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Medicine College interviews, 2027 entry
Oxford Medicine Interview Questions (2027 Entry)
How Oxford's College interviews for medicine work, when the 2027 entry interviews run, what the Medical Sciences Division says interviewers assess, and 56 practice questions grouped by Oxford's own selection criteria, with worked problems and model answers.
Reviewed by Dr Akash Gandhi, NHS GP and a Cambridge and UCL graduate (GMC register) · Checked against Oxford's official pages: 14 October 2026
Oxford medicine interviews, 2027 entry
Oxford medicine interviews for 2027 entry are College interviews, not an MMI. Two Colleges interview you, each with at least two academics, and at least one practising doctor is involved. Every interview is online on Microsoft Teams, for home and international applicants, on 14 or 15 December 2026. For 2024 entry, 39% of interviewees (170 of 431) received an offer.
- Format
- College interviews, not an MMI: two Colleges, at least two academics at each, and at least one practising clinician2027 entry
- Length
- Oxford sets no single length; Hertford, for example, says about half an hour per interview with two or three tutors
- Online or in person
- Online on Microsoft Teams for every applicant, home and international, from home or school2026 interviews (2027 entry)
- Dates
- Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 December 20262026 interviews (2027 entry)
- Invitations
- Mid-November to early December 2026, sometimes with only a week's notice2026 interviews (2027 entry)
- What interviewers do not know
- Your College choice and your UCAT score2027 entry
- Decision
- 12 January 2027 via UCAS, with the College following up the same day2027 entry
- Post-interview success, 2024 entry
- 39% (170 offers from 431 interviewed)2023 admissions round (2024 entry)
- Post-interview success, international, 2026 entry
- 25% (8 offers from 32 shortlisted)2025 admissions round (2026 entry)
Free: The Medicine Interview Guide 2027 (PDF)
An eight-week plan, the frameworks for ethics and role play, five full worked answers with the follow-ups to expect, every school’s interview format, and 20 practice questions with a self-marking sheet. Written by our doctors and dentists.
How does Oxford interview for medicine?
Oxford does not use multiple mini interviews. Every shortlisted applicant is interviewed by two Colleges: where possible one is the College you chose (or were allocated, if you made an open application), and the other is assigned at random by computer. At each College you are interviewed by at least two academics, and the panels are arranged so that every applicant is interviewed by at least one practising clinician.
The number and format of interviews can differ between Colleges, but the selection criteria are the same everywhere. The University describes an interview as an academic conversation, much like a short tutorial: tutors start with something simple, often from your personal statement, then move to science, and you may be given a graph, a text or an object to discuss. Interviewers are not told which College you chose or your UCAT score, and the Medical School asks you not to tell them your College choice.
Applying for the four-year graduate-entry course (A101)? It interviews separately, on 17 and 18 December, and has its own page: Oxford graduate entry medicine.
Source: Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry); University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry)); University of Oxford, Interview timetables (2026 interviews (2027 entry))
When are Oxford medicine interviews for 2027 entry?
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Shortlisting decision and interview invitations | Mid-November to early December 2026; the Medical School aims for late November |
| Interviews (two Colleges, online) | Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 December 2026 |
| Outcome | 12 January 2027 via UCAS; your College follows up later that day |
Oxford warns that you may get only a week's notice that you have been shortlisted, and that interview times cannot be rearranged, because the University runs around 20,000 online interviews across all its courses. Keep both days free. The timetable also says a candidate may occasionally be asked to interview outside the published window. Compare these dates with your other three choices in our UK medical school interview dates table.
Source: University of Oxford, Interview timetables (2026 interviews (2027 entry)); University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry)); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry); University of Oxford, Decisions (2027 entry)
How does Oxford decide who to interview?
Oxford ranks applicants on the UCAT overall cognitive score and, where you have them, your GCSE results set against your school's performance, and tutors then review applications just below the line and add around 80 more, so that about two to three applicants are interviewed for each place. How that ranking works, and what it means for you, is on our Oxford medical school profile.
Source: Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics (2025 admissions round (2026 entry))
What does Oxford assess at a medicine interview?
The Medical Sciences Division publishes one list of selection criteria for Medicine, and every College interviews against it. It has two halves:
- Suitability for medicine: empathy, meaning the ability and willingness to imagine the feelings of others and understand the reasons for their views; motivation, a reasonably well-informed and strong desire to practise medicine; communication in language that suits the audience, including patients; honesty and integrity; ethical awareness; the ability to work with others; the capacity for sustained and intense work; and values and behaviour that align with the NHS Constitution.
