Biochemistry at Oxford

This week’s episode

This week’s episode focuses on Biochemistry. Our guests are Ari (first-year at St Hilda’s College, Oxford) and Alexei (second-year at Worcester College, Oxford). Here’s a quick taster of what they discussed!

Alexei explained his unusual path from applying to Medicine, to switching to Law, to finally transitioning to Biochemistry, whilst Ari described her more conventional route of gaining inspiration from personal experience!

Our guests discussed the unusual breadth of topics covered by Oxford’s Biochemistry course, with first year being particularly fast-paced and content-heavy!

We then discussed the guests’ favourite topics within the subject. Whilst Ari highlights lectures on cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography as her favourite so far, Alexi explains his fascination with protein folding.

Ari contrasted Oxford’s Biochemistry course with UCL, noting that Oxford’s degree is broader but offers less flexibility early on. Instead of offering niche module choices from the start, Oxford encourages students to specialise later through fourth-year research projects.

In terms of necessary skills, both guests agreed on the importance of curiosity, resilience, and comfort with failure. They also note that students don’t need to be exceptional in any one area, and instead require a general interest in science and a problem-solving mindset.

We also discussed the learning curve of starting out as a Biochemist – with students expected to think far more independently and fill in the gaps of what is taught with their own reading. Unlike A-levels, our guests found that there was no definitive textbook with all the information!

The discussion touched briefly on AI, which both our guests explained that they use for verifying calculations or summarising difficult concepts. Alexi emphasised its helpfulness as a ‘mini-tutor’, but not as a substitute for actually doing the work!

Since there’s no admissions test for biochemistry, the personal statement and interview are crucial. We asked our guests for advice for applications to biochemistry at Oxbridge – make sure to listen in to hear their tips!

Towards the end of the episode, the discussion shifted to internships and careers. Studying biochemistry opens many doors, with pathways available in academic research, biotech, pharma, bioinformatics, and law. Oxford is particularly well placed for these opportunities – offering funding for second year research internships, whilst student societies act as a great networking link to industry professionals!

Finally, our guests reflected on their experience as a whole – emphasising that studying biochemistry at Oxford is demanding but deeply rewarding. Both emphasised the course being designed to train students to think scientifically, whilst giving exposure to world-class research and an enormous range of career options.

Enjoy the episode!

Producers Notes

Hi all, my name is Tim and I’m the host and producer of CoursecCast. I hope you enjoy this episode - I certainly had fun recording it! Please follow us on Instagram at CourseCastTM and subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can also find the full episode discussed in this blog post wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. Next week's episode will be on physics, releasing on Saturday, 29th November, with Theology & Religion following on the 6th of December - please look out for those!

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Thank you for reading (and hopefully listening too) - see you next week!