About Anglia Ruskin Medical School (2023 Edition)
Anglia Ruskin provides a dynamic course that focuses on training doctors of the future to be all-rounded clinicians.
The course takes an early clinical focus with patient contact from the first term.
The academic content is structured around disease blocks (CVS, GI) which cover medicine holistically and comprehensively.
As a new and small medical school, you build valuable relationships with your peers and the staff, who are very responsive to feedback.
Anglia Ruskin University Interview Information
🔍 How does Aston University select candidates for interviews?
GCSEs/A-levels/Highers: You require a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grades A*-B (9-6), this must include English language , maths and two science subjects. However GCSE results are not used beyond the minimum requirement for the interview selection. Furthermore AAA at A level must be achieved within 2 years prior to applying. These must include chemistry or biology and one of either biology, chemistry, maths and physics. For Scottish students, you must have achieved National 5 grade B or above in English language, maths and two science subjects. You must also achieve AAAAA at higher biology, or higher chemistry and also an additional science subject. Advanced highers are required to be completed, gaining grades ABB, with grades AB to come from chemistry and/or biology and another science subject.
Personal statement: Although important, your personal statement is not a direct factor on the selection process. Interviewers may question you or use aspects of your personal statement in your interview. You are expected to show your understanding of medicine and any work experience you have done, particularly what you have learnt from it. You must demonstrate your knowledge of the course and a realistic idea of what studying medicine entails.
Work experience: It is a expected that applicants have completed work experience within an area of healthcare. The purpose of this is to provide a realistic look into the life of a healthcare professional and all the challenges necessary. Other forms of work experience in which you developed transferable skills are also considered appropriate.
UCAT: Every applicant is required to complete the UCAT. Anglian Ruskin has been known to accept those with a lower UCAT score, 2250-2500, or above. However there is no formal cut off score. Applicants are ranked by this UCAT score, then 600 selected individuals will be invited to interview. SJT must be completed, however this is only available for UK students. From 2019, it was decided that those with an SJT score of band 4, the lowest category, would not be invited to interview. There is no requirement to complete the BMAT.
There is a specific selection process followed to ensure the successful applicants have the correct skills and qualities to make a good doctor. After submitting UCAS form, applicants are screened to ensure they have met the academic requirements and are predicted to achieve required grades in final year of study. You are then ranked on UCAT score, and you also receive extra points if you live or study in east of England, and extra points if in Essex. The top candidates will be invited to interview.
🧬What is the interview format?
Anglian Ruskin university use MMI interview format. This stands for multiple mini interviews.
There are 8 different stations which students will rotate round. Each station will last 7 minutes, with a brief rest in between stations, making the whole interview process lasting around 1 hour. Each station assesses a different area, these areas are kept the same for each interview round to ensure equality. The stations can be traditional question style or role-play style situations.
The interviewers are assessing how you answer the question, and each station will rate your communication and interpersonal skills. You are ranked on your performance in the MMIs and offers are based solely on this score.
📆 When will you get interview invitations?
Invitations to interview begin to be sent out between November and December. You will be sent an invitation to interview via the admissions team. It is important to keep a look out in your emails for this, including junk mail.
👩💼 When are the interviews usually held?
Interviews begin the week commencing 5th December and run every week through to 16th Januarywith the exception of the Christmas break.
📝 What are the main topics I will be asked at the interview?
Personal statement
Communication skills
Critical thinking
Moral reasoning
Teamwork and leadership
Empathy
Problem solving
Interpersonal skills
Role play
☑️ How will my interview be marked?
Each station is scored on three separate domains which are then added together. The domains are: communication and interpersonal skills, initiative and problem solving, personal integrity and moral reasoning.
You are marked out of 5 under each domain, so each MMI station can be maximum of 15. The maximum you can score across all 8 stations is 90.
This score is used in ranking candidates before giving out offers. Interviewers will also rank you from poor to excellent, this is used if it is joint between two candidates.
