Advice to students and Academic Entry Requirements
Welcome back to another blog post in our Oxbridge Resources series! Today, we will be giving advice to GCSE and Year 12 students, discussing academic entry requirements, and admissions statistics. It may seem like a lot but, trust us, you’re in for a treat!
Also, thank you for joining us at the live Q&A session on Friday – we hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Our next Q&A session will be on the 5th of June at 7 pm, so make sure to have a read of all the blogs so that if you have any questions from them, you can ask them to us. If you missed the live Q&A session, don’t fret as it’s been embedded in the blog below!
Advice to Year 12 students
A question that we have frequently been asked is: “What should I be doing now as a Year 12 student?” We thought that we would give you some pointers as to what you can be getting up to during this time to strengthen your medical school application.
Now that we are in lockdown, it can be easy to become unmotivated and begin not working as hard. If this has been the case so far, don’t worry, you still have plenty of time to get into a routine and make the most of your time.
Your A-Level grades (or equivalent) are what will allow you to get into medical school, so the most important thing we would recommend for you to do is to keep topping up knowledge of your A-Level subjects. This is a perfect time to consolidate your knowledge on topics that you may have been struggling with. Also, you should bear in mind that predicted grades can be dependent on the work you may be doing now, and this will play an important role in the application process for all medical schools.
Another activity you could be doing now is studying your subjects beyond the specification. This will not only help you improve your understanding of your A-Levels but also develop your interest in an area within Medicine, which will help you demonstrate your enthusiasm for the sciences on your personal statement and at interview.
Additionally, this is a perfect time to be adding to your research portfolio. Ways you can do this include participating in essay competitions, writing an article for the Medic Mentor magazine, and reflecting upon your experiences. Reflection is a key skill that allows you to learn from your prior experiences and transfer skills you’ve learnt from other areas to your medical degree. You can use the Gibbs Reflective cycle to structure your reflections, helping you think about how the skills you currently have will help you as a doctor. This will enable you to show your insight into the qualities of a doctor both in your personal statement and at interview. A great way to improve your reflections would be to send them over to the Medic Mentor team, as part of your Awards Programme. We’re sure they would be more than happy to help you out and give you some advice!
Also, you want to make sure that you are making the most out of online opportunities available. To list a few of them: you could join the Virtual Medical Society, the Medical Leadership Programme, Brighton and Sussex virtual work experience, and maybe even do some MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).
So, have we scared you yet with this massive list of things to do? If we have, please don’t worry too much! We decided to present you with a buffet of opportunities from which you can pick and choose what you would like to do. We just wanted to give you a realistic insight into what activities you can be doing to bolster your application to Oxbridge.
Advice to GCSE students
First of all, congratulations on starting early! A lot of the advice that we have given to the Year 12 students also applies to you, so we would recommend for you to get cracking straight away.
As we mentioned for the Year 12 students, the exams that you are working towards now are the most important, as GCSEs are key stepping stones for your A-Level work.
Apart from that, a common question that we have received is: “What A-Levels should I choose?”
As much as we would love to give you a definitive answer, this is an extremely personal question, as everybody is unique and has different strengths, so there is no “perfect” choice of A-Levels. It would be best if you chose A-Levels that you think you will both enjoy and be good at. Although it is compulsory to do Chemistry and would be very helpful to do biology, we would recommend that your other subject(s) are those that you also enjoy and are good at.
A common misconception is that you must take Maths A-Level to study Medicine, but that is not the case. Yes, Maths is a great subject to take because it can help support your other science A-Levels. However, you do not have to take it if you don’t think you will be able to both enjoy it and obtain the grades when you sit your exams.
As you may have noticed by now, we keep referring to the fact that you should enjoy and have the capabilities to achieve a top grade in the subjects you choose. We say this from personal experience as A-Levels are a big step up from GCSE, and considering these aspects will make your A-Level experience a lot smoother, and perhaps might save you some suffering.
How many A-Levels should you study?
Offers are usually based on three A-Levels or equivalent qualifications. Some candidates choose to take a fourth or fifth subject to show their academic abilities. This is not recommended if spreading yourself too thinly might cause you to drop a grade or two in your results. Additionally, tutors may prefer a candidate who chooses to take fewer A-Levels but has read around their subject beyond the school curriculum. This could help develop your ability to discuss your interest in Medicine with enthusiasm and depth.
