This student applied in the 2020/21 application cycle and therefore the selection process at Sheffield may have changed since then. You should read all the information a University sends you about the selection process to get the most up to date details!
Remember to check out the glossary at the bottom of the page for our explanations of all the jargon we medical students like to use!
More about this student
Gender: Woman
Ethnicity: Somali
I went to a comprehensive school that doesn’t regularly send students to medical school.
Our Summary
Course: Standard Undergraduate
Online MMI interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Recommended resources:
Medify
Before I made my application…
When did you decide you wanted to apply for medical school?
Around the age of 14-15
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
I only looked at UCAT universities outside of London which i could apply to with my a levels. I also looked at affordable cities to live in as I knew that could be a challenge for me. I was so set on medicine I didn’t have a 5th choices as I knew I would re apply the following year if need be.
What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing
Care work (e.g. in residential care)
Customer service role (voluntary)
Teaching
How much work experience did you do?
A couple one week stints in hospital, a week in a nursing home. 2 years voluntary work in a primary school, and probably other stuff I’m forgetting now.
How did you find your work experience opportunities?
Through a formal work experience placement or scheme.
During the application process…
What admissions test did you sit?
University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT): https://www.ucat.ac.uk/
How did you prepare for your admissions test?
I did as much research on the test components and did as many free practice questions as possible. I spoke to people who had done the test previously too. After that I paid for a one month membership to Medify a month out from the exam and did as much as possible then.
What resources did you use?
Medify was very useful
What type of interview did you do?
MMI: This type of interview usually includes several short interviews or ‘stations’ which may involve different types of questions and scenarios. This is different compared to a panel interview, which may cover the same scenarios/types of questions but be a more ‘traditional’ sit-down interview.
How did you prepare for your interview?
Sheffield gave us the questions ahead of time to prepare with. My school was also quite helpful as it had a careers teacher who had seen other students apply and helped with the sort of things to prepare. My older brother was already a medical student so I knew a fair bit about the application and interview process from that.
What happened in your interview?
We discussed ethical issues, games designed to test intuition and explored personal lives and motivations for applying and studying medicine.
Glossary
Medify: Medify is a popular website which provides resources for helping you prepare your medicine application. Medify has some free resources online but some are paid-for. There are good, free alternatives for preparation available online, so check out our subject guides and the university websites for details.
Support networks: While not every student will have a support network to help them prepare, there are plenty of other ways to prepare for your admissions tests and interviews, such as through free online resources, like on our website.
Insiders: Don’t worry if you don’t know people like this. Most students don’t have friends who have already been through the process or healthcare professionals that they know who might be able to support them. You can meet current medical students to speak to at open days, or via free mentoring schemes, but it’s not a requirement for you to be successful.
