MMI Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Overview of Barts MMI Preparation:
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry is the 2nd oldest medical school in the UK, with teaching at St Barts dating back to 1123. Currently ranked 1st in London for overall student satisfaction, and in 2017 being ranked 2nd for Medicine in the UK by The Guardian University Guide, it is a fantastic medical school to study at. However, with such high rankings Barts and The London is one of the most competitive medical schools to obtain a place in the UK.
Within your application there is equal weighting put on your academic achievements as well as your UCAT performance, with a high cut off of the 3rd decile. Students will benefit from being taught by experts in their field as well as from the redevelopment of the Royal London Hospital, which includes London’s leading trauma and emergency care centre, as well as housing one of Europe’s largest renal services. Students also benefit from early patient contact, practical experience and the course teaching style of problem-based learning.
| Interview style | Panel : Normal interview panels consist of 2 members of senior academic or clinical staff, a medical student and sometimes a lay selector. |
| Interview dates | January – March Overseas interviews in late February Interview dates usually run from early January to March, and are held at the Whitechapel campus in London. Overseas interviews are usually held in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore (2020/21 entry will only be held in Malaysia and Singapore), and take place in late February. |
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| UCAT | UCAT weighted 50/50 with academic ability (UCAS tariff or degree classification) Top UCAT Score with offer: 3410 Lowest UCAT with offer: 2300 At Barts they use a threshold of the 3rd decile as a cut off for applicants, anyone scoring below the 3rd decile in the UCAT will not be invited to interview. As well as further weighting 50:50 you UCAT score with academic ability, this being either your UCAS tariff for school leavers or your degree classification for postgraduate applicants. Following this you are ranked and with comparative students (graduates against only graduates, and same for school leavers). You can request a UCAT exemption from Barts and The London directly, for appropriate reasons. More information about this can be found here. Please note, you will not be guaranteed an interview if you score above the third decile in the UCAT. |
| Applications in 2019/20 | Standard Entry Medicine (A100): Total number of applicants: 2029 Number of Home/EU applicants: 1597 Number of Overseas applicants: 432 |
| Interviews in 2019/20 | Standard Entry Medicine (A100): Total number of applicants interviewed: 1134 Number of home/EU applicants interviewed: 989 Number of overseas applicants interviewed: 145 |
| Offers in 2019/20 | 440 standard entry Number of Undergraduate standard entry offers: 440 |
| Success rate in 2019/20 | Application success rate: Offers per applicant: 1 in 4.6 Interview success rate: Offers per interview: 1 in 2 |
Barts and The London Medicine Interview Questions
Barts and The London School of Medicine use traditional panel interviews which last 15-20 minutes. The panel consists of two members of senior academic or clinical staff, a current medical student and sometimes a lay observer. The interview evaluates candidates on the following domains:
- Motivation and realistic approach to medicine as a career
- Ability to show initiative, resilience and maturity
- Ability to work well as part of a team
- Organisational and problem-solving abilities
- Communication skills
COVID-19 Update for 2021 Entry
Barts will continue to offer their panel interview format between January and March, with all interviews being held online. Panels consist of senior doctors, tutors and students. Overseas interviews for Malaysia and Singapore will also be held online for the 2021 session.
Key Dates
Interviews generally take place between January and March.
Before the Interview
- Ensure you can clearly articulate why you have chosen to study Medicine and why Barts is your preferred medical school.
- Be able to verbalise your interests, talents, and the contribution you can make to the university. To show that you are prepared to participate as fully as possible in university life, and are able to contribute in some way to the outside community.
- Research what a career in medicine involves so that you can demonstrate that you have a clear understanding of the level of commitment and motivation required.
- Reflect on the skills and insight gained through your relevant by work experience.
- Read the medically related email article Barts send you; familiarise yourself with it and ensure that you can confidently apply the four ethical principles to the scenario. Additionally, ask medical friends and relatives to suggest (and practice) potential questions related to the article.
- Ensure that you remain up-to-date with issues/hot topics that involve the NHS and other groups within the medical community.
Recent Interview Questions
Background and Personal Statement
- How do you cope with stress?
- What qualities do you have that makes you a good team leader?
- Tell us about my work experience and what skill/experiences you have taken away from it
Barts University and Study
- Why study at Barts?
- How would you contribute to Barts as a University
- How do you cope with technology (in relation to self-directed learning and PBL)?
- What are the disadvantages of being a medical student?
- How do you succeed as a medical student?
- What do you like about London?
Motivation and Insight into Medicine
- What attracted you to Medicine?
- Why do you want to be a doctor?
- What have you done to prepare for medicine?
- Has anyone tried to put you off medicine?
- How would I deal with death as a doctor?
- How would you feel regarding the violence etc, when doing emergency medicine?
- How would you put someone off doing medicine?
- How would you cope with all the bad things aspects of doing medicine?
- What do you want to specialise in? Why does this speciality interest you?
Attributes of a Good Doctor
- How would you want your patients to perceive you?
- What would you have done differently? (in relation to a given scenario)
- What makes a good team leader?
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