Applying to medical school can be daunting with all the steps you have to follow and the feeling of everything riding on this moment. But don’t worry! With our Applying to Medical School Guide, you’ll be able to tackle the application process with ease.
The guide is also up to date with all the changes to the application process that have occurred over the last couple of years for medical school entry in the UK.
We’ve broken things down into the following topics:
Medicine is highly competitive, but rejections often stem from poor preparation rather than unqualified applicants. With easily planning and smart work, you can significantly improve your chances of securing a place in medical school.
Ideally, you should start preparing at least two years before applying. However, if you’ve decided recently or are unsure of the process, we’ve got you covered. Even a few months of focused effort can results in a strong application.
We hope you find this guide a useful resource and wish you all the very best in your applications to study medicine.
The decision to embark on a career in medicine isn’t one to be taken lightly. Higher education courses in medicine take considerably longer to complete than your typical three-year Bachelors and, when coupled with post-graduate study and specialist training, students may find themselves waiting up to 16 years before they become a fully fledged doctor.
Your typical MB ChB (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) typically takes five years to complete, with three years of intensive clinical training. Medicine is one the UK’s most competitive courses, offered only by 46 of about 130 universities. These schools, all part of the Medical Schools Council, are globally recognised for their high standard of medical education.
Your medical career path can vary widely, with over 60 specialities available in the NHS, from cardiology to psychiatry. Unlike many degrees, medicine offers extensive career options post-graduation, so you won’t feel pigeonholed once you finish university. As long as you’re committed to helping people, the world will be your oyster!
A couple of years ago, the UK government announced plans to create five new medical schools over the next three years to help increase the amount of medical students by 25% and meet rising healthcare demands.These schools opened in Sunderland, Ormskirk, Chelmsford, Lincoln and Canterbury.
A medical career offers opportunities but also demands significant psychological commitment. You should consider if you’re prepared for the intense selflessness and round-the-clock focus required. This profession is all-consuming, with late night surgeries and shifts at unsociable hours. Make sure you’re ready for the regular practical and intellectual challenges of being a doctor before you apply.
Now you’ve had a good hard think about whether being a doctor is for you, let’s move onto some of the more positive points of considering a career in medicine! Helping others is not the only benefit you will see from becoming a doctor. There are other benefits, including:
So if you believe that you’re in a position to thrive among the physical, psychological, adaptive and cognitive challenges that medical studies bring then read on, you may just have found your calling.
That’s right, med schools also look at your GCSE grades too when it comes to securing a place. Each medical school has slightly different entry requirements but there are some subjects that would be considered as a necessity to have.
Medical school entry is highly competitive so ensuring you gain good grades in your GCSEs is important. Most medical schools assess candidates on their academic history overall, not just their A-levels. You should make sure to perform well on your GCSEs to create a stronger application.
In order to study medicine at most universities in the UK you need to, as a standard, have at least five A* or A grade GCSEs in subjects including Maths and English. You also need to have at least a Grade B in any Science subject.
You should check the eligibility criteria for each school before applying as each university has their own requirements. For example, Cardiff University requires GCSE Science and Additional Science at Grades AA or GCSE Biology, Physics and Chemistry at Grade AAB in any particular order. However, if you look at Edinburgh University, they will not accept GCSEs in subjects such as Applied Science and Additional Applied Science.
Medical degrees always require at least AAA at A-level and grades have to be achieved in hard science subjects like biology and chemistry with physics or mathematics considered next most useful. Make sure to check individual university entry requirements to see what combination of subjects they require and at what level.
Most medical schools do require biology at least at AS level. Most medical students should look to have an A2 in biology, though, even if it isn’t formally required. It would depend on your other A2 subjects, for example, if you were already taking an A2 in human biology.
Almost every medical school in the UK requires chemistry at AS level. Most expect you to have a full A-level in chemistry, though. The medical schools which don’t require A2 chemistry require you to have biology at A2.
A-Levels in maths are always useful to possess alongside biology and chemistry A-levels. Only one of the two – maths or further maths – will be accepted.
Whilst most subjects are accepted as a third A-Level choice (alongside chemistry and biology), other sciences like physics will look best. Each and every medical school has varying requirements, and some will require you to have a third A-Level in maths or another ‘hard science’ or similar subject.
With the rising competition facing UK medical students, it has been said that 4 A-Levels is the new benchmark for applicants. Having 3 A to A* A-Levels at A2 including Chemistry and Biology will secure you an interview in many circumstances, though.
