Leicester

Leicester medical school was founded in 1975 and is based out of the University of Leicester, which welcomes around 16 000 undergraduates. Leicester is a large city in the East Midlands, around two hours from London and an hour from Birmingham, with the university located just south of the city centre.

Leicester was the first UK medical school to adopt a one-iPad-per-student programme at undergraduate level and remains one of the few UK medical schools offering full-body cadaveric dissection. Leicester also offers a state of the art teaching facility, the George Davies Centre, inaugurated in 2016. The Guardian ranked Leicester as 17th in the UK for medicine in 2024.

About The Course

Leicester’s course is fully integrated and offers patient contact from the start of their medical degree. They run a patient-focused curriculum which is delivered through a mixture of lectures, small group work and clinical teaching. Their course incorporates full body human dissection and they give all students an iPad through which teaching materials are delivered.

Leicester also offers a Foundation Year course to support under-represented students whose academic achievement has been limited by their circumstances to study medicine. This article focuses on the A100 standard undergraduate entry course, but Foundation Year students will join the A100 cohort after successfully completing the Foundation Year.

Structure Of The Course

Year 1-2

Students learn how the human body is put together, and how it works in health and illness, as well as the social and psychological dimensions to patients’ lives that affect how they become ill, how they react to illness, and the consequences of illness for them. Early patient contact helps students to understand these issues.

Students learn skills of professional communication and physical examination by working first with ‘simulated patients’ – actors trained to help them learn – and other volunteers before working on hospital wards with real patients.

Teaching delivery in years 1 and 2 includes:

Early clinical apprenticeship with clinical attachments and development of clinical skills
Integrated teaching of molecular and cellular science and systems of the body
Integrated teaching on infection, pharmacology and therapeutics
Social, behavioural and population sciences

Year 3

This year includes longer apprentice style placements in medicine, surgery and general practice, learning from experts in hospital or GP practices. It also includes a SSC or Student Selected Component where students undertake an extra placement in an area of interest; these are usually clinical but can also include education, arts and languages.

Year 4

This year focuses on specialty blocks such as Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Child Health (Paediatrics), Cancer Care and Psychiatry. Leicester offers a specific placement in Elder Care and one in Neurology, Ear Nose & Throat and Stroke.

Year 5

This year is based around extended foundation assistantships designed to fully prepare you for work as a foundation doctor, covering medicine, surgery and General Practice. Students undertake a second SSC block or elective.

Academic Requirements

GCSEs: Grade B or 6 in English Language (as a first language), Maths, and two sciences (including Chemistry and Biology or Double Science). For students taking Methods and Applications in Maths their minimum requirement is a Grade B or 6 in both, but they will only score the Methods in Maths. For applicants who have taken qualifications other than GCSEs, an assessment of equivalence will be made.

A-levels: A*AA. Three subjects including Chemistry or Biology (with practical aspects) and one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology, but excluding General Studies, Citizenship Studies, Critical Thinking or Global Perspectives. The A* needs to be in one of the sciences. They will consider applicants with AAA (including two sciences as above) and EPQ grade B or an AS-level grade A in a fourth subject.

If applicants have taken four full A-levels (not including overlapping subjects such as Maths and Further Maths), they can also give an alternate offer of AAAB. In this case, all A-levels must be completed in Year 12 or 13. If one of the four A-levels is a language subject other than English of which the candidate is a home or native speaker, they would require AAA in the three remaining A-levels.

Scottish Higher: - They will not consider you if you are only taking Scottish Highers.

Scottish Advanced Higher: AAA. Chemistry or Biology, and one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology. They will also consider the two sciences at Advanced Higher (grade AA) plus three other subjects at Highers level (grades AAB).

International Baccalaureate: 34 points. A minimum score of 7,6,6 in three Higher Level subjects including Chemistry or Biology, and one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology. The 7 would need to be in one of the sciences as mentioned above. They will also consider candidates with an overall score of 36 and 6,6,6 in their three Higher Level subjects including two sciences as mentioned above.

IELTs (International applicants only): 7.5 overall, with no component below 7.0.

Bachelor's Degree (Graduates only): Minimum 2:1.

