Medicine admissions
This page relates to 2025 entry for MBChB Medicine (A100) and MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine (A101).
The information below is supported by our admissions policies:
MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine (A101)
If you are planning to start your degree in a later year, please note that our admissions policies and selection processes may change for your year of entry.
On this page:
- Applying
- Selection process
- Deferred entry
- Mature students
- International students
- Students with a disability
- After your degree
Applying
At the University of Sheffield we offer two undergraduate Medicine programmes – the five-year MBChB Medicine course (UCAS code: A100) and the four-year MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine course (UCAS code: A101).
The A100 course currently has 273 places for home students and 18 places for international students. The A101 course has 15 places for home students that meet our widening participation criteria and no places for international students.
Minimum entry requirements, including the A101 widening participation criteria, and information about fees and funding, can be found on each course’s webpage in the online prospectus.
You can apply for either course through the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). If you wish to be considered for both courses, you will need to apply for both. The deadline to apply for 2025 entry is 15 October 2024.
For entry in 2024, we received approximately 1,400 applications for 306 places across both courses. We are unable to consider any late applications.
We provide a range of support and opportunities for students from backgrounds that are under-represented in higher education and want to study Medicine.
If you've applied to study Medicine and have experienced issues of a personal, social or domestic nature that have affected your studies, or your ability to meet our published entry requirements, we'd encourage you to let us know by completing our Disrupted Studies form.
Medicine disrupted studies policy (PDF)
Selection process
We use a three-stage selection process to decide which applicants will receive an offer to study Medicine at the University of Sheffield: academic entry requirements, the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) and multiple mini interviews (MMIs).
Stage 1: Academic entry requirements
After the UCAS application deadline in October, we will look at the results of all your previous qualifications and your predicted grades for any qualifications you are currently studying for. We will use this information to determine whether or not you meet our minimum academic entry requirements. We do not rank applicants at this stage, so there is no advantage for students who exceed our minimum academic entry requirements.
Applicants for MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine (A101) will be asked to complete a form to demonstrate that they also meet the course’s widening participation criteria.
We do not read or score applicants' UCAS personal statements as part of the selection process.
Stage 2: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
Before you apply, you must take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) in the year that you are applying, and meet or exceed our minimum UCAT score threshold, which is 2430/3600 for 2025 entry. This threshold has been determined by calculating the 40th centile score attained by everyone who took the test for 2022, 2023 and 2024 entry.
Some applicants for MBChB Medicine (A100) will progress immediately to the next stage of the selection process if they meet our minimum UCAT score threshold, as well as the relevant academic entry requirements and widening participation criteria. This applies to students who:
- Have participated in the Access to Sheffield (Medicine) or Realising Opportunities programme – find out more
- Are applying from a recognised University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway – find out more
All other applications will be ranked according to their UCAT scores and only those with the highest UCAT scores will progress to the next stage of the selection process. The score required to progress changes each year based on the scores that all applicants achieve, but the following table shows the scores that were required in recent years. Home applicants for A100, international applicants for A100, and A101 applicants are all ranked separately.
| Admissions cycle | Minimum UCAT threshold | A100 Home UCAT ranking cutpoint* | A100 Overseas UCAT ranking cutpoint* | A101 Home UCAT ranking cutpoint* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 2420/3600 | 2660/3600 | 2700/3600 | 2550/3600 |
| 2020-21 | 2420/3600 | 2740/3600 | 2760/3600 | 2700/3600 |
| 2021-22 | 2430/3600 | 2780/3600 | 2710/3600 | 2610/3600 |
| 2022-23 | 2430/3600 | 2850/3600 | 2840/3600 | 2580/3600 |
| 2023-24 | 2440/3600 | 2440/3600 | 2870/3600 | 2640/3600 |
Stage 3: Multiple mini-interviews (MMIs)
If you meet our minimum academic entry requirements (and, where relevant, our widening participation criteria) and you have the required UCAT score, you will be invited to interview.