Therefore, if you are able to do four A-Levels, then that’s perfectly fine but make sure that you can perform consistently throughout all four. You will not be discriminated against for only taking three A-Levels.
Finally, another thing you could be doing during this time is getting an insight into whether Medicine is the right career for you. You could do this through the opportunities we have mentioned above, as well as reading books, trying out learning styles to see what works best for you, and reflecting upon your experiences, linking your transferable skills to how they will help you when you become a doctor.
Academic entry requirements
GCSEs
| Oxford | Cambridge | |
| GCSE | No formal GCSE requirements for Medicine. If Biology, Physics or Maths were not taken at A-level, you need to have achieved at least a grade C/4 at GCSE. | There is no GCSE cut-off but it is used instead as a ‘performance indicator’. Most applicants have attained at least 4-5 GCSEs at grade 7 or above, but Cambridge accept that post-16 performance is a superior measure and hence will consider applicants with excellent predicted grades in spite of a less excellent GCSE performance. |
A-Levels (or equivalent qualifications)
| Oxford | Cambridge | |
| A-Levels |
A*AA to include at least grade A in Chemistry and at least one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics. The A* does not have to be in any specific subject. Critical Thinking and General Studies are not included. Practical elements taken in the sciences should be passed. |
Typical Grade offer is A*A*A: Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics. (98% of applicants offer three or more sciences of which 30% get a place). Practical elements taken in the sciences should be passed. |
|
International Baccalaureate (IB) |
39 total. Higher Level scores of 766 to include Chemistry and at least one from Biology, Physics and Maths. | Applicants require a score of 40-42, achieving 776 at Higher Level. |
| Advanced highers | AA in Advanced Highers in one academic year to include Chemistry and one from Biology, Physics or Maths. AAAAA in Highers in one academic year. | AAA at Advanced Higher Grade. Two Advanced Highers and an additional Higher may be accepted if the option to study more than two Advanced Highers was outside the students control. This would be assessed on a case by case basis. |
| Welsh Baccalaureate |
Expected to have studied three subjects at A level as part of the qualification. Offers will be based on the A levels rather than the Baccalaureate award. |
Three ‘A’ level subjects offered as part of an advanced diploma. |
| Graduate |
Award or prediction of a first class or high 2:1 degree in any discipline. Results in A levels should be as above. |
At least a 2:1 degree in any discipline. Passes at A level or equivalent in Chemistry normally at grade A and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics at A/AS level. Most successful students have at least AAA. |
Admissions statistics
We have just given you the minimum requirements, and now we will put these requirements into context and give you a realistic insight into the grades you need for a competitive application.
As Oxford and Cambridge have different admissions processes, we will be going through their admissions statistics in two separate sections.
Oxford
We took the following extract from the Oxford website where they clarify how they weigh up the GCSEs and BMAT when shortlisting which candidates they call for an interview. The website says:
“As part of the process to decide which applicants are called to interview, we established a numerical ranking on the basis of GCSE performance and BMAT results (both are quantitative and objective measures), equally weighted. If applicants had not taken GCSEs or iGCSEs ranking was based on BMAT score alone. This ranking formed the basis of an initial shortlist of 385. Note that the AQA Level 2 qualification in Further Maths is included in the GCSE calculation, whereas the OCR Level 3 qualification is not.
BMAT is the only element of an application that is common to all applicants for Medicine and giving as it does a snapshot of ability and aptitude, is an important selection tool when assessing a large number of extremely well qualified applicants.
We do not ascribe equal weighting to all sections of BMAT. In 2019, weightings were: section 1=40%, section 2=40%, and section 3=20%. In calculating the section 3 score, double weight was ascribed to the ‘Quality of content’ score and single weight given to the ‘Quality of English’ score (with A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1, and X=0).
The GCSE measure used was a combination of proportion of A* grades at GCSE and number of A* grades at GCSE (with equal weighting). For shortlisting purposes a grade 8 or 9 is considered equivalent to an A*. We also used GCSE performance data for schools in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to help tutors to assess whether an applicant’s grades at GCSE may reflect an under- or over-performance within the context of the school at which they were taken. Therefore, it is possible that the chance of being shortlisted was increased/reduced if an applicant had a higher/lower proportion of A* grades than would be predicted for the average student applying to Oxford from their GCSE school.
