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Last year a record number of people applied to study Medicine (28,690) and this year that number is even higher.
UCAS has received 29,710 applications for 2022 entry Medicine overall, which is a 3.5% increase from last year. This can be largely attributed to a rise in reapplicants, as explained below.
According to the stats, there are now 10,000 more people wanting to study Medicine than there were just five years ago!
5,710 people reapplied for Medicine this year, in comparison to 4,470 last year. That’s a 28% increase! It’s also more than double the number of reapplicants there were five years ago.
In addition, there have been slightly fewer first-time applications for 2022 entry Medicine – 24,000 compared to 24,220 last year.
The upshot is that if you’re a first-time applicant this year, you’re competing against more reapplicants than ever before. They might have taken a year out to do more work experience, build on their personal statement and resit the UCAT or BMAT – all with the end goal of improving their application.
With so many applicants meeting their offer requirements, the government raised its cap on Medicine places last year. This meant that more people than ever before were accepted into Med School.
The cap is expected to return to its normal level for 2022 entry, so although there is a new record number of applicants, there won’t be any extra places like there were last year.
In addition to this, many successful applicants had to defer their entry last year, since even the extra places weren’t enough to cover them. These deferred applicants have their places guaranteed for 2022 entry. Taking this into consideration, it’s unclear how many places will actually be available for people who have applied this year.
We discussed what the lower number of Medicine places could mean for you in this recent blog.
With a record number of applicants, an increase in reapplicants and the likelihood of fewer places available this year, Medicine is going to be more competitive than ever for 2022 entry.
At this stage, you should be doing everything you can to prepare for interviews and ensure that you stand out from the crowd. This prep should include getting to grips with the types of interview you could be having (MMI or traditional/panel), practising common questions, reading up on hot topics and more.
It is anticipated that most Med Schools will be conducting online interviews again this year, so you need to prepare yourself for this format.
Despite the recent issues with a number of people being unable to sit the BMAT, more sittings have now taken place to accommodate these applicants, so Med Schools are expected to receive the scores at the same time as usual. This means that whether you sat the UCAT or the BMAT, you could start receiving interview offers very soon and you’ll need to be ready.
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