Last Updated on July 30, 2023
Jesus College Cambridge is one of the elite colleges in the UK that admits students to study Medicine. Here are the medicine entry requirements at Jesus College Cambridge. These include your personal statement, UCAS form, exam results and A level grades.
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overview of Jesus College Cambridge Medicine Entry Requirements
Medicine
- Number of students per year: 11
- Typical offer: A*A*A or equivalent
- Essential subjects: Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics
- Useful subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Biology
At Jesus College we provide a supportive and challenging intellectual environment for our Medical students.
The College has first rate study facilities, such as the Quincentenary Library, which has an excellent collection of textbooks and resources related to the Medical and Veterinary course. There are also two rooms dedicated to Medical and Veterinary teaching and meetings in the new West Court building.
We have a Fellow teaching in most of the core subjects:
- Professors Kathryn Lilley, Biochemistry
- Drs Matthew Harper and Steve Hladky, Pharmacology
- Dr Sybil Stacpoole, Neuroscience
- Dr Jim Ajioka, Pathology.
- Dr Andrew Grant, Veterinary Medicine
Other high profile medical Fellows in the College include Professor Sir Bruce Ponder, Professor Alastair Compston, and Professor John Danesh.
Our clinical students are also an important part of Medicine at Jesus, providing both teaching and mentoring for undergraduates.
Our medical students go on to a variety of positions within the NHS, public health organisations, and private practice. Graduates have gone on to do everything from general practice to working at the World Health Organisation.
Medical and Veterinary Society
The student run Medical and Veterinary Society supports students through their six years of study. The Society organises both social and professional events.
Around twice a term the Society invites speakers to talk and have informal discussions about their speciality and career path. Recent speakers include Dr Pixie McKenna from Embarrassing Bodies and Dr David Maxwell, respiratory consultant, Olympic silver medallist in rowing, and Jesuan.Find out more on the University webpage.What we look for
Requirements
Our typical offer is for A* A* A at A-Level or equivalent.
Our Medical and Veterinary course requires a solid grounding in science because the first three years are taught as Natural Science. You should have an A-Level or International Baccalaureate Higher in Chemistry, in combination with Maths, Physics, or Biology.
Preparation
It’s important that you understand what it means to be a doctor and what the profession demands. We like to see that you’ve had some work experience, for example volunteering at a care home or special needs facility, a GP practice, or as a hospital assistant.
Written test
You’ll need to sit the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) in November.
Interviews
In light of Covid we are currently reviewing whether we shall be holding virtual or College-based interviews and will provide further details in the future.
In order to minimise COVID-related risks to our applicants, students and staff, all 2020 interviews were held online. A typical virtual interview for Medicine usually consists of two 30 minute online interviews with the Director of Studies for Medicine and subject Fellows. The interviews aim to assess your intellectual ability, enthusiasm, and commitment to the subject. They usually include some exercises designed to assess your problem solving aptitude. However, this format may change depending on government guidelines for 2021.
There is the possibility that interviews this year could take place in College or virtually once more. We will provide further details as soon as we are able.
Written work
You don’t need to submit any written work.
Deferred and post A-Level entry
We’re happy to consider applications for either immediate or deferred entry in Medicine or Veterinary Medicine, or from post qualification applicants. We also welcome applications from mature students
There is a wide choice of subjects to suit individual students, ranging across Neuroscience, Psychology of Emotion and Motivation, Human Physiology, Immunology, and Molecular Medicine to give just a few examples.
All medical students at Oxford simultaneously study for an Honours Degree in Medical Sciences and an Honour Degree in Medicine. It is important to point out this requirement because it means that the course in Oxford is six years, with the extra year being designed to lay the foundations of a scientific approach to Medicine.
Watch our Open Day talk about studying Medicine at Jesus College below.
The first five terms of the medical course are organised into six overlapping courses:
- Organisation of the Body
- Physiology and Pharmacology
- Biochemistry and Medical Genetics
- Applied Physiology and Pharmacology
- The Nervous System
- Principles of Pathology
These involve all the pre-clinical departments and provide an integrated base of professional knowledge which is examined at the end of the third and fifth terms in the medical qualifying examination (1st BM). Informal tests during the five terms are used to ensure that any difficulties students may encounter are dealt with swiftly. During the remaining four terms of the course students choose from a wide range of topics among the scientific disciplines on which Medicine is based, and on which research is actively being carried out in the pre-clinical departments at Oxford.
There is a wide choice of subjects to suit individual students, ranging across Neuroscience, Psychology of Emotion and Motivation, Human Physiology, Immunology, and Molecular Medicine to give just a few examples. Chemical Pharmacology and the History and Philosophy of Science are also offered as supplementary options. It is possible to undertake cutting edge research by taking part in the laboratory investigations of relevant University-based scientists and by preparing a project dissertation as part of the final examination. By the time the final examinations are taken, at the end of the first three years, students have an impressive grasp of the critical and imaginative mental disciplines needed to equip the future doctor in an increasingly technical and scientific world.
After obtaining an Honours Degree, medical students move on to undertake their clinical training in the Oxford Clinical School.
As with all other subjects at Oxford, teaching is based on the weekly tutorials given by the College’s medical tutors to individual students, or to small groups of students. Work must be prepared in advance, and in each tutorial students discuss their conclusions and any difficulties which have arisen. In addition, lectures and practical classes are held in the University departments for students from all colleges; these make up a large proportion of the timetable in the first five terms but diminish in importance later, as more time is devoted to private study in the University, College libraries, and scientific laboratories.
