Skip to content

Oxbridge Medicine Interview - 15 Tips (Oxford / Cambridge)

2017-10-28 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, a guest · recording, 13:32 · watch on YouTube

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

Ali presents 15 tips from nine Cambridge medical students for the Oxford and Cambridge medicine interviews, which his Oxford friends say are pretty much identical: think out loud, venture an answer when unsure, know A-level science principles, answer the question asked, show enthusiasm, backtrack when wrong, bring pen and paper, and stay calm, since interviewers deliberately ask what you do not know.

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 nine medical students and 15 tips; the Oxford interview is the same

00:00:53 — Think out loud, don't worry if you don't know, always venture an answer

  • ★★★ a guest: A student's biggest tip for the Cambridge medicine interview is to think out loud rather than sit silently on a hard question, since interviewers want to see how you reason, not that you know everything. — 00:00:53 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge

    “you need to be able to think out loud”

  • ★★ a guest: Another student practised before the interview by having a friend ask unknown questions, such as how to calculate the number of oxygen molecules in a room, and talking them through as a two-way dialogue. — 00:01:23 · Medicine interview

  • ★★ a guest: A student advises not being afraid of not knowing the answer in the Oxbridge interview, since the questions are hard and the aim is to think; applicants flustered by not knowing should practise that. — 00:02:32 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises always venturing an answer in the Oxbridge interview: say you are not sure but hazard a guess, showing you grapple with the problem intellectually. — 00:03:07 · Medicine interview

00:03:30 — Let them guide you, revise science and maths, answer the question they ask

  • ★★ a guest: A student says Oxbridge interviewers test you but want to get the best out of you: when the student could not reach an answer to science questions, they gave clues and guided. — 00:03:30 · Medicine interview
  • ★★★ a guest: A student advises revising science and maths for the Oxbridge interview: know the A-level chemistry and biology syllabus and its principles well; complicated concepts are needed only if your personal statement mentions them. — 00:03:53 · Medicine interview, Personal statement
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises answering the question the interviewers actually asked, not the one you wish you had been asked: asked about high blood pressure and coronary disease, do not talk about diabetes. — 00:04:20 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student says that if you know a lot about a topic the Oxbridge interviewers touch on, they move on, since they want to see how much new knowledge you take on and apply. — 00:04:52 · Medicine interview

00:05:20 — Enthusiasm, pivoting, pen and paper, practice with friends, not showing all your cards at once

  • ★★★ a guest: A student who found the Cambridge interviews fun says applicants should be passionate about medicine and science, since Oxbridge medicine is a science-heavy course and the interview lets that passion show. — 00:05:20 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student advises talking confidently and enthusiastically about science on the day: the interviewer, usually a lecturer or supervisor in the subject, will think you would be fun to teach. — 00:05:47 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises being willing to pivot and backtrack in the Cambridge interview when your reasoning goes wrong, without pride, and to push the logic on from there. — 00:06:23 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: Another student advises taking a pen and paper to the Oxbridge interview: on some questions, writing and drawing lets you think out loud and shows interviewers more of your thinking. — 00:06:40 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student says any practice for the Oxbridge interview helps, especially with people who had one, as the interviews are not as sinister and out to get you as the media suggest. — 00:07:15 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: A student advises going slowly in the Oxbridge interview even when you think you know the answer, since it uses up time and shows your thinking. — 00:08:00 · Medicine interview

00:08:41 — Learning outside your comfort zone and thinking on your feet

  • ★★★ a guest: A student says the Cambridge interview tests how you learn outside your comfort zone, since a test of answers alone would be wasteful among top applicants and students come to learn new things. — 00:09:21 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge
  • ★★ a guest: The student says that if you are an expert on lungs, interviewers will switch to the kidney: they would rather hear you struggle through kidneys than breeze through lungs, and that does not mean you are bad. — 00:09:21 · Medicine interview
  • ★★★ a guest: Another student says that apart from enthusiasm, Oxbridge interviewers want to see you can think: it needs no great intelligence or every fact about a disease, only thinking on your feet. — 00:10:11 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student advises, when asked about something you know nothing about, using any relevant information you do have to answer the question. — 00:10:11 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: Another student says Oxbridge interviewers deliberately ask questions you cannot answer to keep you from textbook answers and see how creatively and sensibly you think and link ideas. — 00:10:57 · Medicine interview

00:11:20 — Keep calm, focus on the science, relax

  • ★★ a guest: A student calls keeping calm in the Oxbridge interview a huge thing: freaking out can make you miss stages of a question, and the whole interview may be one question. — 00:11:20 · Medicine interview
  • ★★ a guest: The student's Cambridge interview was about the sciences, not why medicine or why this college; the student advises focusing on science but having your personal statement and extracurriculars ready, as some colleges ask about them. — 00:11:20 · Medicine interview, Personal statement
  • ★★ a guest: Another student says the Cambridge interview may need even less preparation than a normal one, being unpredictable: just practise talking and being relaxed. (hedged) — 00:11:50 · Medicine interview, University of Cambridge
  • ★ a guest: The student forgot a razor on coming for the interview, walked into town for a shave at a barber, and calls that the whole interview-day preparation. — 00:12:12 · Medicine interview

00:12:39 — Ali's sign-off and more videos coming on interviews

  • ★★ Ali says many more videos are coming over the next few weeks on interviews specifically and on the medicine application process. — 00:13:08 · Medicine interview

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Medicine interview · University of Cambridge · University of Oxford

Also: Personal statement

Replies to

Replied to by

← Previous: 6 tips for Medicine MMIs - Multiple Mini Interviews · Next → Clinical School Pantomime audition - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #11