis

Hi, sorry for this question (it's probably asked several times each year)
I'm currently in year 11,
completed two GCSEs early: A*, A* (99% raw mark in maths in year 10)
predicted A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, 9, 9 in my other subjects I'll complete this year
(I only have two GCSEs under the English exam boards)
My A Level choices are currently: maths, chemistry, psychology, biology
Are these somewhat okay for oxbridge? or should I take 5 / take a more unique subject e.g. english lit or art
personally, i'd love to take physics or further maths, but apparently they're not very relevant for medicine applications either...
my school is very competitive, often top 10 private school in uk or even top 3... taking 5 intense STEM A levels is allowed and there have even been people with 7 or 6 A levels, straight A*. personally, I feel i shouldn't need to take so many, but it does feel a bit pressuring.

Hi, sorry for this question (it's probably asked several times each year)
I'm currently in year 11,
completed two GCSEs early: A*, A* (99% raw mark in maths in year 10)
predicted A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, A*, 9, 9 in my other subjects I'll complete this year
(I only have two GCSEs under the English exam boards)
My A Level choices are currently: maths, chemistry, psychology, biology
Are these somewhat okay for oxbridge? or should I take 5 / take a more unique subject e.g. english lit or art
personally, i'd love to take physics or further maths, but apparently they're not very relevant for medicine applications either...
my school is very competitive, often top 10 private school in uk or even top 3... taking 5 intense STEM A levels is allowed and there have even been people with 7 or 6 A levels, straight A*. personally, I feel i shouldn't need to take so many, but it does feel a bit pressuring.

Take 3 at max 4. Chemistry and biology are needed.
Oxford doesn’t mind what the third a level is, Cambridge very much wants it to be STEM. So if you’d like to be open to either perhaps Maths or Physics as a third, if you are leaning more towards Oxford however and don’t want a third STEM subject that’s ok too.
I did further maths and yes it has not been relevant for med school really. Most med schools won’t even consider maths and further two separate subjects.
I didn’t do physics but I’d say that’s been more relevant to my course. If you are Welsh like me considering the letter grades (unless northern Irish who I believe also grades that way), then some things that come up in Chemistry and gcse physics such as the combined gas law are relevant. Otherwise power equations, fluid dynamics and medical imaging physics are all relevant. I am doing just fine without the a level, but if you are looking for something applicable it isn’t a bad shout.
I haven’t had much direct link between the maths a level but there’s a bit of maths to do so strong maths skills are useful and most people do take maths a level for medicine.
And again please don’t take any more than 4. Too many high achieving students take 4 and then the few who take 5 all tend to underperform than if they’d taken 3. They only want 3 a levels in your offer and won’t give any brownie points for more than 3. Therefore I think 4 should be the max if you’re really interested in another subject and want a challenge. I study at Cambridge and I only know one person who took 5 a levels from the many other medics I’ve met and so it’s proof you don’t need that many

Cambridge want bio, chem and physics or maths
Oxford want bio and chem, not preference on the third
For med it’s better to stick to 3 just because you need to do a lot of volunteering, ucat prep and interview prep so 3 is enough and you need to focus on high grades as med is so competitive. Unis dont care about a fourth a level and they aren’t looking for unique subject combos

Thank you for the advice !! yeah, that makes a lot of sense now that I think of it... UCAT + interview prep are probably the main focuses in Year 12 + 13, as well as volunteering and extracurriculars, I gather. Currently trying to enter as many competitions as I can to add to possible things, though as a year 11, there admittedly aren't many opportunities, and being in year 11 rather than y12/13 probably makes any wins/gold less credible... but thanks again!

Anything you do in year 11 will be a valuable foundation for skills so you can do better in things during years 12 and 13 😁 You can mention these accomplishments in your ps but you’d probably just say they were a starting point of a specific interest and then expand on that with more relevant experiences 🙂

oh, that's great actually! and also, that's a really good way of looking at it (i hadn't thought of that before). i haven't had many opportunities at all to do competitions and essays or anything from my school except the standard high school content. e.g. in year 9, i won a gold in IMC UKMT challenge and kangaroo round, which i had to wing since i never had a tutor, resources or any support from school.
thinking about it now, i probably won't ever mention that again except for applications to sixth forms (currently doing them now), but looking back, it was quite the experience and introduced me to competition papers. Thank you again for the advice 🙂 !!

The SMC stuff wont be relevant for uni admissions but absolutely put it on the sixth form applications 🙂
Im applying for bio next year and have done a lot of supercurriculars so feel free to ask if you need any recommendations for biosciences related stuff. Id really recommend you look at the Cambridge biology challenge even though its not med it will be very relevant to you because you can tailor the questions to your interests

just looked at the Cambridge biology challenge - it looks really cool! I love the concept of it being oxbridge interview prep.
(I'll probably have to figure out how to enter solo)
It looks perfect - only problem is i'm not sure if applications have closed/since it's late into the year and it started October (so i'll have a disadvantage of some sorts). Also, i'm a little nervous about putting my school details haha - they might get irritated with me for registering them since they don't provide much for us (despite being a private school).
if you have the time, i'd love to know what supercurriculars you did!
Thank you again 🙂 !!

Yeah they’ve done the first 2 rounds now, probably worth waiting til next year to enter when youre in year 12. You can enter alone, ive known people who did that but if you can find someone to enter with its super fun to do in a pair or group, plus then you can follow a broader response with everyone’s interests included 🙂
The only school involvement is your teacher gets an email of your results so its not a big deal
My recommendations would be Springpod for subject intros and virtual work experience, openlearn for online courses, channel talent for webinars, iPlayer and bbc sounds for documentaries and podcasts (underrated lol), google arts and culture is amazing cos its like exhibits but on your device (ofc real museums is also awesome if there are any sciences ones you can go to).