This student applied in the 2020/21 application cycle and therefore the selection process at Keele 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
Before I made my application…
Choosing to apply
When did you decide to apply to medicine?
When I was in around Year 9 of secondary school.
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
Based on just the location and also what I was interested in doing outside of medicine.
Completing work experience
What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing, Other healthcare setting e.g pharmacy, physiotherapy, Online work experience
How much work experience did you do?
I did a bit of work experience here and there, but I tried to mostly reflect on it more, rather than the actual amount of it.
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?
I did a bit of practice every day for x3 weeks before the UCAT.
What resources did you use?
I used the official UCAT website and Medify. Also, the UCAT book.
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 of the practice questions with different people, like my friends and family. I also used Medic Mind website, and the Medic Portal to help me prepare well for my interviews. I used some books to prepare for the interviews too.
What happened during your interview?
In my interviews I was asked to tell them a bit about myself, go and act through some different scenarios and also just general ethical and thinking questions too.
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.
Medic Mind: Medic Mind is a company that runs paid-for application preparation services. Some of their online events are free. There is no evidence that using paid-for services gives you an advantage when you are applying. There are plenty of free resources to help you prepare available online. InsideUni Medicine is a great place to start!
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.
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.
