This student applied in the 2022/23 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 Black African woman who went to a comprehensive school in the UK that doesn’t regularly send students to medical school. They received free school meals.
Our Summary
Course: Standard undergraduate entry
Online MMI interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Before I made my application…
Choosing to apply
When did you decide you wanted to apply to medicine?
From when I was very young
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
I chose the ones that had the teaching style that best suited and had good reviews and feedback
Completing work experience
What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing, Care work (e.g. in residential care), Other healthcare setting e.g pharmacy, physiotherapy, Customer service role (paid)
How much work experience did you do?
I’m a mature student so I was able to get a fair amount of work experience.
How did you find your work experience opportunities?
Through a formal scheme or work experience placement, 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?
Practice, Practice, Practice as many questions as possible. Then working on my timing as it got closer to the exam
What resources did you use?
UCAT Practice Test Questions book from Amazon was extremely useful in providing a massive bank of questions and also providing tips on how to tackle each section
Interviews
What type of interview did you do?
MMI: 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 did a lot of practice questions that I found online with the help of my mum who acted as the interviewer or actor in scenarios. I also made sure I read up on the uni and what they are what makes their medical school stand compared to others.
What happened during your interview?
I was giving different scenarios or question in several stations.
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.
Books: Don’t worry if you’ve not been able to find this particular book or afford to pay for it. You might be able to find secondhand copies online which are usually much cheaper, or at your local library (sometimes, libraries will order in books that you’ve requested, so check out this as a possibility too!). Bear in mind that some books may become out of date, so make sure you check when they were published, and if any changes to the relevant admissions tests/interviews have been made since then.
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.
Role Play: some interviews or interview stations may require you to engage in a bit of role play. You might have to act out being in a scenario where you might have to deliver bad news or a clinical decision.
