Swansea University Medical School

Swansea Medical School, established in 2004, is one of the rare UK medical schools catered exclusively to the four year graduate entry programme.

Swansea, based in Wales, was ranked an impressive fourth place in the UK for medicine by the Guardian in 2024.

About The Course

Swansea’s MBBcH graduate entry course is a four-year course that follows an integrated, spiral curriculum. The small size of Swansea’s medical school means that students will benefit from extensive contact with academic staff. Students will have clinical contact from the beginning whilst learning about the fundamental biomedical sciences in a clinical context, pathology, ethics and psycho-social issues in patient management.

Studying medicine at Swansea will provide you with the basic scientific underpinnings of medicine including public health, pathology and ethics in addition to strong clinical and communication skills to shape you into one of tomorrow’s doctors.

As a fairly small medical school with a graduate-only intake, Swansea provides an intimate environment with peers who have a rich and diverse background.

Medicine at Swansea is split into two phases, Phase I (years 1 & 2) and Phase II (years 3 & 4) based upon the GMCs Outlines for Graduates, with a focus on three outcome areas:

Scholar and Scientist
Practitioner
Professional

Structure Of The Course

Year 1-2

The first two years at Swansea are comprised of the following components:

Learning weeks which involve lectures, tutorials, anatomy teaching and Case Based Learning (CBL).
Community based learning within General Practices for one day every fourth or fifth week
Learning opportunities in clinical and research settings
Early apprenticeships in which students shadow F1 doctors

Core modules throughout these learning components are based around six body systems; Behaviour, Defence, Development, Movement, Nutrition and Support.

Year 3-4

The last two years at Swansea continue Case Based Learning in specified weeks. The main difference between phase one and two is the amount of time spent in clinical placements. The majority of phase two consists of eight five week placements including the following:

Acute Surgery
Women’s Health
Child Health
Mental Health
Medicine Subspecialties

Additionally, phase two aims to prepare students for the start of their Foundation jobs through Senior Assistantships in which students shadow an F1 doctor and an Elective placement which is usually taken abroad.

Academic Requirements

GCSEs: Graduate Entry only – minimum grade of C at GCSE in Mathematics and English/Welsh.

A-levels: N/A N/A. Graduate Entry only – a 2:1 undergraduate degree in any subject is required.

Scottish Higher: N/A N/A

Scottish Advanced Higher: N/A N/A

International Baccalaureate: N/A N/A

IELTs (International applicants only): An IELTS overall score of 7.0 with no less than 7.0 in speaking and 6.5 in listening, reading and writing.

Bachelor's Degree (Graduates only): A minimum achieved or predicted grade of 2:1 in a Bachelor’s degree in any subject.

Mitigating Circumstances

Extenuating circumstances: Mitigating circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis and may allow, for example, deferred entry. Applicants with mitigating circumstances should contact the University using the email below to find out more about the process

Deferred entry: Generally, due to the highly competitive nature of the course, deferrals are not considered for this course. However, in exceptional circumstances, they may be considered.

Transfers: Students wishing to transfer to Swansea Medicine from another medical programme are not considered. If a student has previously studied but not completed another medical programme due to mitigating circumstances, they may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Further Entry Requirements

Work experience: The interview process is structured to review a variety of qualities that Swansea aims to assess in their interviews, based upon the ‘Good Medical Practice’ guide which are:

1. Communication skills
2. Problem solving skills
3. Coping with pressure
4. Insight and integrity
5. Passion for medicine and resilience to succeed
6. Organisation and research
7. Ethics and values
You work experience should reflect these.

Admissions Process

Application to Swansea Medical School must be done via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Deadlines for submission are earlier for medical courses, typically mid-October. This application will include all of your academic history as well as your personal statement and other qualifications/achievements.

Admissions Tests:

UCAT ❌
Home (UK) students are required to sit the GAMSAT exam to be considered for entry. International students have the option of sitting the GAMSAT or MCAT. You can find out more about the GAMSAT and the MCAT on our guides. Results for either examination must be within two years of the application. The minimum scores acceptable for each exam are as follows:
GAMSAT: Minimum overall score of 50 including a minimum of 50 in Paper 3
MCAT: Minimum score of 500
Obtaining the minimum scores are however not a guarantee for an assessment day offer as yearly cut-off scores vary depending on the cohort performance. You can find the statistics for cut-off scores for each exam below in ‘admissions statistics’.
Candidates who meet the minimum entry requirement and score above the cut-off for GAMSAT and MCAT once ranked will be invited to attend Swansea’s assessment day.

Interview Type: Traditional

Interview Topics: Assessment at Swansea is somewhat a mixture between typical MMI’s and panel interviews, with three 20-30 minute stations. Assessment days take place face-to-face in January. The three stations are conducted by a range of assessors including clinicians, academics, medical students and members of the public and may involve interviews, presentations or role play scenarios.

The ‘Good Medical Practice’ guide is explained above.

You can find out more about interviews at Swansea in our school-by-school guide.

Candidates are then assessed based upon their interview performance in order to determine who receives an offer. Successful applicants can expect an offer any time until May.

Admissions Statistics

Total number of applicants:	997
Total number of places:	150
Total number of entrants:	155
Acceptance rate:	15.55%

Fees

Home students:	£9000 pa
Rest of UK:	TBC
International students:	£43.850 pa

Teaching Methods

Teaching style: Teaching at Swansea Medical School is integrated, meaning students learn through a variety of campus taught methods including lectures, tutorials, anatomy and clinical skills. Additionally, through clinical placements students learn from clinicians and other healthcare professionals within hospitals, GPs and community health facilities.

Intercalation mode: Whilst intercalation is not a pre-requisite on its Medicine programme, Swansea encourages all its students to consider this option

Graduate Prospects

Graduate prospect data is unavailable for Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea.

FAQs

What is the minimum GAMSAT score for Swansea University?

The minimum GAMSAT score required to be considered is 50 overall and 50 in paper 3. However, this score does not guarantee you an offer for assessment day as selection for this is based on a ranking of scores in which a cut-off score is determined by the cohort’s performance. For example, in 2024 this cut off was 53 for home students.

Is Swansea a good medical school?

Yes, Swansea ranked fourth in the UK for medicine by the Guardian in 2024. Additionally, being a graduate-only course with a relatively small cohort, students at Swansea experience a more mature and intimate learning environment.

Is Swansea Medical School hard to get into?

Although all medical schools are difficult to get into, Swansea’s acceptance rate of 7.6% is on the more competitive end of the scale (as based on the 2021 admissions data).

Does Swansea have Undergraduate medicine?

Swansea does not offer a five/six-year undergraduate entry medical programme, however, it does have plenty of medicine-related undergraduate courses such as Pharmacology and Medical Biochemistry.