In situations of extreme oversubscription and very high standards, it can’t be denied that having 4 A-Levels including Biology, Chemistry and then Maths or Physics and one other subject of your choice is the most reliable approach.
Medicine is highly competitive, and this is why students are allowed to make 4 choices of medical school on their UCAS applications with a 5th choice allowed for another course just in case. The latest figures suggest that 80% miss out on a place at medical school altogether and you can expect that it’s often unlikely that you’ll get your first choice, depending on where it is.
When choosing the right medical school for you, you should ask yourself:
These questions will help you sort through the long list of medical schools in the UK by prioritising your needs.
To help refine the 46 medical schools you have available to you, you could start by looking at the type of course they offer. Most med-school course types are listed as one of three:
In a traditional course, your first two years will focus on learning in a more traditional lecture setting. You’ll be taught about various and diverse science-based theory across all medicine. Some of the broad areas that will be covered in detail are physiology, biochemistry and anatomy. There will be lots of lectures and lots of coursework to complete – your lectures will likely cover 5 days every week and you’ll have plenty to do at weekends!
After the first couple of years learning scientific medical theory are up, you’ll be taught in clinical settings under the direction of a consultant. You might have to complete ward rounds, shadowing or GP placements. There will be some tutorials, seminars and lectures at this stage too but your course will mostly focus on working in practical hands-on situations.
A traditional course suits someone who prefers to have a greater knowledge base before beginning their practical studies. By the end of the first couple of years, you’ll have increased your medical knowledge hugely and this can increase your confidence considerably before you begin your clinical placements.
Traditional courses are still amongst the most popular course type in the UK and they’re taught at almost all of the most academically-oriented universities like Oxbridge.
Integrated courses are similar to traditional courses with one key difference: you’ll start some clinical work experience from day one. Integrated courses are now joint-most popular alongside traditional courses and they’re viewed as more adaptable to the shifting landscape of modern medicine. Not only do integrated courses teach various aspects of scientific theory but also quickly acclimatise students to working life in clinical settings.
Another difference in how you’ll learn your scientific theory in traditional courses is that you’ll be taught by topic, rather than by discipline. For example, a disciplinary approach teaches medicine in age-old categories like biochemistry and anatomy whilst a topical approach teaches medicine per body structure. E.g. a module on the digestive system will teach all disciplines relevant to that structure – biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, etc. This is now the recommended approach according to The General Medical Council.
An integrated course yields long-term benefits as you gradually grow comfortable with clinical settings rather than being expected to be able to apply 2 years of knowledge readily in high-pressure settings. For some, this immediate immersiveness will seem pretty intimidating, though, and you may feel like you won’t be prepared to face patients in your first year.
The truth is, most integrated courses don’t throw down the gauntlet immediately in your first week or month but gradually introduce you via group work.
These focus on small group work, peer-to-peer learning methods and a high emphasis on education through problem-solving – and are available from a small number of universities. PBL is a comparatively modern method of learning which focuses on solving problems using initiative and proactivity. Most courses have an element of PBL built into them but some are taught almost entirely using PBL.
PBL aims to teach similar informational content as a traditional lecture-based approach but in a context which enables students to delve into more detail over the realistic application of such knowledge in hypothetical situations. Students will work in groups of around 8 alongside an experienced tutor and will be asked to investigate hypothetical situations and present information to the group whilst discussing the elements of the case and their interlinking nature.
This form of learning helps promote teamwork and acclimatises students to the multidisciplinary, overlapping nature of the NHS. Compared to a traditional approach, PBL often helps students engage with the healthcare service rather than with the underlying scientific theory which underpins medicine.
PBL-type courses all have slightly different flavours so it’s always worth checking your prospective universities curriculum very carefully.
We recommend choosing a medicine course that suits your needs before looking at the location. But, with many courses taking up to six years to complete, it is also important to find a location that you will feel comfortable living in since you will be away from home for such a long time.
Application rates also seem to vary based on location. For example, Barts Medical school in London had over 2,600 applicants for 276 places in 2019, whereas Leeds medical school had 1,800 applicants for 237 places. This shows location can also influence the size of your competition so it is worth having a look at application and interview rates for each medical school based on location.
We’ve met thousands of budding medical students and are constantly surprised at the amount of students who seem to concentrate their applications in and around London or the south of England. For example Barts Medical school in London had over 2,600 applicants for 276 places in 2019, whereas Leeds medical school had 1,800 applicants for 237 places, so, 800 less applicants for only 39 fewer spaces.
