Choosing an Oxbridge College for Medicine

Which Oxbridge college should I apply to?

Before considering choosing a college to apply to, it is important to note, in Oxford, the Medical Admissions process is conducted centrally so specifying a certain college won’t affect your overall chance of being awarded an offer at the university. Cambridge offers a similar pooling system that means your offer may not be for the college you applied to.

You don't have to apply to a college

Oxbridge also allows students to make an open application if they don’t have a preference of college where you are randomly assigned to a college. Indeed, ~40% of Oxford’s applicants are assigned to a college other than the one they applied to - this is an inevitable consequence of Oxford’s “college blind” interview process.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that overwhelmingly students are happy with whichever college they end up at and that expressing a preference won’t affect your chances of getting into the university.

Your college choice does not affect your application

Your Oxbridge college choice plays a relatively minor role in your Oxbridge application as well as your Medicine applications as a whole. It is far more important to really consider whether Medicine is for you and to apply strategically for your 4 Medicine University Choices.

Although there are minor differences between colleges, you will enjoy your college no matter where and at the end of the day, you will be studying Medicine at Oxbridge!

Your college choice will not affect your performance on the course

As most of the teaching is delivered centrally, your college choice (or lack of) should not affect your chances of thriving in the course.

If you do choose a college, all of the following factors may help inform your decision:

Factors	Questions
Location	Is it central or far out?
Size	Is it too large? Is it too small?
Tutors/Supervisors	Are they more student-led or tutor-led? Are the clinical or more academic?
Student Body	How large is the college year group? How active is the Student Body?
Financial Support	What bursaries are available?
Accommodation & Catering	What is the average fresher room like? How are the catering facilities? Do colleges offer accommodation for all 6 years?

Every college is unique with its own idiosyncrasies, more information about individual colleges can be found here:

• Cambridge: College listing | Undergraduate Study (cam.ac.uk)

• Oxford: Colleges | University of Oxford

• More details about applying to a college at Oxford University can be found here: Do you choose a college? | University of Oxford.