Cab one get into oxbridge medical school with just 9 A stars(4 Grade 9s and 5 Grade 8s)

[pinki28]

I wanted to know if it is possible to get into oxbridge medical school with most Grade 8s, some Grade 9s and one grade 7. I mean I have heard that almost all successful applicants get majority of Grade 9s and one or two Grade 8s in their GCSE. Please let me know if you have actually seen applicants with one or two Grade u receive an offer from oxbridge medical school. Thanks

Those sound like GCSE results. It's A level results that will count for university entrance.

Yes. These are GCSE results. But then oxbridge does give importance to GCSE results..especially Oxford. Isn't it?

No. It’s all about predicted A levels/interview/entrance exam

Are the lower grades in important (for medical school) subjects like Chemistry and Biology?

Yes those GCSE results won't rule them out, but they will need excellent A-level predictions and be able to perform well at interview and admission tests.

I think it will depend on what the 9s and 8s are in - they will obviously need to have strong maths and sciences - but it will be A Levels and the tests (UCAT??) scores which will also hold strong weight (well any Med school actually).

Thanks so much for the information

The GCSE results are important, and Oxford and Cambridge in general (for some subjects anyway) and a lot of medical schools look for a certain grade average across a certain number of GCSEs, but those are fine for sure. In fact they are excellent. All A stars and an A in old money?

If you had to get all 9s to study medicine at Oxford and Cambridge then even those universities would struggle. 1300 students gained all grade 9s this year, and between them O and C admit about 600 medical students each year. So half of the all-9s would have to a) choose medicine and b) apply to O and C.

I think people worry too much that every other GCSE student gained all top grades. Great GCSEs are wonderful but all 9s is not very common (despite what you read on MN).

Wow, I didn't know all 9s at GCSE were so rare. I know a kid who got all 9s this year. I didn't know she was that extraordinary.

@XelaM yeh it's quite something to achieve.

I know or have known a lot of YP through work and via my DC and I only personally know one person.

Obvs a higher % will do it at selective schools so that can skew your view if that applies.

No dc got all 9s (or 9s abd Astar) at my DCs' comp between dd's year and ds2's.

As long as they have the essentials for the course and good A levels and UCAT results then they stand as good a chance as someone with all 9/8s. For medicine much rests on relevant experience, thinking skills and enthusiasm.

They need something that stands out tbh. My friends daughter was accepted to Cambridge as she had self taught a full subject and got an A in her higher (Scottish A level equivalent) because her school didn’t offer the subject. Her mother had warned her to not get too caught up in the idea of Cambridge as she was just a normal girl from a comprehensive in Scotland. She had to realise she was up against people with the best education money could buy. They were so impressed with her though due to how she solved a problem and managed to teach herself the curriculum to pass the Higher exam. So what sets your child apart from all the others? That’s the real golden ticket, academics are just a part of it.

For medicine the universities will publish how they weight the different elements of the application - UCAT score, GCSEs, Predicted A-level grades, work experience etc. The information is available on their websites. Most potential medics apply strategically based on their UCAT score when they get it and it's worth keeping a very open mind about where they might want to study. In most cases the aim of the application is to secure as many interviews as possible.

The link below shows the admissions data for Oxford Medical School.

www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics

& 1295 of them have parents on MN.

Oxford makes it extremely clear the they expect a majority of GCSEs to be at grade 7 or above. However, they look at them in the context of your school cohort. 8 x grade 7s would be poor from a top private school, but excellent at some state schools.

haha yes I do think all 1300 of them have parents on MN. Honestly the way people talk sometimes about "a full suite of 9s" as tho it's a casual thing, or something lots of people do, does make me wonder. Massive kudos to their DC for achieving that, but also big kudos to someone who has worked hard and gained 777888999 (for example).

For most A level science subjects and maths courses, you'll need at least a 6 in that subject at GCSE to get on the course with the thinking you'll struggle otherwise. But unis won’t care too much about the numbers at GCSE. They care about A level grades, and Oxbridge will do their own thing with their own process and interviews. It’s highly competitive but ultimately GCSEs aren’t likely to be the deciding factor. They are a solid set of results.

It’s the UCAT that’s key? You need a really top score in that.

and very high predicted grades and a decent interview

Does it really matter? You get 4 choices anyway. Apply strategically for the other 3 places.

Ok. Thanks

No. I got Grade 7 in Englisb

Thanks to all for responses.

Scottish Highers are not the equivalent of A level. (Why did you think this?)

Your friend’s child rightly got credit for teaching herself the curriculum. She demonstrated character which many applicants with better academic results might not have developed.

State school or private?

I would imagine your UCAT score is much more important than a few 8s.

She possibly isn't in the sense that gcses test something very different from what Oxbridge are looking for, and the universities know it.

For convenience and a "first cut" they look at grades, but things like interview and aptitude tests will weigh in with more influence in the final analysis.

Put differently, plenty of candidates with all 9s at GCSEs will miss out in the face of more "extraordinary" applicants on the measures that really count - even if they didn't get such high results in GCSEs (aka largely irrelevant subjects at a lower academic level.)