Widening access to medicine

​Contextual admissions

Our Access Sheffield policies help to ensure that everyone who has the potential to succeed at the University of Sheffield has the opportunity to do so. If you meet one or more of the Access Sheffield criteria, you could get a contextual offer, which takes into account your academic achievements, your personal situation and your potential to succeed.

We’ll give your application additional consideration when we receive it and when exam results are released. If we offer you a place, we may also be able to make you a lower offer. 

Access Sheffield policies

Widening access programmes

We support a range of programmes for students who want to pursue a career in medicine and are from a background that is underrepresented in higher education.

Our two-year Access to Sheffield (Medicine) programme offers a range of activities that can benefit you when reflecting on your experiences, whether that’s on your UCAS application or at a medical school interview. Throughout the programme you can work with current undergraduate medical students, gaining an understanding of what studying a medicine degree here at Sheffield is really like.

Access to Sheffield (Medicine)

We set lower entry requirements for MBChB Medicine (A100) applicants who have participated in this and other widening access programmes, including the national Realising Opportunities programme.

A Level entry requirements

Applicants who are participating in Access to Sheffield (Medicine), another access programme offered by the University of Sheffield, or the national Realising Opportunities programme, are eligible for a contextual offer equivalent to up to two A Level grades below our standard entry requirements. A full list of programmes where participants can be made a contextual offer, and more information about eligibility for contextual offers, is given in our Access Sheffield policies.

GCSE entry requirements

Applicants who are participating in Access to Sheffield (Medicine) or Realising Opportunities are required to have a minimum of five GCSE passes at grades 9-6/A*-B) with grade 4/ C or above in Science (Double Award accepted), Mathematics and English Language.

Participants in other widening access programmes must meet our standard GCSE entry requirements.

Your GCSEs should each have been studied for no longer than two years but do not have to be obtained in the same exam sitting or year.

We accept GCSE resits, but these must be taken in one sitting, and also should have been studied for no longer than two years. Only GCSEs that do not meet the entry requirements given above need to be retaken. Only one resit per GCSE is permitted. 

Non-GCSE qualifications (such as Level 2 OCR qualifications) are not considered as equivalent to GCSEs and do not count towards meeting our GCSE requirements. If you have not studied GCSEs, please email medadmissions@sheffield.ac.uk for information about alternative acceptable qualifications and required levels of achievement.

University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)

Applicants who are participating in Access to Sheffield (Medicine) or Realising Opportunities must meet our minimum University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) score threshold for their year of entry. However, they will not have their UCAT score ranked alongside other applicants in order to determine whether they will progress to the interview stage of our selection process.

Participants in other widening access programmes will have their UCAT score ranked as part of our standard selection process.

Medicine selection process

We also run an annual mentoring programme and work with other medical schools in our region to run an annual summer school.

Medics Mentoring

Yorkshire Medical Schools Summer School

University of Bradford and Sheffield Hallam University pathways

We provide a pathway to study Medicine at the University of Sheffield for home students who have completed the first year of one of the following programmes and are from a background that is under-represented in higher education. 

• Foundation in Clinical Sciences and Medicine (UCAS code: B991), University of Bradford
• Clinical Sciences (UCAS code: B990), University of Bradford 
• Biomedical Science with Foundation Year (UCAS code: A049), Sheffield Hallam University
• Biomedical Sciences (UCAS code: B940), Sheffield Hallam University

If you achieved a score of at least 70% in the first year of one of these programmes, and you meet the other entry requirements and widening participation criteria given below, your A Levels (or equivalent) will not be considered as part of our selection process.

Applicants from the University of Bradford’s Foundation in Clinical Sciences and Medicine must also have achieved a score of at least 70% in the Chemistry for Clinical Sciences module (CLS3003-B).

Medicine applicants from any other foundation or degree programme must meet our standard entry requirements.

How to apply

Applicants from a University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway should apply to us via UCAS once they have their end-of-year results. After you submit your application, you will be asked to complete a short form to determine whether you meet our widening participation criteria, given below. You can also download the form below and submit it to medadmissions@sheffield.ac.uk.

Widening participation form – 2024 entry (Word, 52.6KB)

• For 2024 entry, applications will open via UCAS on Friday 14 June 2024 and close on Sunday 30 June 2024 at 5pm.
• You should return your widening participation form no later than 5pm on Sunday 30 June 2024.
• Interviews will be held on 15 July 2024.
• You should submit your UCAT score to us by 5pm on Friday 9 August.

GCSE entry requirements

Applicants from a University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway are required to have a grade 4/C or above in Mathematics and English Language.

Your GCSEs should have been studied for no longer than two years but do not have to be obtained in the same exam sitting or year.

We accept GCSE resits, but these must be taken in one sitting, and also should have been studied for no longer than two years. Only GCSEs that do not meet the entry requirements given above need to be retaken. Only one resit per GCSE is permitted. 

Non-GCSE qualifications (such as Level 2 OCR qualifications) are not considered as equivalent to GCSEs and do not count towards meeting our GCSE requirements. If you have not studied GCSEs, please email medadmissions@sheffield.ac.uk for information about alternative acceptable qualifications and required levels of achievement.

University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)

Applicants from a University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway must meet our minimum University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) score threshold for their year of entry. However, they will not have their UCAT score ranked alongside other applicants in order to determine whether they will progress to the interview stage of our selection process.

