Newcastle

Medicine has been taught at Newcastle since 1834 and the university is now home to one of the largest integrated medical teaching and hospital complexes in the country.

It is consistently ranked as one of the top medical schools in the UK due to high levels of teaching and research and is currently 6th in the Guardian’s list.

About The Course

Newcastle University’s Medicine MBBS course is 5 years long and prepares you for a career as a compassionate and skilled practitioner.

In the first half of the course, you will learn about key areas of medicine on campus. In the second half of the course, you’ll gain clinical experience through placements in their clinical base units across the region.

Newcastle aims to provide a range of clinical experiences and, as such, students will be required to spend prolonged periods at sites distant from Newcastle University campus. Students will also be required to take part in work outside of normal working hours, which would reflect that of a doctor’s training in the NHS.

Structure Of The Course

Year 1-2

The first 2 years (A100) or first year (A101), are largely university based. They are case led with clinical skills and professionalism taught and assessed from the start. This lays the foundation of clinical practice.

You will spend time in Primary, Secondary and Community placements in Years 1 and 2, to provide context to the core knowledge and skills you are acquiring.

Year 2

A three-week block at the end of Year 2 is designed to support your transition to clinical practice in Year 3 and assistantships in Year 5 to prepare you for Foundation Programme training.

Year 3-5

In Yeas 3, 4 and 5 you will be based in one of three zones for each year; one of which will mean you are likely to move away from Newcastle city. You will be made aware of your zonal allocation early in Year 1, to allow you to make plans.

Academic Requirements

GCSEs: Six GCSEs at a minimum grade of 7/A including Mathematics and two science subjects. Additionally, an English Language GCSE at grade 6/B or above is required.

A-levels: AAA in any subject excluding General Studies, Use of Mathematics, World Development, Communication and Culture and Critical Thinking. Once the academic criteria have been met, academic achievement is not considered further in subsequent parts of the application process eg additional A Levels or A* results or additional GCSE results are not considered.

Scottish Higher: AAAAA. Scottish qualifications can be taken in more than one sitting.

Scottish Advanced Higher: AA at Advanced Higher Grade.

International Baccalaureate: A minimum of 36 points including minimum of grade 5 in all subjects. To include Biology and Chemistry

IELTs (International applicants only): An overall score of IELTS 6.5 or equivalent. You will also need at least IELTS 5.5 or equivalent in each of the four sub-skills.

Bachelor's Degree (Graduates only): Applicants must have achieved, or expect to achieve, an honours degree in any discipline to at least an upper second class or first class Honours or integrated master’s degree.

Mitigating Circumstances

Resits policy: Applicants ideally should have achieved the necessary A Level grades at the first attempt as an indicator that they will be able to manage the intensity of the course. Newcastle University recognises that sometimes circumstances mean that students underperform. As a result, they allow a subject to be repeated once. If a subject is being undertaken for a second time after further study the expectation is of a higher level of performance, the grade requirement from the University will also increase by a grade eg A to A*.

Extenuating circumstances: Newcastle will usually not alter any offers that they make as a result of extenuating circumstances, but if an applicant misses their offer, they will take any extenuating circumstances into consideration if applicants miss out on their offer and may still be able to offer the applicant a place.

Deferred entry: Admissions tutors in all subject areas are happy to consider applicants who wish to defer entry by one year. You can apply for deferred entry while you are still at school or college, or you can request deferred entry after submitting your UCAS application.

Transfers: Successful applicants transfer into the first year of the Medicine or Dentistry programmes. You can apply to transfer from any degree programme in their suite of biomedical and biomolecular programmes in the School of Biomedical, Nutritional, and Sport Sciences.

Further Entry Requirements

Work experience: Relevant experience is essential for applying to medical school. You will need to be able to show how you have developed interpersonal skills. You’ll also need to understand what makes good patient care. Patients often feel vulnerable, angry or distressed, and you’ll need to know how to respond. However, your experience doesn’t have to be shadowing a doctor or in a clinical setting.

Personal statement: Students are selected on the basis of their academic performance in stage one, UCAT score, personal statement and panel interview performance, so a good personal statement is important.

