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Medicine is, unsurprisingly, one of the most competitive fields of study. Becoming doctors, studying and treating human life is a huge responsibility, afterall. As a result, it usually has more requirements than applications for any other course. The UK has some of the most prestigious and highly-coveted medical programs in the world. Here’s a guide for those planning to study medicine in the UK.
Entry Requirements
First things first, to enter a medical program in the UK, there are several requirements as the program is one of the most competitive fields. The requirements are
Entrance Exam
All UK colleges require applicants to take an entrance examination either UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) or Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT).
- The UKCAT is computerised and has 5 sections, while the BMAT is pen and paper and has 3 sections.
- A key difference between the two tests is that students get their UKCAT results immediately after giving the test. This means that you will know your score before you apply to universities and this can help you set realistic expectations about which universities will accept you based on their general threshold requirements. The BMAT however takes 3 weeks to give back results and it’s often taken in November, which is after the due date for medical school applications (October 15th). This therefore has a risk factor as you will not know how you’ll do in the exam when you apply. Some universities like Oxbridge require BMAT, so you’ll have to take that risk if you intend to apply to BMAT institutions.
- The popular recommendation is that students take the UKCAT as well so that for their choices of university that are not BMAT-institutions, they know their score before applying. Generally, it’s recommended that you do not choose all 5 choices in UCAS as BMAT-institutions unless you are applying to countries besides the UK for medicine because it’s simply too risky. The results of these tests cannot be carried over beyond a year for a re-application and you cannot take the tests multiple times within the same year.
Grades and Subjects Typically, for entry into the medical exam, universities require students to have taken Biology and Chemistry at an advanced level, and display a certain proficiency in Mathematics and Physics as well. Cambridge for instance, requires A-levels or IB higher levels in Chemistry and either Biology, Mathematics or Physics. The scores required for entry depend on the university, but most fall on the upper tiers of all A’s or A*s and all 7s and 6s in IB as medicine is one of the most competitive fields.
In addition to this, students must submit the UCAS personal statement and also do an interview based on the specific university’s requirements.
International students are also required to submit an English Proficiency Requirement in the form of IELTS or TOEFL. Most schools expect an IELTS score of at least 7 or a TOEFL score of at least 90-100. Getting into a medical program in the UK is especially harder for international students as there is a quota limiting the number of international students studying in UK universities. The result is that 10-20 students fight for just one seat in a medical school.
Also Read: Premedical Studies: Preparing for a Medical Career
Medical degrees in the UK
What sort of degree can you obtain, if you get in? At an undergrad level, UK universities provide theory as well as clinical training in the three areas medicine, surgery and obstetrics. There are different medical degrees at the bachelor level (usually abbreviated to MBBS which stands for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) you can apply for in the UK depending on your circumstances
Standard Entry Medicine
This course is typically 5 years long. After completing it, you gain a bachelor’s degree in medicine.
Graduate Entry Medicine
This course is for students who already have a bachelor’s degree but wish to convert to medicine. It usually lasts 4 years (as it’s an accelerated program) and has strict requirements. For instance, it requires applicants to have had a bachelor’s degree in science, preferably a health related field
Medicine with a Foundation Year
This has an additional preliminary year to 5-year program. It’s for students who have achieved high grades in high school, but did not take all the required science subjects. The extra year is meant to help them catch up.
Medicine with a Gateway Year
This is a specialised entry, for talented students with challenging circumstances. The entry criteria is dependent on such circumstances.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree, you can choose to pursue a master’s in medicine which would include advanced study in fields like patient care,pharmacology, clinical research, pathophysiology, epidemiology, etc.
However, this is different from postgraduate training in the UK for medicine which is the pathway that leads one to become a specialist or practitioner of medicine. It’s the professional training required to become a doctor, consultant or other type of health-care provider and a master’s degree is not required for this, though some choose to pursue a masters during the training. After your undergraduate degree or after postgraduate if you choose to pursue it (in which case you can pause the training in the middle) , you must enter into a two-year Foundation Program.
The foundational program is not offered by a university alone, but rather by collectives and organisations of several medical schools, societies and trusts. For instance, London Foundational School includes medical schools within London — University College London, King’s College London, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University and St.George’s University.
After this, you must do Speciality training for the area in medicine you wish to specialise in. The length of this training varies, but at the end of it you receive a Certificate of Completion Training. For General Practitioners, the training is usually 3 years, while for specialities it’s 5- 8 years. The training curriculum is made by the Royal colleges of Medicine in the UK, which have membership, fellowship or speciality training exams one needs to crack to specialise in a field of medicine. These are requirements separate from the academic pathway and integrated into the training programme .
After your bachelor’s degree in medicine, you must register with the General Medical Council in the UK and after your first year of the Foundation Programme, you must apply for full registration.
Top Universities
So what are the top universities to apply to for such medicine in the UK?
University of Oxford
The university is ranked 8th best in the world for clinical training. Oxford offers a standard medical course that is designed to train students for a clinical environment. Its standard course is 6 years, with the first 3 years being preclinical and the final three years being clinical in which students practise their skills alongside doctors. During the course, students are also required to take on a research project. Oxford also offers a four year accelerated. graduate entry program.
Imperial College London
Amongst the top 20 universities globally for clinical training, Imperial has one of the largest medical faculty in Europe. Its 6 year program is structured in 3 phases. The first phase focuses on the foundation of health, disease and clinical practice with clinical research projects. The second phase is a combination of content and research projects in a specific area of interest and the third phase involves applying skills to real life settings. Imperial has partnerships with several trusts in the UK that would be beneficial for placements after bachelors.
University College London
Ranked amongst the top 20 universities globally for clinical training, UCL offers a 6-year program. The first two years have students studying the fundamentals of clinical science, the next two focus on developing clinical skills and the last two years concentrate on specialisation.
University of Cambridge
Ranked amongst the top 30 global universities for clinical training, Cambridge has a similar program to Oxford. The only difference is that Cambridge has a full body dissection as an option for learning, while Oxford does not.
King’s College London
King’s has partnerships with some of the largest hospitals in the UK. It has two main campuses for the faculty of life sciences and medicine. The 5-year course is structured in 3 stages. Stage 1 offers foundational skills in biomedical and population sciences as well as clinical practice, stage 2 covers human life cycle, pathological processes and patient care in clinical settings and stage 3 involves developing skills for specialisation in the workplace.
Also read A Comprehensive Guide To Study Medicine In The USA Requirements, Process, And Opportunities
Career opportunities in the UK
Once you graduate from these universities, there is a wide variety of career opportunities available to you. Most medical graduates go on to become doctors. However, with a medical degree, you can also work in pharmaceuticals, medical research laboratories, research organisations, as a scientific journalist, a medical educator or as a consultant. If you are an international student though, keep in mind that to work in the UK, you need a Tier 2 Visa.
Within doctors, the common pathways are
General Practitioner
those who provide primary care to patients in a local community
Hospital Medicine
in fields such as oncology, cardiology, neurology, paediatrics, emergency medicine
Surgery
Dentistry
the path to becoming a dentist is the same as any other doctor. After doing a 5-year course in dentistry, you must move on to your postgraduate training.
Public Health
doctors that work to improve the health of an entire community through initiatives like vaccination drives and health campaigns
The salaries for surgeons, general practitioners and consultants are amongst the highest. A General Practitioner earns between 72000-105000 pounds a year. A Surgeon earns between 79860 – 149400 pounds a year and a consultant earns between 82096 -110683 pounds a year.
With a strong academic record, high test scores and a passion for medicine, you can get into some of these prestigious medical programs and be well on your way into some of these lucrative career paths.
All the best!
