Entry requirements

Academic entry requirements
Personal statement guidance
Resit and reapplication policy
Contextual offer scheme

What makes a good doctor?

Being a successful medical student and future doctor takes so much more than academic ability. You also need to be motivated and conscientious, and be able to demonstrate respect for patients, compassion and a caring nature. You must have insight into your chosen career and your own suitability to be a doctor. Working in a team is a crucial part of medical practice, and being able to work alongside and respect your peers is essential within our PBL curriculum.

As a Lancaster medical student, you must be committed to making a difference to the health and wellbeing of your patients, and the communities they live in.

If this sounds like you, and you want to be part of the future of medicine, join us at Lancaster Medical School.

Academic entry requirements

Entry requirements for our medical degree include both academic and non-academic criteria. 

A Level: AAA or AAB plus EPQ. See full requirements below.

 

We accept applications from school leavers, graduates and those returning to higher education via Access courses. We do not provide a four-year graduate entry degree, but graduates are eligible to apply for our five-year undergraduate degree.

All applicants must complete the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) in either August (before application) or October (after application) of the year that they apply. For more information, please see the BMAT website.

There are four places available to international students. No offers are made without interview and, therefore, all overseas applicants must be prepared to travel to Lancaster University for interview, with no guarantee of being successful. For more details, please see our International applicants page.

To view the entry requirements for your qualification, please download a fact sheet below. If your qualification is not visible, please email medicine@lancaster.ac.uk for further advice.

What to include on your personal statement

We’re looking for a coherent, well-structured personal statement that conveys a real impression of you and demonstrates effective written communication skills.

Visit the Medical Schools Council website

You should demonstrate what you have done to establish that medicine is the right career path for you. For example, you should outline any relevant work and voluntary experiences and describe what you have learned about being a doctor, and about your own suitability, from these experiences.  You do not need to have shadowed a doctor; voluntary or caring roles, especially in a healthcare setting, are just as valuable. Voluntary and caring roles can also be useful to demonstrate your commitment to improving the lives of others.  You should describe the skills you have developed through engaging in these roles and explain their relevance to a career in Medicine. 

For further guidance from Lancaster Medical School about work experience, please see our leaflet. Please see the Medical Schools Council website  for advice and guidance about work, voluntary and caring experience.

You should also demonstrate an understanding of the NHS constitution and core values in your personal statement. For instance, you might draw upon your work and voluntary experiences to illustrate why these values are important. You might also present evidence to demonstrate that you share these values. More information about the NHS Constitution and Core Values can be found on the NHS website.

Reapplications and Resit Policy

We do not consider re-applications from applicants who were unsuccessful after interview in a previous cycle. Applicants who were rejected before interview in a previous admissions cycle can however re-apply if they can show evidence of further work experience and self-reflection.

Lancaster Medical School will consider applications from applicants who have taken longer than two years to achieve the required grades at A Level, if the applicant otherwise meets the GCSE criteria and the non-academic entry requirements. This includes those who are resitting their A Levels (one or more subjects) or are taking additional A Levels after the end of Year 13 or repeated all of Year 12.

In absence of mitigating circumstances, you must have achieved at least ABB in your A Levels at the first attempt. Otherwise, all AS and A Levels must be at least grade C, at the first sitting, regardless of the mitigating circumstances.

All resit applicants must achieve the required grades (typically A*AA) after three years of study.

Similar criteria apply to applicants who have failed to achieve the required grades in the International Baccalaureate or Scottish qualifications at the first attempt. Such applicants may apply if they are resitting (or resitting components of) these qualifications.

Applicants who have taken longer than two years to achieve the required grades at A Level (or equivalent) should mention this and reflect on the circumstances in their UCAS personal statement.

For 2020 entry we will consider applicants who have retaken or are resitting GCSE English Language and achieved a 5 at first attempt, provided they achieve at least grade 6 at the second attempt. We will not consider applicants who have resat other GCSEs unless evidence of exceptional circumstances is provided. 

Contextual offer scheme

As part of our commitment to widening access to medicine, we take a holistic approach to reviewing applications and aim to understand as much as possible about our applicants and their potential.

Medicine as a profession needs to attract the best students to embark on what can be a challenging career. While academic qualifications provide one marker of potential, a number of studies have shown that potential to succeed in medicine is not reliant on qualifications alone. In 2012, Lancaster University’s Chancellor, the Rt Hon Alan Millburn, published a report which highlighted that the UK medical profession does not reflect wider society. We are committed to recruiting medical students who reflect the diversity of our society.