- Academic potential: problem-solving, meaning critical thinking and an analytical approach; intellectual curiosity, including a keenness to understand the reason for observations and enthusiasm for science; and communication skills, including the ability to listen and compatibility with the tutorial format.
The six themes below follow those headings. The questions are practice questions written by TheUKCATPeople from Oxford's published criteria and guidance. They are not real or leaked Oxford questions: shortlisted applicants agree to a code of conduct that forbids sharing interview content, and nothing here comes from students reporting what they were asked.
Source: Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria (no year stated); University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry))
Oxford medicine interview questions, by theme
Grouped by what Oxford says it assesses. Each question has a note on what a strong answer covers, and the Oxford-specific ones have a full model answer. These are practice questions written by TheUKCATPeople from Oxford's published guidance, not real or leaked questions.
- Problem-solving and critical thinking (1 to 10)
- Intellectual curiosity and scientific enquiry (11 to 20)
- Communication, listening and the tutorial format (21 to 29)
- Motivation for medicine and the Oxford course (30 to 38)
- Empathy, honesty and integrity, and ethical awareness (39 to 47)
- Working with others, sustained work and NHS values (48 to 56)
Problem-solving and critical thinking
What Oxford says: Oxford's criteria for academic potential begin with "Problem-solving: critical thinking, analytical approach". Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
This is the centre of an Oxford medicine interview. The University says many questions test whether you can apply logic to an idea you have not met before, and that tutors care more about your thought process than a correct final answer. Start from an A-level principle you are sure of, think out loud, and use any hint the tutor offers, because a hint means they want to see how far you can go.
- 1
Why does your heart rate rise when you stand up quickly?
What to cover: Gravity pools blood in your legs, so less returns to the heart and blood pressure dips for a moment. Pressure sensors in the carotid arteries and the aorta pick this up and the nervous system speeds the heart and tightens blood vessels. Then ask what happens when that reflex is slow, for example in an older person on blood pressure tablets.
- 2
If a drug's level in the blood halves every six hours, how much is left after a day, and what does that mean for how often it is given?
What to cover: A day is four half-lives, so a half of a half of a half of a half is left: one sixteenth, about 6%. Then think about dosing, because a drug given too rarely falls below a useful level, and one given too often builds up, especially if the liver or kidneys clear it slowly.
- 3
A runner collapses after drinking several litres of water during a marathon. How can drinking too much water be dangerous?
What to cover: Large amounts of water dilute the sodium in the blood. Water then moves by osmosis into cells, and brain cells swell inside the rigid skull, which causes confusion and seizures. Linking a sports story back to osmosis is exactly the reasoning being tested.
- 4
Why are newborn babies more at risk of getting cold than adults?
What to cover: A baby has a much larger surface area for its volume, little insulating fat and a limited ability to shiver, so it loses heat fast and relies on special brown fat to make heat. Then say what that means for a baby born early, which has even less of that fat.
- 5
Roughly how many red blood cells are in your body?
What to cover: Estimate in steps and say each one aloud: about 5 litres of blood, a litre is a million microlitres, and there are about 5 million red cells in each microlitre. Five million microlitres times five million cells gives about 25 trillion. The tutor is listening to the steps, so state each assumption as you make it.
- 6
Why do you feel an overwhelming urge to breathe when you hold your breath, even though there is still plenty of oxygen in your blood?
What to cover: The urge comes mainly from rising carbon dioxide. It forms carbonic acid in the blood, the pH falls, and sensors in the brainstem respond to that change. Writing the equilibrium of carbon dioxide and water to carbonic acid shows the tutor you can connect chemistry to physiology.
- 7
Insulin is a protein. Why can it not simply be swallowed as a tablet?
What to cover: Enzymes in the stomach and small intestine digest proteins into amino acids, and a molecule the size of insulin is poorly absorbed even when it survives. Then go one step further and suggest what a tablet would need to do to work, such as protect the protein and help it across the gut wall.
- 8
Why do we have a heart with two sides, pumping blood twice, when a fish manages with one circuit?
What to cover: The lungs need blood at low pressure, because high pressure would push fluid through the thin walls where gas exchange happens. The body needs high pressure to reach every organ. Two pumps let each circuit run at its own pressure, which is what an active, warm-blooded animal needs.
- 9
When you cut your finger, the bleeding stops on its own. Why does someone taking a blood-thinning medicine bleed for longer?
