You can either apply to Cambridge OR Oxford in one cycle, not to both at once

Teaching styles should also play a factor in deciding which medical school to apply to too. Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow are now fully PBL while Oxbridge and St. Andrews are still following the traditional method. The others have integrated these 2 teaching styles as they see fit.

Also the courses at Oxbridge, St. Andrew's, ICL and UCL are six years whereas the rest of the medical schools offer a five year course.

This post has been edited by Kaylain: Feb 9 2012, 09:49 AM

There aren't many universities outside the Russell Group that offer medicine. Those that I know of are University of East Anglia, University, Keele University, University of St. Andrews, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (Partnership between Exeter and Plymouth) And Hull-York Medical School

Not sure which ones would be popular among Malaysian students as if they are diligent in their research they should be able to determine which universities they should apply to to give them a better chance of an offer.Each university has different requirements on the afore-mentioned criteria so therefore students should definitely play to their strengths

Be aware you don't need all the books on the booklist Ask around and find out which ones you'll probably need in the long term

Hahaha unfortunately I'm a fresher too! Seniors have repeatedly drummed into my head that first sem is all about basic biology and told me not to buy the current biology texts as apparently we'll never touch them again after this sem.

Am currently living off lecture notes on moodle

Kumar & Clarke weighs a ton! Please don't tell me you bring that to placements everyday?!

Good grades are definitely not the sole determining factor when a medical school chooses its students. In fact it is now an expectation. Many applicants have perfect scores like triple A*s, ATARs of >99 etc however they may not get an offer unless they have proved themselves to be competent communicators in their interviews.

Communication skills, critical thinking and empathy are very important in the medical profession and are aspects of humanity that are developed over time. Interviewers will want so see that you have attained this mental and emotional maturity. Performance at the interview is definitely more important as on paper everyone's grades are all similarly excellent. In fact the medical school may choose to offer people who got slightly lower scores but performed much better at the interview!

Influenza is caused by a virus too....

Said students probably did first year chem or first year bio already in Year 12 and are probably only there because of the 80% attendance hurdle. I can assure you that just because they are falling asleep they are not falling behind