Applying To Keele Medical School

Welcome to our series of medical school profiles. These are entirely free as part of Medicine Answered’s commitment to making information on medical careers free and easily available. These medical school profiles can be used in conjunction with 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 an excellent choice for you to apply to.

What this guide to applying to study Medicine at Keele Medical School covers

This medical school profile provides readers with key information that will assist in applying to study Medicine at Keele Medical School. We begin by outlining the courses on offer at Keele Medical School. We also cover Keele Medical School’s entry requirements for studying Medicine. This includes how Keele Medical School is unique in considering three admissions tests for different groups of applicants – the UKCAT, BMAT and the GAMSAT; Keele Medical Schools Medicine interview process and the numeracy test which is also part of the interview day; how the Medicine personal statement (and the additionally required “roles and responsibilities” form) is used at Keele Medical School and other important details and statistics which will help you in applying to study Medicine at Keele Medical School. Finally, we cover tips and advice on how to write a Medicine personal statement for Keele Medical School and advice on how to pass the Keele Medical School MMI interview.

Courses on offer at Keele Medical School:

  • Standard Entry Medicine (5 years). UCAS course code A100.
  • Medicine with a Foundation Year (6 years) UCAS course code A104

The competition for offers for a place to study Medicine at Keele Medical School:

Competition for the 5-year Medicine course at Keele Medical School:

Number of applicants per interview: 2.5 (home/EEA) 7.5 (international)

Number of applicants per place: 7.5 (home/EEA) 24 (international)

Competition for the 6-year Medicine with a Foundation Year course at Keele Medical School:

Number of applicants per interview: 2.5 (home/EEA) 4.5 (international)

Number of applicants per place: 10 (home/EEA) 15 (international)

International Applicants to study Medicine at Keele Medical School

Keele Medical School welcomes applications from overseas applicants to both its 5-year and 6-year Medicine programmes.

Graduate Entry Medicine at Keele Medical School:

Keele Medical School do not offer an accelerated 4-year Graduate Entry Medicine programme. Graduates wishing to apply to study Medicine at Keele Medical School should apply to the standard five-year Medicine programme. See our free guide to applying to Medicine as a graduate for information on the process 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 finished Graduate entry Medicine personal statement ready for submission.

Course structure at Keele Medical School:

The course structure at Keele Medical School is based on an integrated curriculum using a variety of teaching methods including Problem based learning (PBL), lectures, seminars and more. Integrated curriculums combine scientific teaching with clinical teaching instead of making a distinct separation between the two (as is the case in traditional Medicine courses which are now rare). This allows students to learn the scientific disciplines in the context of how patients present. Integrated curriculums typically allow for much earlier patient contact which is the case at Keele Medical School.

Intercalation at Keele Medical School

Keele Medical School offers its medical students the chance to intercalate. This includes bachelor’s degrees and masters level degrees. Intercalation is offered throughout UK medical schools and is a popular option. You can learn more about intercalation in our free medical blogs section. Intercalation allows students to suspend their Medicine degree and study another degree in a chosen subject and then return to complete their Medicine degree. This allows medical students to gain an additional qualification on top of their Medicine degree and often in a much quicker and cheaper manner. For example, a BSc can be awarded in one year instead of the typical three it would take a non-intercalating student to achieve. Keele Medical School also accept external applications for medical students from other universities who wish to intercalate at Keele Medical School.

Open days at Keele Medical School

Keele Medical School offers open days. Attending a Keele Medical School open day allows you to see the medical school and the campus yourself and speak to staff and students. A Keele Medical School open day also provides a great opportunity to explore the city of Keele for yourself.

What are the age requirements to study Medicine at Keele Medical School?

Candidates must be 18 by the time they commence the Keele MBChB Medicine course. Applicants younger then this at the time of application can apply for deferred entry, if this means they will be old enough once the course starts. There is no upper age limit to study Medicine at Keele Medical School.

Entry Requirements for Keele Medical Schools 5-year Medicine programme:

Applying to any medical school is a competitive process which involves meeting high entry requirements. While sharing many similarities, medical schools will also have very different entry requirements and policies in specific areas. The entry requirements for Keele Medical School are no different in this regard. For example, Keele Medical School is unusual in that it uses both the UKCAT (for students categorised as home/UK/EEA for fees purposes) and BMAT (for students categorised as overseas for fees purposes) admissions tests for different groups of students. Most medical schools use only one admissions exam or none. Keele Medical School will even consider the GAMSAT in a small group of graduate Medicine applicants with good degree results but without the required A-level subjects or grades. As a result, you must carefully understand the entry requirements for Keele Medical School before you make an application there and for anywhere else you are considering applying to. Below are some headline details about the entry requirements for Keele Medical School for 2019 entry to the 5-year Medicine course. You can see the full information on their prospectus or website.