What to cover: Platelets plug the gap and a chain of clotting proteins builds a mesh of fibrin over it. Anticoagulants interfere with that chain, so clots form more slowly. Then weigh the trade-off a doctor makes: fewer strokes from clots in exchange for more bleeding.
- 10
Why do we shiver when we are cold, and why is a very cold person who has stopped shivering more worrying?
What to cover: Shivering is rapid muscle contraction, and the respiration that powers it releases heat. When body temperature falls far enough, the muscles and nervous system slow down and shivering stops, so the body has lost one of its main defences. A tutor will be interested in how you reason from that to a decision about who to treat first.
Model answer
If a drug's level in the blood halves every six hours, how much is left after a day, and what does that mean for how often it is given?
A day is 24 hours, so that is four half-lives. After one it is a half, after two a quarter, after three an eighth and after four a sixteenth, which is just over 6% of the starting level.
For dosing, that suggests giving it once a day would leave a long stretch where there is very little drug in the blood, so if it needs to stay above a certain level to work, it would have to be given more often, perhaps every six to eight hours, or made in a slow-release form. Giving it too often would make it build up, and I think it takes several half-lives for the level to settle into a steady pattern.
I would also want to know how the drug is cleared. If it leaves through the kidneys, someone with kidney disease would clear it more slowly, so the half-life would be longer and the same dose could build up to a harmful level. That is presumably why doses are sometimes changed for older patients.
Go deeper: Ultimate medicine interview questions guide
Intellectual curiosity and scientific enquiry
What Oxford says: Oxford looks for "keenness to understand the reason for observations; depth; tendency to look for meaning; enthusiasm and curiosity in science". Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
Oxford's own sample Medicine questions lean towards epidemiology and scientific enquiry: why a pattern appears, what else could explain it, and what you would need to know before drawing a conclusion. Expect to be asked about something you read for your personal statement, and to be taken one level deeper than you wrote. Oxford's advice is that talking in depth about one thing you have explored is worth more than a list of books.
- 11
Two towns each record 200 new cancer cases a year. One has 50,000 people and the other 100,000. Which town has the bigger cancer problem?
What to cover: Convert to rates first: 400 per 100,000 against 200 per 100,000. Then question that answer, because age matters enormously for cancer. A town full of retired people would be expected to have more cases, so you would compare age-adjusted rates before blaming anything local.
- 12
Life expectancy in the UK rose sharply during the twentieth century. What do you think contributed most, and how would you find out?
What to cover: Offer several causes, such as clean water, sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, better nutrition and falling infant deaths. Then say how you would test which mattered most, for example by looking at which causes of death fell and when. Spotting that fewer deaths in childhood raise the average a great deal is a strong point.
- 13
Why do we catch colds again and again, but usually have chickenpox only once?
What to cover: Colds are caused by many different viruses, with more than a hundred types of rhinovirus alone, and immunity to one type gives little protection against the next. Chickenpox is one stable virus that leaves lasting immune memory. You could add that it stays dormant in nerves and can return as shingles.
- 14
Some people smoke all their lives and never develop lung cancer. Does that mean smoking is not that dangerous?
What to cover: No. Smoking raises the risk greatly without making cancer certain, and individual differences in genes, DNA repair and simple chance decide who is affected. Distinguishing risk in a population from what happens to one person is the point of the question.
- 15
How do we know that a new medicine works?
What to cover: Describe a randomised controlled trial: random allocation, a placebo or the current best treatment as the comparison, blinding, and an outcome chosen in advance. Then say what a trial cannot tell you, such as rare side effects. Our guide to reading a medical paper explains p-values and forest plots.
- 16
Why might a disease appear to become more common simply because we have got better at testing for it?
What to cover: More sensitive tests and screening find small or early cases that would once have gone unnoticed, some of which would never have caused harm. So a rising count may reflect detection more than disease. Ask what you would measure to tell the two apart, such as deaths from the disease.
- 17
Why do you think we have an appendix?
What to cover: There is no settled answer, which is why it makes a good tutorial question. Offer more than one hypothesis, such as a leftover from our evolutionary past, a store of immune tissue, or a reservoir of gut bacteria, and say what evidence would help you decide between them.
- 18
People today are taller on average than their great-grandparents. Why, and could it go on for ever?
What to cover: Better nutrition and fewer serious infections in childhood let more people reach their genetic potential. Since genes set a ceiling, you would expect the rise to slow and stop once childhood conditions are good, and you could ask whether that has happened in wealthy countries.
- 19
Tell me about something in science you have read beyond your A-level courses, and what question it left you with.