It’s no bad thing to look at the different med school application rates, interview offer rates and number of med school places available when it comes to making your applications.
One final thing to keep in mind is tuition costs. Scottish students for example pay just £1,820 in tuition fees if they attend a Scottish university. Students from the rest of the UK pay £9,000 – so it’s easy to infer that most Scottish applicants will choose a Scottish medical school to apply to, thus increasing the competition in Scotland for places in Med school.
Once you’ve settled on a course type that suits your learning style the best and drawn up a shortlist of the four medical schools you wish to apply to, make sure you’re happy with the geographical spread of those and competition ratios to maximise your chances of success.
If, on the other hand, you feel unfazed by studying further from home, there’s a chance that studying medicine abroad could be ideal for you.
Studying overseas has become an increasingly popular choice among students in the wake of increasing tuition fees and fierce competition for vacant places at universities domestically.
While quality, cost, and intricacies of overseas study vary greatly depending on region or institution, there are a lot of places in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Czechia, Latvia and Bulgaria, that teach medicine in English. Plus, under current EU directives, the resulting qualification must be regarded as equal to its UK counterpart (although we’re awaiting confirmation that this will continue to be the case post Brexit).
A Star Future warns that choosing to study medicine abroad shouldn’t be regarded as an ‘easy’ option, and that the expected workload will be just as tough. The costs of study aren’t necessarily cheaper than UK tuition too, the cost of completing a five-year medical degree in the Caribbean and USA is calculated to amount to over $250,000. It would also be notably difficult to transfer between institutions while you’re midway through your studies.
Studying abroad provides a rich cultural experience that’s unparalleled by that of the UK and can bring huge character-building benefits and a refreshing change of scenery for some students.
For undergraduates that are curious about studying abroad, it’s worth looking for individual courses and checking their entry requirements and tuition fees, and if they seem acceptable, pay them a visit and get a taste of how it would feel to gain your medical qualifications overseas.
Gaining medical work experience prior to your applications is an excellent way of getting a hands-on feel of whether a career in medicine is right for you as well as an invaluable addition to your CV that is required by all universities.
Getting medical work experience is challenging as a prospective medical student and it’s usually down to three main factors:
1. Hospitals are oversubscribed: Hospitals receive thousands of requests for medical work experience but they have limited capacity so they can only offer a certain amount of spaces.
2. There’s no system for work experience: There is no structured programme for managing student work experience in hospitals.
3. Patient confidentiality and insurance issues: Doctors have a duty to keep information about patients confidential but students visiting the hospital do not which can cause concerns about patient privacy. Plus, students are not trained so they can easily injure themselves which can result in legal action.
Now with no directive from the government or obligation to provide work experience schemes in hospitals, why would a hospital take those risks? But, even with all of these issues, medical schools will stipulate that students have to gain relevant work experience nonetheless.
The key to gaining medical work experience is variety. Medical schools know how hard it is to get work experience in a hospital so you can expand your search to other relevant work experience such as:
1. Volunteering options: You should consider volunteering in care homes, charities and youth groups. You can use your experience of these to demonstrate you are willing and able to dedicate yourself to helping the less fortunate or able people in society. Take a look on doit.life for local opportunities.
2. Job search: You can explore a range of relevant work experience opportunities on jobs.nhs.uk that are not necessarily based in a hospital but still relevant.
3. Online work experience: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, UK medical schools have begun to recognise online work experience as relevant experience. This opens up your options if you are finding it difficult to get in-person experience.
Work experience is valuable for medical school applications, helping candidates stand out in a highly competitive field. Even brief, relevant work experience can significantly strengthen an application. Prospective medical students should act swiftly to secure work experience, as it is crucial for distinguishing yourself among numerous applicants vying for limited places.
You may have noticed that medical work experience is what Premed Projects is all about! We arrange short term work experiences for students in the UK and overseas, designed to give you some fantastic material to use in your applications to medical school. So check out our in-person courses and online courses and let us know if you have any questions about any aspect of what we offer.
The UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) and BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test) are two standardised tests that are common requirements for United Kingdom institutions’ entry criteria onto a medical qualification.
Medicine admissions in the UK are highly competitive, with most medical schools requiring either the UCAT or BMAT test. These exams assess thinking skills, medical knowledge and clinical aptitude. Some universities also have their own admission tests. While the usefulness of these tests is debated, they serve to screen the large number of applicants.
Although these exams can be daunting, with a good amount of preparation, you can maximise your chance of success. Take a look at our guide to the UCAT exam to get your preparations started.