🏠How many applicants are there per interview? (Home)
1.9 home applicants per interview.
🌎How many applicants are there per interview? (International)
International applicants are not eligible to apply.
✨How likely is it that I will be given an offer after an interview?
Home students: Out of the 600 applicants that receive an interview, only 38% received offers to study medicine, so a total of 227 applicants were successful.
International: Anglian Ruskin medical school does not yet accept international students.
Check out the website where they have some short videos too about the interviews.
It’s always obvious when answers have been practised and rehearsed, but discuss with friends and family about recent medical news and ethics to broaden your ideas and understand different viewpoints on different topics.
Know your personal statement well for the interview as interviewers may use it and can also provide a good starting point for your answers in supplying evidence and personal examples.
Each station is new and marked separately. You may feel a bit annoyed if a station did not go so well, but as soon as you walk out of that station forget all about it and read the instructions for the next one. Remember that you can still be successful when a few stations don’t go to plan.
Check out our Medicine Interview Course!
Example Interview Questions
🔥Motivation Interview Questions
Why medicine?
Why Anglia Ruskin?
🤯Values and Skills Interview Questions
Your strengths and weaknesses
Non-academic interests
Describe a weakness of yours, how could you improve on it?
📰NHS Interview Questions
What do you know about the structure of the NHS?
🧐Problem Solving Interview Questions
You are on your first clinical placement, the nurses are extremely busy and have asked you to help. What do you do?
A patient is prescribed 50mg, tablets are 12.5mg each: how many tablets will you give?
How would you instruct someone to tie their shoelaces?
🎭Roleplay Interview Questions
Assisting a vulnerable individual
Breaking bad news
🏥Work Experience Interview Questions
Things you have learnt on placement or work experience
❤️ Medical Ethics Interview Questions
Discuss and put forward your opinion on certain topics including ethical scenarios, current affairs and even unseen article titles.
A fellow medical student has put a post on social media about their clinical placement, it includes a selfie which has patients featured in the background. What should you do?
🗓 Current affairs Interview Questions
Your knowledge and opinions on medical current affairs?
ARU provide hospital placements from early on. This allows you to consolidate learning from lectures and put it to practice. Early exposure to patients and the working environment helps build skills you cannot learn in lecture theatres and prepares to deal with clinical scenarios. Another unique point for ARU is the size of the cohorts. Being a small cohort means you can build amazing friendships with your peers who can all help and support you through the course. You get to know so many people so well, which makes the 5 years at medical school much easier.
Work-life balance at medical school can be tough. At ARU the structure is really consistent so you know you will always only have lectures in the morning, and something practical in the evening - this definitely helps balance and plan the weeks at medical school. Most first year students live in the Student Village - a great place to make new friends! It's also ideally located so you're only ever a few minutes away from your lectures, libraries, clubs and the Student Union.The campus is small which means you'll always bump into someone you know and makes it convenient to get to society actives ranging from all different sports to med-soc and medical speciality societies (Dermatology, Surgical society, Psych&Neuro).
Most first year students live in the Student Village - a great place to make new friends! Chelmsford is not the busiest city, however London is only a short 30 minute train away. It's also ideally located so you're only ever a few minutes away from your lectures, libraries, clubs and the Student Union. However, being a small university means you will meet and get to know a lot of people and build strong friendships with them. On a university level, the SU and societies always have things going on to get involved with including both drinking and non-drinking events (including medicine specific ones).
The MedSoc is probably the largest society on campus despite being very new. You can always rely on the MedSoc to pull through with events that get the whole student body together. Not only do they try and put on monthly themed nights out, they have a wide range of activites for non-drinkers and a range of academic and education events too. The MedSoc also work really closely with the speciality-societies to make every event as good as possible! They have a huge range of events planned throughout the year to try and help alongside your academic degree including socials, academic talks and sports. Central to ARMS is the ethos of inclusivity and diversity encouraging all medics, and non-medics to join regardless of race and gender.
Click on the icons below to learn more about interview!
