Pears Cumbria
Pears Cumbria offers students the chance to study a bespoke, community-focused curriculum at the University of Cumbria and graduate with an Imperial College London degree.
It is a new medical school and will open its doors in autumn 2025 and welcome its first 50 graduate-entry medical students to the University of Cumbria’s Fusehill Street Campus in Carlisle.
About The Course
Pears Cumbria unites the University of Cumbria’s expertise in the education of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals with Imperial’s reputation as one of the world’s best medical schools.
The curriculum has been co-created with regional NHS partners and is designed to support the retention of doctors in Cumbria and the North West.
Structure Of The Course
Year 1
Year 1 will focus on the integration of medical science and clinical knowledge, while you begin to develop the professional values and behaviours needed to become a doctor.
From early in the programme, you will undertake clinical placements and clinical simulation in a range of settings across North and South Cumbria, which may necessitate travel and/or temporary accommodation.
These sessions will enable you to develop your practical procedural, clinical and communication skills. You will also explore the contributing factors to health and healthcare delivery.
Year 2
Year 2 will delve deeper into medical sciences with continuing focus on the integration of medical science and clinical knowledge, widening your clinical knowledge, and further building on your professional values and behaviours.
The clinical learning in primary and secondary care settings will increase, allowing further development of your practical procedural, clinical and communication skills.
You will deepen your understanding of the factors contributing to health and healthcare delivery completing a group project in an area of interest to you.
Year 3-4
You will undertake clinical placements in clinical specialties, medicine, and surgery, based in hospital and community settings. These placements will facilitate the integration of your learning within the medical school, and in the clinical settings, to prepare you for practice.
In addition to being embedded in clinical teams, a range of structured teaching and simulation sessions will provide you with added experience of unfamiliar situations, managing uncertainty to support you in your practise e.g., making clinical decisions.
During your final year, there will be the preparation for practice component. This will contain a pre-foundation assistantship, during which you will have a defined role and responsibilities within a local clinical team where you will participate in activities which are like those of a newly qualified doctor.
You will complete your training with an elective period that will enable you to organise your own extended placement, either in the UK or abroad.
You will need to complete all components of the Medicine (Graduate Entry) programme to a satisfactory standard to obtain your MBBS award.
Academic Requirements
GCSEs: To encourage applications from groups less well represented in medicine and as part of their commitment to widening access, this 4-year graduate programme does not have any GCSE or A-level requirements.
Bachelor's Degree (Graduates only): A grade 2:1 (or above) in a Biosciences or Allied Healthcare degree.
Mitigating Circumstances
Resits policy: Pears Cumbria will use the latest GAMSAT score provided by Acer (who deliver GAMSAT) or the latest UCAT score provided by Pearson Vue (who deliver UCAT).
Extenuating circumstances: If you believe you have mitigating circumstances that should be considered in decisions about your academic entry requirements or exam results, they encourage you to reach out promptly. Ideally, contact them through your GP.
You must provide appropriate, supportive, and independent evidence. Please note that a letter from a family member or friend will not be accepted.
Late claims will not be considered without clear supporting evidence of why an application was not made on or before the deadline.
Deferred entry: Deferred entry requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Not all requests may be granted, and decisions are made based on the school’s capacity and the applicant’s reasons for deferral.
Further Entry Requirements
Work experience: Work experience with service-users is strongly recommended for candidates and will be assessed during the interview, together with other information from your personal statement.
Admissions Process
Admissions Tests:
UCAT ✅
All applicants are required to meet a minimum threshold score in either the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) or the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT).
The GAMSAT must be taken within the two years prior to the applicant’s UCAS submission date.
The UCAT must be taken in the same year as the applicant’s UCAS submission date. The results will be made available to the admissions team in the November prior to the applicant’s intended entry to the programme.
Interview Type: MMI
Interview Topics: Pears Cumbria uses Multiple-Mini interviews (MMIs) which may be conducted in a blended format with a mixture of in person and asynchronous interviews.
The MMI sections will assess candidates across the following areas:
- Commitment to medicine and understanding of the role of a doctor
- Potential to contribute to the medical school and the region
- Teamwork and leadership
- Ethics
- Empathy
- Resilience and adaptability
Admissions Statistics
| Total number of applicants: | TBC |
| Total number of places: | TBC |
| Total number of entrants: | TBC |
| Acceptance rate: | TBC |
Fees
| Home students: | TBC |
| Rest of UK: | TBC |
| International students: | TBC |
Graduate Prospects
As Pears Cumbria is yet to admit its first cohort, there is no graduate data available.
FAQs
Is Pears Cumbria Medical School new?
Yes – Pears Cumbria will admit its first cohort of students in 2025 so this is its first year of application.
What degree will I receive from Pears Cumbria?
You will receive an Imperial College London degree.
Does Pears Cumbria do undergraduate Medicine?
No – their medicine course is Graduate Entry only.
School Details
- Website
- https://cumbriamed.ac.uk/study/
- cumbriamedadmissions@cumbria.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 1228 588588
School Details
- Website
- https://cumbriamed.ac.uk/study/
- cumbriamedadmissions@cumbria.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 1228 588588
