12 Aug
8 Enlightening Reads for Oxbridge Applicants – Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Apologies for the hiatus; it has been a busy period!
This week, our post is regarding Medicine / Biomedical Sciences texts.
I hope this can be useful for budding medics and scientists, alike.
The BMAT is the admissions test for anyone hoping to study Medicine or Biomedical Sciences at Oxford, and the score you get has a big impact on if you’ll be invited for interview. The best way to prepare for it is to practice, especially because the timings of the three sections within the BMAT are really tight. This was the book I used to revise, but there are loads out there.
Recommended by Sophie, who studied Cell and Systems Biology at Oxford.
Reading a popular science book and namedropping it in your personal statement is quite common for applicants. Whilst I don’t think doing this is as valuable as lab experience, it’s still a good way to show a genuine interest in your subject. There are some books that come up often (The Selfish Gene for example), so I’d try to go for something a bit more unique to you. Musicophilia is genuinely one of my favourite books, relates to the topic within biomed I was most interested in (neuroscience), and is written by an alumnus of the Oxford college I ended up getting into.
Recommended by Sophie, who studied Cell and Systems Biology at Oxford.
It sounds simple, but critically reading a science magazine helped me to practice evaluating theories and methods. In my personal statement I honed in on one article that piqued my interest, so I read around that topic and developed thorough ideas on it. In general, reading up on current research and thinking about your opinions and criticisms of it is useful practice for scenarios you may be presented with in interviews. If you can’t afford membership to a magazine like New Scientist, try checking your local library.
Recommended by Sophie, who studied Cell and Systems Biology at Oxford.
Do no harm was one of the first books I read that really ignited my love for medicine. This book is a surgeon’s perspective on how critical decisions are made whilst under immense pressure. It presents a realistic view of life in the healthcare system examining both the good, bad, and infuriating moments. I would recommend this as essential reading for any prospective medical student.
Recommended by Arya, who studies Medicine at King’s College London and Senthooran, who studies postgraduate Medicine at Cambridge.
‘When Breath becomes air’ was published posthumously and chronicles a young doctor’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. It is one of the most moving books I’ve ever read and for prospective medical students it will provide an invaluable insight into the trials and tribulations that many patients will go through
Recommended by Arya, who studies Medicine at King’s College London.
It is important to understand how far medicine has come in the past two millennia and to do so one needs to understand its history. ‘A Brief History of Medicine’ looks back on many medical advances that have provided the foundation on which current practice is based, in its appropriate historical context. I recommend this to all students as understanding the history of medicine can help you better articulate why you want to be a doctor
Recommended by Arya, who studies Medicine at King’s College London.
UCAT forms part of the admission process for the majority of medical schools in the UK. Therefore, it is important that students are well-versed in all sections of the UCAT, understanding technique whilst practising a lot also. This book has a plethora of questions, to be used alongside online UCAT question banks such Medify UCAT or UCAT Ninja, to help students prepare.
Recommended by Senthooran, who studies postgraduate Medicine at Cambridge.
Outlining to students the human side of medicine, this book helps readers better appreciate the true priorities that underlie medicine. Despite all the science involved in medicine, one’s appreciation for the natural progression and reality of human life is very important, in order to have a realistic understanding of what it means to be a doctor.
Recommended by Senthooran, who studies postgraduate Medicine at Cambridge.
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