Applying To Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Welcome to our medical school profile for Brighton & Sussex Medical School (BSMS). This is part of our series of medical school profiles which are all entirely free as part of Medicine Answered’s commitment to making information on a career in Medicine free and easily accessible. Our medical school profiles can be used alongside our free guide “how to choose which medical schools to apply to” which covers 19 points that you can systematically run through when considering if a medical school is a good choice for you to apply to.

What this guide to applying to study Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School covers

This medical school profile gives an overview of useful information when considering an application to study Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. First, we cover the various Medicine courses on offer at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. We cover Brighton & Sussex Medical School’s entry requirements for studying Medicine. This includes how Brighton & Sussex Medical School uses the BMAT scores of applicants; the role of the Medicine personal statement and the MMI interview at Brighton & Sussex Medical School and other crucial information that will help you to apply to study Medicine Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Then, we advise on how to write a Medicine personal statement for Brighton & Sussex and give advice about how to pass a Brighton & Sussex MMI interview.

Medicine courses offered by Brighton & Sussex Medical School

  • Standard Entry 5-year Medicine Programme. UCAS course code A100

International Applicants to study Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Brighton & Sussex Medical School welcomes applications from overseas applicants to its Medicine programme.

Graduate Entry Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School:

Brighton & Sussex Medical school do not offer a fast track Graduate Entry Medicine programme. Graduates wishing to apply to Brighton & Sussex Medical school should apply to the standard 5-year Medicine programme. The admissions team state that all Graduates applicants to Brighton & Sussex Medical school are expected to demonstrate academic excellence and subject knowledge, particularly in Biology and Chemistry either from their A-levels of their degree. Graduates who are unsure if their degree is suitable for an application to Brighton & Sussex Medical school are advised to contact the medical school either by post or email with a copy of their transcript.

Visit our free guide to applying to Medicine as a graduate for more information including a detailed breakdown on deciding if applying to Medicine as a graduate is for you, fees, funding, choosing between accelerated programmes and standard entry Medicine programmes and much more. We also have a free guide on how to write an excellent graduate entry Medicine personal statement. This comprehensive guide takes you from the ideas phase with no plan or draft all the way to a completed Graduate Entry Medicine personal statement ready for submission.

Course structure at Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical school course structure is fashioned around an integrated curriculum. Like all integrated curriculums, the BSMS approach means that Medical Sciences are taught alongside and in the context of Clinical Medicine, so students can relate their studies to how patients present. This contrasts to traditional courses (which are now very rare amongst UK medical school) that teach Medicine and Sciences as various separate disciplines.

Early clinical experience is an important feature of the Brighton and Sussex Medicine course structure and curriculum. Clinical experience starts very early, typically in the first week or two and continues throughout the course. These are not a few isolated token visits, in year one 25% of the learning is delivered through a clinical practice module, making clinical experience and clinical learning an important part of the Brighton & Sussex Medical School curriculum.

Another positive feature about the curriculum and course structure at Brighton and Sussex Medical school is that it assesses candidates in practical exams, i.e. clinical skills, patient performance and communication very early in the course at a level which is appropriate to a candidate’s junior stage of a medical degree. This is as a pose to having practical exams in the later years of the Medicine course. This allows students to become very familiar and comfortable with this type of assessment which helps them for the higher level of exams at the end of the degree and after graduation when working as a doctor.

Anatomy Teaching at Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Brighton & Sussex Medical school use cadaveric dissection as a method of teaching anatomy. This provides a hands-on approach to learning anatomy but is becoming increasingly less common in medical schools, in part due to the high costs and resource requirements required to provide this type of anatomy teaching. Anatomy teaching at Brighton and Sussex medical school also includes medical imaging such as getting students to use ultrasound frequently. This is not something taught at most medical schools and is a beneficial skill to learn.

Intercalation Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical School allow students to take an intercalated degree. Intercalation is widely offered in UK medical schools and is a popular option. Intercalation enables students to take for example a BSc in only one year, whereas a BSc would typically take three years for a non-intercalating student to achieve.

Brighton & Sussex Medical School open days

Brighton and Sussex Medical School open days present an ideal opportunity for interested applicants and the relatives to see the medical school and speak to students and staff. A Brighton and Sussex Medical school open day also provides a great opportunity to visit the entire campus and city.

Age Requirements to study Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical School state that candidates must be at least 17 years at the time of entry.

Entry Requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School six-year Medicine programme

Applying to any UK medical school is a very competitive process which necessitates meeting high academic and non-academic entry requirements. While sharing many similarities in some areas, medical schools still have very different entry requirements and policies from one another in specific areas. The entry requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School are no different in this regard. This means you must carefully understand the entry requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School when considering applying to study Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Below are some headline details about the entry requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School for 2019 entry. You can see the full entry requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical school on their website.

