How to get Into Medical School in the UK

Do you want to become a doctor?

It's a noble path that comes with both great rewards and challenges. While each doctor's journey is unique, a common hurdle they all face is the significant challenge of gaining admission to medical school before their professional journey starts. This guide aims to offer valuable insights into the process of securing a spot in a medical school in the UK.

There are ten main steps to becoming a doctor in the UK.

  1. Decide if medicine is the right career for you ⚖️

  2. Ensure you meet the GCSE requirements to apply to medical school 🏆

  3. Make sure you have the correct A-levels and adequate predicted grades 🏆

  4. Ensure you have appropriate work experience 👨🏽‍💼

  5. Sit the UCAT examination and gain a good score 🧮

  6. Choose your choices of medical school strategically 👊🏻

  7. Write your UCAS personal statement and submit your UCAS application 📜

  8. Succeed in your medical school interview and obtain an offer 🎙️

  9. Choose which medical school offer(s) you will accept 📊

  10. Sit your A-level exams, and if you meet the grades you are offered, you are in medical school 😀

Decide if medicine is the right career for you.

Medicine is a rewarding career with many specialities to choose from. You can work in the community as a general practitioner or in the hospital, perhaps as a surgeon or physician.

  • However, before practising as a doctor, you must complete medical school and a medical degree. This allows you to register with the General Medical Council in the United Kingdom and obtain a medical licence 🪪

  • Medical degrees are usually at least five years in duration. Compared with students studying other subjects, your studying will be intense, leaving less time for you to socialise. Your placements may be at hospitals and community settings far away from campus, and you may have to attend unsociable hours, including evenings and nights 🌖

  • You will have the financial commitment of several years of tuition fees, often funded through a student loan and your accommodation and living expenses 💰

  • Doctors in the UK, at least once fully qualified as a consultant or a GP working in the NHS, are well paid. The BMA is working hard to ensure doctor's salaries keep up with inflation and that working conditions in the NHS are safe for patients. You will find that a UK medical degree is highly regarded worldwide, and many doctors who qualify in the UK move abroad to countries like Canada, Australia and the UAE 🇦🇪🇦🇺

  • You should be aware of what it is like working in the NHS as a doctor and how the NHS is organised, and you can do this by attending relevant work experience. 👨🏽‍💼

Ensure you meet the GCSE requirements to apply to medical school.

For most applicants, GCSEs will be the only academic qualification for which you will have actual results when submitting your application to medical school.

  • You should check the medical school website to see their requirements. A medical school may first match whether you meet its academic requirements; your application may be rejected if you don't. ⚠️

  • If you have extenuating circumstances that affect your grades, the medical school may insist you take these up with the examination board rather than with them. However, your teacher can declare disabilities and medical illnesses on your UCAS application and how these affected your studies.

  • Usually, the student is expected to have a minimum of a Grade 6 (B) in English Language and Mathematics, and sometimes the sciences, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The remaining subjects are expected to be anywhere from Grade 6 to 9 (B-A*), so you must choose subjects that you are good at. Some universities accept Grades 4-5 (C), although these are in the minority. ⚠️

  • If you have not taken Biology or Chemistry at A-level, the medical school may expect the subject to be taken at GCSE.

Make sure you have the correct A-levels and adequate predicted grades.

  • Most medical schools expect at least AAA at A-Level, usually in Biology and Chemistry, as well as Physics or Mathematics. However, many medical schools are now asking for A*AA. They may insist the A* is in a particular subject. 📊

  • The safest subjects for A-level to give you the maximum choice of medical schools to apply for are Chemistry, Biology, plus either Maths, or Physics. Having said this, increasing numbers of medical schools are being flexible with the third A-level choice. They may prefer a ‘science’ or an ‘academically rigorous’ subject, whereas others may welcome a humanities subject. Some universities, especially the Russell Group, can be particular on what subjects they classify as ‘science’.

