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!
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 an white British man who went to a comprehensive school that doesn’t regularly send students to medical school.
Our Summary
Course: Standard undergraduate
Online MMI interview
Admissions Tests: UCAT
Before I made my application…
Choosing to apply
When did you decide you wanted to apply to medicine?
About a month before the UCAS deadline
How did you choose what medical schools to apply to?
One of them because I got a contextual offer, and the other on the course and the characteristics they wanted in their applicants
Completing work experience
What types of work experience did you do?
Hospital shadowing, Care work (e.g. in residential care), Customer service role (voluntary), Customer service role (paid), Online work experience
How much work experience did you do?
Volunteered weekly at a dementia care home for 7 years. Volunteered at an infant school for a year a couple times a week. Volunteered a couple times a week at a soup kitchen during the summer of covid. 3 days of hospital work experience in the maxfax ward. Lead after school revision sessions.
How did you find your work experience opportunities?
Through a formal scheme or work experience placement
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?
Practiced for 10 hours 5 days a week on Medify about 2 months before the exam. Practiced with friends and family and tried to explain how I got my answer to them.
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?
Got books and practiced with friends who were also applying and gave feedback. Always kept up with the current medical pandemics (EBOLA, COVID, etc) and the treatment that are used for them. Talk to medical students about what they did that set them apart and read up on what universities were specifically looking for in an applicant.
What happened during your interview?
I had to apply knowledge that I learnt to try and explain it to someone else. There was a station where I had to sensitively give information to someone in crisis and had to deal with the situation.
Do you have any further advice?
In an interview you’re not meant to be scared, they just want to see what type of person you are. The interviews I felt more comfortable in were the ones I got offers from.
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.
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.
Insiders: Don’t worry if you don’t know people like this. Most students don’t have friends who have already been through the process or healthcare professionals that they know who might be able to support them. You can meet current medical students to speak to at open days, or via free mentoring schemes, but it’s not a requirement for you to be successful.