What to cover: Choose something you can explain from the mechanism up, and be ready for the follow-up you did not plan for. Ending on the question it left you with shows the curiosity Oxford names in its criteria.
- 20
What do you think is the most important unanswered question in human biology?
What to cover: Pick one, explain why it is still unanswered and how scientists are trying to answer it, and say how you would begin if you had a laboratory. The tutor is assessing how you think about evidence, not testing a fact.
Model answer
Two towns each record 200 new cancer cases a year. One has 50,000 people and the other 100,000. Which town has the bigger cancer problem?
On the raw numbers they look the same, so I would turn them into rates. The smaller town has 200 cases in 50,000 people, which is 400 per 100,000, and the larger town has 200 per 100,000. So at first sight the smaller town's rate is twice as high.
I would not want to conclude that it has a problem yet, though. Cancer becomes much more common with age, so if the smaller town is a seaside town with a lot of retired people, I would expect a higher rate without anything being wrong. I would want to compare the rates within each age group, or adjust both towns to the same age structure.
Other things could also explain the difference: one town might have better screening, so it finds more cases, or cases might be recorded by where people are treated. If the gap remained after allowing for all of that, I would then look at causes such as smoking rates, deprivation or something in the local environment.
Go deeper: Medicine reading list
Communication, listening and the tutorial format
What Oxford says: Oxford lists communication twice: "using language appropriate to different audiences, including patients", and "ability to listen; compatibility with tutorial format". Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
An Oxford interview is a trial tutorial, and Oxford tutorials usually last about an hour with one or two other students. The interviewers want to see whether you can explain clearly, listen to what is said back, and use it. Several of these questions only make sense as follow-ups, so practise them with someone who will push back.
- 21
Explain what a vaccine does, first as you would to a ten-year-old, then as you would to a biology teacher.
What to cover: For the child, use one clear picture, such as showing the body a harmless wanted poster so it recognises the real culprit later. For the teacher, talk about antigens, memory cells and a faster secondary response. Changing the vocabulary while keeping the science right is the skill.
- 22
Here is a graph you have not seen before. Talk me through what it shows before you tell me what it means.
What to cover: Read the axes, the units and the scale out loud, describe the pattern, then offer an explanation and say what else could explain it. Oxford says you may be given a graph or an object to discuss, and rushing to an interpretation skips the step being assessed.
- 23
You have just worked through a problem with us. Summarise your reasoning in three sentences.
What to cover: State where you started, the step that mattered, and where you ended up, including anything you are still unsure of. Being concise after a long discussion shows you understood it.
- 24
I disagree with your answer. Convince me.
What to cover: Listen to the objection first and ask what the interviewer's reasoning is. If it is a good point, say so and change your view; if not, explain calmly why you still think you are right. Oxford's guidance says tutors look for flexibility in your thinking.
- 25
How would you explain to a patient that their blood test needs to be repeated, without worrying them unnecessarily?
What to cover: Say why plainly, avoid jargon, be truthful that you do not yet know what it means, and check what they have understood and what they are worried about. Reassurance that turns out to be false damages trust.
- 26
In a tutorial, what would you do if the other student was much quicker than you?
What to cover: Prepare thoroughly beforehand, ask questions when you are lost, and see their speed as a chance to learn. Tutors are assessing whether you would thrive in small-group teaching, so show you would contribute and not hide.
- 27
Tell me about a time you realised you had misunderstood what someone was telling you.
What to cover: Choose a real example, say what you had missed and how you found out, and what you now do differently, such as repeating back what you have heard. Listening is named in Oxford's criteria for a reason.
- 28
How do you know when an explanation you have given has actually been understood?
What to cover: Asking "does that make sense?" usually gets a yes. Asking the other person to explain it back, or watching how they use it, tells you far more. Doctors call this checking understanding, and it matters with patients.
- 29
Explain how a home pregnancy test works to someone who has never studied science.
What to cover: The test strip contains antibodies that stick to a hormone, hCG, made in early pregnancy. Urine moves along the strip, and if the hormone is there it is caught at the test line with a dye, so a line appears. The control line shows the test itself worked.
Go deeper: Top tips for the medicine interview
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Motivation for medicine and the Oxford course
What Oxford says: Oxford asks for "a reasonably well-informed and strong desire to practise medicine", and expects applicants to show "a realistic understanding of what a medical career will involve". Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
Motivation is usually explored briefly at Oxford, often at the start to settle you in, but it can decide a close call. Know the course: a three-year pre-clinical stage taught largely through College tutorials, including a BA in Medical Sciences with an experimental research project for every A100 student, then three clinical years. Oxford's course page is unusually frank about the downsides of medicine, and you should be ready to respond to that.
