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Pre-clinical medicine: How do you short-list for interview?

Around 425 applicants are invited to interview each year.

As part of the process to decide which applicants are called to interview, we establish a numerical ranking on the basis of GCSE performance and BMAT results.

For GCSE performance, we will look at the number of and proportion of GCSE passes at the top grades (8/9) and relate those to the performance of all students at the school where the GCSEs were taken.  For applicants with GCSEs, we will give equal weight in the first stage of shortlisting to GCSEs and BMAT. For those without GCSEs, or who took GCSEs in 2020 or 2021, we will give double weight to the BMAT.

You should bear in mind that as we short-list the same number of people every year, and we use two variables (which carry the same weight), there is no actual cut-off for either variable. It is therefore impossible to advise on the number of 8/9 grades an applicant would ‘need’ to be short-listed. An applicant with fewer 8/9s at GCSE could compensate by achieving a stronger BMAT score, and an applicant with a lower BMAT score than average could compensate by having more 8/9s at GCSE in order to be short-listed automatically. Therefore amongst those selected for interview there will be a spread of performance in both of these variables.

You may be interested in looking at the admissions statistics relating to BMAT and GCSE performance.

All applicants who do not make the initial short-list are then reviewed in detail, taking into account any individual circumstances that might indicate that their academic performance is likely to underestimate their potential. If you feel that you underperformed at GCSE because of extreme circumstances beyond your control, it is imperative that these extenuating circumstances are brought to our attention. See: https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/applying/mit-circs 

If you underperformed during BMAT because of extreme circumstances you should inform Cambridge Assessment within 5 working days of sitting the test. See the BMAT website for further information. Please note we will not consider any extenuating circumstances not declared to Cambridge Assessments using the appropriate procedure.

Please note, the University of Oxford will not accept BMAT results from the September sitting for A100 Medicine. 

Pre-clinical