Application to Sheffield University in 2021/22

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?
I worked in a care home and I loved the medical field and helping people. I had always had it in the back of my mind to apply to medicine since I was about 10, but working as a carer really solidified it for me.

How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
I had to retake my A-levels so I didn’t have many options to choose from. A lot of medical schools didn’t consider retakes. I had very limited options and then after that I chose based off how good the students rated the university life. It was really important for me to have a balanced life.

What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing
Care work (e.g. in residential care)

How much work experience did you do?
I had three days in a hospital but I didn’t find it very useful so in my interviews I never spoke about it! I volunteered in a care home for 2 years and then I worked in a care home for a year. This is what I spoke about in all my interviews.

How did you find your work experience opportunities?
I emailed the hospital.

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 started 3 months prior to my test. I mainly used Medify and I would do it most days. I would say consistent practice (little and often) is the past way of preparing. You don’t want to burn out. It is crucial that you practice under timed conditions because I think the questions are fairly easy if you had all the time in the world, it is the fact the exam is super time pressured, is what makes it hard.

What resources did you use?
Medify was the best and most useful resource I used. It had timed conditions and such a wide range of questions. I also had a few books that were useful but I recommend an online site because you also need to get used to using online calculators etc. They also had lots of different practice tests which gave you a good idea of how prepared you were.

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?
For Sheffield, we were given the list of questions they were going to ask us in our interview, so we were able to prepare our answers. But for all interviews in general, I used The Medic Portal, This was the greatest help when it came to interview prep, UCAS/BMAT help and general information. Note Medify was an extremely helpful resource for UCAT practice. I also practiced mock interviews with friends/ teachers/ family.

I also really recommend watching shows such as 24 hours in A&E and shows like that, immersing yourself in medicine really seemed to get me in the right mindset and also you see a lot of doctor patient interactions on the show and they (mostly) show you the right manner in which you speak to patients.

Also the Brighton and Sussex Medical School do a fantastic online work experience which I highly recommend reading and doing. Also read medical news on the BBC etc so you’re up to date on current affairs. Also I recommend reading the GMC main principles/guidelines/values.

What happened in your interview?
I had a station where we played a game where I took the lead and they answered with closed questions.
There was a station in which we were interacting with actors and you need to understand and put into practice the GMC values.

The interviewers across all my different interviews weren’t giving anything away. In my Liverpool interview the two interviewers were super smily and saying how good it was, but my other three wouldn’t say much after the questions. Don’t let that get to you!! They might not show much emotion but it isn’t to discourage you. The vibe is still relaxed though just don’t expected encouragement throughout.