This student applied in the 2019/20 application cycle and therefore the selection process at Southampton 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
Sometimes students share information with us about their demographics, which may help put their application experience into a bit more perspective.
This student identifies as a White British woman, and they attended a comprehensive school in the UK that doesn’t regularly send pupils to study medicine.
Our Summary
Course: Graduate entry
Online panel interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Recommended Resources:
Passmed
YouTube videos
Before I made my application…
Choosing to study medicine
When did you decide to apply to medical school? During my undergraduate studies.
How did you choose which universities to apply to?
I applied to only graduate entry courses that accept non science degrees!
Completing work experience
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 to do 100 hours for Warwick, but I was working as a care assistant at the time.
Note: this student applied to Warwick Medical School (graduate entry only) where applicants must have 100 hours of work experience to be considered.
How did you find your work experience opportunities?
Through asking someone I knew to take me on
During the application process…
Admissions tests
What admissions test did you sit?
University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT): https://www.ucat.ac.uk/
How did you prepare for your admissions test?
Medify; I think I bought a book and then did all the past papers.
Interviews
What type of interview did you do?
Panel: This type of interview is a ‘traditional’ sit down interview where you’ll be interviewed by a group of people, usually academic tutors and doctors. This differs from an MMI interview, which is based around ‘stations’ which have themes or scenarios attached to them.
How did you prepare for your interview?
I didn’t take part in any preparation courses, or pay for any resources prior to my interview. At my school there was no support for interview preparation. I cannot think of a single other student in my year or the years above or below who studied medicine so there was no demand for this kind of service. The only way I prepared was doing reading about medicine and the university, and talking to family and friends about potential questions that may come up.
What happened in your interview?
The Southampton interview was relatively short, and focussed more on me as an individual as opposed to the MMI format. It involved questions about my passions, why I want to do medicine etc. There was nothing out of the ordinary that I wouldn’t have reasonably expected to come up in an interview (this is just one student’s opinion; others may feel differently).
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.
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.
