Oxbridge and Imperial

I think the whole point of doing extracurriculars, especially for a subject like Medicine, is that they're relevant to your subject... you need to do something like volunteer in a hospital, shadow a doctor or go on a course like Medlink... nothing that you've listed has anything to do with Medicine, and most has little to do with Earth Science. Oxford and Cambridge in particular have made it pretty clear that they don't give a monkey's testicle about extracurriculars that aren't relevant, and focus much more heavily on academics than anything else. Just go to their websites and you'll find info on this. It's true that Medicine does require a lot of ECs, but they have to be relevant to Medicine, rather than volunteering in Oxfam and playing sax to grade 3. If you want to make your application look good, you really have to focus on getting good grades, reading around the subject you want to study and doing activities which are directly relevant to it... doing what you're doing at the moment, albeit very impressive, isn't going to get you very far in terms of applying to these unis.

Thank you very much. i am going to volunteer in a hospice and am shadowing a doctor in october and am going to medlink in december.
so does a musical instrument not matter?
xx

after all of that and you dont get AAAA then you're pretty much rejected

its more important to have many A* at gcse and then top marks at your bacalaureate

what are your gcse's

For medicine? They might be helpful for medicine.

Does playing a musical instrument have any direct relevance to Medicine?
Does playing a musical instrument have any direct relevance to Earth Science?

Ask yourself these questions about each of the things you put above... I'm sure you can answer them yourself.

Does playing a musical instrument have any direct relevance to Medicine?
Does playing a musical instrument have any direct relevance to Earth Science?

Ask yourself these questions about each of the things you put above... I'm sure you can answer them yourself.

i knwo when you think about it it doesnt but most places say it is agood idea and i had a friend who learnt paino to grade 8 because medical wanted because of the discipline it took, he played to grade 8 then quit: he got in to medical school. i'm sure a large part is because of his grades but these things are taken into account, but thank you.

FINALLY ive found people who think about these things properly.
This whole "lets do as much good two shoes stuff as possible" stuff has been started by people who couldn't identify why people were getting rejected. Then everyone has to outcompete everyone else and the whole thing was perpetuated. If everyone else did less, the whole expectation would go down and life would be so much easier.

He did it to grade 8.

You're currently grade 3.

not wishing to sound harsh or anything, but going from grade 3 to grade 8 is quite a big leap.

i knwo when you think about it it doesnt but most places say it is agood idea and i had a friend who learnt paino to grade 8 because medical wanted because of the discipline it took, he played to grade 8 then quit: he got in to medical school. i'm sure a large part is because of his grades but these things are taken into account, but thank you.

Ok so you got into medical school. what grades did you get? what extras did you put down?

i can see i'm doing too much, but when you hear all these things your meant to do i always think you should do them just in case. good point though about outcompeting each other thats how i feel.

Not to say the musical instrument is irrelevant. A rule of thumb is have a sport and/or instrument and/or DofE and/or anything you enjoy in your PS! lol any normal peson would have something to write in their PS that made them seem reasonably social engaged. Focus on work experience and a realistic idea of medicine.

When you start hearing about people doing ridiculous numbers of things its obvious theyve gone out of their way to do them just for medical school and that is SAD! If i was in charge id write a rejection note saying "more extraciriculars please" lol

Not to say the musical instrument is irrelevant. A rule of thumb is have a sport and/or instrument and/or DofE and/or anything you enjoy in your PS! lol any normal peson would have something to write in their PS that made them seem reasonably social engaged. Focus on work experience and a realistic idea of medicine.

When you start hearing about people doing ridiculous numbers of things its obvious theyve gone out of their way to do them just for medical school and that is SAD! If i was in charge id write a rejection note saying "more extraciriculars please" lol

So the point is, provided i get the grades and I've already done work experience (and gained a realistic idea of medicine), do you think i'll be ok?

Thx

go on a course like Medlink...

Hi,

I want to apply to oxbridge and imperial to study earth science or medicine. I am doing loads of extras to help but scared i'm not doing everything i should is there anything i've missed:

-Starting AQA baccaluerate in sept.
-Starting music theory in sept.
-starting to kayak
-Starting to volunteer in a hospice when seventeen in oct.

-member of greenpeace going to join group in nov.

-volunteered with aconservation group
-volunteer in oxfam
-been part of debating society
-have academic honours from school
-started reading new scientist
-was news editor on school paper
-part of jazz band
-have grade 3 on saxophone going take grade 5
-getting a volunteer award (vfifty)
-going to amnesty meetings
-got dofe bronze started gold.
-part of team plays at school.
-won physics prize at school.
-part of environmental group at school.

i think thats it. what else should i do? also is an ASDAN award a good idea.

Thank you!
xx

OP, for medicine ECs are useful. First of all, they show that you're a well-rounded person and can cope with doing lots of other things as well as just getting the grades you need. However that doesn't mean you should do lots of ECs just to please the universities! For example KCL has a list of things they look for in their applicants, and ECs are there. Universities have various methods of selecting candidates to interview and there are universities which will reject people who don't meet EC-related criteria. Obviously if you know this will happen, you shouldn't apply to that particular university- but many people do.

Also, unlike what nuodai said, volunteering in oxfam can be useful- it just depends on what you have gained from it and how you present it. For example, it can show that you have experience of interacting with people, bearing responsibility etc. Also volunteering in a hospice is a form of work experience.

As for your 2Bs (provided you satisfy the requirements for English Lit/Lang, Science or Maths), they won't be a problem unless your other grades aren't so good/or you don't do particulary well in the UKCAT/BMAT (I have one B at GCSE and it hasn't done me any harm)- but all of this depends on which universities you apply to.

Some universities place a lot of emphasis on ECs and work experience, while others don't. Similary some universites don't actually care about Medlink or similar courses at all. They all have different entrane requirements, and it would be best for you to find them out before applying.