Medicine at Oxford and Cambridge

In this lesson series we'll go through everything involved in getting into Oxford or Cambridge for medicine. We start here with an overview: how the course differs from other medical schools, what you need to get in, how to choose between the two, and how the application works. The rest of the series focuses on the interview, which is very different from interviews at other medical schools and is where most offers are decided.

Every UK medical school leads to the same qualification, so the difference between schools is in how you are taught. Most now run integrated courses, where you learn the science and see patients side by side from the first term. Oxford and Cambridge teach the science first and the medicine second.

The first three years are close to a science degree. Years 1 and 2 cover anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and pathology in more depth than you need to practise as a doctor, and Year 3 is spent on one area of science with a research project. Clinical training starts in Year 4.

The small-group teaching is what both universities are known for. Two or three times a week you hand in an essay or problem sheet, then spend an hour with an academic and one or two other students being questioned on it. Oxford calls these tutorials and Cambridge calls them supervisions. You learn a lot this way, and the workload is heavy: two or three pieces of written work a week, in terms that last eight weeks.

So the course suits students who enjoy science for its own sake and like being pushed on their ideas. If you want to be with patients from the start, or to qualify in five years, another medical school will suit you better.

Oxbridge has a reputation for wanting geniuses, and that puts off students who could get in. What it actually wants is a very strong school record and the ability to think through a problem out loud. About one applicant in six gets an offer at Oxford and one in five at Cambridge.

Entry requirements

The typical offer holder

The offer is the minimum. Students who get in are usually well above it.

For comparison, the national average UCAT is about 1890.

How Oxford shortlists

Oxford ranks every applicant on two things, weighted equally: UCAT score, and GCSE results. GCSEs are contextualised, meaning your grades are compared with how your school performs, so the same results count for more from a school where they are rare. The top of the ranking is interviewed, about 425 applicants out of 1,150, and around four in ten of those get an offer.

Predicted grades and the personal statement are not part of the ranking. There is no fixed cut-off, because a high UCAT can make up for weaker GCSEs and the reverse. In practice you need to be strong on both: last year 62% of applicants scoring 2300-2399 were interviewed, against 20% of those scoring 2100-2199.

How Cambridge shortlists

Cambridge is holistic. There is no ranking, no formula and no UCAT cut-off. Each college reads the whole application - GCSEs, predicted grades, UCAT, personal statement and reference - and decides who to interview. Most applicants with a realistic profile are interviewed, and the decision is made afterwards, with the interview carrying the most weight.

You can only apply to one of the two in a given year.

Most students who are strong enough for one are strong enough for the other. The courses are very similar, and so is the standard: in the one year where the figures are directly comparable, the average UCAT scores of offer holders at the two universities were within 40 points of each other, on the UCAT's previous 3600-point scale. So for most applicants the best choice is simply the one you would rather go to.

The differences that students tend to choose on are:

• The course. Cambridge teaches anatomy through full-body dissection, while Oxford uses specimens that have already been dissected. Cambridge's third year allows a wider choice of subjects, including some outside science.
• Size. Cambridge takes about 270 medics a year, Oxford about 155.
• The place. They are different cities with different colleges. If you can, visit both.

The selection process differs too. It is often said that Oxford is harder to get an interview at but easier to convert, and that Cambridge is the reverse. That is true: Oxford interviews about four in ten applicants, and Cambridge interviews most of them. For some applicants this gives one a slight edge:

• Oxford does not use predicted grades and its offer is A*AA, so it suits you better if your predictions are below A*A*A*.
• Cambridge has no formula, so a UCAT or a few GCSE grades below Oxford's usual level are less likely to rule you out before interview.
• At Cambridge more rests on the interview. At Oxford more rests on your UCAT and GCSEs.

If none of these applies to you, go with the one you prefer.

Choosing a college

Both universities are made up of colleges. Your college is where you live, eat and have your small-group teaching, with five to ten other medics in your year, so it shapes your day-to-day life. Lectures, labs and exams are run by the university and are the same for everyone.

Don't worry too much about the choice. At Oxford it makes almost no difference to your chances: shortlisting is done centrally, you are interviewed by two colleges, and 45% of offers come from a college the applicant didn't choose. At Cambridge the college does make the decision, so it can matter a little, but strong applicants a college has no room for go into a pool and are picked up by other colleges.

Cambridge colleges do set some of their own requirements, so check these before you choose. Seven colleges accept Chemistry plus one other science or maths subject, while the rest want two. A few, such as Trinity and Robinson, say they don't normally interview applicants with a weak UCAT. Some ask for more than the standard offer, and some interview in person while others interview online.

Beyond that, pick the college you would most like to live in. If you have no preference, you can make an open application and be assigned one.

The application goes through UCAS like any other, with a few differences.

• The deadline is 15 October, the same early deadline as all medicine courses. Oxford or Cambridge takes one of your four medicine choices.
• Your personal statement goes to all four schools. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge scores it, but tutors read it and may ask about it at interview, so only include what you can talk about in detail. Both want to see academic interest beyond the syllabus, such as reading you have done and what you made of it. Work experience is recommended, not required.
• Cambridge has a second form. After you submit to UCAS you are sent My Cambridge Application, due a week later. It asks which topics you have covered at school and gives you an optional short statement just for Cambridge.