Medicine

• 

  Why study Medicine at Christ's?
• Course content
• Teaching
• What do our students think? 
• How to apply
  • Subject requirements: what do you need?
  • The BMAT
  • Interviews
  • Offers
• Helpful Resources
• Open Days and Online Events
• Want to know more?

Why study Medicine at Christ's?

Christ’s is one of Cambridge’s larger colleges for Medicine, with a very strong teaching record in the subject. Most of our Fellows and Bye-fellows in medical subjects are practising doctors, so can share a wide variety of expertise.

You’ll find Christ’s staff helpful and supportive and our community very welcoming. The lively Medical Society organises all kinds of events, including an annual dinner, garden party and plenty of cheese-and-wine nights where everyone mingles. The College is medium-sized, making it easy for you to get to know other students, staff and Fellows, but also find peace and quiet when you need it.

Course content

You study pre-clinical medicine in first and second year, then complete a BA by studying one subject in more detail in third year.

After that, you move on to the Cambridge clinical medicine course, a three-year training programme which leads to a Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (B. Chir). The emphasis is on learning in clinical settings (at the bedside, in outpatient clinics and GP surgeries) alongside seminars, tutorials and discussion groups.

Please visit the University website for full details of the Undergraduate Medicine course content and structure.

Teaching

Director of Studies: Dr Andrew Stewart Other Fellows in Medicine: Dr Helena Browne Professor Mike Edwardson Dr Isabel Huang-Doran Professor Jonathan Gillard Dr James Jones

Christ's Bye-Fellows in Medicine: Dr Mary-Ellen Lynall Dr Tomasz Matys Dr David Webster

You have medical lectures and practical classes just 10 mins walk away from Christ’s. The teaching for the first couple of years is shared between specialist biomedical departments, including Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Pathology, and Pharmacology, all of which are on the Downing site (see map). The large modern medical library holds a vast collection of sources in hard copy and online, and you have the opportunity to study a range of human skeletons and anatomical models.

College level teaching provides ‘supervisions’ (small group teaching sessions). Our Fellows in Medical Sciences have links with the major teaching departments and the Clinical School, making it easy for us to access course information, find the best supervisors for any subjects and advise you on your options. The College also offers substantial travel awards, grants and prizes in Medicine (as in all subjects) to reward academic excellence.
 

What do our students think? 

Read about the experiences of Iona, Juliet, Barnaby, Rory, Erin, Anissa, Neophytos, and Kieran on pre-clinical Medicine at Christ’s, as well as Anna and George on the clinical Medicine.

If you would hear more from other Christ’s students, please watch the Christ's student Q&A film, and visit our Student Profiles page.

How to apply

Visit How to Apply for full details and a timeline of the application process. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and school types, all over the world. If you're applying from outside the UK, please read our international students section.

Subject requirements: what do you need?

For Medicine at Christ's, our minimum requirements at A-level, IB Higher (or equivalent) are:

• Chemistry
• Two further subjects out of
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Mathematics*

*International Baccalaureate applicants should take IB Higher Level 'Analysis and Approaches' for the Maths option. 

If you’re taking another qualification, please read about offer levels in other exam systems and international entrance requirements.

It is also very important to read the whole of the 'entry requirements' tab in the Medicine course information on the University Admissions website carefully before applying as there are a number of restrictions and details that you need to be aware of.

If you will have finished school when you apply, read about post-qualification applications. 
 

BMAT (Pre-interview Admissions Assessment)

Whichever College you apply to, you sit a pre-interview assessment called the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT). The assessment takes place in your school, college or local testing centre.

When applying, please be aware of the registration and assessment dates:

• Medicine applicants must be registered to take the BMAT. Ideally be registered by 1 October. Please read how to register on the BMAT website. Please note that open centres may set an earlier deadline for accepting entries, and it is your responsibility to check if this applies at your centre.
   
• Medicine applicants sit the BMAT in early November.

Read about preparing for the BMAT and find details in the Medicine course information under Entry Requirements.

In some areas, you may be able to take the BMAT on an alternative date in September. If this is of interest, read the BMAT alternative date information. Please note, you can only sit the BMAT once.

Interviews

After the BMAT results are published, applicants invited for interviews are usually interviewed in early December. Those invited for Cambridge interviews are normally interviewed for 35-50 minutes in total. At Christ’s, we usually split the time into two interviews with academics in Medicine. We assess how you solve problems and apply your skills and knowledge, rather than testing you on facts. We also look for evidence that you have the necessary skills to practice clinical medicine.

For an idea of what to expect, please read the information and watch the short films on Cambridge admissions interviews as well as Cambridge Medicine Interview - Experiences of eight students. If you are an international student, please note that Medicine is not included in the overseas interview scheme, so your online interviews will be the Cambridge interviews at the same time as UK students have their interviews.
 

Offers

At Christ's we admit 14 students for Medicine each year, which gives us a total of 42 medical students across the three pre-clinical years.

You need to be academically ambitious: our typical Medicine offer for A-level candidates is A*A*A in Chemistry and two further subjects out of Biology, Mathematics and Physics, and for IB candidates 42 points overall, with 776 at Higher Level including Chemistry, and two further subjects out of Biology, Mathematics (Analysis and Approaches) and Physics. The majority of Christ’s students arrive with higher grades, however. If you are studying in another qualification system we would expect you to be working at or close to the top of the mark range. The international students section has information about typical offers for international qualifications.

If you will have already finished school when you apply, please see the page for post-qualification applications.

You also need to meet the University's pre-medical requirements, including a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check (or equivalent). You can find full details in Medicine course information under Entry Requirements.
 

Helpful Resources

Come to an Open Day or Online Event

Online events: Our open days and events page advertises online opportunities as well as events in Cambridge, and includes College Open Days where you can talk to staff and current students about the course.

Subject-specific opportunities you might wish to consider include Subject Masterclasses organised by Cambridge Admissions Office, and Medicine-specific talks in the July Cambridge Open Days. Do also look out for the Cambridge Festival in March, which normally has lots of relevant talks. If you are a UK student from a background where there is little tradition of entry to Higher Education, you can apply to attend a Sutton Trust Summer School in Medicine or to shadow a current Medicine undergraduate via the Cambridge SU Shadowing Scheme (do be aware that there's a high proportion of applicants to places for both of these last two opportunities, so please don't be discouraged if you are not given a place).

Need more information?

For more detail of what the course involves, please take a look at Undergraduate Medicine admissions on the University website and also read the Faculty of Biology information for prospective students.

And if you have any other questions, send them to us at admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk. We’re here to help.
 

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