For students and parents · Summer of Year 12 to spring of Year 13
Applying for medicine
Applying for medicine starts earlier than for most courses. Most applicants sit the UCAT in the summer before they apply, send a UCAS application with up to four medicine choices by the mid October deadline (15 October at 6pm for 2027 entry), and then, if shortlisted, have an interview, which at many medical schools is a set of short stations called an MMI. Medical schools also look for experience of caring for people or of seeing healthcare, and for what the applicant learnt from it.
When is the UCAT, and what is in it?
The UCAT is the admissions test used by a long list of UK medical and dental schools, including Oxford and Cambridge for medicine. It is sat on a computer at a test centre in the summer before applying: for 2027 entry, between 13 July and 24 September 2026, with a booking deadline in mid September. Results are sent to the universities in early November.
It has four parts: Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement, just under two hours in all. Abstract Reasoning, which older guides mention, is no longer part of it. Each medical school uses the score in its own way, so the admissions pages of each school on the shortlist say how theirs does.
How many medicine choices can you make?
A UCAS application has up to five choices, and no more than four of them can be in medicine (the same limit applies to dentistry and veterinary medicine). The fifth can be another course, and some applicants use it for a related degree such as biomedical science. Applicants who are still at school can apply to only one of Oxford and Cambridge in the same year.
All five choices read the same personal statement, which is worth remembering when writing it: a statement entirely about medicine is fine for four medical schools, but it is what the fifth choice will read too.
What work experience do medical schools want?
The Medical Schools Council describes two useful kinds: caring or service roles, such as volunteering with people who need support, and observing healthcare, which can be done in person or online. It says the focus is on what you learn and how you reflect on it rather than on the setting, and suggests keeping a reflective journal. It does not set a number of hours.
So a regular volunteering role that you can talk about in detail, what went wrong, what you noticed about the people you were helping and what it taught you about being a doctor, counts for more at interview than a prestigious placement you only watched.
What are medical school interviews like?
Many medical schools use MMIs, which the Medical Schools Council describes as normally seven to ten stations of between three and ten minutes each, covering motivation, the NHS, teamwork, ethics, role-play with an actor and interpreting data. Others hold a panel interview, and Oxford and Cambridge interview medicine applicants in the academic style they use for every subject. The university interviews guide covers how to prepare for both.
Where to check
- UCAT test dates
- UCAT test format and scoring
- UCAT: universities that use it
- Medical Schools Council: work experience
- Medical Schools Council: how to run a mock MMI
- UCAS
Checked against these on . The rules change from year to year, so the pages above are the ones to trust if anything here disagrees with them.
Common questions
When do you sit the UCAT?
In the summer before you apply. For 2027 entry, testing runs from 13 July to 24 September 2026, with a booking deadline in mid September.
How many medical schools can I apply to?
Up to four, out of five choices on the UCAS application. The fifth can be a course in another subject.
How much work experience do you need for medicine?
The Medical Schools Council does not set a number of hours. It says what matters is what you learn and how you reflect on it, from caring roles or from observing healthcare in person or online.
What is the deadline for medicine applications?
The mid October UCAS deadline for most medicine courses, 15 October at 6pm for 2027 entry, months before the deadline for most other courses.
Do Oxford and Cambridge use the UCAT for medicine?
Yes, both list the UCAT for medicine for 2027 entry. A school leaver can apply to only one of the two in the same year.