The applications of candidates who did not make the initial shortlist were then reviewed by tutors, taking into account any individual circumstances – both academic and non-academic – that might indicate that GCSE and/or BMAT performance is likely to have underestimated their potential. Any applicants deemed worthy of further consideration were then reviewed by a cross-college panel, alongside applicants immediately below the initial shortlist. As a result of this process 40 additional applicants were added to the shortlist.”
Below are graphs taken from Oxford’s official website regarding both the number and percentage of A*s achieved at GCSE for 2020 entry:
To find out more about about Oxford’s admissions statistics, please visit the following website:https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics
Also, the following table shows the average BMAT scores for applicants for 2017-2019:
Cambridge
As we’ve mentioned in the Q&A sessions, Cambridge uses a more holistic approach in assessing candidates with a much higher proportion of candidates (roughly 75%) being called for an interview. Following this though, various bits of the application process are looked at together when deciding as to whether a candidate should be given an offer. These include your interview performance, BMAT score, GCSEs, personal statement, teacher reference etc.
To have a competitive application and have a stronger chance of getting an offer from Cambridge a strong set of GCSEs results and a high BMAT score will help. Hence, we’ve included an average of the GCSE and BMAT results below for Cambridge using Freedom of Information Request Data.
To find out more admissions statistics with regards to Cambridge, check out the following link:
-Cambridge
Key Notes about Admissions Statistics
- This is for the A100 Medicine course – it does not look at Graduate Entry (A101) nor does it analyse specific circumstances (i.e. deferred entry, extenuating/mitigating circumstances)
- Remember that an average is an average – there will be people who have done much better and much worse in certain sections.
- If you have performed poorly in one section, you may be able to make it up by performing very well in one section.
Conclusion
We appreciate that we have just bombarded you with a lot of information. Still, hopefully this will help you with your decision about applying to Oxbridge and has given you a realistic insight into academic entry requirements such as GCSEs, BMAT and predicted grades. To summarise, we wanted to answer the big question on your minds, is it easier to get into Oxford or Cambridge?
As we’ve mentioned earlier in this blog, Oxford and Cambridge have slightly different admissions processes. At the end of the day, your chance of getting into Oxford and Cambridge is roughly the same. While a higher proportion of applicants get an interview at Cambridge than at Oxford (75% of applicants at Cambridge as opposed to 25% of applicants at Oxford), the grade offer given by Cambridge is typically harder than at Oxford (A*A*A at Cambridge as opposed to A*AA at Oxford). Therefore, it is often harder for those who’ve got offers from Cambridge to meet their grades, and also you’ll need slightly higher predicted grades to apply to Cambridge because of this.
For these reasons, whether you are accepted into the college ends up balancing out. We hope that with this summary you can apply to the university which you think best plays to your strengths.
Hopefully, this blog post was helpful for you. Please, feel free to ask us any questions you may have in the comments section. In the next blog post, we will talk through non-academic entry requirements to do with your application to Oxbridge such as work experience, volunteering, wider reading, etc. and how you can strengthen this part of your application. Thank you for reading this blog post, and we hope you join us next time!
Thank you Koby and Laura for your relentless efforts to keep us up to date 🙂
My family think that I am suitable for Cambridge but I don’t think I am ready for it because my Nat 5 scores aren’t strong enough. I am not even sure if my Highers and Advanced Highers will be successful. I have been considering to sit BMAT but I am not sure where to start. The essay section seems daunting even though I write fluently haha! I don’t even know whether Cambridge will accept me. Where should I start to strengthen my application? Do my Highers count just like Oxford? I am doing Silver, however I am stuck at writing a reflective essay for being a doctor even though I vageuly know my answer? I am glad I have the Medic Mentor family to look after me it’s just I don’t know where to start or how to keep myself motivated
Apologies this message is quite long. But thank you for writing such amazing content :))
Hi Rittaj,
Thank you for your kind words Rittaj and firstly we want to emphasise that your mental health is the most important thing so although you may be feeling a bit confused as to where to start with the application journey, we are here to support you and if you need any help feel free to contact us!
Firstly if you personally really want to apply to Oxbridge, we would recommend that you check the admissions statistics we have stated above and see whether your Nat 5 scores are still good enough for you to apply to Oxbridge. It is important to be realistic but also not restrict yourself so if the above application stats do not provide you with clarity, we would recommend that you email the admissions office asking whether your Nat 5 scores would make for a competitive application. Also if you are worried about your Highers and Advanced Highers we would recommend that you spend this time to try and consolidate what you have learnt so far and try and make sure that when you get back to school, you are in the best position possible to do well in your Highers and Advanced Highers as these are more important than your Nat 5 scores and can compensate for lower Nat 5 scores.
