The Student Room Group

Oxford - How hard is it to get a place for medicine???

Heya! I've just joined TSR, been spenind weeks reading the forums though :wink: and thought I should start a thread :smile:

I am hoping to go into medicine and would love to study it at Oxford University. BUUUUT it's going to be a nightmare to get in! right? I was just wondering if anyone had any advice, tips, experience with the BMAT test and an interview at the uni.

I am in yr 11 right now ( i know uni's a few years away ) and have 4A*'s at GCSE right now and am expected 8 more A*'s in the summer. If i do get 12A*'s ( which im going to work my BUTT off for ) what are my chances of getting in? Im taking Maths, further maths, biol, chem and eng lit a levels btw.

Hope i get a reply :smile:

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Hard.






You still have A-levels to do.. will probably need one A* (that right..?), an amazing statement & amazing communication skills for the interview.
Reply 2
How hard?
Reply 3
yeh, A*'s at a level now! I forgot about that. How many do oxford ask for?
Scourfield
How hard?


How does one measure difficulty in a situation like this?

"Too hard for most people" is the best I can manage.

You're clearly a very intelligent person based on your grades/predicted grades for GCSE but the fact of the matter is they matter very little once you follow them up with A Levels. I'm not saying they become irrelevant but still. I think it's great you're planning so far ahead but I wouldn't decide on any concrete ideas just yet, you've got a long way. I wish I was in your position with the knowledge I have now!
Reply 5
Yeh I guess... Just got to try my best eh? :smile: hopefully that will get me through! *crosses fingers*

The knowledge you have now?
Scourfield
Yeh I guess... Just got to try my best eh? :smile: hopefully that will get me through! *crosses fingers*

The knowledge you have now?


Good luck, very few make it, those who do have my complete approval to act like pretentious ******* whenever they like! Hahaha.

Ahh you don't want my story. Basically I'm trying to rectify the horrible choices I made post-GCSE now. Mistakes I never would have made had I known what I know now about college, university and work.
Reply 7
So what did you choose to study?
Reply 8
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet:

Useful Statistics - Admissions 2008

Frequently Asked Questions



Looking at the ratios & profiles of people who get in then it looks quite tough.

But people do get in & if you suit what Oxford are looking for (as with any other medical school) then they don't demand blood :evil: or anything! :p: Some people only get into Oxford of their 4 medical applications & most get at least 1 rejection from somewhere else because different places just look for different things.


As a year 11 - you still have quite a bit of time. Try & get those 12A*s!
Your choice of AS levels looks fine - I did English Lit & really enjoyed it.

So other things to think about might be:
- Don't just be a grade machine - try & make sure you have a really good foundation of knowledge and understanding, because things build on each other.
- Consider wider reading/going beyond the syllabus if the grades are sorted.
- Are there any summer schools or events at Oxford you might be eligible for between now & applying?
- Work experience, volunteering & extracurricular have a role in medicine applications in general... so (hopefully) continue to do them. Summer after GCSEs or Easter/Summer of lower 6th is a good block of time for work experience as most are over 16 by then!
- Then probably in Lower 6th - research medical school courses (some things could change before then & now) & go to visit/for Open Days.
- Prepare your UCAS application - including preparing for any aptitude tests & then interviews...

Good luck!
Reply 9
I'm sure there'll be medics around who can help you... Not sure whether you've looked at TSR's Medicine forum - there seems to be some useful stuff on there too.

As a semi-ignorant observer I should probably say, though, that of the four people I know who applied to Oxford for Medicine this year, all were rejected - with 8, 10, 12 and 12A*s at GCSE respectively (and all As at AS, lots of work experience, extra reading, good UKCATs/BMATs). Not that I doubt that Oxford had its reasons - just Med offers are difficult to come by even for good candidates!
Amount of A*s you'll need will probably depend on what type of school you go to, and what you get in BMAT. :smile:

When I was at my interview, they got us in a room and said we'd all done really well in BMAT so I guess that's quite important.
If you get 20A's for A-level, I think they won't turn you down, unless you suck at interviews, like I do.
Reply 12
SleepingSelene
Hard.






You still have A-levels to do.. will probably need one A* (that right..?), an amazing statement & amazing communication skills for the interview.

No. You can't get an A* at AS level, so unless the OP wants to apply post A-levels, (s)he can't have gotten an A*. Obviously an A* can be predicted.

And I think Oxford have said that they aren't going to be using the A* in offers, at least not yet. They might well use it for the OPs year though.
would love to study it at Oxford University


Remember grades won't get you into oxbridge, expecially for a subject like medicine. Everyone applying will have as good, or similarly as good grades as you, so don't count on them to get you in. With medicine it seems that for any university its pot luck, your either the type of person that they want or not, shown by the fact that most medical students only get one or two offers.
If I were you I wouldn't place too much premium on oxbridge for medicine, its not a career where university prestige matters much, and unlike many courses, there won't be the same completely unique style and quality of learning.
Just remember when your applying to be yourself. Don't try and be what you think oxbridge want, they get plenty of people like that and they will reject you.
If your right you will get a place, and its not always about the grades.
Take for example Simon Sing, one of the best mathamatics of our time. He got rejected from Oxbridge, and went to LSE, despite being exeptional. However, he wasn't what they wanted.
Reply 14
Donnchadh
I'm sure there'll be medics around who can help...


Medics around? :no:























:p: Sorry - I forget this isn't the Medic subforum where people seem to know who is & isn't...
Dead hard, and that, like.





Obviously, choose the Medicine course you want to do based on how the course style/structure suits you. They vary much more in style than in quality - so don't go for Oxford just because it's Oxford.
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hard
Reply 17
well your first priority is to get an interview. to do this you need good gcse grades and a good BMAT score. you seem to be on target for the GCSE part, and just try and prepare loads for the BMAT.
once you've got an interview, all your grades etc are out of the window, it's just the performance at interview that counts. oxford interviews are very different to other med school interviews...they're much more science-based. they do however, like to look at your work experience, so make sure that you can talk about something to do with your work ex, even if you could only spend one day at a GP surgery. its better to have something which you can talk about, than loads of stuff which you only did for show, but havent learnt anything from it.
Statistically there are about 7 applicants per place in medicine. This is weeded down to about 3-4 people interviewed per place, largely (AFAIK) based on the BMAT test. So check out the BMAT website; it has sample papers etc.

As Elles said (excellent post!) medicine iis pretty well unique in terms of Oxford admissions in that non-academic factors also count; they are looking for potential doctors who have to work with real patients, not robots. Check out the medical school prospectus: http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/study/medicine/courses/prospectus.pdf; page 16 is about entry requirements.

DtS
Dont fear, Im here! :P

So... I have it on good authority that Oxford will NOT be asking for A* grades at A2, but this it not to say they wont expect it. They did at one point give out only EE offers knowing full well the people were likely to get As anyway, so its no excuse to slack.

As for GCSEs I got 8A*s and 2As one of them being in biology. Its not uncommon to find people with millions of A*s but thats not generally the norm. There is far more to getting a place than just getting immaculate grades as, as Im sure youre aware, quite a lot of people get 4As at A level etc... Infact unless you get 3As or more then basically youre buggered. Getting great grades is just a ticket to apply, after which its up to you to prove at interview that youre worth a place.

If you want to know more just give me a PM or something and Ill help you out.