3 Things To Consider Before Applying To Study Medicine In The UK
Hello, my name is Tanishka! I am a third year medical student at the University of Manchester and recently graduated from the University of St Andrews with BSc (Hons) Medicine where I completed my preclinical years. I am an International Student and I am passionate about improving awareness of pathways into medicine!
I was born in Mumbai, India and moved to St Andrews when I was 17 for a foundation course. Foundation courses are an additional year of study prior to commencing a medical degree that helps widen access; learn more at the Medical Schools Council Website. Being an international student comes with its own set of barriers and there are some you need to overcome before you can even start your course!
Here’s a small list of handy tips that I wish I was given when I was applying to study medicine in the UK.
1. Start early (ideally at least over a year before the application deadline)
I cannot stress enough how important it is to start early so you’re not overwhelmed closer to the application deadline which is usually in the 2nd-3rd week of October for medicine. There are a lot of things you need to organise before you can apply to study medicine in the UK such as work experience (shadowing a doctor in-person or virtually), volunteering, entrance exams (UCAT/BMAT), English language tests (IEL TS/TOFL) and a personal statement detailing why you want to study medicine, amongst other things. I did not sit the BMAT as I was not applying to any universities that required; be sure to research where you are applying to understand what entrance exam(s) they require. Likewise with the English language tests, most universities only require you to sit one or the other and accept both, but I would recommend checking this with the individual university.
Work experience: Most universities prefer that students spend some time shadowing a doctor to understand the reality of the profession and this can be particularly difficult to arrange if it is not common for high school students to shadow doctors in your country. Check out virtual opportunities such as ObserveGP from the Royal College of General Practitioners or the Brighton & Sussex Medical School Virtual Work Experience.
UCAT: There’s also the dreaded UCAT (formerly known as the UKCAT) that you need to sit before you send your application away and there is only a 3-4 month window every year when this exam is offered and you can only sit it once a year. I started preparing 3-4 months before I sat the UCAT. You may also need to travel to another city/country if there are no centres offering the exam in your city and would require additional time to sort out travel arrangements if you require any.
IELTS: I only sat this after I had applied, and this was one of the requirements of my offer. However, I am aware of students who preferred to apply with their IELTS scores so they would not need to sit it later. If you do intend to sit the test before you apply, I would recommend leaving enough time to familiarise yourself with the format of the exam.
Personal statement: This was one of the hardest parts of the application process for me and I would recommend giving yourself at least a month to write this and redraft it several times until you are happy with it.
My Timeline
Just as a guide, I have included a timeline of my application process. I used to volunteer before I even considered studying medicine in the UK so it was not something I did specifically for my application and therefore, I haven’t included it in the timeline. I would recommend looking months in advance to organize it. A lot of organizations required me to be 18 to volunteer which posed a problem as I was 16 at the time of organizing this, another factor to consider.
December 2014 – Started my research
January 2015 – Organised my work experience for June 2015
May 2015 – Started UCAT preparation
June 2015 – Started work experience
July 2015 – booked the UCAT for October 2015
August 2015 – Started writing my personal statement
September 2015 – Contacted my high school for predicted grades (Do not exist as a concept in India unless you go to an international school)
October 2015 – Sat the UCAT
October 2015 – Sent my application away!
September 2016 – Started a foundation course for Medicine!
2. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people
I remember emailing every university under the sun about whether or not they accepted my high school qualification, what entrance exams they would want me to sit, what were their subject requirements, if they offered scholarships to international students. I also joined student forums like The Student Room (TSR) where I received tons of helpful advice from students in similar situations or even medical students who had applied the year before. There are so many Instagram accounts run by medical students (mine included) who would love to help out aspiring students! As long as you are kind and appreciate that they might not always have the time to help you straight away, they would be more than happy to help.
There are also accounts like @future_frontline on Instagram that run frequent webinars that would give you an insight into medicine and show the admissions office your commitment towards studying medicine!
3. Research! Research! Research!
So before you start typing those emails to everyone under the sun, make sure you’ve done your research and are not asking them questions that can easily be answered with a quick google search. There are plenty of free resources available online that should help you get started with anything: be it UCAT prep, interview prep or any other aspect of the application process! Every university will have a dedicated page for the medicine course they offer and this has all the information you would need to get started! Once you’ve gone through it, I would recommend emailing the admissions office with any specific questions. There are also a wide range of websites offering free interview advice and sample UCAT questions you can use to gauge where you are at and how much preparation you would need to do to get your ideal score.
Lastly, celebrate the small wins! I was perpetually stressed all through the application cycle and I now realize how important it was for me to take those days off to celebrate a good UCAT score or a medicine interview invite or even sending away my application! Applying to study medicine in the UK is a tedious process, even if you are not an international student and it’s very important to make sure you are celebrating those tiny victories and not letting yourself get too bogged down by anything. Make sure you put your health before anything else and enjoy the process, you’re a star and you got this!
Remember: the worst they can do is say no!