  • There are medical schools that will not insist on A-level Chemistry. These medical schools usually insist you have A-level biology and perhaps GCSE Chemistry. ⚠️

  • You are not usually allowed to have two similar subjects, such as Biology and Human Biology, or Maths and Further Maths. These will be counted as one A-level. ⚠️

  • Blue Peanut has helped students research and get places with unusual combinations of A-levels (for example Biology, Art and English) into the standard 5-year MBBS.

  • Your teacher must indicate your predicated grades on your university application. These will be based on assessments you have undertaken through your sixth form, and they must be honest and evidence of their decision.

  • If your teacher has indicated predicted grades less than the minimum entry requirements, this is highly likely to result in your application being rejected. Some students have then decided to defer their application, wait for actual grades, or apply for a different degree course.

Ensure you have appropriate work experience.

  • Most, if not all, medical schools wish you to have some form of work experience. They want to know that you have taken the time to learn about what it is like working as a doctor and being aware of the caring side of medicine. 💊

  • It can also be an opportunity to observe consultations and examine some of the qualities required to be a doctor. 🧑‍⚕️

  • Quality of experience is more important than quantity. You should reflect on what you have seen and learned and hopefully develop the skills needed to be a medical student, such as good communication, teamwork, and leadership. Your placement may allow you to undertake a project and present your findings to the team. 📽️

  • If you cannot find a clinical placement, you should be able to develop similar insight in a voluntary role, which involves contact with the general public. This could be in a food bank or local charity shop. Placements may also be available in care facilities, such as nursing homes. Ideally, you should see healthcare being delivered to patients. ⚠️

  • Some medical schools can be very prescriptive about the type of experience they wish to see in candidates and may also ask for signed certificates of attendance. For example, they may also insist on a specific duration regarding the number of hours. 📜

  • Please look at the video below from our Get Into Medicine conference to learn more about work experience for medicine applicants.

  • Blue Peanut has limited places in its medicine summer experience programme. Learn how to take a patient history, surgical and practical skills and see NHS patients under direct supervision from medical school tutors.

Sit the UCAT examination and gain a good score.

Most medical schools in the UK require candidates to sit the UCAT exam the year before entry. This two-hour computer-based exam tests whether the candidate has professionalism, attitudes and cognitive and mental ability to practice as a doctor. 👊🏻

  • The primary purpose of the UCAT exam is to evaluate aptitude rather than academic knowledge. It comprises various sections to assess distinct skills and mental abilities essential for doctors. These encompass problem-solving, communication, numerical proficiency, spatial awareness, integrity, and empathy. During the UCAT, candidates will be evaluated based on their capacity to analyse written and numerical information in diverse formats. 📊

  • The UCAT exam is sat during the summer in centres around the country. You are given the result straight after sitting in the form of a UCAT score. Medical schools use the result differently, with some ranking candidates by UCAT score and calling the top scorers for interviews. Others may combine the score with another criterion, such as your GCSE grades. ⚖️

  • Getting as high a score as possible is essential, and then you can decide strategically which medical schools you can apply to. Certain medical schools will accept lower scores than others. 👈🏼

Blue Peanut run UCAT courses to teach students the knowledge and skills required to excel in the UCAT exam. These are taught in person with Dr Mannan and can come with a question bank, giving you everything you need to get a high score on this exam.

Come to our UCAT course, taught in person by Dr Mannan 

Develop your revision technique and an intelligent approach. Complete with Medify and Tutorials to help you gain a score that gets you into your choice of medical school 👊🏻

Choose your choices of medical school strategically.

  • You are permitted up to four medical school choices in your application for medicine. You may have personal favourites based on distance from home, friends already there, or high student experience feedback and campus facilities, for example. ⚖️

  • However, each medical school has individual requirements for GCSE grades, A-level subjects and grade requirements, UCAT score (sometimes a cutoff score), work experience and personal statement. ⚠️

  • You should only apply to medical schools where you meet the entry requirements of that particular medical school. These may not be the medical schools you wish to use initially, and this can be disheartening; for example, Manchester Medical School traditionally will require a high UCAT score, so you should not apply here if your UCAT score were considered otherwise. 🙁

Write your UCAS personal statement and submit your UCAS application.