A-Level entry requirements for Keele Medical School: Grades of A*AA from 3 A-levels completed in two years. This must include Chemistry or Biology and a second Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths/Statistics). Critical Thinking, General studies and applied A-levels are not accepted. Combinations such as Maths/Further Maths/Statistics are not accepted as two separate A-levels. Keele Medical School’s A-level entry requirements differ for graduate applicants.

GCSE entry requirements for Keele Medical School: A minimum of five full GCSE/or equivalent grades at A/7. Minimum grades of B/6 are required in Maths, Science and English Language. See Keele Medical School’s website for more details and for graduate and international applicants.

Admissions tests – how does Keele Medical School use UKCAT scores?

Keele Medical School is unique in that it uses both the UKCAT and BMAT admissions tests for different groups of students. It is also willing to consider GAMSAT results for candidates with a 1st or 2:1 honours degree who do not meet Keele medical school’s A-level subject or grade requirements.

All home (UK/EEA) applicants to study A100 or A104 Medicine at Keele Medical School are required to sit the UKCAT. All students who are classified as overseas for the purposes of fees are required to sit the BMAT and not the UKCAT to apply for the A100 or A104 Medicine course at Keele.

Candidates who score a band 4 (lowest band) in the SJT component of the UKCAT or who score in the bottom 20% of scores are excluded from entry.

For more information about the UKCAT, BMAT and GAMSAT and how to prepare for the UKCAT, BMAT and GAMSAT see our free guide and FAQ.

How Does Keele Medical School use the Medicine personal statement and the roles and responsibilities form?

Keele Medical School use the Medicine personal statement as part of their selection process. The Medicine personal statement is also important as one of the MMI interview stations will involve discussion of your experiences. In addition to the Medicine personal statement, Keele requires home applicants to complete a roles and responsibilities forms after they submit their UCAS Medicine application. Applicants who are classed as overseas for fee purposes do not fill in this form unless their fee status changes. The roles and responsibilities form is the main method in which Keele assesses the non-academic achievements and aptitude of candidates. The form is essentially about the candidates work experience and what they learned from it and what skills and aptitudes they can demonstrate they possess or have developed from this work experience. Shadowing doctors, while beneficial, is not given credit in the roles and responsibilities form. Instead, what the candidate actually did, rather than observed is given credit.

Tips on how to write a successful Medicine personal statement and roles and responsibilities form for Keele Medical School

  • Remember that you still need to write a Medicine personal statement for Keele Medical School and for your other medical schools. The roles and responsibilities form is different to a Medicine personal statement. You should not simply copy and paste what is your Medicine personal statement into the roles and responsibilities for. Treat it as a separate piece of work. However, you use the same skills and techniques and many of the same examples. You will possibly even use many of the same sentences.
  • Just like with the Medicine personal statement, the meaning and insight gained from experiences such as work experience or extracurricular activities are the most critical thing admissions tutors are looking for, even more so then what you actually did. Simply making long lists of achievements or diary accounts of activities is not what admissions tutors at Keele Medical School or any other medical school are looking for. 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 a good candidate to study Medicine. Our free article: How to show 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.
  • Read our comprehensive free guide on how to write a medical school personal statement in 10 steps. This guide takes you from step 1 – with 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. This will not only help you in your Keele Medicine personal statement but will also help you to complete the Keele roles and responsibilities form as the process is the same.
  • You can also use our analysis of a successful Medicine personal statement if you are looking for some inspiration on getting started. As well as providing an example of a Medicine personal statement that received four offers it also details our analysis of the strengths of the statement.
  • You can consider a Medicine personal statement review service. These are offered by various companies. 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 by experts in Medicine admissions 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 Keele Medical School use?

A Keele medical school interview day consists of the Medicine interview and a numeracy test. Keele Medical School uses MMI interviews. Each Keele MMI station lasts 5 minutes. Attributes assessed at the Keele Medical School MMI stations include:

– Caring nature
– Communication skills
– Empathy and insight
– Ethical awareness
– Responsibility
– Motivation and awareness of the challenges of being a doctor
– Resilience

Keele numeracy test.

Keele Medical School also requires students to sit a half hour numeracy skills assessment which takes place on the interview day either before or after the candidate completes the Keele MMI interview. Candidates must pass the numeracy test. The questions are based on clinical scenarios. However, no special clinical knowledge required to sit this exam. There are no trick questions and the questions are designed to be realistic. Medical students and doctors need to be able to use simple maths to solve problems during their work. A simple calculator is permitted.

Tips for passing a Keele Medical School MMI interview

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

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