Traditionally, medical schools would ask prospective students to have taken either the UCAT or the BMAT. However, starting from 2024, students will no longer be required to take the BMAT as the exam will be dropped. Applicants for 2025 and onwards should, therefore, focus their attention on the UCAT.
Students are responsible for booking their own UCAT exams before applying for med school. The test can only be taken once and is valid for one registration period meaning results from one year can not be carried forward to the next.
The exam costs £70, or £115 outside the UK, but students with lower household incomes may qualify for a bursary to take it for free. To ease your anxiety, you can also take free practices tests available online.
The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is known for being challenging, fast-paced and demanding. Some students may find it more difficult than others but with a good amount of preparation, you will be able to develop strategies to succeed in this exam. Since the UCAT is not free and can only be taken once per year, doing your best on the first attempt is crucial.
If you’re unsuccessful or don’t do as well as you would have hoped, you will need to look at other options such as a gap year before going to medical school. If this is the case, there’s no need to worry as you can spend this time improving your knowledge and gaining more work experience which will only strengthen your application.
The UCAT is composed of five test categories: Abstract Reasoning, a Situational Judgement Test, Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Decision Making.
The best advice we can offer for the UCAT is practice, practice and practice again. There’s no magic formula for success. It’s simply a case of knowing what to expect on the day and being well prepared.
To have the best chance of success, take a look at our guides to the UCAT including UCAT Timings and How to Strategically Approach Each Section and Mastering Abstract Reasoning in UCAT.
Composing a personal statement for any degree is a challenge but for medicine, this is your chance to illustrate your academic prowess and work experience alongside a genuine passion and fascination for the medical subjects you love.
The personal statement is your chance to show off everything you have learnt in your years of education, work experience and personal experience. But you are only given a 4,000 character limit (which roughly equates to 500 words) so you need to use your words wisely!
The key things that medical schools will be looking for are evidence of motivation, explorative work experience and suitability for fitting into their learning environment. The best approach to take in this respect is to break your personal statement down into chunks.
Changes to the Personal Statement
The structure of the personal statement will change for 2026 entry and onwards. After a review by UCAS, it was decided that the current free-from format highlighted inequalities between candidates and as a result, the personal statement will be split into three different sections.
Applicants for 2026 entry and onwards will have to answer three questions:
● Why do you want to study this course or subject?
● How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
● What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences helpful?
We will have more information on this new personal statement structure soon!
If you are applying for 2025 entry, the personal statement structure has not changed. You will still be tasked to write a personal statement with a maximum of 4,000 characters. However, the way you structure your personal statement is important. Making sure your writing flows and makes sense logically is essential for the reader to understand what you want to say. Here are some tips on what to include in each section of your personal statement.
● Start with an honest introduction that reflects thoughtful reasons for wanting to study medicine.
● Avoid exaggerated claims of lifelong passion, as they may seem insincere.
● Highlight your medical work experience, focusing on practical actions and key achievements.
● Show how this experience sparked your interest in medicine and discuss how it fueled your desire to study.
● Connect life skills like motivation, mental fortitude, and empathy to your experiences.
● Avoid a cold, facts-only approach! You need to show genuine care for the wellbeing of others.
● Include a section about your personal interests, allowing your personality to shine through.
● Discuss teamwork, determination, or key personal challenges you’ve overcome.
● End by explaining why you’re a good fit for the medical school, emphasising adaptability and collaboration.
● Mention why you chose this institution, focusing on the quality of education and alignment with your learning style.
● Avoid superficial reasons, like proximity to your home, when explaining your choice of school.
Whilst remaining upbeat is essential, a medical personal statement should be formal and precise in tone. This doesn’t mean that you should constrain your personality, but rather introduce this in the later sections which overview your personal life. The best approach is to remain friendly, honest, accurate and transparent. Showing passion is great but pushing things too far and over inflating yourself can be off putting.
The length of your personal statement depends on how much relevant information you have to share but you should aim to use the maximum amount of characters. Avoid over-explaining your school or college life and instead focus on detailing your work experience.
With only 47 lines, it may take a few drafts before you can narrow your personal statement down. However, you shouldn’t worry if you’re a few lines short, filling the space isn’t essential and many high-quality personal statements are slightly under the character limit.
Common mistakes in medical school personal statements often result from poor preparation and misunderstanding what admissions teams are looking for. Remember to keep the statement personal by clearly explaining your motivations for applying. Avoid generic phrases like “I want to help others,” as admissions teams see this often. Instead, dive deeper into the root cause of your passion for medicine, referencing personal experiences, figures, or works that have inspired you.
