Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year

MBChB

  • UCAS code A104
  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • A level requirements BBB
  • Duration Full time 6 years

We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 3

    3rd for Student satisfaction in Medicine

    The Complete University Guide (2025)

  • 15

    15th for Medicine

    The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)

  • Develop your clinical skills early in your studies

Lancaster Medical School is part of Lancaster University – a high-ranking, forward-looking university. We have been training medics since 2006, initially in collaboration with the University of Liverpool and independently since 2012.

We are proud to remain one of the UK’s smaller medical schools, even after the recent increase in the number of MBChB places available. Our size allows us to offer you a student-focused learning environment within a highly supportive community.

Being a medical student can present many challenges, both academic and personal. We have a comprehensive network of formal and informal mechanisms in place to provide support and guidance, to help you cope with the transition to university, and throughout your clinical training.

Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year is a pathway into Medicine for students who, for a number of restricted reasons, may be disadvantaged applying to our 5-year MBChB Medicine and Surgery programme. Please check our course pages for details. It provides an intensive one year grounding in the medical sciences and will prepare you to enter Year One of our standard MBChB Medicine and Surgery degree programme.

The following describes the content of the 5-year MBChB Medicine and Surgery programme that you would progress onto pending satisfactory completion of the Gateway Year.

Our MBChB is delivered through problem-based learning, lectures and clinical anatomy teaching. Problem-based learning is a form of small group learning. In groups of usually 7 or 8, you will explore realistic patient-based scenarios that resemble the clinical situations you may face in the future as a doctor. Your group will identify what you need to learn in relation to the scenario, and then you will independently research the topics, drawing on resource lists, seeking information and critically appraising its worth. An experienced tutor facilitates group discussions and feedback meetings to ensure that you learn the appropriate breadth and depth of material. In later years, in some instances, you will use real patients as a stimulus for your learning in place of written scenarios, but using the same problem-based learning process. Problem-based learning is an excellent method of developing and applying your medical knowledge, preparing you for your first day as a junior doctor and beyond.

Your first clinical contact happens in year one when you will meet patients, under the supervision of a tutor, and discuss their experiences of healthcare and chronic illness. In year two, you will spend two days per week on hospital placement; you will also engage in a variety of community-related activities. Early patient contact allows you to practise your history-taking and examination skills, whilst providing a real-life context for your learning.

In years three to five, the majority of your time will be spent on clinical placements, rotating through a variety of hospital and community settings to gain experience of different specialities. Your clinical placements will be in the acute hospitals and primary care settings of north and east Lancashire, and south Cumbria.

A modern medical school, Lancaster utilises new technologies in its anatomy teaching, including Anatomage tables for virtual dissection. The School’s Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre has also invested significantly in ultrasound teaching, enabling you to learn anatomy, ultrasonography and clinical interpretation together.

During your clinical skills training, you will learn the practical procedures and examinations required for clinical practice. In year one, clinical skills training takes place in the Clinical Skills Centre at Lancaster University. In years two to five, you will learn to perform clinical skills on patients whilst on clinical placements, supervised by senior medical staff.

Doctors need to be able to communicate effectively with patients and their families in difficult times, to be their advocate and help inform their choices. In year one, you will study the evidence base around effective communication and start to develop your communication skills in a safe environment, through interaction with simulated patients (actors). From year two onwards, you will develop your communication skills further through interaction with real patients in hospitals and GP practices.

In addition to the core curriculum, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue your own areas of interest in more depth through Selectives in Advanced Medical Practice and coursework assignments. You can also choose to study abroad during your Elective or take a year out from the course (between years 4 and 5) to study a medicine-related topic at BSc, MSc or MPhil level.

Careers

A career with purpose

Working in medicine offers a career with real purpose. Whether your training takes you towards hospitals, primary care, research or public health, you will play a trusted and respected role in society.

If you wish to be a doctor, you will apply for your Foundation Year 1 (F1) post during your final year.

Once you have completed your MBChB, you will be qualified to begin the two-year foundation programme as a junior doctor where you will gain experience in different specialties and complete advanced clinical training before you decide where to specialise.

With further postgraduate training, you can enter a career in one of more than 65 clinical specialties across primary and secondary care.

If you decide against a career in clinical practice, your transferable skills will prepare you for a career in public health, medical research, medical education, or even policy or communications.

