Medicine (graduate entry)

At St George’s, we strive to ensure our admissions process is fair and transparent. In order to make sure every applicant is treated equally, we use a process based on objective measures. For example, while we take the time to read your personal statement, it is not formally assessed, or used to determine whether you will be invited for a Multiple Mini Interview (MMI).

The steps below outline our general admissions process and the way by which we determine which applicants will receive an offer to study Medicine MBBS (graduate entry) at St George’s.

1. Each applicant that meets our entry criteria (see below) is ranked by their GAMSAT score.
2. The number of interviews we run each year may vary. In previous years, we have interviewed approximately 250-350 applicants.
3. Our GAMSAT cut-off scores are determined by the number of available interviews. Interview places will be allocated to applicants who have the highest GAMSAT score, until all of our available interview places are filled.
4. If, as a result of the number of MMIs we plan to offer, the cut-off score falls at a point where a number of applicants have achieved the same GAMSAT score, we may increase or reduce the number of MMIs we conduct to accommodate all applicants who have received that score. This means that all eligible applicants with the same GAMSAT score are considered equally.
5. Applicants will then be invited to attend an MMI which is a values-based recruitment process and reinforces objectivity.
6. Once all of our interviews are conducted, we rank MMI scores and the highest performing applicants within each group are made an offer to study Medicine MBBS (graduate entry) at St George’s.

If you are applying on the basis of an undergraduate degree, you do not need to meet any GCSE or Level 3 (A Level) requirements.

If you are applying on the basis of a postgraduate degree, you do not need to meet any GCSE or Level 3 (A Level) requirements.

Please find the UK equivalent of your qualification(s) by visiting the UK NARIC website. Your qualification(s) will need to be equivalent to the requirements outlined above.

Additional Information

GAMSAT is a professionally designed and marked written entrance test based on a model developed for Australian graduate-entry medical schools. It tests knowledge, reasoning and communication skills across a range of disciplines.

For the 2023 cycle, the following GAMSAT results can be used: March 2021, September 2021, March 2022 and September 2022. If you have sat GAMSAT more than once, we will use your highest eligible score in our assessment. We will only accept scores communicated directly by ACER, so please ensure you follow the guidance they provide. 

For reference purposes, we have provided the overall GAMSAT scores we have required in previous years, on our Admissions Statistics page.

If you are applying from outside of the UK, you will need to meet the English language requirements. This is a group 1 course.

You must be eligible for ‘home’ tuition fees. Please visit the UKCISA website for further information.

We understand the challenges for our prospective applicants for medicine and allied health courses trying to gain work experience at this time, particularly in clinical settings.    

In response to the government’s social distancing guidelines, which have a significant impact on all areas of life, we have chosen to relax our work experience requirements for prospective applicants for our courses which would normally require these.    

Despite the relaxed requirements, we still require our applicants to have an understanding of the realities of working as a healthcare professional and to show they have the necessary skills and attributes for their chosen career. Online resources can give you valuable insight into working in the healthcare sector and outline the wide range of careers and courses available. You can find a number of suggested resources for each of our courses here.

Should you receive an offer to study at St George’s, you will be required to complete a health check and be declared fit to study and practise by the Occupational Health (OH) department before you begin your studies.

The following vaccinations are mandatory for all healthcare students before you begin your studies:

• MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
• Meningococcal meningitis
• Diphtheria
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Poliomyelitis
• Tetanus

As part of the process, you will also be screened by the OH team for Chickenpox, Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

We do not currently require you to have been vaccinated against Covid-19, but we strongly recommend that you get double vaccinated before the start of your studies, unless medically exempt.

When admitting candidates to study and practise as a health practitioner, we have an obligation to both patients and to the individual student. Candidates who are concerned about a health issue are advised to contact us.

This course will include work with children and vulnerable adults, so you will be required to submit a series of declarations.

If you are invited to an interview, we will request some additional information from you, regarding your criminal record, educational history and employment history. You will also have the opportunity to make any other declarations that you’d like us to be aware of. We may not able to consider applicants who were suspended from previous study/work due to fitness to practise issues or failure in assessments/examinations.

If you are made an offer, you will be required to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. More information about this is sent to applicants as part of the admissions process.

If you studied but did not complete Medicine at an alternative university, please provide formal evidence as to why you withdrew when you apply, and no later than 1 November in the year of application. Please email the team ensuring you include your UCAS personal ID number and programme name in the subject line. Applicants will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Due to the demanding nature of the Medicine MBBS (graduate entry) programme, it is important that applicants can demonstrate recent engagement in education. If your degree was awarded more than five years ago, we will accept any of the following qualifications, in any subject (excluding General Studies), awarded between summer 2018 and summer 2023, as evidence of recent education.

• One A Level (grade B)
• One Cambridge Pre-U Certificate (grade M2)
• One Scottish Advanced Higher (grade B)
• One Irish Leaving Certificate (grade H2)
• Access Diploma (D30 M15)

If the above qualification is pending at the point of application, your offer will be conditional on successful completion of this at the grade specified. Other recognised programmes of study may be accepted, please contact us for details.

Alternatively, you may wish to apply for our Medicine MBBS (5-year) programme, which does not include a five-year time limit for graduates.                                   

Typical learning week for clinical sciences (Year 1, MBBS4)

The following shows an example timetable for a learning week on this course. Please note that this is for illustrative purposes only as timetables will vary in between modules.