At Jesus we aim to make the course interesting, enjoyable and also challenging so that our medical students develop high levels of self-motivation. The welfare of our students is paramount, and we make particular efforts to match a variety of teaching methods to individual students’ needs along with regular contact with the tutors. We encourage the arrangement of teaching by specialists outside the College when required, and contacts with hospital medicine through the Clinical Fellows attached to the College.
The full range of teaching is available in the College through the Medical Fellow and associated lecturers. Unusual amongst Colleges, we have a Clinical Fellow – based at the John Radcliffe Hospital – who undertakes regular, tutorial-style meetings with students during their clinical years.
Medical students are probably required to work harder than students reading for most other degrees, largely because they have to take professional qualifying examinations as well as the Honours Degree. This does not in any way preclude participation in the usual varied activities that characterise College and University life, although it does put an extra burden on a person’s stamina and ability to organise his or her time efficiently.
Joint Schools
There are no Joint Schools for Medicine. Jesus College does not offer the Biomedical Sciences degree as a stand-alone course.
Academic Staff
Fellows
Dr Shankar Srinivas is the Zeitlyn Fellow and Tutor in Medicine at College and Professor of Developmental Biology and Wellcome Senior Investigator in the Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics. He tutors first year students in Organisation of the Body and Medical Genetics, and third year students in the Critical Analysis and Synoptic papers. His research group in the Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics works on cell movements and fate during early mammalian embryogenesis, with a particular focus on heart development and anterior patterning, the process by which the head end of the embryo is properly specified and positioned. His group employs techniques ranging from molecular genetics to imaging developing embryos with advanced microscopes.
Dr Deborah Hay is a Hugh Price Fellow of the College and Clinical Tutor for Laboratory Medicine in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. She is a consultant haematologist who trained in Oxford, and is now based at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Her clinical interests focus on haemoglobin disorders and laboratory diagnostics but the majority of her time is spent teaching clinical medical students and coordinating teaching provision in the clinical disciplines of haematology, microbiology, immunology, biochemistry and histopathology. Deborah provides oversight for the three years of the clinical course and expects to meet with clinical students each term for review, as well as providing regular teaching in years 4 and 6. Students are welcome to attend her clinic on a Friday morning in the Oxford Haematology and Cancer Centre, and to join her teaching sessions on Monday afternoons in the haematology laboratory.
Lecturers
Dr Gillian Douglas is a lecturer in Medicine, tutoring first and second year medical students in Physiology and Pharmacology. Her research area is cardiovascular disease, with a focus on novel therapies for the treatment of atherosclerosis.
Dr Pamela Lear
is a lecturer in Medicine, tutoring first year students in Biochemistry and Endocrinology, and second year students in aspects of Neuroscience. Her research area is obesity and the involvement of channel proteins in this process.
Clinical Lecturers
Dr Julian Ormerod is consultant cardiologist who provides clinical teaching and tutorials for 4th year and final medical students at the College.
Dr Sam Lipworth is a specialist registrar in internal medicine and infectious diseases who is currently undertaking research into the molecular epidemiology of non-tuberculous mycobacteria.
Admissions
Jesus College welcomes applications from anyone keen to read Medicine. Although Medicine is a competitive subject throughout the country, and all universities have many applicants for the places they have available, we do not feel that this consideration should weigh too heavily with anyone who is determined to study Medicine.
The numbers of available places are limited by a University quota which applies to all Oxford colleges: competition for places at Jesus is the same as all other colleges due to a central allocation system. At present we are keeping the number of places at 4 each year (in a total College entry of about 100 undergraduates). We see this as an advantage to our students because it maximises the opportunities for individual teaching.
Candidates are selected on the basis of academic record (e.g. GCSEs) and potential, as shown by their UCAS reference, performance in the BMAT, and in interviews if shortlisted.
Academic requirements:
A*AA in three A-levels (excluding Critical Thinking and General Studies) taken in the same academic year. Candidates are required to achieve at least a grade A in both Chemistry and at least one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics. We expect you to have taken and passed any practical component in your chosen science subjects. Please note that if Biology, Physics or Mathematics have not been taken to A-level (or equivalent), applicants will need to have received a basic education in those subjects (for example at least a grade C/4 at GCSE or equivalent).
If you have any questions about the combination of subjects you are taking or plan to take at A-level, do not hesitate to contact the Medical School ([email protected]) for advice.
Written test:
All applicants must take the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) on 3 November 2021. You need to register by 1 October 2021. Late registrations are accepted up until the final deadline of 15 October 2021, but there is an additional fee for this. Please note, the University of Oxford will not accept BMAT results from the September sitting for A100 Medicine.
The BMAT does not require a lot of extra study as it is a test of skills and knowledge that learners are expected to already have. Further details, including a specimen paper, can be found here.
Interviews:
Those invited for interview will be seen by tutors from two different colleges in order to present candidates with a variety of situations and reduce the possible arbitrariness of one single longer interview.
Deferred Entry:
Applications for deferred entry to Jesus College are possible, but generally not encouraged unless it is planned to spend at least part of the year out doing something with a high level of mathematical content. You must apply for deferred entry at the time of application to Oxford: you cannot change your mind after an offer has been made. Please refer to departmental websites for subject-specific advice. You should be aware that applicants who are offered places for deferred entry will generally be among the strongest of the cohort for their subject. We would not usually offer more than one deferred place per subject in order not to disadvantage the following year’s candidates. In some cases, an applicant for deferred entry may be offered a place for non-deferred entry instead. If you require any further advice, please contact: [email protected]
