How to apply for Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year
Applications are made through UCAS. The deadline for applications to study Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year (A104) for 2025 entry is 15th October 2024.
Academic entry requirements
The Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year course is designed for students who are not eligible to apply directly to the Medicine and Surgery degree programme. Your application to Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year will be considered in a four stage selection process detailed below; the academic entry requirements are considered at the first stage.
All 2024 applicants for the MBChB course will undertake the BMAT aptitude test, but from 2025 Lancaster Medical School will be using UCAT as part of our application process. This test must be taken in the year of application. More information on how this will be used in our selection processes can be found in the UCAT tab below.
Tab Content: GCSE
GCSE: requirements will vary depending on individual circumstance but all applicants must have a grade B or 6 in Biology, Chemistry and Physics taken as individual subjects (or Combined Science: Triology as two GCSE qualifications), as well as Maths and English Language.
Tab Content: A-levels
BBB achieved in a single sitting after 2 years of study.
Required Subjects: A-level Biology and Chemistry
Candidates who have taken longer to achieve their grades or who have undertaken additional study at Higher Education Level since completing their A Levels (e.g. any years of an undergraduate or foundation degree) are not eligible to apply.
BTEC Applied Science not accepted. BTEC in other subjects may be considered alongside A-level qualifications, in lieu of 3rd A-level. Applicants must be taking at least two A-levels, including both Biology and Chemistry. Typical offer: AB + D or BB + D*
Please note that our entry requirements for this programme have changed for 2025 entry. For 2024 entry, the grade requirements for this course were ABB.
Selection process
1. Academic Aptitude
Stage One: Academic aptitude
Applications are assessed against our entry requirements, considering prior academic achievement and predicted grades.
Only those who meet our academic entry requirements (at GCSE and A Level) or have achieved the requisite grades at GCSE and are predicted grades ABB-BBC at A Level (or equivalent in other qualifications) will progress to Stage Two.
All applicants will be expected to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
2. UCAT
Stage Two: University Clinical Aptitude Test
For 2025 entry onwards, all applicants must take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) to be eligible for consideration at Lancaster Medical School. This must be taken in the summer testing window prior to application. More information about UCAT, how to register, and how to prepare for the test can be found on the UCAT website.
Registration and taking the test
You must register to be able to take UCAT. Registration is separate from the UCAS application process. Account creation opens on 14th May 2024, with tests available to book from 18th June. The testing window will run from 8th July to 26th September 2024.
You can find a timeline of key dates on the UCAT website.
Preparing for UCAT
The UCAT consists of five separately timed subtests in multiple-choice format:
Verbal Reasoning: assesses your ability to critically evaluate information presented in a written form
Decision Making: assess your ability to make sound decisions and judgements using complex information
Quantitative Reasoning: assesses your ability to critically evaluate information presented in a numerical form
Abstract Reasoning: assesses your use of convergent and divergent thinking to infer relationships from information
Situational Judgement: measures your capacity to understand real world situations and to identify critical factors and appropriate behaviour in dealing with them
UCAT has produced a number of resources aimed at helping you to prepare for the test, including tutorials for the different subtests as well as question banks to practice and familiarise yourself with the test.
UCAT recommends that candidates should "use the free official preparation materials to support their test preparation". All of the resources on the UCAT webpages are free to access.
How is UCAT used in the selection process?
Lancaster Medical School will be using the UCAT as part of its selection processes for the first time in the 2024-25 admissions cycle.
Applicants will be ranked according to their overall UCAT score. We anticipate selecting from candidates who have an overall score within the top 7 deciles, and with an SJT score between 1 and 3.
3. Interview
Stage Three: Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)
No applicant will be offered a place without being interviewed. The Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs) will usually be held in January and February and are currently held remotely via Microsoft Teams. The exact timing of the MMI days will vary from year to year.
The MMI consists of 12-15 different 'stations', most of which will be five minutes long. Some stations will consist of a short interview, where you may be asked questions about your career choice, work experience or suitability for a medical career. At others, you may be asked to read a short paragraph or watch a short video clip, take some notes and then discuss at a subsequent station. An additional 20 minute station will involve group work and will assess your suitability for our problem-based learning curriculum. Applicants who are selected for interview will be sent detailed information prior to their interview. The applicant’s performance at each station is assessed by trained interviewers, against clearly defined criteria. Interviewers include members of University staff, NHS clinicians, local GPs, patients and public representatives, and medical students.
Applicants are assessed at each station and given a score for their performance at that station. The station scores are summed and applicants ranked according to their overall MMI score. Those with the highest score will be made an offer of a place to study medicine. All offers are conditional upon being deemed Fit to Practise (Stage Four).
4. Fitness to practise
Stage Four: Fitness to Practise
The professional body that governs medical practice in the UK, the General Medical Council (GMC), has specific requirements to protect staff and patient safety. In accordance with these requirements, all medical students must have the ability to function as a fully competent doctor and fulfil the rigorous demands of professional fitness to practise. Applicants are advised to familiarise themselves with the expectations of medical students to ensure that they are able to comply with these requirements before applying.
Fitness to practise
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Applicants who have a disability or medical condition that might impact on their fitness to practise 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 should make to allow the applicant to study medicine successfully.
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 (PDF).
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.
Doctors are expected to “be honest and open and act 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.
Applicants should note that all medical students are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Any criminal convictions, reprimands, warnings, cautions or fixed penalty notices should be declared on the UCAS application form and details provided, if the applicant attends 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 Lancaster Medical School Fitness to Practise panel and a judgement made as to whether it impacts on the applicant’s fitness to practise. Only those who are deemed fit to practise 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. More details can be found in the GMC – Medical students: Professional Values and Fitness to Practise site.
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.
Please note: Applicants who fail to disclose information that subsequently comes to light through their enhanced DBS check will be subject to Fitness to Practise 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.
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 Good Medical Practice and Duties of a Doctor. The General Medical Council has also published guidance specifically about medical student professional behaviour and fitness to practice.
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 Medical School 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 sample 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 practice; they must not bring the profession or the medical school into disrepute through their behaviour in their professional or their personal lives.
Application timeline
Summer
Pre-Application
14 May:
UCAT account creation opens. Bursary and Access Arrangement applications open.
18 June:
UCAT test booking opens.
8 July:
UCAT testing begins.
Autumn
September
15 September
UCAT Access Arrangements application deadline
19 September
Test booking deadline and UCAT account creation closes
26 September
Final UCAT test day
27 September:
UCAT Bursary Scheme application deadline
October
15 October
UCAS deadline for all applications to A100 and A104.
16 October to end of November
Stage One: Academic screening of all applicants. Only those who meet our minimum academic entry requirements will progress to Stage Two.
November
Early November
UCAT test results are delivered to universities
Stage Two: Applicants ranked according to UCAT score. Top-ranking applicants progress to Stage Three of the selection process.
New Year
January to February
Stage Three: Interview period. Applicants who meet our academic entry requirements (Stage One) and have a competitive UCAT score (Stage Two) are called for interview.
Applicants will be asked to complete our Supplementary Information Form and provide evidence in support of our Widening Participation criteria if applicable.
March onwards
After all interviews are completed, all applicants are ranked according to their Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) score. Offers are made to those with the highest MMI scores.
Conditional and Unconditional offers are confirmed on UCAS.
Final Stages
June
Unconditional and Conditional offer holders are sent information about accommodation, finance and registration.
August
A Level results are published.
Conditional offer holders who have achieved the required grades become Unconditional.
September
All Unconditional offer holders are sent further information about beginning their studies at Lancaster Medical School.