Medicine selection process

Widening participation criteria – 2024 entry

Applicants for 2024 entry from a University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway are required to meet two or more of the following criteria at the point they left Further Education:

• Lived in an area with a low progression to higher education (POLAR 3/4 – Quintile 1)
• Lived in a deprived area
  (Indices of Multiple Deprivation – lower two quintiles)
• Lived in local authority care during their secondary education
• Was a young carer
• Was estranged from both parents or legal guardians during their secondary/further education
• Received free school meals in years 10-13
• Was the first in their family to enter higher education
• Have parents who were unemployed or working in unskilled jobs
• Received a 16-19 Bursary or similar grant
• Have a disability

Our widening participation form, available below, includes definitions for the criteria set out above. After you submit your application, you will be asked to complete this form to determine whether you meet our widening participation criteria. You can also download the form below and submit it to medadmissions@sheffield.ac.uk. Widening participation forms for 2024 entry must be returned no later than 5pm on 30 June 2024.

Widening participation form – 2024 entry (Word, 52.6KB

Widening participation criteria – 2025 entry

Applicants for 2025 entry from a University of Bradford or Sheffield Hallam University pathway are required to meet two or more of the following criteria:

You lived in a neighbourhood with a low rate of participation in higher education

At the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent), you were living in a postcode area with a POLAR4 Quintile 1 ranking, or a postcode area in Quintile 1 or 2 of the relevant Indices of Deprivation (IMD) ranking for your home nation.  

You can check the POLAR4 ranking for your area by searching for your postcode on the Office For Students postcode look-up.

You can check the IMD ranking for your area using the following tools. Simply follow the link and put your postcode into the postcode checker.

• For applicants from Wales, Quintiles 1 and 2 equates to a Welsh Indices of Multiple Deprivation rank of up to and including 764.
• For applicants from England, Quintiles 1 and 2 equates to an IMD rank of 13,137 or below.
• For applicants from Northern Ireland, Quintiles 1 and 2 equates to a NI Multiple Deprivation measure rank of 356 or below.
• For applicants from Scotland, Quintiles 1 and 2 equates to a Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation rank of up to and including 2790.

You are care experienced or a care leaver

You should have lived in public care or as a looked-after child at any stage of your life up to the age of 18, including if you

• were adopted from care or left care with a Special Guardianship Order before the age of 18
• lived with foster carers or in a residential children's home
• have been looked after under a supervision order; or
• have lived with friends or relatives in formal kinship care under a Local Authority but are not currently recognised by your Local Authority as a care leaver in receipt of statutory support

Alternatively, you should be recognised by your Local Authority as a 'care leaver', or have been recognised in the past as a person who

• has been looked after by a local authority for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14; and
• was looked after by the local authority at school-leaving age or after that date

You have been a carer

At the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent), you should have been responsible for providing unpaid care to someone who has, for example

• a long-term illness
• a physical or learning disability
• a mental health condition
• an addiction
• temporary care needs following, for example, an accident or operation

You have been estranged from your family

Estranged students have no relationship with, or support from, their parent(s) or carer(s). We'll consider you an estranged student if, at the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent):

• You hadn't communicated with your parents for 12 months and the situation was irreconcilable.
• Both your biological or adoptive parents were deceased.
• Your parents couldn't be traced or it wasn't practicable or safe for you to make contact with them.

You have parenting responsibilities

At the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent), you should have been a parent of, or responsible for the care and wellbeing of, a child aged 17 or under. This includes being:

• a biological parent
• a step-parent
• an adoptive or legal parent
• a legally-appointed guardian
• a foster carer
• someone who provides kinship or other parental care to a child

You were entitled to Free School Meals

You should have been entitled to Free School Meals at some point during the six years prior to your final KS4 year (ie, the year you were aged 15-16).

School pupils in the UK are normally entitled to Free School Meals if their parents or carers are on a low income or in receipt of certain benefits. If you’re not sure, your school will be able to confirm this for you. You may also be entitled if you're paid qualifying benefits directly, instead of through your parent or carer.

You are a forced migrant

You should have been a forced migrant to the United Kingdom. This means at the time you started your undergraduate study:

• The UK government had granted you refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK.
• You had limited or discretionary leave to remain in the UK as the result of an asylum or human rights application.
• You were seeking asylum in the UK

You are part of the first generation in your family to enter higher education

Your parents or legal guardians should not have successfully completed a higher education course at the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent).

Your parents were unemployed or working in unskilled jobs

At the point you completed your A Levels (or equivalent), your parents or legal guardians should have been unemployed, or the main earner should have been working in an unskilled job. We consider unskilled jobs as those defined by the Office for National Statistics Occupation Coding Tool as falling into simplified NS-SEC analytic classes 4-8.

You received a 16-19 Bursary or similar grant

You should have been in receipt of a 16-19 Bursary or Discretionary Learner Support with an income threshold of £25,000 or below.

You have a disability

You should have a disability that has been declared as part of your UCAS application.

Applicants who are required to meet our widening participation criteria will be asked to complete a short form after they submit their application. For 2025 entry, this must be returned to us by 5pm on 30 June 2025. Applicants who receive offers will be required to provide supporting evidence that they meet these criteria at registration.

Funding your studies

Please note that if you have spent time in higher education prior to starting the MBChB Medicine programme, you may not be eligible for the same level of student finance.

Student finance for undergraduates – eligibility

Graduate Entry Medicine

Our MBChB Graduate Entry Medicine (A101) course only accepts students from backgrounds that are under-represented in higher education, who meet our widening participation criteria. More information about this course, including entry requirements and widening participation criteria, can be found in our online prospectus.