It sounds obvious but please check your spelling and grammar! You would be surprised at the number of applications submitted with spelling mistakes and that doesn’t paint the best impression when looking at entering a career that counts attention to detail and precision as of vital importance!
After you have finished your personal statement ask family, friends and teachers to take a look through it and offer critical feedback. When you read through your personal statement yourself, ask yourself, does this show why I want to be a doctor?
Firstly, if you’re preparing for an interview with a medical school – congratulations! Due to the volume of applications that institutions receive, it’s an achievement in itself to be called in for an interview, so you must have already made a good impression.
Interviews may seem like the most nerve-wracking component of any degree application, but it’s important to compose yourself well, speak clearly and show that you’re prepared. Interviews are seen by admissions staff as a great way of getting undergraduates to expand on their qualifications and personal statement while looking into their communicative skills and aptitude.
There are hordes of sample questions, interview guides and interview preparation sites out there, which is great in many ways, but can be a hindrance in others. Interviewers are wise to this and often look to change things up to avoid the risk of talking to somebody who may as well be reading an auto-cue.
Be sure to study your invitation for an interview carefully, as it can reveal a lot about the format that it will take. While traditional interviews will take the form of an informative conversation between one or two members of staff and yourself, Multiple Mini Interviews are beginning to gain popularity. One sure thing you can prepare for is the structure and style of each type of interview.
Med-school interviews take one of 3 forms:
Traditional medical school interviews are similar to job interviews. You’ll be asked about your background, goals and why you want to study medicine. Expect questions on medical ethics, advancements and current issues in the NHS. The interviewer will also explore your personal life, motivations, hobbies and how you’ve handled past challenges. Be prepared for questions like “give an example of working with a team to achieve a goal” or “describe a time when you have handled significant pressure”.
To prepare for a medical school interview, jot down key moments from your work experience, school or college and personal life. You should highlight any examples where you worked under pressure during a placement or overcame a personal challenge. Emphasising qualities like empathy, warmth and care is crucial as these traits are highly valued in healthcare.
Oxbridge medical courses are more heavily focussed on research. This means that their interviews are far more focussed on assessing your cognitive abilities and thinking skills. That said, they’ll want to create a detailed picture of how you approach sensitive ethical subjects and more general areas of medicine.
They might kick off the interview with something so simple that it throws you off like “what makes a good doctor?” and then go on to ask you more detailed questions which might involve mathematics or knowledge of areas of medicine that you should have covered at A-Level.
Oxbridge interviews have gained some notoriety for their offbeat questions but even if the question is difficult to grasp in the moment, they at least want to see that you’re approaching it openly from an angle of discussion rather than simply shutting it down with an “I don’t know.”
The MMI approach is a modern method of interviewing in which you face a number of interviewers in relatively quick succession. Each one will either give you a task or ask you questions, such as a scenario that requires a demonstration of problem solving or a role play to resolve. Each part of the interview is designed to last about ten minutes but the whole interview may take up to two hours. The purpose of this is to assess your interdisciplinary approach to tackling problems. It also keeps you on your toes and assesses your ability to adapt.
When we say the questions asked in an MMI are varied, we mean it! For example, you could be asked to explain how to unwrap a box or pour a bottle of water into a cup. Weird right? But these questions actually aim to assess your ability to give precise instructions that cannot be misinterpreted. Other interview stations will quiz your ethical views, medical knowledge and personal life and background.
Whichever interview you are preparing for it’s a really good idea to keep up to date on current news stories surrounding medicine, med schools and the NHS. There’s a very good chance you’ll be asked a question surrounding a controversial news item such as the right to die, NHS budgets or obesity costs to the NHS.
Some other popular topics that may be mentioned during your interview include:
● A 7-day NHS
● The Charlie Gard Case
● The Alife Evans Case
● The COVID-19 Pandemic
For more information on how to have a successful med school interview, check out our interview questions and answers guide!
Don’t panic, is the short answer. Not succeeding in your medical school application may feel like a big blow as you’ll have most likely prepared for ages. But there are plenty of options still waiting for you!
If you missed out on a place prior to your exams, then the best course of action for you to take first will likely be to focus on getting the best grades you can and re-apply through UCAS Clearing – which is a part of the admissions site where universities post their vacant spaces for courses.
It must be noted that the chance of scoring a place at medical school through Clearing is fairly low due to the availability of these places. However, in recent years, more universities have put their available medical school places on Clearing so not all hope is lost!
