Oxbridge
WHY OXBRIDGE
Oxford and Cambridge have consistently been the top medical schools in the UK and even the world. Established in the 12th century, they’ve been around for ages and have established themselves as research powerhouses, producing doctors that are extremely inclined in the research field. Apart from the prestige and awe that these universities inspire, what sets them apart from the crowd?
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​Collegiate System-Basically, a college comprises a group of students studying different subjects, from all around the world, tutors, staff and pastoral support. The collegiate system forms the basis for your community at oxbridge-these would be the people who stay with, who you eat with at the dining halls, whose different perspectives you get to experience that normally you wouldn’t be able to.
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Traditional Style Course
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​Pre-Clinical(Years 1 and 2) - During the pre-clinical years, the focus is based on getting the foundations of the basic sciences of medicine down, in almost molecular detail.
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Bachelor of Arts (Year 3) - At Oxbridge, the third year is a break from Medicine and gives you the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Arts in a field of your choice.
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Clinical placements (Years 4-6) - For all Oxbridge students, this can feel like you’ve been thrown in the deep end because you’ve had no teaching on how to be useful in the wards. These two years are spent training students on how to be a foundation doctor.
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Tutorials- As we’ve mentioned before, since Oxbridge takes in a very select number of students, the individual focus is much higher than the average medical school of around 400 students. The tutorials are conducted by leading scientists and researchers so you have to know what’s going on. These also require a fair bit of preparation and you’re often given problem sets, worksheets, or presentations to work through.
How to choose between the two?
Because of the similarity in their course structures and the large numbers applying to them, you can only apply to either oxford or Cambridge.
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The third year which contributes towards earning a Bachelor’s degree differs slightly between the two universities.
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Oxford as a city is fairly bigger than Cambridge and there’s more stuff to do whereas Cambridge is a bit of a sleepy, university town.
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Cambridge has a bigger year group although at the end of the day, the tutorial sizes would be still be college dependent and small so there would be plenty of individual attention.
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Cambridge does full body dissection; Oxford only uses prossections.
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Clinical school destinations (about 70% of Oxford students stay on, whereas only 50% of Cambridge students can, but a few move to Oxford).
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OXBRIDGE INTERVIEWS
Oxford and Cambridge interviews predominantly focus on science based questions like interpreting graphs, analyzing a genetic tree, studying X-ray or microscopic slide images, and more. Therefore, it’s good to be familiar with the A level biology syllabus prior to your interview.
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Doing further research beyond this would also prove beneficial for you as many of the interviewers tend to be scientists looking for students that have passion for research and academic medicine (as their course focuses a lot on these aspects).
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Sometimes you may be thrown an especially tricky question - it’s important to not panic! Start from the basics, break down the question and come up with an adequate solution based on your reasoning. It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong, the interviewers are more interested in seeing how clear headed and confident you can be in confusing situations! Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask questions to understand what you’re being asked more clearly.
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Each university looks for specific qualities in their applicants during an interview. Interview sessions at Oxbridge normally last around 20-40 minutes (many Cambridge candidates may also have a follow up interview after their first).
PLACES AVAILABLE
Most medical schools have a limited number of places for international students despite the large amount of applicants, thereby making it an incredibly competitive course. Similarly, Oxford and Cambridge have very few seats reserved for international students.
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Oxford interviews around 425 applicants (UK, EU and international countries included) but only has 14 seats for international students, the total course load being around 150 students.
Cambridge on the other hand has around 280 seats available, with about 6 applicants competing for one place. In addition, there are 21 seats reserved for international students.
As a result, Oxford and Cambridge attempt to filter their top student applications by setting high academic requirements and having unique interview questions...therefore, it’s important to do your research before applying to university as you only get 4 choices!
PROS AND CONS
The three most common teaching methods used by UK medical schools are traditional, case-based learning, and an integrated approach. Each method has particular disadvantages and benefits. Oxford and Cambridge both follow a traditional method of teaching and the course is 6 years long for both universities.
The traditional teaching method implies that the first three years of the program are focused on pre-clinical teaching, i.e. lectures, seminars, and tutorials. This is useful for students to delve deeper into how the body works prior to starting their clinical placements - easier to use the information they’ve learnt more effectively. However, on the other hand, having late clinical teaching implies that students are unable to acquire early patient contact skills, like communication and working with the other healthcare professionals to determine a prognosis.
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Oxford engages via teaching by tutorials (with students having up-to 3 tutorials a week). These tutorials allow students to discuss (in small groups) intricacies of particular scenarios/problems posed with a professor, thereby being a highly personalized academic teaching method. This not only provides for a more clear understanding on the subject matter, but also promotes a tight knit, friendly and, comfortable environment between staff and students.
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Oxford and Cambridge are both prestigious universities with high reputations, therefore, wherever you end up will definitely be an amazing experience in terms of academics and student life! Furthermore, if you’re incredibly interested in academic medicine and the different areas for research, you’ll definitely be drawn to the traditional approach taught by these universities!