For home applicants, we use a multiple mini-interview (MMI) format, which applicants attend in person. International applicants will be invited to an online panel interview.
Multiple mini-interviews are typically divided into eight sections that cover the following areas:
- Knowledge of Sheffield
- Medicine in a wider context
- Good medical practice
- Attitudes and values
- The candidate as a person
- Communication skills
- Ethics
- Information processing
Interview panels are made up of medical educators, senior staff with medical qualifications, biomedical scientists, senior hospital doctors, general practitioners, junior hospital doctors, senior nurses, senior pharmacists, medical students and lay people.
You will be scored on your performance in each section of the MMIs out of five, as follows:
| Interview score | Description |
|---|---|
| 5 | Excellent |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Satisfactory |
| 2 | Borderline |
| 1 | Unsatisfactory |
In addition, your score in the UCAT Situational Judgement Test (SJT) will be converted into a score out of five, as follows:
| Interview score | SJT quartile | Desctiption |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1st | Excellent |
| 4 | 2nd | Good |
| 3 | 3rd | Satisfactory |
| 2 | 4th | Borderline |
| 1 | Not applicable | Unsatisfactory |
Your MMI and Situational Judgement Test scores will be added together for a total score out of 45. You will then be ranked alongside all other applicants based on this score. Applicants who achieve a score of three or better in every MMI section and the SJT will be prioritised in the ranking process.
Multiple mini-interviews for 2025 entry will take place in December 2024 and January 2025, and online panel interviews will be held on 28-30 January 2025. We expect to invite approximately 1,100 home applicants and 100 international applicants for MBChB Medicine (A100), and 40-60 applicants for MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine (A101).
- Interview advice
-
Your interviewers will not have read your UCAS personal statement, but you can expect to be asked questions about the kind of topics that applicants often write about in personal statements.
You are encouraged to prepare by reading the NHS constitution, NHS values, and ‘Achieving good medical practice: guidance for medical students’ by the General Medical Council. You should also keep up-to-date with medical breakthroughs, topical controversies, ethical debates and NHS politics.
We do not set a dress code for interviews but your appearance is important. You should dress appropriately and professionally – your conduct will be assessed from the moment you arrive for your interview.
The Medical Schools Council has more advice on preparing for interviews. Note that the interview format used at the University of Sheffield may differ from any format described by the Medical Schools Council.
Work experience
Medical schools normally expect applicants to have a range of work experience. You can expect to be asked about this at your interview. Work experience can help you understand the reality of working as a doctor and demonstrate that you have the skills and qualities that make a good doctor, such as:
- the ability to overcome setbacks
- the ability to work independently
- a sense of responsibility
- a sense of service to the community
- experience working with diverse groups
- communication
- enthusiasm
- perseverance
- self-insight
We recognise that it is not always possible for applications to obtain work experience with a doctor in a medical setting. Many applicants work or volunteer as a Healthcare Assistant in the NHS. Other areas to explore, whether paid or voluntary, can include:
- a residential care home, hospice or similar
- working in a youth centre or with young children
- participating in community volunteering schemes
- roles that involve interacting with a diverse range of people
Roles that involve participating in the work rather than simply observing are particularly useful. We recommend that applicants keep a journal of their work experience so that, at interview, they are prepared to reflect on what they learned, what they found interesting, what they were inspired to find out more about, and how their experience can be applied to their future medical career.
Medical Schools Council – Work and voluntary experience
After your interview
After all interviews have been completed, we will use your MMI/SJT scores and ranking to determine whether you will be offered a place to study Medicine at the University of Sheffield. If you are successful, you will be notified via UCAS.
Offers are subject to satisfactory UCAS references, health clearance and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (or equivalent). You will receive information about the processes for health clearance and DBS checks if you make the University of Sheffield your firm choice in UCAS. You will also be required to sign a student entry agreement before starting the course, based on standards laid out by the General Medical Council in the following documents:
Achieving good medical practice: guidance for medical students
Professional behaviour and fitness to practise
Some unsuccessful applicants may be placed on a reserve list and notified of this via email. How this works is explained in our reserve list policy.
