Medicine @ Christ Church, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

4x 25 min interviews, over 2 days

Interview content

Personal statement, graphs, MRIs and scans, physiology

Best preparation

Mock interviews, personal statement discussion

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Prepare early, little and often.

Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.

Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.

Interview Format

Test taken: BMAT

Number of interviews: 4

Skype interview: No

Interview spread: 6 hour gap betwen first two one day, then the same the next day

Length of interviews: 25 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

We covered topics in my personal statement, but in far greater depth. I had to analyse graphs, and look at MRIs and scans (which I was asked to interpret). We also had a discussion about physiology.

How did you prepare?

I would recommend revising as much as possible for the BMAT/pretest - this can be a "shortcut" to a much stronger application.

I spoke to current students for advice.

The best thing I did was mock interviews and discussing my personal statement with teachers.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

I would say to relax and enjoy the interview process, try not to be preparing whilst in Oxford/Cambridge - there is nothing really you can learn in the last 24 hours!!! Prepare early, little and often.