- 30
Why medicine, and not biomedical science?
What to cover: Oxford offers both, so this question is fair. Say what draws you to patients as well as to the science, and back it with something you have seen or done. A strong answer shows you have thought about the research career too.
- 31
Why Oxford?
What to cover: Talk about the course: a separate pre-clinical stage grounded in science, a research project for every student, and tutorials with one or two others. Explain why that suits the way you learn, not the name of the university.
- 32
Every A100 student at Oxford does a research project. What would you want to research, and why?
What to cover: Choose a real question in an area you have read about, explain why it matters, and outline how you might start. Showing you understand what a laboratory project involves, including failed experiments, is a strength.
- 33
Oxford's course page says practising medicine can be arduous, stressful, frustrating and bureaucratic. Which of those worries you most, and why do you still want to do it?
What to cover: Pick one, describe what you have seen of it, and say how you would cope. Avoid pretending none of it worries you, because Oxford is checking that your decision is well reasoned.
- 34
The first three years at Oxford are mainly science. How would you keep patients in mind during that time?
What to cover: Oxford's early years include regular visits to GP tutors and patient contact through its Learning with Patients teaching. Say how you would use those, and what else you might do, such as volunteering, to keep the reason you chose medicine in view.
- 35
What have you done to find out whether medicine is right for you?
What to cover: Oxford does not require hospital work experience and accepts many forms of evidence, so describe what you did and, above all, what it taught you about the job. Our medicine work experience guide covers options when placements are hard to find.
- 36
What does a GP do that a hospital doctor does not?
What to cover: Continuity over years, managing several conditions at once, knowing the family and community, deciding who needs referral, and working with uncertainty. A realistic picture of different careers is what Oxford's criteria ask for.
- 37
Where do you see yourself fifteen years after qualifying?
What to cover: You do not need a fixed plan. Show you know the range of paths, from general practice to surgery to clinical research, and say what appeals to you about one of them and why.
- 38
What would you do if, halfway through the course, you found you did not enjoy laboratory science?
What to cover: Be realistic: you would still need to complete it, so say how you would find the parts that connect to patients, talk to your tutors and keep sight of the clinical years. This tests maturity and staying power.
Model answer
Why Oxford?
Mainly because of how the course is taught. I learn best when I have to explain my thinking to someone who questions it, and the tutorial system does that every week, with one or two other students and a tutor who knows the subject deeply.
I also like that Oxford keeps a separate pre-clinical stage and that every student does a research project for the BA in Medical Sciences. I enjoyed a small project at school on enzyme activity much more than I expected, mostly because it went wrong twice before it worked, and I would like to find out properly what research involves before I decide what kind of doctor I want to be.
And I know the science-heavy start would be hard work, but I think understanding why a treatment works is what lets a doctor cope when a patient does not respond the way the textbook says, so I would like to build that foundation first.
Go deeper: How to answer "Why medicine?"
Empathy, honesty and integrity, and ethical awareness
What Oxford says: Oxford's suitability criteria include empathy, "ability and willingness to imagine the feelings of others and understand the reasons for the views of others", honesty and integrity, and ethical awareness. Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
Oxford's definition of empathy includes understanding why other people hold the views they do, so in any dilemma show that you can state the strongest version of the side you disagree with before reaching your own view. Questions on honesty are often small and everyday, and they are a test of what you would actually do.
- 39
A patient tells you they have stopped a medicine because of side effects, and asks you not to tell their GP. What do you do?
What to cover: Find out why first, explain the risks of stopping, and encourage them to tell their GP or offer to help them do it. An adult with capacity can refuse a medicine, and their confidence should be respected unless someone is at serious risk.
- 40
You realise you gave a patient the wrong information yesterday. Nobody else has noticed. What do you do?
What to cover: Tell the patient and your senior, correct it, apologise, and record what happened. Doctors have a professional duty of candour, and our GMC guide sets out what Good Medical Practice expects.
- 41
A friend on your course asks you to sign them in to a teaching session they are missing. Does it matter?
What to cover: Yes. It is a small dishonesty, but medical students are held to professional standards, and attendance records can matter for patient-facing teaching. Say how you would refuse kindly and help your friend with whatever is behind the absence.
- 42
A family asks you not to tell their elderly mother that she has cancer. What would you do?
