Medical School Interviews

Medical School Interviews Explained

If you pass the first stage of the admissions process – when the academic screening takes place – you’ll get an invite to a Medicine interview. This is your chance to showcase your personal qualities that are aligned with those of a good Doctor, and to demonstrate your skills.

When Are Medicine Interviews Offers Sent?

The Medicine interview season can start as early as November and will run to March.

When Will I Know the Outcome?

Some Med Schools will let you know if you’ve been successful within a couple of weeks of your interview, while others will hold off until the deadline in March.

Two Types of Medicine Interviews

There are two types of interviews:

• Multiple Mini Interviews
• Traditional/panel interviews

The main difference is that MMIs involve rotating through a series of stations, where you’ll face a variety of challenges and types of questions or tasks – and traditional interviews focus on you answering multiple questions over a much longer period of time.

Changes For 2021 Entry

Medical School interviews will be very different this year, because of COVID restrictions. You should expect them to be done virtually, and the format to be tweaked somewhat.

Who Is Interviewing Online?

A majority of Medical Schools have confirmed their interviews are moving online.

How Different Will The Experience Be?

Most Medical Schools are still confirming details – but you can familiarise yourself with the most common formats by practising with our MMI course or Interview course. You’ll get feedback from our tutors and plenty of tips to come across well on-screen.

School-by-School Interview Details

We’ve reviewed each Medical School to bring you the latest information about their interviews for 2021 entry.

While we do our best to regularly review and update this page, details can change quickly. So please check with your chosen university before making any application decisions.

University of Aberdeen Interview

Your interview accounts for 50% of the selection process at the University of Aberdeen. The other half is a combination of your academic performance (30%) and UCAT score (20%).

Anglia Ruskin Interview

Anglia Ruskin University shortlists candidates for interview by ranking UCAT scores. If invited to interview, you’ll face six MMI stations that last six minutes each. You should be prepared to talk about your Personal Statement during your Medicine interview.

Aston Medical School Interview

Medicine interviews at Aston University take the MMI format. Each station will last six to eight minutes and you’ll tackle between seven and 10 of these.

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Interview

BARTS (Queen Mary University of London) shortlists candidates for interview by scoring you based on your UCAS tariff and UCAT score. From over 2,500 applicants, they shortlist 800 for interview and make roughly 440 offers.

University of Birmingham Interview

The University of Birmingham scores your application (the weighting is: 45% academic, 30% UCAT and 25% contextual) and then invites around 1,300 candidates to interview. They’ll make offers to around 850 students.

This year, the interviews will take no more than 30 minutes. It involves two stages: the first interview is broken down into two six-minute stations, one of which will involve a role-play scenario. You’ll get two minutes to prepare for each station. The second stage is an online calculation that takes 10 minutes and will be done on a different day.

Brighton and Sussex Medical School Interview

Brighton & Sussex Medical School ranks applicants by their BMAT score and the top ones are invited to interview. The BSMS interview usually includes five discussions of 10 minutes each, with the whole thing lasting an hour.

University of Bristol Interview

The University of Bristol ranks candidates by UCAT score and invites the top ones to interview. The interview will be remote and hosted via Zoom. It will last around 30 minutes and have a structured interview format, with two assessors. Each interviewer will ask two questions, and both interviewers will assess your answer respectively. Their scores will form an average for each question, which will then produce your final interview score.

University of Buckingham Interview

The University of Buckingham‘s MB ChB Medicine 4.5-year degree programme doesn’t require BMAT or UCAT, and instead uses MMI selection days for their admissions process. They’re holding digital interviews this year.

Brunel University London Interview

Your Brunel University interview will include seven to 10 stations, and they usually take five minutes each. Brunel said their virtual MMIs will be very similar to face-to-face MMIs in terms of content, “but the actual delivery is quite different”.

University of Cambridge Interview

The University of Cambridge uses traditional interviews for its selection process, but there isn’t much information on their website about the process.

Cardiff University Interview

Medicine interviews at Cardiff University take the MMI format and are designed to assess whether you have the personal qualities and attributes of a good Doctor.

University of Central Lancashire Interview

For this academic entry cycle, Medicine interviews at the University of Central Lancashire will take the format of a panel interview, and interviews will be conducted online (remotely).

University College London Interview

For this admissions cycle, UCL is using online panel interviews for its selection process. Each interview will be around 20 minutes, with two interviewers present. Around 950 candidates will be interviewed for 334 places.

University of Dundee Interview

Your University of Dundee interview follows the online panel format and will take 60 minutes. This year it’ll be held remotely, on Blackboard Collaborate. There will be five stations that last around six minutes each. Candidates will get one-minute breaks in between stations in order to read brief material for the next task. The stations will see candidates asked various questions, dilemmas and situations. These will often be framed in a medical or clinical context. Candidates will not need prior medical knowledge to answer this.

Edge Hill University Interview

Edge Hill University ranks candidates by their UCAT score and invites everyone who meets the threshold to interview. Since they’re a new Medical School, there isn’t much information available about their first interview round held last year.

The University of Edinburgh Interview

Details of Medicine interviews at the University of Edinburgh are still being finalised. All we know at the moment is that they’re likely to be remote and follow last year’s format of three MMI stations and a group exercise.

University of Exeter Interview

The University of Exeter interviews a set number of candidates every year and makes this shortlist by ranking in order of UCAT score. To be successful, you need to get a yes in at least five of the seven stations. If there are too many people for places, your UCAT score will be used as the tie-breaker.

University of Glasgow Interview

Your University of Glasgow interview will take roughly 30 minutes, and involves two panel interviews. You’ll be given a scenario to read about before you enter the interview. When you’re invited, you’ll be allocated a date and time for your interview and this cannot be changed – if you don’t attend the interview, your application won’t progress.

