Applying to Medical School
Studying medicine usually involves 5 years of study at university, followed by more training years at the start of your career. So it’s important to make sure that medicine is right for you.
For help and guidance on work experience and preparing for admissions tests and interviews, read the guide below.
Contents
Interested in applying to Medical School?
If you are interested in applying to study Medicine at university then there are a number of things that you should consider.
The application process is more complicated than most other degree courses and will take up a significant amount of your time – I often tell students that it is almost like taking an additional A Level for a period of time.
Questions to ask yourself
Are my GCSE grades good enough?
Medical Schools have minimum grade requirements – especially in English Language, so make sure you check the entry criteria carefully at your chosen universities.
Am I going to do well enough in my A-Levels?
Standard requirements for MOST medical schools is AAA, although there is some small variation to this. Be honest with yourself and talk to your teachers about whether they think that you can achieve these grades – ideally at the start of Year 12.
Work Experience
Once you have decided to apply then there are things that you need to organise and plan.
Firstly, you will need to have a certain amount of work experience and volunteering that you can talk about and use to show your ‘interest in and understanding of’ the role of a doctor.
Some suggestions for this are:
Formal work experience in a hospital setting. To apply for organised work experience, you will need to apply as follows:
- For opportunities in Lincolnshire: https://www.lincstalentacademy.org.uk/ (follow the link for Work Experience)
- For opportunities in Peterborough and Stamford: e-mail a completed application form to: [email protected]. Click here for the application form
In addition to spending time in a hospital setting, admission tutors will be looking for some on-going voluntary work – this should ideally be in a health-care setting, but could be in another area as long as you have been doing it for at least 6 months on a regular basis.
You can also try and get some work experience in a GP Practice. Whatever work experience you do, it’s critical you make it count. Many people think doing the placement is enough. But it’s only step one.
In order to stand out, you must reflect on what you’ve seen. Keep a daily log of what has happened. This can be tiring, especially after a long day of work experience but will be very valuable when you make your university application.
What next?
Once you have done some work experience and decided that you do definitely want to study Medicine, you will need to start thinking about choosing a Medical School.
There are 48 medical schools in the UK, and no two are exactly alike. Choosing which ones to put down on your UCAS form can be a daunting task. Ultimately, the goal is to find the best fit for you.
As well as where you’d like to study geographically, you need to consider how you’ll be taught. There are 3 main types of Medicine courses – you need to do your research and make sure that you choose the one that best-suits how you learn:
- Traditional courses
- Integrated courses
- Problem-Based Learning (PBL) courses
To some extent your choices will be dictated by how well you do in your UCAT admissions test. You will take this at the local driving test centre in the summer between Year 12 and 13 and the different medical schools score the results differently alongside other parts of your application such as GCSE grades and predicted A level grades. It's important to dedicate several weeks of that summer to preparing for the UCAT.
Interviews
If you are called for interview you will need to do some preparation in advance.
Most Medical Schools use the MMIs method of interview. This stands for Multiple Mini Interviews and consist of a round of stations (usually around 8). Each station will be testing for different qualities. These might involve interacting with patients, tackling ethical scenarios or problem-solving.
It is hard to prepare fully for these types of interviews but there are things you can do.
Set up a Medical Ethics club at school to discuss – amongst other things, the 4 Pillars of Medical Ethics:
- Autonomy — Does it show respect for the patient and their right to make decisions?
- Non-maleficence — Does it harm the patient?
- Justice — Are there consequences in the wider community?
- Beneficence — Does it benefit the patient?
You should ALSO read up on both the NHS Core Values and the GMC’s values and make sure that you are familiar with any NHS ‘hot topics’.
A fabulously useful resource:
https://www.themedicportal.com/
This website, which is free to use, is jam-packed full of hints, tips, guidance and information about applying to study Medicine. For any further help, please see Mrs Elliot.