What to cover: Understand their fear and why they are asking, then explain that the patient has a right to information about her own health. Find out from her, gently, how much she wants to know. Withholding the truth is rarely justified.
- 43
What is the difference between empathy and sympathy, and which does a patient need?
What to cover: Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone; empathy is trying to understand how it feels from their side and showing that you have. Patients usually need empathy, because it helps them feel heard. Our empathy and sympathy guide has examples.
- 44
Is it ever fair to ration a treatment by a patient's age?
What to cover: Weigh the benefit a treatment brings, which may differ with age, against the principle that everyone counts equally. Explain how NICE judges cost against benefit, and say where you think age should and should not count.
- 45
Should people be paid to donate a kidney?
What to cover: Set more transplants and personal freedom against exploitation of poorer people and pressure that undermines consent. Payment is illegal in the UK, though living donors' expenses are reimbursed. Our organ donation guide covers the background.
- 46
A 15-year-old asks a GP for contraception and does not want her parents told. What should the GP consider?
What to cover: Whether she understands the advice and its implications (Gillick competence and the Fraser guidelines), her right to confidentiality, and any safeguarding concerns. Encourage her to involve a parent but do not insist. Our consent guide explains the rules.
- 47
Imagine you are a patient waiting a week for a biopsy result. What might you be thinking, and how should that change how a doctor speaks to you?
What to cover: Describe the uncertainty, the worst-case thinking, and the effect on sleep, work and family. Then say what a doctor can do: give a clear date, explain what happens next, and make it easy to ask questions. This is Oxford's definition of empathy in action.
Model answer
Should people be paid to donate a kidney?
I can see the case for it. Thousands of people are waiting for a kidney, dialysis is hard to live with, and we already let people take risks for money in dangerous jobs. Living donors already accept the risk of surgery for nothing, so some argue it is odd that they cannot be paid for it.
But I think the arguments against are stronger. The people most likely to sell a kidney are those under financial pressure, so the consent would be shaped by need, and the burden would fall on poorer people while the benefit went to others. It might also reduce the number of people who donate freely, and in the UK paying for organs is against the law.
Where I think there is room is in removing the costs of donating. Donors' expenses and lost earnings are already reimbursed, and making that quicker and easier, alongside encouraging people to register as deceased donors, seems a fairer way to increase supply.
Go deeper: Answering medical ethics questions
Working with others, sustained work and NHS values
What Oxford says: Oxford's criteria include "Ability to work with others", "Capacity for sustained and intense work" and "Alignment of individual values and behaviours with the values of the NHS Constitution". Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria
These questions test whether you could cope with Oxford's pace, where each of three eight-week terms carries at least 40 hours of academic work a week, and whether you would work well in a team where you are the most junior member. Prepare specific stories about what you did, including what went wrong, because tutors will ask for detail.
- 48
Tell me about a time you had to work closely with someone you found difficult.
What to cover: Describe the situation fairly, including their point of view, what you did to make it work and what you learned. Show that you understood why they behaved as they did, even if you still think you were right.
- 49
Oxford terms are eight weeks long, with at least 40 hours of academic work a week. How will you manage that?
What to cover: Describe what you actually do now: how you plan, what you protect for rest, and how you would notice you were struggling. Mention the College support you would use, such as your tutors and welfare team.
- 50
Who is the most important member of a ward team?
What to cover: Resist naming the doctor. Explain that care depends on nurses, pharmacists, therapists, healthcare assistants, porters and the patient themselves. Our multidisciplinary team guide describes who does what.
- 51
The NHS Constitution begins by saying the NHS belongs to the people. What does that mean for how a doctor should behave?
What to cover: Talk about accountability to patients, using public money carefully, treating everyone equally and involving patients in decisions about their care. Then link it to one of the six NHS values with an example.
- 52
Which of the NHS values do you find hardest to live up to, and why?
What to cover: Choose one and give a real example of falling short, such as patience with someone who frustrated you. Then say what you do about it, because that shows the self-awareness tutors look for.
- 53
Tell me about a time you kept going with something when you wanted to stop.
What to cover: Give the setting, why you wanted to stop, what kept you going and how it ended. Oxford names sustained and intense work in its criteria, so show what that looks like in you.
- 54
How do you know when you are working too hard, and what do you do about it?
What to cover: Name your own warning signs, such as poor sleep or snapping at people, and what you change when you notice them. Then say who you would talk to at university if the changes did not help.
- 55
As a junior doctor, a nurse tells you she thinks your prescription is wrong. You think it is right. What do you do?
