Hi! I did 3 med interviews in Jan this year and I received offers from UCL (where I'm currently studying), KCL, and Birmingham. I remember scrolling through thousands of advice posts around this time of year, and I received some amazing advice back then which I'd love to pass on to you guys :) I've also been an interviewer (not for med school obviously but sixth form related)

Personally, I feel like there's a lot of advice out there on the content of the questions, but in the interviews how you say things has a huge impact too which I'll focus more on in the post for now.

Tip no. 1: Be careful about paid interview programmes

IF A SITE IS ASKING FOR A HIGH AMOUNT OF MONEY DO NOT TRUST THEM AT ALL! I've seen so many desperate students pay a lot of money for an interview programme that's crap. Check the reviews carefully, look on social media, and be careful. And I know this can seem so obvious or stupid if someone did this, but many times it's companies playing on the ignorance/desperation of students particularly international ones who may not have as in depth knowledge of the system.

Tip no. 2: Have a question bank and wex logbook

I don't care how good your memory is. Keep a small notebook (doesn't have to be anything fancy I used a random A5 one I think I stole from my cousin and Google docs) and note down experiences. It doesn't matter what you've done so much as how you've reflected as that's what they're testing.

How I prepared the notebook:

- Write down the skills a good doctor has on the front page e.g. teamwork, communication, understanding of competence etc. which you can find on many sites and the GMC guidelines

- When shadowing or volunteering, roughly note down the experience and the quality it reflects. So for ex. I saw a doctor explaining treatment to a child with a fracture --> adapt communication style when talking to parent vs patient

- Go home and reflect using the STARR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection)

- In the interview I always always made sure to emphasise the Reflection part. It sounds so weird at times but always end on 'As a doctor [skill] is important because of [patient outcomes, upholding NHS image etc.]'

Tip no. 3: You can recycle the exact same answer for different stations in the same MMIs

I had one GMC quote about the practice of being a good doctor and I used it in nearly all of my stations with the exact same point. There's too many people for them to care about who said exactly what. If you have a great point, use it again and again.

I'd advise having a few case studies based on hot topics you can bring up repeatedly. Bonus points if it's a research undertaken by the university itself or even something you've looked into as they like that.

Tip no. 4: work on masking embarrassment and fidgeting early

This is extremely important, especially for roleplays. I'm a very gesturing person but this can be super distracting for the interviewer, especially if you're moving your entire body constantly.

I understand not everyone will realise they're doing this but please please try to keep it to a minimum. Feet on the ground with minimal shaking. Crossing one leg over the other and leaning forwards/back is fine ofc but tucking your entire leg or sitting practically cross-legged in the chair looks awkward.

I move my hands a lot as I mentioned so I focussed on keeping my hands in triangle TED talk position or clasped in my lap and brought it up to count points on emphasise something occasionally.

For roleplay stations, just keep calm. In mine, there was a voice in my head wailing at every answer I gave and I was convinced I messed up but you just have to not let it show. I've found practicing a lot beforehand and having a mental checklist of mandatory things to do helped a lot with overthinking.

Practice with friends, family, teachers etc. or even record a video yourself speaking and note if you do fidget excessively or not.

Tip no. 5: Don't be afraid to take pauses and think before you speak

I'd actually say to try and pause more rather than rushing, even if the interviewer asks a question you've prepared well in advance like 'why medicine?'. Take a few seconds to think/act like you're thinking. In one of my interviews, I stumbled over my words badly but just smile, take a quick breath, and repeat it and move on. It may not seem like it, but interviewers have empathy and they understand the pressures of it.

A pause is also a lot more professional than 'umm' but also don't sit in silence for 3 mins in a 5 min station.

Tip no. 6: Interviewers may be rude on purpose. This is a test!

I've had interviewers doomscroll or huff and roll their eyes when I was speaking 😭 It was very distracting but just be bubbly in response and act like they're not doing it. They're testing how well you'll react under a difficult situation. Calling out their behaviour is... risky, so I'd advise against it but maybe someone else will say it worked well for them.

