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gcses for oxford med???

hi guys, i lowkey slacked in my gcses and got 9888887776 i my gcses and i was wondering if by some stroke of luck with a high ucat if i had a realistic shot of sending in a competitive application for oxford med?
i had an extenuating circumstance but i didn't tell my school and i'm not going to resit anything so idk im lowkey in between a rock and a hard place rn
im still scoping out my options but i just wanted to see really
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post
by liaradlw
hi guys, i lowkey slacked in my gcses and got 9888887776 i my gcses and i was wondering if by some stroke of luck with a high ucat if i had a realistic shot of sending in a competitive application for oxford med?
i had an extenuating circumstance but i didn't tell my school and i'm not going to resit anything so idk im lowkey in between a rock and a hard place rn
im still scoping out my options but i just wanted to see really


Oxford is one of the most GCSE heavy medical schools, I would suggest applying to Cambridge medicine if you wish to apply to Oxbridge for medicine as I don't think you're as likely to be invited to interview for Oxford.

Reply 2

Original post
by artful_lounger
Oxford is one of the most GCSE heavy medical schools, I would suggest applying to Cambridge medicine if you wish to apply to Oxbridge for medicine as I don't think you're as likely to be invited to interview for Oxford.

oh i see, yeah i thought i wasn't able to apply for cambridge since i don't do maths but i can actually apply to a few of them so i'll be looking into this, thank you!!!
Original post
by liaradlw
oh i see, yeah i thought i wasn't able to apply for cambridge since i don't do maths but i can actually apply to a few of them so i'll be looking into this, thank you!!!


Cambridge doesn't require maths for most colleges, you just normally need three STEM subejcts to achieve a competitive score at interview - you could e.g. have chemistry/physics/biology and conceivably achieve a competitive score.

Honestly though going to Oxbridge for medicine doesn't really make much difference. In the UK all graduate medical training posts are provided by the NHS which blinds recruiters from your medical school to ensure no bias (and foundation placement is essentially randomly allocated by algorithm). While graduates from Oxbridge and a couple of other medical schools have a higher average first time success rate on the postgraduate exams, this is mainly just a cost/time/stress saving, as I understand there's no real detriment if you have to do the MRCP or MRCS exams a second time for example (and pass rates for second/third times I understand are much higher as there is a finite question pool so you end up having seen the questions already by that point).

The important thing for becoming a doctor in the UK is to get into any GMC accredited medical school - so focus on applying strategically to those which maximise your chances of an interview and hence offer :smile:

Reply 4

Original post
by liaradlw
hi guys, i lowkey slacked in my gcses and got 9888887776 i my gcses and i was wondering if by some stroke of luck with a high ucat if i had a realistic shot of sending in a competitive application for oxford med?
i had an extenuating circumstance but i didn't tell my school and i'm not going to resit anything so idk im lowkey in between a rock and a hard place rn
im still scoping out my options but i just wanted to see really

As already mentioned medical school is fiercely competitive to get even one offer. It‘s great to dream big, but remember the goal is to get into medical school. Your patients won’t ask you where you graduated from! Apply strategically once you know your UCAT score and good luck 😊

Reply 5

Original post
by artful_lounger
Cambridge doesn't require maths for most colleges, you just normally need three STEM subejcts to achieve a competitive score at interview - you could e.g. have chemistry/physics/biology and conceivably achieve a competitive score.
Honestly though going to Oxbridge for medicine doesn't really make much difference. In the UK all graduate medical training posts are provided by the NHS which blinds recruiters from your medical school to ensure no bias (and foundation placement is essentially randomly allocated by algorithm). While graduates from Oxbridge and a couple of other medical schools have a higher average first time success rate on the postgraduate exams, this is mainly just a cost/time/stress saving, as I understand there's no real detriment if you have to do the MRCP or MRCS exams a second time for example (and pass rates for second/third times I understand are much higher as there is a finite question pool so you end up having seen the questions already by that point).
The important thing for becoming a doctor in the UK is to get into any GMC accredited medical school - so focus on applying strategically to those which maximise your chances of an interview and hence offer :smile:

oh i see, yeah i understand, thank you! it's just a small dream of mine to go to oxbridge so i thought i'd try my luck in applying :smile:

Reply 6

Original post
by Bear26
As already mentioned medical school is fiercely competitive to get even one offer. It‘s great to dream big, but remember the goal is to get into medical school. Your patients won’t ask you where you graduated from! Apply strategically once you know your UCAT score and good luck 😊

Yeah I'm becoming increasingly aware of that :0 LOL
thank you for your support :smile:

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