Our graduate destinations and preparedness

Our alumni have gone on to a myriad of speciality training places, including emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, radiology, surgery, paediatrics and child health, and ophthalmology.

According to the General Medical Council’s quality assessment ‘Foundation year 1 (F1) preparedness’ report, 99 per cent of our graduates enter their Postgraduate NHS Foundation Programme well prepared for clinical practice.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. This section will tell you whether you need qualifications in specific subjects, what our English language requirements are, and if there are any extra requirements such as attending an interview or submitting a portfolio.

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Important information

This course is only available to applicants who meet certain widening participation criteria.

This page will give you an indication of entry requirements but it is important that you visit the Lancaster Medical School web pages for full information on our entry requirements and selection process.

Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

This programme is designed to prepare you for successful progression onto Year 1 of the MBChB programme by developing your knowledge, academic writing and independent study skills. You will study a range of modules to build your knowledge of the fundamental principles of bioscience.

We will also teach you about how the health and care system is structured in the UK, and how care is delivered across primary, secondary and tertiary care. You will also start your exploration of what it means to be a professional, ethical doctor.

Foundations of Medicine

We will introduce you to healthcare in the UK and how this is delivered across primary, secondary and tertiary care by multidisciplinary teams with a wide range of skills. You will learn about professionalism and what this means in practice for doctors and start your journey towards becoming a reflective practitioner, ready to progress with your medical studies.

Molecules to Cells

Cells are the basic building blocks of life. In this module you will be introduced to how cells use biological molecules to perform specific functions. All cellular life, from single celled bacteria and yeast to complex multicellular organisms, including plants and humans, synthesise simple organic molecules such as sugars, lipids, amino acids, and nucleic acids.

You will learn how organisms are able to synthesise these molecules to build complex biomolecules to store energy and genetic information. In addition, you will gain knowledge about the function of specific cell types, and intracellular organelles that perform essential processes within cells. You will learn how cells use defined programmes to precisely copy the genome to next generation cells. You will learn how defects in this process can promote cancer.

Anatomy and Physiology

This module provides an exciting opportunity to explore the anatomy and physiology of key body systems and build a solid foundation to support your future learning. Focusing on the human system, you will examine the structure-function relationships of the organs and tissues that protect, sustain, and maintain the body in health. You’ll also discover the mechanisms of communication within and between tissues that regulate responses to maintain homeostasis within an organism.

Through a combination of lectures, interactive workshops and hands-on laboratory sessions, you will develop essential scientific knowledge and practical skills, reinforcing your understanding of how the body maintains homeostasis and responds to internal and external challenges.

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Explore the fascinating world of genetics and biotechnology, from the fundamentals of inheritance to cutting-edge genomics. You’ll examine Mendelian genetics and the molecular basis of inheritance through learning how DNA is replicated and how genes are transcribed and translated. You’ll examine the human genome, genome sequencing and be introduced to the role of bioinformatics in understanding genetic data. You’ll also discover how DNA damage can lead to genetic mutations that can in turn lead to heritable and non-heritable diseases and explore genetic testing techniques used today.

The module also introduces other key molecular biotechnologies, including microbial, plant and animal technologies, and how they are transforming research, healthcare, and industry. By the end of the module, you’ll have a strong foundation in genetics and biotechnology, equipping you with the knowledge and skills needed for further study in biomedical and life sciences.

Microbes, Pathogens and Immunity

This module introduces you to the essential skills required to support your studies in the biosciences. You will learn how to design and undertake safe, ethical, hypothesis-driven experiments, and gain hands-on experience of essential laboratory skills and equipment. This is complemented with training in carrying out scientific calculations and the use of computational tools to effectively analyse and present diverse types of data.

Finally, this module prepares you to communicate your research to a scientific audience through effective presentation of results and developing a scientific writing style that summarises and critically evaluates your results in the context of current scientific literature. By the end of the module, you will be able to conduct ethical research, analyse data and present your findings clearly and accurately.

On successful completion of this programme, you will progress to the five-year MBChB programme, where, over the course of a further five years at Lancaster Medical School, you will accumulate the knowledge and develop the skills required for modern clinical practice.

Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

As a guide, our fees in 2025/26 were:

Home International
£9,535 £47,120

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2026/2027 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

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We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our Charter and student policies.

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