If you meet two or more of our widening participation criteria, meet the academic entry requirements and are successful at interview, you may be considered for a contextually lowered offer of ABB.

In this instance, you will be made a dual offer: (1) the standard offer and (2) the contextually lowered offer; the lower offer is dependent upon you making Lancaster Medical School your firm choice and attending one of our post-offer events.

Accordion

  • What information is considered?

    In addition to the information collected through UCAS, Lancaster Medical School considers a variety of information to provide a full picture of the applicant and their circumstances. As part of the application process, the admissions team will consider whether applicants meet two or more of our widening participation (WP) criteria listed below:

     

     

    • You live in a neighbourhood of low participation in higher education or live in an area that is less advantaged, as assessed by multiple factors; for instance, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. A map of the UK, showing the areas that differ in terms of young people’s participation in higher education can be found on the Office for Students website.

    • You live in a low income household. This can be demonstrated in any of three ways: (1) your parent or guardian is in receipt of a means-tested benefit (e.g. Universal Credit, Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance); (2) you receive or are eligible for the 16-19 bursary (or similar grant); (3) you receive or are eligible for free school meals.

    • The school where you completed your GCSEs is a non-selective state school and has a below average Attainment 8 score. You can view your school’s Attainment 8 score here.

    • The school where you completed/are completing your A Levels (or equivalent) is a non-selective state school, whose examination results are below average for schools/colleges in England (C- or below). You can view your school’s average A Level results here.

    • Your parent(s) did not attend university or attain a higher education qualification, apart from as a mature student.

    • You have been in local authority care for three months or more.

    • You are a young carer to a parent or sibling.

    • You are a refugee.
  • How is information collected?

    Most of the information that we consider is available through the UCAS application form, including information about your school.

    If you are invited to interview, and if you are a UK applicant, you will receive an email inviting you to complete the supplementary information questionnaire. This secure, self-report questionnaire will ask you to provide additional information that is not available on your UCAS application. The questionnaire must be submitted at least a week before your interview date, in order for the information to be considered alongside your application.

    If you identified yourself as meeting any of the criteria on the supplementary information questionnaire, you will be required to provide the relevant evidence when you come for interview. If this applies to you, you will receive an email confirming what evidence you will be required to bring to interview, but you can also view this below. 

    You can view a copy of the questionnaire here.

  • How will your information be held?

    The information you provide will only be accessible to members of Lancaster Medical School’s admissions team and will be stored in a restricted area. The information will be retained for up to one year and all records will be erased on or before 15th November 2020.

  • Required evidence

    If you identify yourself as meeting any widening participation criteria through the supplementary information questionnaire, you will be required to bring evidence of this with you to interview. If you think you have a piece of evidence that is not listed below, please let us know by emailing medicine@lancaster.ac.uk and we will confirm whether it is a suitable alternative.

    Criterion

    Accepted Evidence

    Your parent(s) did not attend university or attain a higher education qualification, apart from as a mature student.

    Your parent(s) or guardian will be required to complete and sign a form.

    Your parent or guardian is in receipt of a means-tested benefit (e.g. Universal Credit, Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance)

    A letter confirming receipt of a means-tested benefit e.g. from Jobcentre Plus.

    You receive or are eligible for the 16-19 bursary (or similar grant)

    A letter from your school or college.

    You receive or are eligible for free school meals

    A letter from your school or college.

    You have been in local authority care for 3 months or more.

    A letter from a social worker or your local authority.

    You are a young carer to a parent or sibling.

    A letter from a social worker or your local authority.

    Alternatively, your school or GP can complete a form, if they have direct knowledge of your caring role.

Fitness to practise

Tab Content: Health and disability

Lancaster Medical School strongly endorses the view of the General Medical Council (GMC) that applicants who have a disability or medical condition should be welcomed to the medical profession and valued for their contribution. Having a health condition or disability is not, in itself, a fitness to practise concern, but applicants with a condition that might impact on their ability to practise medicine safely should provide details on their UCAS application. Disclosed disabilities or medical conditions are not taken into account during the selection process. If successful after interview, the applicant will be assessed by an Occupational Health professional to determine whether they are fit to practise or if there are reasonable adjustments that Lancaster Medical School can make to support them in their medical training.