Medicine reserve list policy (PDF)
Unsuccessful applicants may also be considered for the University of Sheffield’s Biomedical Science and Orthoptics courses. This process can take up to three weeks. Unsuccessful applicants are notified via UCAS.
- Application timeline
-
14 May 2024: UCAT registration and bursary scheme opens
18 June 2024: UCAT booking opens
8 July 2024: UCAT testing begins
19 September 2024: UCAT registration and online booking deadline
26 September 2024: Last UCAT testing date
15 October 2024: UCAS application deadline
15 October - 15 November 2024: Applications reviewed for minimum entry requirements
1 November 2024: Deadline for submitting widening participation forms to the University (A101 applicants only)
Early November 2024: University receives UCAT test scores; UCAT scores reviewed and ranked
2 - 6 December 2024, 13 - 21 January 2025: Multiple mini-interviews
28 - 30 January 2025: Online panel interviews for international applicants
Early March 2025: Decisions shared with applicants via UCAS and the University's Admissions Service
Deferred entry
We welcome deferred entry applications. If you intend to defer, please state this on your UCAS application form. If you are applying in a year that means you will not be aged 18 before the first day of the course, you will be required to defer.
At interview, you may be asked to summarise your plans for the year before you start your course. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate how any plans you are making for the year ahead will enable you to become a good doctor. For example:
- Travelling to different countries and meeting people from other cultures will help you develop the cultural awareness clinicians need
- Relevant work or volunteering experience can reinforce your commitment to and understanding of caring professions
- Earning money to help fund your studies can help you demonstrate your understanding of social responsibility
- Many activities outside of education can provide an opportunity to improve your confidence, maturity and self-awareness
If you decide to defer part-way through the application/selection process, you will need to request this in writing, explaining your reasons, and submit this to our admissions team via email or post. In most cases, we are able to fulfil these requests, but this cannot be guaranteed
Mature students
We welcome applications from mature students and do not have an upper age limit for students who want to study Medicine at the University of Sheffield. However, typically, we will only offer places to students who can provide a reasonable period of service in healthcare after graduation.
International students
The University of Sheffield has welcomed Medicine students from more than 100 countries.
International applicants can sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) through our South East Asia office in Kuala Lumpur. As this is the only UCAT centre in Kuala Lumpur, you are encouraged to book early if you intend to take the assessment there. You can find information about other UCAT centres around the world on the UCAT website.
Students with a disability
We welcome applications from people with a disability. Your personal experience of disability can give you greater insight into the lives of patients and make you better equipped to assist them as a doctor. We would encourage applicants with a disability to consider that medical training covers every aspect of healthcare and includes a challenging Foundation Programme. If you have a disability that would make it impossible for you to practise medicine, we would be unable to accept you onto an MBChB course.
After your degree
At the end of your Medicine course, you will be awarded an MBChB degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ from a UK university means you can provisionally register with the General Medical Council (GMC), as long as there are no concerns over fitness to practise and you can pay the required fee. Your provisional registration will normally expire after three years and 30 days, or 1,125 days in total.
As a provisionally registered doctor, you will only be able to practise in an approved Year 1 post as part of the UK’s Foundation Programme. You can apply for these posts during the final year of your Medicine course. In previous years, all suitably qualified UK graduates have secured a Foundation Programme place, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Foundation Year 1 is normally completed in 12 months. At this point, you will receive a Certificate of Experience and be able to apply for full registration with the GMC. To undertake unsupervised medical practice in the UK, either in the NHS or privately, or join an approved Foundation Year 2 programme, you must be registered with a licence.
General Medical Council – Registration and licensing
Please note that the registration process and requirements for newly qualified doctors in the UK are subject to change.