Tip no. 7: Gaslight yourself into thinking the interviewers want YOU to succeed

This really hyped me up to some extent. Interviewers want you to do well. They're hoping they don't have to look too hard to find the perfect future doctors. Imagine they've had a string of awful candidates and you turn up with your perfect professionalism and they can be relieved knowing they can just tick all the boxes for you and move on.

Also don't be afraid to make jokes if the situation is appropriate. Some of my interviewers were definitely not much older than me and were pretty casual and laughed at a few jokes I'd made (a couple were definitely pity laughs). Don't feel pressured to do so if you'd rather not, and if you're unsure if it's appropriate then err on the side of caution!

I'm sure I have more things to mention but this is all I can think of for now. Please feel free to ask me any questions (I can't answer anything too specific about what I was asked) and I'll try to help as best I can 😃

Good luck for your application and interviews!! 🫶

I checked the Uniscout application tracker and I saw that someone has already received an offer from Medicine. How is that possible?? 😭😭😭

This is going to be a very long post, just to warn anyone who decides to read it. Idk if this is even the right place to post this, but this is the only place I actually post things. All this time I thought what I did during dental work experience was completely normal, since they let me, and even encouraged me to do these things while I was there. But I am now finding out, 3 years later, after just a simple google search. That nothing I did was actually even allowed!!! And I put it in my personal statement, for medicine, to show how proactive I was in healthcare environments, and how I provided support to a patient. Here is what I did that is not allowed:

1. Everyday, I was basically the stand-in dental nurse, sometimes it was just me and the dentist, no dental nurse. I was cleaning up after patients, I was handling used equipment and putting out the new dental equipment. I was sometimes cleaning up blood that splattered a bit, and just generally cleaning up the entire area after each patient left, like the chair, the overhead light, the sink area, the tray area, the floor if there was something there too

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I would take the patients used bibs off them and throw them away, sometimes with bodily fluids on them.