Any offer of a place to study medicine at Lancaster Medical School is conditional upon a satisfactory assessment of fitness to train from the Occupational Health Department (OHD) at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust (UHMFBT). You will be assessed initially through a health questionnaire before registration and then through follow-up appointments with the OHD. This health screening programme assesses the following: absence of infection with communicable diseases; immunisation status; functional capacity and ability to achieve the outcomes of Tomorrow’s Doctors. The standards are defined by the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Department of Health (DH). Read further guidance for potential applicants

Infection and Immunisation: All students will be tested for and/or immunised against a range of infectious diseases before any patient contact will be permitted.

Tab Content: Probity

Doctors are expected to maintain trust in the medical profession by “being open, honest and acting with integrity” at all times (Duties of a Doctor).

Therefore, probity is taken extremely seriously during the admissions process for our medical degree programme. Applicants are advised to ensure that their UCAS application form has been completed fully, honestly and without omissions. Lancaster Medical School reserves the right to reject any applicant who is found to have been dishonest at any stage of their application.

Tab Content: Criminal records

Applicants should note that all medical students are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Details of any criminal convictions, reprimands, warnings, cautions or fixed penalty notices should be declared if you are invited for interview. This information is not taken into account during the selection process and is only considered after interview. If successful at interview, the circumstances of the incident will be considered by the Lancaster Medical School Fitness to Practise panel and a judgement made as to whether it impacts on your fitness to practise. Only those who are deemed fit to practice will be admitted onto the medical degree programme; applicants may be subject to further requirements to confirm their fitness to practise.

In most instances, minor offences do not bar entry to medical training or clinical practice.

Please note: Applicants who fail to disclose information that subsequently comes to light through their enhanced DBS check will be subject to Fitness to Practice procedures and may be excluded from the degree programme on the basis of lack of probity. Please note that spent criminal convictions, cautions, warnings and reprimands that would not normally appear on your criminal record may be disclosed through an enhanced DBS check.

This information is collected in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For unsuccessful applicants, data related to any declared criminal convictions will be deleted and removed from our admissions system by the end of the relevant admissions period; if they apply before 15th October, any data will be deleted before the end of October in the following year (unless they apply for deferred entry, in which case the data may be retained for a further 12 months before deletion). Successful applicants, who become students, will have any declared criminal conviction information retained for the duration of their studies. This information will be securely deleted and removed from our systems within six months of the student graduating or terminating their studies.

All information on applicant declared criminal convictions will be stored securely within University systems and will only be accessed by appropriate University staff. To learn more about how the University ensures the security of personal information please refer to the University’s Information Security Policy.

GDPR grants individuals certain rights in relation to their own personal data. For more information on these rights and how they have been embedded at Lancaster University, please refer to the Rights of the Data Subject page on the University website.

For more information about how the University uses student and applicant data, please visit the Student Privacy Notice on the University’s website.

Tab Content: Expectations of students

As a medical student, you will be expected to behave in a professional manner from the very outset of your medical degree programme. Medical students are expected to strive for high standards in both their professional training and their personal lives. This section aims to provide some guidance about the professional behaviour expected of medical students. Potential applicants should ensure that they would be willing and able to agree to the expected standards of behaviour before applying to study at Lancaster Medical School.

During your medical degree, much of your training will take place in a clinical environment and will involve extensive patient contact. Moreover, as a medical graduate, you will be entitled to preliminary registration with the General Medical Council and to work as a Foundation Year doctor.

Therefore, medical students are expected to act in accordance with the standards of professional behaviour as outlined by the General Medical Council in Professional behaviour and fitness to practice and Duties of a Doctor.

Lancaster University has a duty of care to ensure that no member of the public comes to any harm as a consequence of contact with Lancaster University medical students during their training. To remind students of their responsibilities and the expected standards of behaviour, at the beginning of each academic year, Lancaster Medical School requires all medical students to agree to conditions of training‌. Potential applicants should read these conditions of training carefully and ensure that they are willing and able to agree to them before accepting an offer from Lancaster Medical School.

In addition to maintaining certain standards of conduct during their professional training, medical students must also ensure that their behaviour outside of the clinical environment does not negatively impact on their fitness to practise; they must not bring the profession or the medical school into disrepute through their behaviour in their professional or their personal lives.

Course details

MBChB overview

Application process

International applicants

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