What to cover: Thank her, check the prescription properly, and ask a senior or pharmacist if you are still unsure. Patient safety comes first, and you want the nurse to feel she can raise a concern with you again.
- 56
Tell me about a time you led a group. What would the others say about how you did it?
What to cover: Describe what you did to involve people and make decisions, and be specific about one thing you would change. Seeing yourself through other people's eyes is part of working with others.
Go deeper: The six NHS values for interviews
What Oxford's published sample questions tell you
Oxford publishes sample interview questions written by the tutors who interview. For Medicine there are two. A tutor at Exeter College asks applicants to rank four countries by crude death rate, and explains that the interesting part is how a population's age structure changes the answer. A tutor at The Queen's College asks whether it is surprising that viruses cause disease when they depend on our cells to reproduce.
Both tutors make the same point: the answer matters less than the questions you ask, how you use information you are given, and whether you engage with a new idea. Both questions also start from science anyone with A-levels can reason about, then open into epidemiology and biology beyond the syllabus. Read them on Oxford's sample questions page, and watch the University's demonstration interview videos, but do not learn them as answers: they show the style.
Source: University of Oxford, Sample interview questions (no year stated); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics (2025 admissions round (2026 entry))
How do Oxford's online medicine interviews work?
- Microsoft Teams, video only: Medicine is a tier 1 subject, so you need a computer with a camera, microphone and speakers. You receive a separate Teams invitation for each interview, can join through a browser such as Chrome or Edge, and wait in a lobby until the interviewers admit you.
- Where you sit it: somewhere quiet with a reliable connection, usually your school or your home. Agree it with your school as soon as the invitation arrives.
- What to have to hand: plain paper and pens, because you may be asked to show a written answer on screen, and a copy of your personal statement.
- Turn off automatic transcription in Teams, which Oxford requires, and test your setup in advance.
- If the technology fails, tell the interviewers. If the interview cannot continue, the College will rearrange it.
Source: University of Oxford, Interview technology (no year stated); University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry))
How does Oxford decide who gets a medicine offer?
After the interviews, each College ranks every candidate it has seen. It is then shown the other College's ranking and your UCAT score, including your situational judgement band, and submits a final ranking. Offers are assigned from that final ranking, taking account of the College you chose, and the Medical Sciences Office works with Colleges so that strong candidates can be placed even if their first College is full. Many offers each year come from a College other than the one the applicant chose, and some are open offers, which guarantee a place at Oxford with the College decided after results.
You hear on 12 January 2027 through UCAS, and the College follows up later that day. Oxford also says you cannot predict the outcome by counting how many interviews you had, so try not to read anything into it.
Source: Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics (2025 admissions round (2026 entry)); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry); University of Oxford, Decisions (2027 entry)
What percentage of Oxford medicine interviewees get an offer?
For 2024 entry, the most recent year for which Oxford's Medical School report gives an exact interview count, 170 of the 431 applicants interviewed received an offer (39%). Oxford says it normally interviews around 425 applicants, about two and a half for every place, so the odds after interview are in that region each year. The reports for 2025 and 2026 entry give only the share of applicants shortlisted, so no exact rate can be stated for those years.
For international fee-status applicants the latest figure is exact: for 2026 entry, 8 of the 32 shortlisted received an offer (25%), because places are capped by a government quota. Application numbers and how shortlisting has moved year to year are on our Oxford medicine profile.
Source: Oxford Medical Sciences Division, A100 Medicine: statistics from the 2023 admissions round (PDF, hosted by Somerville College) (2023 admissions round (2024 entry)); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics (2025 admissions round (2026 entry)); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: International Applicants (no year stated); University of Oxford, Medicine (A100) (2027 entry)
What should I do before and on the day?
- Check your email from mid-November, including junk, because the invitation usually comes from the College and you may get only a week's notice.
- Do not tell the interviewers which College you chose. The Medical School says interviewers are not told, and asks you not to reveal it.
- If you are ill, contact the Tutor for Admissions at the College that invited you as soon as possible. If you attend, your performance will be assessed, so do not sit an interview you are too unwell to manage.
- Report any other circumstances before decisions are made. Oxford cannot take into account anything not declared in time.
- Keep to the code of conduct: do not share interview content and do not research any material sent to you before an interview.
Source: University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry)); Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry)
Practise a Oxford-style interview
A timed mock in the format Oxford uses, built from the themes Oxford publishes. Record yourself, then mark it against the pointers above.
Common mistakes at the Oxford interview
- 1
Preparing for an MMI
Oxford does not use one. Practise reasoning through unfamiliar science problems out loud with someone who will question you, and practise for a conversation of half an hour or so.