A-Level requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School: AAA including Chemistry and Biology. For non-speakers of English, the third A-level cannot be a language subject in their language of instruction. In this case, a fourth A-level at grade A is required to make up the AAA grade requirements. Brighton & Sussex Medical school will consider resit applicants with certain restrictions.

GCSE requirements for Brighton & Sussex Medical School: Grade B or above in Maths and English

Admissions tests – how does Brighton & Sussex Medical School use BMAT scores for its Standard Entry Medicine programme?

Brighton & Sussex medical school use the BMAT in its selection process. For 2019 entry, Brighton & Sussex medical school score the BMAT out of 28. (This is comprised of 9 marks for section 1, 9 marks for Section 2, and 5 marks for each element of Section 3). BSMS then rank all applicants according to their total score out of 28 and work down the rankings to fill out the places for a Medicine interview at Brighton and Sussex Medical school.

For 2018 entry to Medicine (the most recent year data is available at the time of writing this profile), applicants without contextual data (a widening participation element of the application process) who scored 16.3 or above were invited for a Medicine interview. The BMAT cut off score for Brighton and Sussex medical school varies each year. Data from each year is looked at when determining the BMAT cut off score for Brighton and Sussex Medical School. For more information about the BMAT and how to prepare for the BMAT, see our free guide and FAQ.

How Does Brighton & Sussex Medical School use the Medicine personal statement?

Brighton and Sussex Medical School do not routinely use the Medicine personal statement as part of the admissions process for home applicants. It does use the Medicine personal statement for international applicants to Medicine.

Tips on how to write a successful Medicine personal statement for Brighton & Sussex Medical School

  • Although Brighton and Sussex Medical School do not routinely use the Medicine personal statement as part of the selection process for home students, you must still write an excellent medical school personal statement for your other UCAS choices. For a complete guide on this read our free guide to writing a medical school personal statement in 10 easy to follow steps. This comprehensive guide takes you from step 1; no draft, plan or anything written down, all the way to step 10; a completed and excellent medical school personal statement ready for you to submit to UCAS
  • Brighton and Sussex medical school state that for Medicine personal statements that they do review, they are looking for what you have gained from your activities rather than long lists of things you like and dislike or of your achievements (no matter how impressive they may be). It is up to you to make the most of what you have done and show the medical school admissions panel how your experiences will make you an excellent candidate to study Medicine. Our free article: How to showcase the attributes of self-reflection and personal insight into your Medicine application will help you to write in the manner that admissions tutors are looking for.
  • You can consider a Medicine personal statement review service. Various companies offer these. They are not essential, so do not believe any company that tells you otherwise. However, services by competent providers can add real value to your Medicine application. When looking at providers ensure that they are experts in Medicine admissions, rather than generalists, and have professional skills in editing and reviewing. Medicine Answered provide an excellent medical school personal statement review service with a unique level of expertise. A professional editor and then a doctor (who received all four offers to study Medicine) will examine the personal statement line by line and make the appropriate corrections. After making sure the grammar and writing are flawless, they will also comment on the overall strength of the application and make suggestions of things which may be asked at your Medicine interview based on your medical school personal statement.

What type of interviews does Brighton & Sussex Medical School use?

Brighton and Sussex Medical school use MMI Medicine interviews as part of its admissions process. For 2019 entry, Brighton and Sussex Medical school MMI interviews are comprised of 5 MMI stations each lasting 10 minutes.

Tips for passing an MMI interview at Brighton and Sussex Medical School interview

Success at a Brighton and Sussex Medical School interview or any medical school interview is not random. It involves a tried and tested set of steps that you can also follow:

  • A strategic plan on how to prepare for your medical school interview – We cover this in detail in our entirely free guide on how to prepare for your medical school interview in seven steps.
  • Learning critical medical school interview strategies – We have a wealth of free articles covering Medicine interview strategies. We also have a free database of real Medicine interview questions with full competent answers, analysis, and advice on how to answer these medical school interview questions. We also have a free guide to Medical Ethics and free blog articles such as answering opinion questions, dealing with rude or hostile interviewers/ MMI actors and many more topics
  • Avoiding common medical school interview pitfalls – See our free guide on common Medicine Interview pitfalls and how to prevent them.
  • Intelligent, reflective medical school interview practice – Use our free exclusive database of medical school interview questions and answers.
  • Execution on the medical school interview day – Preparation and practice are one part of success. The other part is peak performance and execution on the day. Read our free article about dealing with nerves.

If you prefer a face to face approach, Medicine Answered also provide excellent doctor delivered one-day medical school interview courses as well as one to one private tutoring online or in person. All of our courses and tutoring are provided only by doctors who passed all four of their Medicine interviews. For more information see our services section.