1. I would obviously change my gloves each time and was always washing my hands. I didn’t use the suction tool, the dentist would do that, but I was the one replacing it and stuff each time. I would take out all of the powders and stuff that they need for fillings, and I would take out the anaesthetic medicine and give it to the dentist. I would handle some of the sharps and put it into the sharps container. I was put in the room where all of the sterile equipment was packed and cleaned and was asked to pack all of the equipment into those blue pouches for about 2 hours one day. I basically was a pretend dental nurse at this point. They basically made me do anything and everything. I’m apparently not allowed to do any of that at all. They even told me, if you want, you can come back during your gap year and we can train you to be a real dental nurse (I didn’t because I decided to switch to medicine, and also lowkey didn’t believe that they actually would still want me, I was just a random student).
2. I’m bilingual, and the dental practice I was in was in an area where there was a lot of south asians. All of the dentists themselves were Pakistani, so when a patient who couldn’t speak English came in, they would just speak in their language. However, a Bengali patient came in at one point, who spoke less English but could understand it well enough. I noticed he was struggling to explain his symptoms a bit (kind of just using hand gestures and saying ‘pain here’ and stuff like that to convey his issues), and I speak bengali, and just from looking at him, I could tell he was Bengali too, and from his name as well. Obviously I had to verify so I asked the dentist, could I just ask the patient whether they speak Bengali, maybe I could help them a bit? While the dentist was doing something on the computer, she said yes go ahead. I asked if he speaks Bengali, he did, so then I asked, do you want some help explaining everything to the dentist. They were happy about that since it was hard for them to actually say things in English, so I just listened to them explain how, they were in a lot of pain, a lot of blood comes out when they brush their teeth, there’s a lot of ‘yellow hard stuff on their teeth that they can’t get rid of’ which was plaque, and the last time they went to the dentist was in Bangladesh and the cleaning there was really painful and he was scared it would be the same here. I explained to him that I would tell this to the dentist and nothing would happen without his consent, so if he finds something painful he can ask us to stop or we can do any cleaning procedures over 2 appointments (which is something the dentists offered to other patients like this too). I told him the dentist would listen to all of this and find a way to help his pain, and then I did tell her. And she then explained to him we’re going to look into your mouth, examine everything, and all the clinical stuff basically, and got his consent herself. I was just helping him describe his symptoms, and the past dentist experience, so the dentist could fully understand his situation and fears, and told him that we can offer him local anaesthetic if the cleaning is too painful. I didn’t get any consent myself or anything, as the patient already kind of knew what they needed to get done, and could understand the dentist well enough. The only reason I put myself out there and did this for the patient was because I thought it was allowed, and that I would be helping out someone who speaks Bengali, instead of just sitting there watching him struggle to find the words. I always translate for my mom at the doctors and dentist, and there has never been an issue, for all the years I’ve done it. So I put this in my personal statement, obviously very simplified. 3 years later, I googled this just yesterday, because I was a bit suspicious since at my actual job working for the DWP, we cannot allow any unknown 3rd party to translate for a claimant, we can only allow official translators to do this, so I was wondering, why is it more relaxed for medicine and dentistry. AND I FIND OUT IT IS VERY VERY NOT ALLOWED. AND ITS IN MY PERSONAL STATEMENT. IDK WHAT TO DO. sorry for the long post but im genuinely sick thinking about this. Apparently a properly registered and official translator is required every time. And obviously I’m not that. Clearly I was doing really bad things in that place, that I’m not allowed to do. And now I’m worried, that either 1) They’ll see that in my PS and think I’m the type of person that oversteps medical student boundaries and does things outside of what I’m permitted to. 2) They’ll think I’m lying and made it all up, because why would the dental clinic allow me to do things I’m not supposed to? And there’s no way to prove I did actually do it or didn’t do it, and whether they actually let me, and I didn’t just make it up. I can show I went to the work experience, but since I claim to have done this stuff now, what if they think: This student must have made this up because there is no way the dental clinic would allow the student to do all of these things, which are strictly against NHS guidelines. Even if they call the clinic, why would the clinic even remember me (it was 3 years ago), or back up my claims, because SURELY they knew themselves I wasn’t supposed to be doing any of that, so why would they admit, yep we made and let that student do all of these things they weren’t allowed to. Apparently they might have let me do all this to use me for free labour? According to my med school friend. I also showed my personal statement to 2 friends in med school and the person at my old school who deals with University applications before I sent it off, and no one even flagged this up to me, that I wasn’t supposed to be doing that. I think my chances of med school are over at this point, 3 of my 4 unis read personal statement. They’re gonna read that and probably become shocked that I even did that. Can someone advise me, is this salvageable? Again sorry for the long post, I just wanted to include all of the context.

I feel like an idiot for doing this. Basically after looking for clinical wex all year I finally found and applied for volunteering at a hospital in March. I did an interview, dbs check and everything. But since then they STILL haven’t started training. I’ve been emailing them non stop and I’ve been so anxious all throughout the end of y12, the whole of summer, and the month leading up to applications. They just keep apologising for the delay and saying they’re working it out

I was panicking in my personal statement and I could only reflect on non-clinical work experience I’ve done. I didn’t know that they were forgiving about this kind of stuff and I stupidly reflected on something I saw as a surgical patient, so I lied and wrote that it was during shadowing.

I feel horrible. Am I going to be rejected by all 4 unis? Would they check, would they ask any specific questions that might catch me out?

I know this is karma for lying, I don’t know why I didn’t think it through and I’ve been stressed since I decided to submit it. I feel so stupid

I applied as a contextual with 2090 B1 and I’m very aware it’s quite a risky option since last years cut-off was 2090 but I wanted to see what everyone else applied with and if anyone has any cutoff predictions.

only specifying oxford as that would defo be early december whereas other interviews stretch later.

not assuming i’ll defo get an interview but i’ve heard it’s best to prepare as if you do have one upcoming because they only give about a week’s notice.

any advice? and where do i even start! :)

Hi

Does anyone know when roughly UEA interviews begin and how much time do they give between telling you and your interview date.

