This student applied in the 2022/23 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!
Our Summary
Course: Standard Undergraduate
Online MMI interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Recommended Resources:
Medify – UCAT prep
Medic Portal – for articles
Top tips:
Make sure to add something personal or say how you were involved with something related to medicine, and then how you followed up on it your free-time.
Pick a book from the uni’s book list and read it just look over it, they can be quite interesting and help you narrow down a disease or reasearch that you might want to talk about if it is called for in the interview.
Before I made my application…
When did you decide you wanted to apply for medical school?
Y11
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
Whichever sounded nice, and whichever I could achieve with my UCAT cutoff!
What types of work experience did you do?
Customer service role (paid), Online work experience, Had previously volunteered with Red Cross
How much work experience did you do?
Customer Service for a gap year, Red Cross for 4 years. Online work experience was the BMA one and I basically just sped through it.
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?
UCAT Medify everyday for around 3 months, slowly ramping up closer to the date.
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?
Used MedicMind to brush up on ethics and major events that could come up in the interviews. Did mock interview with friends and read up on interesting medical articles that could be useful.
UOS sent the questions in advance and I basically wrote up the answers in advance and memorised them, making sure to sound natural and add some personal experiences.
What happened in your interview?
Personal statement did not come up at all. Just followed the questions listed and said everything that I memorised, mainly adding personal experiences and showing how I had followed by doing more research.
A big chunk of my research was pulled from the recommended booklist that the medical school had put out. e.g. Emperor of Maladies, books by Oliver Sacks, etc.
Glossary
Online work experience: Some medicine work experience is now available online. The Brighton and Sussex Medical School work experience was specifically designed to help students get work experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are plenty of other options online.
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.
The Medic Portal: The Medic Portal is a popular website that provides resources to help you prepare your medicine application. The Medic Portal has some free resources online but some are paid-for. There are good, free alternatives for preparation available online, so check out our guides and the university websites for details.
Mock interviews: 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.
Medic Mind: a paid-for application preparation resource, with very few free resources available online.
Paid-for resources: Some students choose to pay for courses either online or in person to help them prepare for admissions tests and interviews. There is no evidence that they give you an advantage. There are good, free alternatives for preparation for admissions tests and interviews, and some offer bursaries and discounts to students who come from low income families. Check out our guides and uni websites for more details.
