This student applied in the 2017/18 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: White British
I went to a comprehensive school that doesn’t regularly send students to study medicine.
Our Summary
Course: Standard Undergraduate
In person MMI interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Recommended Resources:
UCAT practice papers
Believe in yourself!
Before I made my application…
When did you decide you wanted to apply for medical school?
I started to think about applying for medicine in the summer after my GCSEs and I was lucky enough to be able to arrange some work experience in a hospital to help me think about it further, which I enjoyed. After choosing my A levels to suit applying to medicine, I began to explore the idea and requirements necessary further.
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
I chose universities based on whether I liked the idea of going there! After visiting the open days/the city, attending the talks given on the open day and reading up info.
What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing, Customer service role (voluntary), Customer service role (paid)
How much work experience did you do?
I applied to be a volunteer at my local hospital, and my school did a scheme where you could do work experience/volunteering in your free period.
How did you find your work experience opportunities?
Through asking someone I knew to take me on
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 used the practice papers available on the UCAT website.
What type of interview did you do?
Multiple Mini Interview: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?
I read the information provided by the university and prepared my answers for the two questions they provided us with in advance. My school science teacher offered me a practice interview in the traditional panel interview style. I made sure to know the details about the course, the university and the city.
What happened in your interview?
We had a number of different stations covering a wide range of topics, including what you liked about the city/course, reasoning skills and communication skills.
Glossary
Clinical work experience: Not every student will complete clinical work experience before they apply to medical school. Don’t worry, this is not required to be able to apply. You can use non-clinical work experience (e.g. a caring role, like in a care home) or even reflect on paid work you’ve done (e.g. in customer service) in a productive way.
Mock interview: Don’t worry if you didn’t have this opportunity. Interviews are designed to take into account that not everyone has the same level of preparation. See our guides and blogs on interviews to find out more about free online resources.