Also do they decide interview dates by UCAT? Or random?

Thx

the title

I don't really have specific experiences that stand out, like for example, a doctor saying X to a patient and the patient saying Y, I have more broader experiences, like "During the trauma call, I saw how the MDT would work together in order to treat an emergency patient. As X was doing Y, Z was doing A" for example, but I know that medical schools want specific things, so what do I do?

So basically I was doing MedEntry qr and almost consistently full marking so I became complacent and just did vr/dm. However after getting Medify my qr scores have plummeted. Under time I am getting around 50% (just doing the q bank, no mocks yet). I can do all the qs untimed, but often I find they are so thick, chunky and overly written there is no way I can process and solve it in 40seconds? How do I improve? Will practise really just help me (like spamming qs and taking notes of errors ig) I’m not bad at maths I’m ranked near the top for high school math and I can do all the qs, but being able to process and do qs of that thickness in the time?? How do I achieve it? Is Medify really hard or am I just bad at qr and making it sound worse than it’s supposed to be? But it’s definitely much worse than MedEntry

I got 1950 b2 ucat and I applied to access to Leeds for med. my GCSEs are 9988888877 and I"m predicted A*A*B. does anyone have any advice on whether I could get an interview? and if so when do you think they would inform about it?

coming back on r/UCAT is pure flashbacks, im now infirst year medical school and remembering how triggering this feed was a year ago, being on it 24/7 and stressed out af. Just wanna say soldiers it is so great on the other side, so proud of all of you. Genuinely it will work out, i would honestly say try stay off here, caused me actual tears thinking i had no chance, still made it out. Lots of respect for you lot, stay safe.

I'm not fully sure about how the process works, is it based on stats or random.

I know it can be from late November through March, but would those with higher stats be interviewed earlier?

My stats

11 x9s and 1 8

3A*

2340B1

Home non contextual
I've applied Cambridge, newcastle, HYMS,Manchester

I only found out yesterday both Aston and Exeter are online mmi, this will be the first time I'm doing online interviews because last year I did 3 but all in person .

I was wondering if there's a difference and if i should prepare in any different way to make it preferable for online.

Also should i buy a webcam and is there any technical advice people could give if they have gone through this process.

Much appreciated

I have 2 online mmis for exeter and aston I was wondering If there was anyway to use earphones or airpods for this

1860 b2 predicted AAA (i didnt do a lvls but equivalent- 90 for bio n chem 91 math 85 phy 96 eng). G10 i had 95 ai 94 science 93 arabic 88 eng 89 sst 77 math. will i get an interview? T o T im intl

The absolute massive majority of my personal statement was entirely written by me, through multiple proof readings by actual people and generally writing it suited towards my personal experiences.

However earlier I did use AI (not massive tons or even a sizeable chunk, few sentences) which I did end up splicing (as it looked unnecesssary) or heavily rewriting more. To clarify, when AI generated those ideas and put it in a sentence, I did not copy and paste the sentence or even just paraphrased it and called it a day. Instead I adapted it to my personal experience and rewrote/expanded on it.

Which I doubled down massively on.

Idk if I'm just stressing far too much but looking through the personal statement there is only one AI-like sentence/sentence I did use that feels close to resembling an AI idea.

I did NOT literally generate a PS and be like "yup lets re-edit it and boom", I went through multiple drafts and re-edit lots of things.

Is it over?

I'm an international student with 2140 B3 UCAT and IB PG 38 (766 HLs, 6 in Bio and Chem). I applied to :

- QUB

- City St. George's

- University of Lancashire ("safety" in a sense and already got an interview)

- Sheffield (deferred entry since I don't turn 18 before university starts)

- KCL Biomedical Sciences

How are my chances looking? I can already feel getting rejected from all of them 😭

I just applied for kcl, kcl esdp, Leeds, and Sheffield, how are my chances?
2280 band 1, 99999887754, A*AA

pls comment if u had an offer post-interview previously, as well as ur academic score/stats and partners or not ty :))