Oxford Medicine: the interview
A panel interview (two traditional academic interviews). For 2026 entry, 41% of interviewees got an offer. Below: the numbers, what the interview looks for, your personal statement and SJT band, and questions to practise.
- interviewed
- 425
- 2026 entry
- offers
- 175
- eligible applicants
- of interviewees offered
- 41%
- 2026 entry
- international, offered
- 25%
- 2026 entry
- Format
- Panel interview · Two traditional academic interviews
| Entry year | Applications | Interviewed | Share interviewed | Offers | Offers per interview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,026 | 425 | 41% | 175 | 41% |
For 2026 entry 41% of interviewees were offered a place, about 1 in 2. International applicants: 8 offers from 32 interviews for 2026 entry, 25%. Of 1,156 applications, 1,026 were eligible, had sat the UCAT and stayed in. Oxford gives the shortlist as 41.4% of them, about 425.
We have not added Oxford’s own description of what its interview assesses yet. Panel interviews generally test motivation for medicine, communication, ethical reasoning, teamwork and what you learnt from work experience, and at Oxford and Cambridge how you reason through unfamiliar science; the questions below cover each.
Used at interview
Read by the interviewers, not scored at shortlisting: the shortlist is GCSEs and UCAT.
It does not count at the interview. Oxford has not published any use of the SJT band in shortlisting or at interview.
Questions to practise
Written by MedOffr in the style of an Oxford or Cambridge interview. None is taken from Oxford or claimed to have been asked there.
01 · Reasoning from data
Here is a graph of a person's blood glucose over the four hours after a meal. Talk me through what is happening.
02 · Biology
Why might a drug that works well in mice fail in people?
03 · Experiment design
How would you find out whether caffeine changes reaction time? What could go wrong with your experiment?
04 · Thinking aloud
Why do we have two kidneys but only one heart?
05 · Applying an idea
Antibiotics do not work against viruses. Why not, and what does that tell you about how they work?
06 · Motivation
Why do you want to be a doctor, and why here?
07 · Your statement
You wrote about volunteering at a care home. What did you learn there about communicating with patients?
08 · Insight
What makes a good doctor? Which of those qualities do you still need to work on?
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