Oxford/Cambridge???

[Jassi]

hi evry1.....
im thinkin of applyin 2 1 of these unis.....but dont know how to choose between da 2
......can sum1 plz help..........???? how do i go about decidin???
Thanks...
Jas

[dsn]

There are some pretty crucial differences. You can look at these links which have the course outlines:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/unde...ine/index.html

http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/medi.shtml

I don't think that they are so keen on supervisions in Oxford and they give you much less choice for what you can do in your third year.

Most sensible people wouldn't want to be seen dead in Oxford. This might explain why some unsavoury characters originate from there; Rupert Murdoch, no less than 25 Prime Ministers and most of the conservative party.

I think the towns are quite different and Cambridge is generally younger.

[*Liana*]

I would visit them both and read about the courses and decide that way.

[elles]

Recently Maria_88 asked a similar Q in the Oxford subforum & I said:

Some areas of differences you could look into (general googles or university web pages both have oodles of info on).

- City itself
Generally I’ve heard that Oxford is more of a city with a university whereas Cambridge is a university with some little bits of city – so Oxford is larger & livelier, but perhaps Cambridge is quieter & more peaceful/less polluted.
Location – both in quite good proximity to London, Oxford a bit more southern – which was a plus for me.

- Course
I think it’s fair to say the two courses are more similar than they are different compared to the rest of the medical schools in the UK – both are 6 years with a preclinical/clinical divide.

But there are some differences – departmental websites will outline both course structures. Off the top of my head, some potentially relevant things:

.Cambridge use dissection (there’s another thread in here about dissection/prosection)
.Oxford FHS (the BA year) is 4 terms, whereas in Cambridge it’s only 3 terms - slightly different format & options for the 3rd year BA
.Oxford preclinical intake is smaller ~ half that of Cam (but check the exact figures if you’re interested)
.Oxford clinical intake is more evenly matched to preclinical – so possible you’d be more likely to be able to stay on there than you would Cambridge if you wanted to – this has been discussed in some other threads

- Admissions
Both use the BMAT but in different ways. Oxford use it to shortlist candidates for interview & then candidates are interviewed at two different colleges. Cambridge interview more candidates, but the majority will probably only get a chance at interview at one college.

Not keen on “supervisions” at all – we have tutorials instead at Oxford ;-) I had ~2-3 a week for the first two years but format/number vary with college & year.

[Jassi]

im really not looking forward to the bmat....not too confident about it. my gcses are gud tho -got 7A*s and 4As and am hoping to do well in my ASs. But because oxford use the bmat results to shortlist candidiates for interview i think Cambridge would probly be a better option......(???)

[dsn]

Cambridge ranks candidates by BMAT score/ GCSEs as well. It's used to justify (or not) some admissions, if a college has comparitively weak candidates.

Somewhere in here, I think:
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/

[Wannabe-Doc]

There are lots of deciding factors - some may be more relevant to you and some not so but seeing as I am in the middle of deciding (though have come to the more or less certain conclusion that it'll be Cambridge for me!) I'll tell you how I've been deciding:

 Have you visited the two universities/cities? Did you go on the open days? What did you think? Both cities have quite a different … atmosphere? Culture? Not sure how to say it, but Oxford is more of a city – lots more people, a bit more lively, more students (there are two universities in Oxford), some may say better shops, and Cambridge has more of a quiet, cosy feel – a bit more laid-back, has more of a feeling of a large town then a city (well that’s what I felt at open day!). It’s really personal opinion - both are great places to work and study so it shouldn’t be too bad, and London is about an hour away from both.

 Have you looked at the course structures? Though they are basically the same (both have ‘traditional’ courses, with lots of lectures) there are some important differences to remember – Cambridge does dissection, whereas Oxford uses prosection to teach anatomy (this may not matter to you but it played a part (ok so not that much significant) when I decided where to apply). Oxford has slightly different options for your 3rd year (when you do your ‘intercalated year’) and its pre-clinical course is somewhat longer then the Cambridge course (4 terms as opposed to 3). Take a look at the Oxford/Cambridge medicine website/information pages/course info pages – they’ll give you a better idea of the courses (and take a look around MSG as well!)

 You also have to think about the actually admissions process – I think it’s been mentioned earlier about the different ways that the BMAT is used. If you had rather good GCSE’s and were slightly unsure about the BMAT then it may be a good idea to apply to Oxford (controversial advice I’m sure) but the way I see it, is that the BMAT will primarily be used to get you the interview – you’ll have to work hard after that with your personal statement and performance at interview, I personally doubt that they’d us e the BMAT much after that. On the other hand, Cambridge, on the whole (apart from some colleges such as Trinity which use it as a discriminator for interviews) use the BMAT as part of the whole admissions process – along with your personal statement, reference, grades etc. Somebody will probably come along now and tell you not to listen to me on this point but it’s my opinion/advice at the end of the day!

 Your module marks/grades/UMS marks may be somewhat important – on the Cambridge application form you have to state every single module that you have taken with the total UMS marks gained for that subject, the mark and grade for that module and whether you plan to retake that module. The Oxford admissions people don’t seem bothered about this – the St Edmund Hall admissions tutor that I spoke to told me – ‘as long as you get AAA at the end of the day, that’s all we care about’. This may meant that if you didn’t get the module marks that you were aiming for, then you might not want to tell the admissions people about it – I know this point is important to me, if I don’t achieve the module marks that I’m hopping for tomorrow then I may change my choice from Cambridge to Oxford (but may not!), because, quite simply I don’t particularly want to give the admissions tutors a reason to reject me.

 Advice given from people you may know that go to/have been/are at the universities is also important. I know a heck of a lot more people at Cambridge personally, so their advice has been invaluable to me – if I knew more then 3 people with connections to Oxford, my opinions may be slightly different!!

 Another thing to remember is that for clinical years, you can opt to transfer to Oxford/Cambridge/London – so if you end up, say at Cambridge and feel like you want a bit of a change, you can always go to Oxford and have the best of both universities!

At the end of the day, the two universities are somewhat alike in many respects (reputation, excellent facilities, and amazing extra-curriculars on offer, opportunities and kudos for going there) so going to either one will be an amazing opportunity. Most people end up completely falling in love with the place that they end up, even if they were unsure about where to apply in the first place.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do (and I’m sorry it took me to post, I know I told you via PMs that I’d do it a lot sooner, I’ve just been a bit busy at the mo!)

[Jassi]

hi Wannabe-doc!
Thanks alot for the information!....it was very useful and has made alot of things much clearer! hope uve got in to the university of ur choice.
Best of luck. Jas

[Dr.Hassie]

Two words.... Oxford Rules!!!!!!!!

[sbailey]

Wannabe-Doc, your last post is thorough and I'm sure future applicants will find it very useful. I just want to point out one mistake, in case it misleads anyone:

Oxford has slightly different options for your 3rd year (when you do your ‘intercalated year’) and its pre-clinical course is somewhat longer then the Cambridge course (4 terms as opposed to 3). Take a look at the Oxford/Cambridge medicine website/information pages/course info pages – they’ll give you a better idea of the courses (and take a look around MSG as well!)

The Cambridge preclinical course is actually 6 terms long, compared to the Oxford course which is about 4 and a half, I think. Because both courses are 3 years long altogether, this means that you spend more time doing the 'third year' at Oxford (it starts in the second year). Another thing worth bearing in mind is that Cambridge offer the opportunity to cover a non-medical subject in the last year (and still go to clinical school afterwards), although most people choose a biological subject to specialise in.