For the BMAT, we spent about 8 weeks preparing (i.e started 2 months before it). We both used BMAT Ninja (an online resource), as well as the resources available on the official BMAT website such as the assumed knowledge guide and past papers. We will be going into more depth about the BMAT in future blog posts but as a general word of advice, the more practice you do, the easier it will be so if you start around 2 months before your exam and are consistent with your practice doing around an hour a day in the first few days and then building it up with weekly past papers as you near the exam date, hopefully you’ll do well.
For the essay section, that’s a common worry so don’t worry at all! Once again, the more practice you do under the timed conditions the better and although initially you may struggle, the more you do, the better you will get and when you actually do the real thing, it will feel much easier. As well as this, we would recommend that you take the first 5 minutes to do a detailed plan answering each of the three points they normally include within the question because if you answer all these you get a 3 already which is a very good score. The essay is probably the least important component out of the three sections too so don’t worry about it too much.
You can strengthen your application in a myriad of different ways, many of which we have mentioned in our previous blog posts and answers to questions. For example, you could engage in a wide range of super-curricular activities (which we will be discussing more about in our next blog post) and boost your research portfolio by writing notes on journal articles as well as publishing an article in the Medic Mentor magazine by contacting: mag@medicmentor.org and even entering a national essay competition. These are just a few of the amazing things you could be getting up to during this period so we would definitely recommend that you make the most of these.
It is amazing that you are getting involved in the Medic Mentor Awards programme. Reflection is a key aspect of Medicine, which you will become better at the more you practice. If you want to check your reflective essays, we would definitely recommend emailing your Medic Mentor supervisor and asking them for advice as they would be more than happy to help you. As a word of advice, we would recommend that you use the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in order to structure your reflection as this can help make your reflections flow better and allow you to gain more out of them. ‘Why medicine?’ can sometimes be a hard question to answer, so you need to make sure that your reasons are well thought out and that you can draw from experiences from your own life to make your answer genuine and unique. This is also a common question at interviews so it’s great if you get it mastered now!
Regarding your question about motivation, something that helped the both of us was to have the end goal in mind, taking small breaks every so often (so you don’t burn yourself out), and celebrating small successes along the way. The application process is long and can be stressful at times, so you need to make sure that you take good care of yourself and remember that if you ever need anyone to reach out to, Medic Mentor provides amazing support and you can contact us or the wellbeing officer, Dr Becks at: wellbeing@medicmentor.info.
Good luck and we hope this helps! 🙂
Koby and Laura
I really would love to apply to oxford. I’m worried that my GCSEs won’t be good enough for applying to medicine I have looked at the day at above and i have a small chance but I don’t know if it’s worth me going for it or not.
I received seven grade 8’s, one grade 9 and two grade 7’s
I would love to apply but I’m just not sure if there’s much point. With those grades especially for medicine.
Hi Abigail,
Thank you for your comment, and well done for your amazing GCSE results. As you can see from last year’s admissions statistics, students with your GCSE results did get interviews and offers. Just to clarify, a grade 8 and 9 both count as A*, so you’re in the 80% section which is still very strong and even though your GCSE results are very important, the context in which you took them (i.e. how strong your results are compared to your school’s average) is also taken into consideration alongside your BMAT.
Getting a higher than average score in the BMAT can also help you compensate for your GCSE results as BMAT and GCSE results both have a 50% weighting when shortlisting who is called for an interview. It is also important to remember that statistics are not the be all and end all, and that students with both higher and lower results obtain offers. Hopefully, these admissions statistics can help you make an informed decision and give you a realistic insight into the application process, but we wouldn’t advise you to be too disheartened as you can still have a strong application if you work hard for the BMAT.
If you are really passionate about applying, we would definitely recommend you to go for it if you feel like you spend enough time on the BMAT and your personal statement. That being said, it is your own decision at the end of the day. If you want more support, please feel free to contact the Medic Mentor team using the number on the website as they will be more than happy to reassure you and discuss any worries you may be having.
We hope that helps and definitely keep looking out for our other blog posts as we will be talking about the various things you can do to strengthen your application on them! 🙂
Laura and Koby