Should you decide to take the option of a retake year, gap year or simply launch a second attempt in the following academic year, remember that work experience can really help you stand out from the crowd when competing for places. If you’re motivated and focused, then the world is your oyster!
If you didn’t quite get the grades you needed to enrol with your choices the two biggest options available to you is to resit your final year or apply for a similar course with the appropriate entry criteria through Clearing. If examinations were your downfall then the first thing to consider is re-sitting them and re-applying.
You’ve come a long way and if you’ve picked up even half of the grades and experience you need for med school then you’re equipped with the qualifications and ability needed to get into many other well-respected degrees. With a strong degree in a medicine-related course, you can try and enter med-school as a graduate. You’ll often be able to take a 4 year fast-track course, too. The most obvious course for this path is biomedical science but physiology, anatomy and pharmacology are all very useful too and can either prepare you for post-grad med school or another career in medicine and healthcare.
If you go down this route, you will have ample time to pick up as much medical work experience and medicine volunteer work as possible and this will go huge lengths in supporting your graduate entry medicine application.
There are a fair few courses which allow you to transfer from the first year to med-school. This is risky and competitive so you should consider still completing a course that you enjoy as you don’t want to be stuck with this course for another two years if you don’t succeed with your transfer.
One thing to bear in mind is that if you take this route and can’t transfer, failing to finish the whole degree will likely negatively impact your chances of ever getting into med-school. You need to illustrate your commitment – finish your degree and try to apply to med-school as a graduate. For this reason, it is essential you choose carefully. Those who are successful will excel in their first year at university and will get involved in as much work experience and other voluntary work as is possible.
Here are some courses which will allow transfers:
Biomedical Sciences at Newcastle University
Biomedical Sciences at St. George’s
Medical Pharmacology at Cardiff University
Biomedical Sciences or Molecular Medicine at The University of Sussex
Many applicants are entirely focussed on med school but the reality is there are many, many, careers which are tremendously fulfilling and can lead to various PhDs and cutting-edge work and research. It is possible to become heavily involved with the world of medicine and medical science without going through med-school.
If you have any questions about applying to medical school in the UK then we’d love to hear them! You can ask us anything and we’d be very happy to answer any questions you may have about the process and to offer some advice.
Getting a place in medical school is arguably the hardest stage of your journey to becoming a doctor so it’s not surprising that many students become stuck at some point in the application process. Just remember you’re not alone. There’s literally tens of thousands of students in the same position as you, honestly the biggest reason why students become stuck is not knowing enough about the various hoops you have to jump through to gain your place.
One word that you will have read in this guide more than any other is “prepare.” Learn the whole process inside out – how to write your personal statement, what a med school interview looks like, the format of the UCAT and BMAT examinations and the medicine work experience you need to have and you’ll give yourself a very good chance of succeeding in gaining your place in medical school.
Looking to apply to medical school and need help finding some work experience, you’ve come to the right place. Premed offers online and in-person medical work experience helping you enhance your medical school applications. If you want to gain some work experience to improve your chances of getting into medical school, apply today and you start your journey in becoming a doctor.
There are several steps to take to get into medical school in the UK. You need good grades, a strong score on the UCAT (and any other admissions tests you may need to take), an excellent personal statement and a great interview. All of these things are crucial in increasing your chances of a successful medical school application.
There are currently 45 medical schools in the UK. It must be noted that not all of these medical schools offer undergraduate programmes so you should do your research before applying to any medical school.
Approximately 9500 medical school places are available to applicants in the UK each year. This is a cap that the government has put in place to ensure teaching is to a high standard and that students are geting the most out of their time.
The tuition fees for home students in the UK is £9,250 per year. For international students, medical school tuition fees can be about £20,000 and £50,000 a year.
Generally, your GCSEs are still considered when you apply to medical school. This means you should have a minimum of six grade 6 (B) at GCSEs. To increase your chances of getting into medical school, however, you should have at least five A-A* grades. You need to have good grades in English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry or Additional Science.
In terms of A-Levels, most medical degrees require AAA as a minimum. These grades should be in hard science subjects like biology and chemistry. Physics and maths are also considered as important.
It is not usually a requirement to have maths or further maths as A-Levels. However, it is useful to have these subjects. Only one of maths or further maths will be accepted as an A-Level.
It is ideal to have an A-Level in biology when applying to medical school. In most cases, an AS Level in biology is the minimum required to ensure your application is successful.
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