Medical students vary in how they use your UCAS personal statement, with some claiming they do not look at it. However, I would take complete care when drafting your UCAS personal statement for medicine. We usually would state that you include the following points: -

  • Motivation for a career in medicine. Why have you decided you want to become a doctor? 🧐

  • Your research into the demanding nature and requirements for a career in medicine. So, what have you done to make sure this is the right career for you? 🧑🏼‍🏫

  • You demonstrate medicine's caring and scientific side through suitable work experience. What patients have you come across that help illustrate this? 👨🏻‍🦽

  • Evidence of participation in activities which demonstrate teamwork, leadership and other communication skills essential for being a doctor. Include all those badges and positions you have had at college and sixth form. 🫡

  • Your participation in a suitable range of extracurricular activities and interests. Have any of these given you any skills which could be helpful to you as a doctor or medical student? 🏃🏾

  • The presence of awards or achievements outside normal academia. 🥇

Your UCAS application is where you also indicate your four choices of medicine. This leaves a fifth choice, which we advise should also be chosen strategically. We have a blog which looks at the fifth UCAS choice in detail. This is essential, as the fifth choice can be a stepping stone to medical school.

Most schools should have a tutor or careers advisor who will check your UCAS personal statement for you.

Succeed in your medical school interview and obtain an offer.

All medical schools will interview. If you succeed in the interview, the medical school will make you an offer indicating the A-level results you need to secure a place. Once you have an offer, your A-level results are the only obstacle to getting into medicine.

There are two main elements that you will need to master to be successful in medical school interviews.

  • Knowledge and Skills 📚

    Medical school interviews require you to have a basic grasp of some essential medical concepts, such as consent, confidentiality, medical ethics, duties of a doctor and the General Medical Council's good medical practice guidance.

  • Interview Technique 🎙️

    You must appear confident in your answers, which must be well thought out, balanced and structured. You will also need to do this under time pressure.

There are two main types of interviews: the MMI circuit and the traditional panel interview. Both can be undertaken in person and online, using software such as Teams or Zoom. During the COVID pandemic, it was standard practice for all interviews to be done virtually online. Most medical schools have returned to in-person interviews, but some still choose to interview online. International students have traditionally had the option for a remote or telephone interview.

Blue Peanut runs medical school interview courses, which teach the students the knowledge, skills and interview techniques they need to convert an interview into an offer. We also offer mock MMI circuit days where students can practice exam techniques with four interviews under exam conditions; the only difference from the real thing is we give each student detailed feedback after each interview.

📚👊🏻 Come to our Medical School Interview Course, taught in person by Dr Abdul Mannan

Convert your interviews into offers. Gain knowledge and skills and then practice with expert feedback. 95-98% historic offer rate 🏆

🏃🏾⏱️ Practice 40 Mock MMI Stations on our Mock MMI Circuit Days

Learn where you went wrong and how you can put things right. Identify your nightmare areas. Expert individual feedback after each station ⚖️

Choose which medical school offer(s) you will accept.

If you have more than one offer, you can choose two choices 😀

You will need to decide your first choice, meaning if you get the grades for this offer, you are committing yourself to attending this medical school. You are also permitted an insurance choice, which traditionally is a university which has given you an offer needing lower grades than the first offer. It can also be used for your UCAS fifth choice if you have an offer from this choice.

Sit your A-level exams, and if you meet the grades you are offered, you are in medical school.

If you get your offer grades, you are going to medical school. 🏆 The medical school will arrange an occupational health assessment and check your vaccination status.

Suppose you reject all your offers or are in the unfortunate position of not having any or not getting the required grades. In that case, your application will automatically go into UCAS clearing. As time progresses, more medicine places are being made available through UCAS clearing, so if your actual grades and UCAT score are good enough, there is another chance to secure a medical school place on A-level results day.