There are steps you can take to give yourself the best chance of successfully bagging a place on a medicine degree. It all boils down to five key issues...
1. Grades and subjects
Firstly, your GCSE grades matter when you're applying for a degree in medicine. The admissions department will assess how you did in key GCSEs such as English, maths and the sciences.
For your A-levels, you'll typically need to have taken chemistry and biology as two of your three subjects. Some places will also ask for a third science subject while others might welcome a contrasting subject – like English, history or a language.
Check each university website carefully – including the FAQs and admissions policy documents – to see what qualifications and grades they're asking for.
2. Tests
Almost all medical schools require you to take a pre-admissions test – and it's usually the University Clinical Aptitude Test (Ucat).
The Ucat is done in testing centres, and it typically runs from July to the end of September. You can register and book your test on the Ucat website.
3. Work experience
Most medical schools will look at your relevant work experience as part of your personal statement, although the type of experience they require will vary depending on the individual institution.
As a general rule, they will likely expect you to have gained an understanding of what a career in a caring profession involves. You can get paid or voluntary experience in a range of healthcare settings.
You could try getting work experience with a GP or at an NHS hospital, or you might consider working in a care home, working with young children or gaining a first aid qualification and using this in a practical setting.
Once you get work experience, make sure you reflect on what you learned when you're writing your medicine personal statement.
4. Personal statement
This is where you need to demonstrate your suitability for the course and try to stand out from the crowd. How medical schools use personal statements (and references) can varies, but it's an important part of your application so it's worth getting it right.
- Write about any care-related experiences and what you learned from them.
- Reflect on your reading or research about current medical or ethical issues. For inspiration, look at the BBC website, newspapers and BMJ website.
- Outline experiences involving teamwork, creativity and leadership as well as responsibility and problem solving. Say what you learned about yourself and how you demonstrated these qualities.
- Emphasise your commitment to and interest in medicine and caring for people – evidence this through your reading, passion for science and relevant work experiences.
- Read more: how to write an excellent personal statement in ten steps
5. Interviews
If you receive an interview, it's a good idea to put some time into your preparation. Many interviews are in multiple–mini interview (MMI) style. In these, you face several different 'stations', at which you will face a new scenario or topic, which may only last five minutes.
There might be an ethical issue to discuss, a problem to solve, some data to interpret or a real life situation to simulate. You'll be assessed at each station.
A small number of medical schools still use the more traditional interview but your preparation would be the same – know your personal statement well, read up on current NHS and ethical issues.
The Student Room's dedicated medicine and medical schools forums are a good place to research the kinds of questions or scenarios which could come up in an interview.
Medicine course structure and teaching style
One final consideration – there are significant differences between medical schools in how you are taught and assessed.
There are six main approaches: traditional, integrated, problem-based learning (PBL), case-based learning (CBL), enquiry-based learning (EBL) and multi or inter-professional learning. Check out which approaches your preferred choices use and consider if this suits the way you enjoy learning.
- Traditional: with this teaching style, you'll learn the scientific theory first and only move into a clinical setting after a few years.
- Integrated: most medical schools now use an inegrated approach, as recommended by the General Medical Council (GMC). An integrated medicine course will teach scientific knowledge alongside clinical training. Students learn by topic rather than by medical discipline, so for example if you were learning the circulatory system you would cover the anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and pathology of it at the same time.
- Problem-based learning: this is a patient-focused approach, with students seeing patients from the outset and working on medical cases in groups. Facilitators play a minimal role in this style of learning but most medical schools in the UK wouldn't take a purely PBL approach, instead using it alongside tutor input, lectures and seminars.
- Case-based learning: for CBL, students are put into small groups to work on virtual cases that are designed to stir up discussion around a particular area.
- Enquiry-based learning: this is very similar to PBL. Students are asked questions or given particular problems or scenarios to get them thinking, rather than being presented with facts.
- Multi or inter-professional learning: in multi-professional learning, two or more professions learn the same topics alongside each other. Inter-professional learning focuses on how professionals work together as well as the actual course content.
- Read more: our medicine degree guide reveals what to expect from your studies
