How to apply to medical school

When beginning your application process, make sure to consider the Medicine entry requirements or Medicine with a Gateway Year entry requirements programme.

You will need to meet the entry requirements to be considered for admission onto our programmes.

If you’re not sure whether you meet the entry requirements, please email our Admissions Team: admissions@hyms.ac.uk

We advise applicants to have a range of relevant work experiences in health or social care settings or in areas that provide person facing interactions.

Your experience will help you to demonstrate in your application and interview that you understand, and are committed to, teamwork and the social context of healthcare. It will help you to develop some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to being a doctor.

Visit our guide to work experience

Open Days are the best way to find out more about what it is like to study with us. They are a great opportunity for you to talk to our staff and current medical students about the course, look around our outstanding facilities and ask any questions you may have.

We hold Open Days throughout the year at both the University of Hull and the University of York, so please book your place and we look forward to meeting you.

Book your place on an Open Day

When: Registration and bookings open in May; test dates are available July to September

The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is required for entry to medical degrees at many UK universities.

You will need to take the UCAT admissions test in the same year as submitting your UCAS application.

It is essential that you prepare for your test, as your score is an important component of a successful application.

There is a fee for the test. UCAT offer a bursary scheme to cover the full test fee for eligible students. If you are eligible for the bursary, we strongly recommend that you claim it as it will be taken into consideration when we review your application.

Visit our guide to UCAT

Make sure you include all of your academic history including any resits that you may be taking.

This is very important for when we review your application so that we know you are resitting an exam to meet our entry requirements.

Please note, we are unable to accept late amendments to your UCAS application, so it is very important that you check that this is accurate and complete before you submit your application.

If you've had any paid jobs – full-time or part-time – here's where you can enter details.

Mention any unpaid or voluntary work in your personal statement.

The personal statement is the section in your UCAS application that allows you to show your personality and express your motivation for a career in medicine.

This is where we can find out more about you as a person – your interests, achievements and ambitions.

Although we do not score your personal statement, it is an important part of your application as we use all the information in your UCAS form when making decisions about candidates who are borderline for selection for interview or offer.

Important points for you to address in your personal statement are:

• Your motivation and why you’re suited to a career in Medicine
• Your understanding of what studying Medicine involves
• The range of experiences you have gained and your reflections on what you have learned about yourself, or the medical profession from your experiences
• Any areas of your studies that particularly interest you and why
• Other social, leisure and sport activities and achievements and interests
• Widening participation schemes (if applicable) and your reflections what you have learned from your experience

Allow yourself plenty of time to prepare your personal statement. Ask a teacher, careers adviser, or family member to proofread your statement and provide feedback.

Visit the Medical Schools Council website for advice about writing a personal statement.

You will need a reference for your UCAS application. This can be a tutor at your school or college, or if you left education some time ago, ask your latest employer, volunteering supervisor or trainer.

Your referee should be someone who is aware of and can comment on your motivation and suitability for medicine.

Please note, we are unable to accept applications that are submitted without a reference.

Visit the UCAS website for reference guidance for your application.

We are committed to raising aspirations and widening access to Medicine for those from underrepresented backgrounds, and selecting the best applicants based on their potential.

One way in which we achieve this is by using contextual information alongside your UCAS application to better inform our decision-making. Due to the availability and comparability of data, the use of contextual information applies to UK school leaver applicants only. 

The UCAS application will ask for information about personal circumstances, such as your parental education, if you’ve been in care, or involved in widening participation activities.

UKWPMED applicants: If you have completed one of our UKWPMED recognised widening participation programmes, you will need to include details of these in your UCAS application form in the 'Extra Activities' section.

When: Varies each year, usually December and January

After the UCAS deadline has passed, we review and score all applications and invite applicants for an interview based upon our selection procedure.

We run Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs). In the MMIs, we want to find out more about you, your personal characteristics and values, your ability to think critically and work as a team. You won’t be tested on your medical knowledge.

Your interview also provides you with the opportunity to meet current students and find out more about what it’s like to study with us – and find the answers to any questions you may have.

Our guide to interviews

When: Varies each year, usually in February or March

Congratulations – all of your hard work has paid off!

After all the interviews are finished, we rank applicants in order of total score and make offers to study with us.

Your offer will also state which campus you are allocated – Hull or York. You will be invited to visit us at your home campus to find out more about studying with us.

You will be invited to come to one of our Offer Holder Days, where you can really get a feel for what makes us a different kind of medical school, and find out more about life as a Hull York Medic.

The Offer Holder Day is a fantastic opportunity to learn about living and studying at your allocated campus, experience taster sessions and campus tours, and ask our staff and current students any questions you may have.

When: The UCAS reply dates are based on when UCAS receive the last decision from your universities.

When you have received your decisions from your university applications, you will need to sign-in to UCAS Track to reply to your offers by the deadline shown in Track.

For more information about replying to offers, please visit the UCAS website.