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Applying to Medicine at Oxford or Cambridge - Questions to ask yourself, open days, stereotypes

2017-10-01 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Callum, Paul, Jake, Marcus, Shalin, Molly Hunt, Chidera, a guest · recording, 9:03 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Aimed at students

Ali and his Cambridge medical-student friends give five questions for deciding whether Cambridge medicine suits you (science and concepts first, small-group supervisions, intense eight-week terms), Molly's advice on open days, and a talk on the Cambridge stereotype; Ali says the course alone should decide, and that applicants who do not fit the mould should apply.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Ali introduces the video on applying to Cambridge for medicine

00:00:58 — Five questions to ask yourself before applying to Cambridge

  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says people interested in the science of medicine as well as its people side do well in Cambridge medicine, which still teaches the people side. — 00:00:58 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says Cambridge teaches medicine conceptually from first principles, so learners who prefer building understanding to rote memorisation should think about applying. — 00:01:09 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says Cambridge medicine is not the right place for those who want hands-on patient contact from the start, and the university is open about that. — 00:01:25 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says Cambridge supervisions are usually run by a doctor or senior faculty member with three or four students, sometimes one-on-one, and can be intense. — 00:01:52 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says Cambridge terms are intense: eight weeks of lectures and supervisions with a social life and sleep to fit in. — 00:02:23 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says the difficulty of the Cambridge course is what makes it a good experience, because students make close friends going through it. — 00:02:40 · University of Cambridge

00:02:53 — Molly on open days and her own application

  • ★★ Molly Hunt: Molly recommends going to a university open day if you can, saying open days are really informative. — 00:03:00 · Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Molly Hunt: Molly says she was not keen on Cambridge, thinking she would not be good enough and that it was a different world, until her parents made her go to an open day. — 00:03:05 · University of Cambridge, Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Molly Hunt: At the Cambridge open day Molly saw visitors and student guides just like her, which gave her hope that a normal person could go there. — 00:03:22 · University of Cambridge, Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Molly Hunt: Molly recommends seeing as many Cambridge colleges as you can at an open day, since Cambridge has so many colleges. — 00:03:35 · University of Cambridge, Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Molly Hunt: Molly says an admissions tutor talk convinced her of her college and recommends attending such talks to see the people who would teach you. — 00:03:51 · Molly Hunt

00:03:58 — Why stereotypes put students off applying to Oxford and Cambridge

  • ★ When applying, Ali was a bit worried that people at Cambridge would be weird, but it did not stop him applying. — 00:04:05 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali says that in his years of helping students with medicine applications he has often heard that they are reluctant to apply to Cambridge or Oxford for fear of the negative stereotypes and of not fitting in. — 00:04:23 · University of Cambridge, University of Oxford
  • ★★ Ali says media stories, such as Cambridge students burning money in front of homeless people and weird interview questions, make Oxford and Cambridge look like places for other people. — 00:04:35 · University of Cambridge, University of Oxford

00:05:08 — Chidera, Marcus and Shalin on the Cambridge stereotype and fitting in

  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says few people in their lectures look like them, and that this was a motivation. — 00:05:08 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: The same student says that applicants who feel they do not fit the Cambridge mould still have a place there, since the only requirement is being intelligent enough. — 00:05:21 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: A Cambridge medical student says the Cambridge stereotype runs through society but does not really exist, since the medics are all very different. — 00:05:50 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: Another Cambridge medical student expected a stereotype and trouble fitting in but found everyone down to earth, with very different interests. — 00:05:56 · University of Cambridge

00:06:39 — You are the type of person who should apply

  • ★★★ Ali says students who do not fit the private-school white male mould are exactly the people who should apply to Cambridge, because otherwise its diversity will not increase. — 00:06:59 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali recommends the channels of YouTubers such as Ibz Mo (as heard) who are challenging the stereotype of the white, middle-class, rich male Cambridge student. — 00:07:08 · Ibz Mo, University of Cambridge

00:07:36 — Conclusion: the course should decide; sign-off

  • ★★★ Ali says the only thing that should decide whether to apply to Cambridge for medicine is whether the course suits you: if you enjoy the academic side and would cope with intense terms, apply. — 00:07:58 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ In his final year at Cambridge, Ali says he and his friends are sad to be leaving and cannot imagine having studied medicine anywhere else. — 00:08:20 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali says more videos of his medicine application series are coming over the next few weeks, mostly about interviews. — 00:08:50 · also in: How to answer Medical Ethics interview questions

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: University of Cambridge

Also: Callum · Chidera · Ibz Mo · Jake · Marcus · Molly Hunt · Paul · Shalin

Only in the description or credits: University of Oxford

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