Worried about getting into medical school?
It might be worth strategically applying so that you have a better chance of getting a place, and this article will help you decide how to do that, with universities with low entry requirements for medicine.
Firstly, what do we mean by low entry requirements?
All medical schools have a set criteria of how they differentiate students from one another which includes an array of factors.
Factors such as:
- Predicted grades
- UCAT scores (check out our UCAT Score Guide and article What is a Good UCAT Score?)
- Performance at interview
- Personal Statements
amongst other features are all scored together to determine whether the student will be offered a place or not. Different medical schools value different components of your application more than others. For example, Liverpool University is a school with a 3:1 ratio of GCSE weighting to the UCAT. Therefore, if you have great GCSE grades but an average UCAT score, it would be worth considering Liverpool as an option. It is worth researching each medical school to see the highest and lowest entry requirements for medicine.
Academic Excellence
Typically, people think of academic rigour when thinking of the foundation for a medical school application. If academics aren’t the highest for you, then it would be worth not applying to Oxbridge as they rarely accept anything less than A*A*A at A-level, with most students achieving 3 A*s. Alternatively, universities with low entry requirements for medicine UK include Brunel Medical School, the University of Buckingham Medical School, and the Kent and Medway Medical School, accepting AAB grades at A-level.
Depending on your predicted grades, it would be worth checking the A-level requirements for different universities, and the GCSE requirements too. The University of Lincoln lowers their entry requirements from AAA to AAB if students select them as their firm choice. Other medical universities in UK with low entry requirements are the University of Plymouth and the University of St Andrews School of Medicine.
Another example of how medical schools are lenient with grades is as follows: if you have missed your grade but have a high grade (usually an A/A*) in an EPQ, some schools allow you to drop one grade in your A-levels, for example the Hull York Medical School. However, this varies between medical schools and it is worth contacting them directly to find out more information.
UCAT
Most medical schools in the UK require the UCAT, with the BMAT having been discontinued from 2023. Apart from the UCAT score itself, some medical schools weigh the Situational Judgement component whereas others do not take it into account.
Therefore, if you have scored a band 1, it’s worth researching the weightings of the Situational Judgement assessment from each medical school, as it could strengthen your application.
Universities which award points towards a students’ application for a high SJT band score include:
- Edinburgh
- Hull-York
- King’s
- Lincoln
- Nottingham
If you have scored a Band 4, then your application will automatically be eliminated from the following universities:
- Anglia Ruskin
- Edinburgh
- Keele
- Leicester
- Lincoln
- Liverpool
- Newcastle
- Nottingham
- Manchester
It would be worth double checking, as entry requirements vary slightly every year. When it comes to weighting, some schools use a cut-off for the UCAT which changes slightly each year, so it would be worth checking their admissions website for detail on the cut off for the year you are applying. If you are below the cut off, your application will automatically get rejected pre-interview, so don’t waste a valuable UCAS choice on a school that you don’t meet the UCAS cut off for.
When looking at lowest grades for medicine UK, Keele University and Plymouth University typically tend to have lower cut offs, and a low score is around 610.
Other requirements
Apart from the points mentioned above, medical schools also value work experience, and most importantly, what you have gained from work experience and how it has influenced your decision to study medicine. Admissions tutors don’t care if you managed to get into theatre to see an open heart surgery; if you learnt more from shadowing a junior doctor for a day then this is what will help strengthen your Personal Statement, and hopefully, interview.
What you gain from your experience is better than who you shadowed. Linking back to the title, what medical school is best for a person with less work experience? All medical schools value it, but as mentioned earlier, the amount of work experience isn’t the takeaway point, but rather what you learnt, how it made you feel and influenced your decision to become a doctor.
A top tip is to keep notes or a diary of your experience so you have everything in one place to remember when it comes to your interview or Personal Statement. Work experience does not necessarily have to include doctors, as shadowing professionals in the healthcare industry can still support your application if you make links as to how. Tying in with work experience is volunteering.
Tutors are interested in whether you can give your time up to gain skills that would be useful to you as you advance through your medical career.
If you are struggling to find work experience, there are some virtual platforms out there, which came into being after the COVID-19 pandemic, which allow you to gain experience remotely.
What to focus on?
It’s mainly grades, admissions tests, and UCAT that make up the bulk of your medical school application. If you are lacking in any of these departments then research what medical schools place greatest emphasis on during the application process.
Several examples of lowest entry requirements and UCAT scores have been given above, but sometimes schools change their admissions criteria slightly, so it would definitely be worth accessing their websites to check the requirements for the year you apply, given your predicted grades and UCAT and BMAT scores.
