Medicine at Oxbridge - to apply or not?

[wehaveonlyjustbegun]

Hi all,
DS wants to study medicine. He has 10 A*s, 4As at AS and is taking 4 A levels. His UKCAT was 700. His careers teacher is keen that he applies to Oxford or Cambridge. DS is very laid back and relaxed, but unsure whether to give it a go or not. He is worried that - as medicine is so hard to get into - it could waste a choice.
So, could anyone answer the following questions:

1. Would a degree in medicine from Oxbridge be advantageous to his career?
2. Would the course be 'all work and no play'?
3. Would studying for the BMAT be a lot of extra work or would it benefit him academically?
4. Does Oxbridge produce better doctors?
5. He attends a state school and we both work - however - I have read stories that tickets for balls are around £100 each. As he would have to take a loan to pay the fees, I am concerned that there would be a lot of 'extras' which he could not afford. Is this the case?

I attended a RG university and do not know anyone who has been to Oxbridge. I would be very grateful for opinions regarding the above.

At the risk of outing myself someone very close to me is a professor who teaches the medics at cambridge. It's complete nonsense that it's better suited to those interested in research or that it only turns out research-minded doctors who are impractical. In fact that's complete crap.

It's a great place to study medicine and with cheaper accommodation and bursaries galore much cheaper than a lot of other places. And plenty of state-educated students too. It's a no-brainer - he should apply.

mum141....I just arranged for Blackstone tutors to come to my DS school to give a UKCAT course, and my DS was most impressed.

Fingers crossed the exam goes well......but overall I think they gave lots of good tips and resources to take away