- 2
Revealing your College choice
Interviewers are not told which College you applied to, and the Medical School asks you not to tell them. It also does not help you.
- 3
Staying silent while you think
The tutors are assessing your reasoning. Saying what you know, even when you are unsure, lets them follow and help you.
- 4
Refusing to change your answer
Oxford's guidance says tutors look for flexibility and willingness to engage with new ideas. When a tutor offers another way of looking at a problem, use it and say how it changes your view.
- 5
Learning Oxford's sample questions as answers
They are published to show the style. Tutors say the questions you ask and how you use information matter more than knowing the answer.
- 6
Leaving the technology untested
Test Teams, the camera and the connection in the room you will use, and turn off automatic transcription, which Oxford requires.
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FAQs
Oxford medicine interview: common questions
Are Oxford medicine interviews online or in person?
They are online for everyone, on Microsoft Teams. You choose a quiet place with a reliable connection, usually your school or home, and need a computer with a camera and microphone, paper and pens, and a copy of your personal statement.
Does Oxford use MMIs for medicine?
No. Oxford uses College interviews: two Colleges each interview you, with at least two academics at each and at least one practising clinician involved. The interviews are academic conversations, much like a short tutorial, and are led by science and problem-solving.
How many interviews will I have at Oxford, and how long are they?
You are interviewed by two Colleges, and the number of interviews at each can vary. Oxford sets no single length; Hertford, for example, says each of its medicine interviews lasts about half an hour with two or three tutors.
Oxford says you cannot predict the outcome by counting your interviews, so do not worry if you have more or fewer than you expected.
When are Oxford medicine interviews for 2027 entry?
Interviews are on Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 December 2026. Invitations arrive between mid-November and early December, sometimes with only a week's notice, and the outcome comes on 12 January 2027 through UCAS.
How does Oxford choose who to interview for medicine?
Oxford ranks applicants on the UCAT overall cognitive score and, where you have them, GCSE results set against your school, then tutors review applications just below the line and add around 80 more. The detail is on our Oxford medical school profile.
How competitive is Oxford medicine after the interview?
For 2024 entry, 170 of the 431 applicants interviewed received an offer, which is 39%. That is the most recent year with an exact published interview count; Oxford says it normally interviews around 425 applicants, about two and a half per place.
Can international applicants get an Oxford medicine interview?
Yes, and the interview is the same online College interview as for home applicants. Places are limited by a government quota, currently a maximum of 14 international students a year across the A100 and A101 courses, so about 32 international applicants are shortlisted for A100. For 2026 entry, 8 of the 32 shortlisted received an offer.
What happens after the Oxford interview, and when will I hear?
Each College ranks the candidates it saw, then reviews its ranking once it sees the other College's ranking and your UCAT score, and offers are assigned from the final ranking. You hear on 12 January 2027 through UCAS, and the College follows up later that day. Your offer may come from a College you did not choose.
Can I reschedule my Oxford medicine interview?
Normally no: Oxford says interview times cannot be rearranged. If you are ill, contact the Tutor for Admissions at the College that invited you straight away, and if the technology fails during an interview the College will rearrange it.
How should I prepare for an Oxford medicine interview?
Practise reasoning aloud through unfamiliar science problems with someone who will question you, reread your personal statement and anything you read for it, and watch Oxford's demonstration interview videos. Our Oxbridge medicine mentoring gives 1-1 practice with Oxbridge medics.
Where these facts come from
- University of Oxford, Interview timetables (2026 interviews (2027 entry))
- University of Oxford, Interviews (2026 interviews (2027 entry))
- University of Oxford, Interview technology (no year stated)
- University of Oxford, Sample interview questions (no year stated)
- University of Oxford, Decisions (2027 entry)
- University of Oxford, Medicine (A100) (2027 entry)
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Selection Criteria (no year stated)
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Application Process (2027 entry)
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: International Applicants (no year stated)
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics (2025 admissions round (2026 entry))
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, A100 Medicine: statistics from the 2023 admissions round (PDF, hosted by Somerville College) (2023 admissions round (2024 entry))
- Oxford Medical Sciences Division, Do I need work or volunteering experience? (no year stated)
- Hertford College, Medicine (no year stated)
Last checked: 14 October 2026. Universities change interview arrangements during the cycle, so confirm on Oxford's own page before you travel or book. The questions above are practice questions written by TheUKCATPeople from Oxford's published guidance; they are not real or leaked interview questions.
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