What do top universities look for in applicants?

What selective universities such as Oxford and Cambridge value in applicants (subject passion, grades, extracurriculars).

Axis: deep interest and ability in the subject … a well-rounded profile of extracurriculars

Answers by date: 5 records in 4 sources, newest first; the answers above are the current ones. The advice was refined (2018), never reversed, in these records.

date	who	answer	source
2020-07-13	Ali	Ali's advice to a 15 or 16-year-old who wants to study medicine: get really good grades, the main thing that matters.	What We Learnt In 2 Years of Being Doctors - Deep Dive with Molly Hunt 00:54:13
2019-02-14	Ali	Ali's one best tip for getting into Cambridge: get really good grades, which is pretty much all you need.	Valentine’s Day Live Stream 00:40:16
2018-05-07	Ali	To get into medicine, Ali says, get really good grades, by far the biggest single factor: it is not that hard with good grades and really hard without them.	Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student 00:23:44
2018-05-07	Ali	Ali's rough rule of thumb: for Oxford or Cambridge be at least in the top five of your year group; for medicine generally, in the top 10 or 20 percent.	Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student 00:15:32
2018-05-01	Ali	Ali calls it a myth that you need extracurriculars for Oxford or Cambridge: they look for massive nerds who are really good at their subject, not well-rounded people with Grade 8 piano or Team GB rowing.	First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A 00:24:15