During the first year, you will undertake short clinical and community-based placements, which mark the beginning of your career long clinical and professionalism learning. Building on your clinical communication skills and clinical skills, you will learn and practise simple clinical procedures. You will not yet be expected to clerk patients and present their problems in the ways you will be during the clinical practice years, but instead will be encouraged to talk and listen to patients and their carers as people, and learn from them in their role as ‘experts by experience’. In particular, we want you to learn about their experiences of their care, good and bad and their expectations of the various professionals caring for them. Understanding the significance of working in true partnership with patients is at the heart of good medical practice.

Learning the importance of working collaboratively and effectively with other professionals in the health care team is also an essential part of your training. You will have opportunities to extend your knowledge of the roles of the various members of the health care team, and seek their views on the role of the doctor within the team. You will take part in nursing shifts, so that you can fully orientate yourself to the hospital environment, take an active part and contribute to ward life under nursing supervision.

General Practice

Year 1: Community and general practice visits throughout the year

During Year 2, your transition from the academic environment to learning in the workplace continues, with longer placements during which you become more able to learn effectively and safely from direct patient contact, establishing the trust of patients and colleagues. By the end of this year you should be fluent in taking a history and examining adult patients, and giving a basic list of potential diagnoses and initial management plans.

General Practice

Year 3: One 5-week placement

Hospital placements

Year 3: Two 5-week placements in each of medicine and surgery

In Year 3 almost all learning is on clinical placements, including your first exposure to a range of specialist areas, so that by the end of the year you are able to tailor your diagnostic skills and outline investigation and management plans for common conditions, with expanded skills in the specialities you have encountered.

Hospital placements

Year 3: 11 weeks integrated medical specialities, 10 weeks general surgery and surgical specialities, one week palliative care, and five-and-a-half weeks each neurology stroke and rehabilitation, psychiatry, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology.

Your final year then lays the groundwork preparing you to be a foundation doctor, with assistantships in general practice, medicine and surgery, and advanced clinical practice experience in emergency medicine, critical care and anaesthetics as well as a public health block.

General practice

Year 4: Five week placement.

Hospital placements

Year 4: Three five-week assistantships in each of medicine, general practice and surgery, four weeks critical care and anaesthetics, four weeks emergency medicine

Public health

Year 4: 2 week clinical placement.

• St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London

• Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, Carshalton, London

• Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, Kingston, Surrey

• Croydon Health Sciences NHS Trust, Croydon, London

• South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust

• East Kent Hospital

• East Surrey Hospital

• Frimley Park Hospital

• Ashford & St Peters

The extensive experience of our teaching team spans the full breadth of medical and surgical specialists, GPs, biomedical scientists and research scientists. For example, our transition year is led by an A&E consultant, the penultimate year by a renal and acute medicine physician, and final year by a urological surgeon.

Course Director Professor Hannah Cock is a consultant neurologist in the Atkinson Morley Regional Epilepsy Network, based at St George’s hospital. In addition to her educational roles, she has research interests in status epilepticus (prolonged uncontrolled seizures), the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, and improving services and care for people with epilepsy.

Our researchers are contributing to the University research focused on advancing the prevention and treatment of disease in the fields of population health, heart disease and infection – three of the greatest challenges to global health in the 21st century. Our focus on health and biosciences has recently been targeted at helping to understand the immunology, virology, and genetics of Covid-19 to inform advances in new diagnostics, new treatments and a vaccine. We are also influencing public health policy and providing evidence-based information and advice to frontline healthcare practitioners.

During the course, you’ll also have the opportunity to study alongside highly experienced clinicians and learn directly from junior doctors on the job, something our students particularly enjoy.

You will be assessed in three domains:

• Professional Knowledge: through Year Specific Knowledge Tests (YSKT) in Years 1, 2(T) and 3(P)
• Professional Skills: through Clinical Competency Assessments (CCA) in years 1, 2(T) and 3(P)
• Becoming a Doctor: through longitudinal professional assessment, attendance, clinical practice skills and projects in each year of the Programme.

All domains must be passed independently in order to progress to the subsequent year.

During Year 1, there is one practice ‘formative’ assessment of knowledge, and one of clinical competency, to prepare you for summative assessments later in the year, to prepare you for summative assessments later in the year, and during the remainder of the programme. Teaching Staff are encouraged to also include formative quizzes within their learning materials throughout the curriculum.

Knowledge assessment methods include short answer questions and single best answer questions. CCAs take the form of a set of structured tasks, which can include practical procedures, interviewing skills and examination of patients.

Workplace (placement) based assessments , for example, mini-CEX (Clinical Evaluation Exercise), direct observations of practical procedures (DOPS), and case based discussion (CBD) also play an increasing role in the later years of the curriculum, for both formative and summative purposes. These tasks and activities during placements provide an opportunity to receive expert feedback, reflect on and discuss events and your own experiences in the real clinical environment. Together with attendance, behaviour, a personal and professional development portfolio, and variety of projects, this forms part of the Becoming a Doctor domain, which builds and assesses professional behaviour each year, and serves as an evolving portfolio to evidence your knowledge and experience to support later career plans.

Final year assessments (for graduates from 2024-25 onwards) will take the form of the National Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) comprising an Applied Knowledge Test (AKT), and the Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA). This will be instead of our current Final year AKT and CCA, but with essentially the same format and delivery. We have also been, and will continue to take part in the pilots for the MLA, and member of our assessment team are also involved in the MLA. The Prescribing Safety Assessment, and Becoming a Doctor Domain must also be passed in Final year prior to graduation under our Scheme of Assessment.

MBBS graduates who wish to undertake the UK foundation programme must also take the situational judgement test (SJT), which is a national assessment. Competence in all foundation year Practical Skills and Procedures (Outcomes for graduates – Practical skills and procedures - GMC (gmc-uk.org)_ must be achieved on at least one occasion, within the two clinical practice years prior to graduation.