Further Entry Requirements

Work experience: Leicester does not have minimum work experience requirements. They are more interested in what applicants have learnt from any life experience, rather than what they have done. Work experience is not formally assessed to shortlist for interview.

Personal statement: Leicester does not routinely read personal statements as it does not use them to score applications. PS's may, however, be used in borderline or tie breaker situations. If used, Leicester looks for your ability to reflect on the experiences you have gained.

Admissions Process

Leicester scores applicants with predicted A level grades using a combination of 50% UCAT (32 points) and 50% GCSEs (32 points) pre-interview.

Admissions Tests:

UCAT ✅
For candidates with achieved A levels, provided you have all Leicester’s minimum requirements (for GCSEs and/or English Language competency) at first attempt, have achieved your A levels within two years of your GCSEs, and have a total UCAT score in the top 2 deciles with an SJT Band 1-3 Leicester will automatically invite you to interview provided you are in your first gap year. Otherwise, your application will be scored using your GCSEs and UCAT score. Bonus points will be awarded for more than one A* at A level as follows: A*A*A = 1, A*A*A* = 2, with the academic score capped at 32. Band 4 SJT is automatically rejected.

Interview Type: MMI

Interview Topics: MMI stations cover a variety of topics including:

Verbal communication
Listening
Compassion, respect and dignity
Emotional intelligence
Problem solving
Motivation
Ethical Judgement
Numeracy

Admissions Statistics

Total number of applicants:	3658
Total number of places:	TBC
Total number of entrants:	290
Acceptance rate:	7.93%

Fees

Home students:	£9250 pa
Rest of UK:	£9250 pa
International students:	£29000 pa

Teaching Methods

Teaching style: Leicester follows an integrated teaching style. In a typical week there is a mixture of lectures and group work either in the morning or the afternoon; with sessions learning about clinical skills or dissection as well. There is plenty of time for individual learning. They do not offer PBL but there is a lot of group work that is supervised by clinical teaching fellows and academics. Leicester offers placements regularly from the first term of the degree and then years 3-5 are fully placement based.

Intercalation mode: Leicester offers an iBSc in Psychology.

Leicester also offers iMSc (after year 3) programmes in Medical Research, Clinical Education, Healthcare Management, and Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

They also support medical students to intercalate externally if they choose to do so.

Graduate Prospects

About 99% of all graduates from Leicester’s Medicine course go on to work and/or continue their studies within 15 months after the end of the course. The average earnings are initially £34,000, rising to £51,000 after 5 years.

FAQs

How hard is it to get into Leicester Medical School?

All medical schools are competitive. Leicester is perhaps less competitive than others on raw numbers, with around 14.7% of applicants securing an offer compared to less than 10% at other medical schools, but that still means fewer than 1 in 5 applicants secure an offer.

Is Leicester a good university for medicine?

All medical schools are GMC accredited, so will teach medicine to a high standard – what matters is how their teaching suits you. Leicester is not well ranked by the Guardian, who ranked them 17th in the UK to study medicine. However, the Guardian’s ranking does not take into account medicine-specific metrics, like students reporting their preparedness for practice as an FY1 doctor. The GMC rated Leicester 4th in the UK for preparedness for practice in 2022. They also offer unique opportunities like cadaveric dissection.

What is the UCAT score for Leicester medicine?

Leicester ranks candidates based on UCAT and GCSEs, so there is no individual UCAT cutoff score. The minimum score to be invited to interview as a home applicant with predicted grades in 2023 was 59.5 out of 64. That is equivalent to 8 9s at GCSE including Leicester’s core subjects and a UCAT of 2700, roughly between the 7th and 8th deciles.

Leicester also rejects applicants with a Band 4 SJT score.

What grades do you need to get into Leicester medicine?

The minimum grades are A*AA at A-level, in three subjects including Chemistry or Biology (with practical aspects) and one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology, but excluding General Studies, Citizenship Studies, Critical Thinking or Global Perspectives, and grade B or 6 in English Language (as a first language), Maths, and two sciences (including Chemistry and Biology or Double Science). However, Leicester scores GCSEs so the grades needed for interview are likely significantly higher.