Success in Medicine requires application and hard work, both while you are learning and when you enter practice. However, it brings great rewards in terms of job satisfaction and the variety of career opportunities within the profession. Learning about and practising Medicine is also very enjoyable, involving as it does a combination of applied science and human interactions. The environment in which different types of Medicine are practised is rich and varied, and obviously continually changing. Doctors continue to learn throughout their working lives.
Reading Medicine at Cambridge comprises two phases: a three year pre-clinical phase, after which you would continue your clinical studies at the Cambridge Clinical School, based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. The first three years of the degree include lectures, practical classes and examinations in a wide range of subjects including anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, neurobiology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, psychology and reproductive biology. The clinical course builds on this foundation by developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes you require to practise clinical Medicine: following an Introduction to Clinical Methods, the curriculum consists of three stages and is built around a number of major themes.
Full course details are provided on the School’s Prospective Undergraduates webpage and the University’s Undergraduate Study webpage.
Medicine at Churchill
Churchill has a quota of 10 Medicine students a year, including a maximum of one from outside the UK. We are in the unusually fortunate position that almost all our supervisors, for all six years of the course, combine clinical practice with research.
Unsurprisingly, the quality of supervision and care provided for medical students at Churchill is second to none and our students can see the clinical relevance of the cutting-edge scientific knowledge they acquire from the beginning of the course. The College’s blend of teaching expertise also provides students with role models and the motivation to embark on combined research and clinical careers, putting them in an ideal position to become leaders in the medical and veterinary professions. By fostering a collaborative and mutually supportive ethos, we are able to focus on every student’s development as an individual as well as creating a strong sense of community.
Admissions
To find out about admissions, go to undergraduate applications.
Entry Requirements
Course-specific information, including the University’s minimum offer level, can be found by selecting your course from the University’s Course List then looking at the “Entry Requirements” tab. The University’s Entrance Requirements and International Entry Requirements webpages may contain guidance relevant to you too.
At Churchill, we want to admit undergraduates who will thrive during their time here, so – in their interests – we tend to set conditional offers in line with the typical attainment of Cambridge entrants, by course. On average, this allows us to make a relatively generous number of offers per place, but it also means that our requirements are usually a little more rigorous than the University’s minimum offer level.
You can learn more about the academic profiles of Churchill entrants and our approach to setting conditional offers on our undergraduate applications page.
Admissions Assessment
All Medicine applicants are required to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT).
You must register for this in advance.
There’s more information on and linked from the University’s Admissions Assessments webpage and the UCAT webpage, including preparation resources and practice materials.
Interview
The role of academic interviews in Churchill’s admissions process is explained on our interviews page. If you’re called to interview, you’ll meet at least one clinician and one non-clinician. Typical areas of conversation include your current studies, what you have read, and any experimental or project work you may have done at school or college.