Hull York Medical School Interview

Medicine interviews at Hull York Medical School take the MMI format and involve three mini-interviews, a group and individual scenario, and a student station. You get five minutes, plus two minutes of preparation time, for each station.

Imperial College London Interview

Imperial College London uses MMIs for their selection process. You’ll face seven stations of five minutes each, with a one-minute break between them.

Keele University Interview

Around 700 applicants will be invited for an interview, with 400 offers made. Medicine interviews at Keele University comprise of two 15-minute interviews, with two different interviewers in each. This will be done remotely.

Kent and Medway Medical School Interview

Kent and Medway Medical School is a new Medical School, and there isn’t much information online about their MMIs. However, we do know they have confirmed they will be conducting online MMIs this year and it will be split into two parts – the first interview will be a three-station MMI whilst the second is a group station MMI.

King's College London Interview

Medicine interviews at King’s College London take place between November and May, which is one of the longest interview periods of all Medical Schools. When drawing up their shortlist, King’s looks at everything: your GCSEs and A-Levels, your UCAT score, and your Personal Statement. Interviews will consist of a panel with two interviewers who complete assessment score sheets about candidates.

Lancaster University Interview

Your Lancaster Medical School interview is likely to be held remotely, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Usually, you’d have 12-15 stations to work through, each lasting roughly five minutes long – although this may change if they move online.

University of Leeds Interview

The University of Leeds takes into account your BMAT score, academic record, and Personal Statement when shortlisting – and usually invites 1,000 applicants to interview. At the time of publishing, they hadn’t confirmed that their interviews will be online but admitted this was likely.

Leicester Medical School Interview

If you apply to Leicester Medical School, you’ll be ranked by UCAT score and academic record and the highest-ranked candidates will get an invite to interview. Around 1,000 people are interviewed and roughly 850 offers are made for the 290 places available. The interviews will be held online.

University of Liverpool Interview

The University of Liverpool ranks you by academic performance and UCAT score then invites the top candidates to interview. For 2021 entry, this will be held online and take the form of a semi-structured interview.

The University of Manchester Interview

The University of Manchester will put you through four or five MMI stations, lasting roughly seven minutes each with a two-minute gap between each.

Newcastle University Interview

Newcastle University ranks candidates by UCAT score and invites everyone above a set threshold to interview. Last year they interviewed around 1,130 students and expect the number to be similar this year.

Norwich Medical School Interview

If you meet the academic requirements, you’ll get an invite to a Norwich (UEA) interview. This will be a remote MMI, and you won’t get any clues about the questions in advance. You will be ranked by interview performance (including SJT score) and UCAT score, and offers will go to the top-ranking candidates.

University of Nottingham Interview

If you’re invited to interview at the University of Nottingham, you should expect an online panel format – it will last between 30 to 45 minutes and be conducted by two interviewers.

University of Oxford Interview

The University of Oxford uses the Traditional interview format, and you’ll be asked questions by academic tutors. Roughly 25% of applicants will be shortlisted for a Medicine interview. Shortlisting is done by ranking your GCSE performance and BMAT score, with the top candidates getting an invite.

You’ll have two interviews: the first will be with your college of preference (or allocation if you made an open application), and the second with a randomly-allocated college.

University of Plymouth Interview

Your University of Plymouth interview will be remote, so the format may stray from the usual MMI set-up. You will face five stations, which will vary in format – one station may focus on role play while another is a short practical task. Interviews will take roughly 55 minutes in total, with 15 minutes at the start of your interview for registration and questions.

Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine

Whilst your Queen’s University Belfast interview will take an MMI format, stations could be changed for the online setup. Your Personal Statement will also be considered within the interview. Applicants will be given further details about how the process will work upon receiving an invitation to interview.

The University of Sheffield Interview

Around 1,200 – 1,300 students will be interviewed by The University of Sheffield. They usually use MMIs, but for 2021 entry it will interview online and be a Traditional panel format. You’ll get the eight questions ahead of time, so you can prepare your responses.

University of Southampton Interview

The University of Southampton‘s selection day process this year will be online and consist of an interview and a group task. If you are invited to attend a selection day, you will be emailed two weeks prior with full event details.

University of St Andrews Interview

St. Andrews interviews around 400 candidates and will be doing this on Microsoft Teams for 2021 entry. They rank you by your UCAT score and invite the top performers. You’re likely to face six MMI stations of six minutes each, but this may change with the online format.

St George's University of London Interview

St. George’s, University of London interviews between 800 and 1,000 candidates each year using MMIs. You’ll be invited if you meet their UCAT cut-off score.

University of Sunderland Interview

Your University of Sunderland MMI will take place on Microsoft Teams, and you can expect a variety of formats. You’ll also have to do a 30-minute maths test.

Swansea University Medical School

Swansea University Medical School‘s interview process will take place over zoom this year.  As well as an interview, you will also have to complete a written component, which is to be done remotely as well.

Warwick Medical School Interview

If you’re invited to interview at Warwick Medical School, you’ll get an invite from early December. They use MMIs and don’t disclose topics ahead of time. Around 450 people will be interviewed in December and January.

How to Prepare For Medicine Interviews

These tips will help you to prepare for your Medical School interview

• Review our best tips for Medicine interviews
• Practice some common Medicine interview questions
• Revise the hot topics that you’re expected to know about
• Keep up-to-date with current news in Medicine
• Look at the MSC’s info sheet about what makes a good Doctor
• Read our school-specific interview tips
• Review the course information and research the Medical School
• Book your place on our MMI Circuits, Interview Course, or Interview Bootcamp