Admissions Process

The selection process involves four stages that follow the sequence below.
Stage 1: Academic Screen
Stage 2: Consideration of ‘current UCAT score’
Stage 3: Interview
Stage 4: Making offers

Admissions Tests:

UCAT ✅
The UCAT threshold may differ in each admissions cycle as it is dependent on the scores achieved by those applicants who apply to our Medical School in the current cycle. Invitation to interview will be based on the ranking of applicants’ UCAT scores. Candidates with a UCAT Situational Judgement Test Band of 4 (the lowest band) will not be considered. Applicants meeting the UCAT threshold will be sent an automated email inviting them to register for interview. Emails are sent in batches depending on the date range of interviews applicants are invited to. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts (including junk and spam folders) on a regular basis and contact the Admissions Team if they have any concerns. The Admissions Team do not contact applicants who have not registered for interview; the responsibility lies with the applicant.

Last years UCAT cutoff was 2820 for home, 2600 for international for A100, for WP/Partners this was 2700 and for A101 it was 2930.

Interview Type: MMI

Interview Topics: Interviews for home A100 and all A101 applicants could take the form of Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI’s) or online Panel Interview. A100 applicants classed as International for fees purposes will be interviewed by a panel of two interviewers either on campus or by video conference if this is more convenient.

The panel interview will ask a comparable set of questions to those covered in the MMIs.

The purpose of the interview is to confirm whether the applicant has the aptitude, motivation and personal qualities to succeed as a medical student at Newcastle University and as a potential doctor of the future.
At Newcastle interviews generally take place between December and February.
Applicants they wish to interview will receive an email, which will invite them to book an interview slot within one of the sessions available. A deadline for booking the interview will be included in the email and after this date has passed, it will not be possible for applicants to reserve a space.

The interview process will provide applicants with the opportunity to demonstrate that they have the personal qualities to succeed as a medical student and future doctor. The following areas will be assessed at interview:

Integrity (honesty and probity)
Communication
Empathy and self-awareness
Motivation and commitment to be a doctor
Compatibility with MBBS programme
Teamwork (including leadership)
Personal organisation
Persistence and resilience

In MMIs, these categories will be assessed with interview questions and role play. Each applicant will be scored on their performance at each MMI station by an individual selector. In panel interviews, the categories will be assessed solely by interview questions. Performance at interview will be the sole basis on which the selectors will make their judgement. The total interview score will be used as the basis for the decision-making process for offers to study.

For more information, check out our Newcastle University interview guide.

Admissions Statistics

Total number of applicants:	1100
Total number of places:	342
Total number of entrants:	342
Acceptance rate:	31.09%

Fees

Home students:	£9250 pa
Rest of UK:	TBC
International students:	£42200 pa

Teaching Methods

Teaching style: Newcastle’s Medical School uses an integrated case-led teaching style that focuses on looking at the patient as a whole. Their main focus is ‘case-based learning’ (CBL). For example a case of stroke can be used to learn and teach the nervous system, cardiovascular system, clinical skills, pharmacology, Public Health and
communication skills.

Intercalation mode: Their medical students have the opportunity to enrich their personal and professional development further by taking time out of their medical studies to pursue an intercalated degree.

Intercalation provides an opportunity to study a subject that interests and excites you as well as develop new perspectives on healthcare delivery, research and education. Newcastle offers a broad range of Biomedical Science BSc degrees and Masters degrees that cover all aspects of medical practice.

Graduate Prospects

About 98% of all graduates from Newcastle’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 £35,000, rising to £50,500 after 5 years.

Overall, 97% of graduates are using what they learned during their studies in their current work and 97% are employed as medical practitioners.

FAQs

Is Newcastle a Russell Group University?

Yes, Newcastle is a founding member of the Russell Group.

What rank is Newcastle medicine?

Newcastle University is top 10 in all of the following rankings: Complete University Guide (8th), the Guardian (6th) and the Sunday Times (7th).

How many years is Medicine in Newcastle University?

Five years.

Does Newcastle look for GCSEs for medicine?

Once the academic criteria have been met, academic achievement is not considered further in subsequent parts of the application process eg additional A Levels or A* results or additional GCSE results are not considered.

Is Newcastle University hard to get into?

For Medicine at Newcastle, their acceptance rate is 16.1%. This is higher than the average for other schools, so in this sense, it could be seen as easier.