About Edinburgh Medical School (2023 Edition)
Edinburgh Medical School is a leading medical school in both training and research for the past 300 years.
It has a notable history of alumni, making it one of the most prestigious universities to study at. It offers a modern curriculum designed to prepare you for contemporary practice.
The city itself is consistently voted one of the most beautiful in the world. They ensure that social, ethical and environmental concerns influence their decisions and operations day-to-day.
University of Edinburgh Interview Information
😊 How does Imperial College select candidates for interviews?
Candidates are ranked according to their academic criteria and then the top 700 candidates are invited for an interview.
GCSE and predicted grades: This forms around 50% of the pre-interview score. Predicted grades must be a minimum of AAA.
UCAT: forms 35% of the score and SJT forms the final 15%.The average UCAT score in 2021 for home students was 2818 and for international students was 2930.
Personal statement: does not have any weighting
🧬 What is the interview format?
There are 2 parts for the interview.
The first part of the interview is MMI. There are 3 stations and each station will take around 12 minutes. In each station, you can expect 3-5 questions.
The second part of the interview is a 30-minute group task. Candidates need to work in a group with a few other candidates to produce a 5 minute presentation.
📆 When will you get interview invitations?
Invitations are sent out from November to early January. Interviews are sent out on a rolling basis.
👩💼 When are the interviews usually held?
Interviews take place from late November to February.
📝 What are the main topics I will be asked at the interview?
Motivation to study medicine
Insight into your personality
Problem solving
Work experience and volunteering
NHS core values
☑️ How will my interview be marked?
Offers are not sent out on a rolling basis. All candidates receive their offer at the same time, around March.
Edinburgh does not have a strict scoring system but they state that they look for these four attributes in their candidates:
- Knowledge and problem solving
- Safety and quality
- Communication, partnership and teamwork
- Maintaining trust
🏠How many applicants are there per interview (Home)?
3.6 applicants per interview
🌎 How many applicants are there per interview (International)?
9.1 applicants per interview.
✨How likely is it that I will be given an offer after an interview?
69.2% of candidates interviewed received an offer.
Practice group tasks with other medical applicants and learn what some good qualities during group work are since you will have a group task on the day of the interview.
Read the GMC Good Medical Practice and the Good Medical Practice in action for ethical scenarios.
Answer with something personal and specific to you, link to your work/past experience with Medicine when asked about 'Why Medicine' which is common.
The Edinburgh MMI is one of the longest and requires quite a lot of focus over a longer period of time, so any practice you can do will be useful.
Check out our Medicine Interview Course!
Example Interview Questions
🔥 Motivation Interview Questions
Why Medicine?
Why is Medicine the right career choice for you?
Which qualities make you suited to this course?
🤯Values and Skills Interview Questions
Describe a time in your life where you have had to show compassion.
How do you maintain a good work-life balance?
What do you enjoy outside of your studies?
🏥 Work Experience Interview Questions
What was the most important thing you learned during work experience and how will this be useful to you in the future?
What was the most eye-opening thing you saw during work experience?
After seeing skills needed by healthcare professionals during work experience, what skills do you think you need to improve for the future?
📰 NHS Interview Questions
After your work experience, did you think of anything you would want to do to improve NHS healthcare settings?
🏨 Problem Solving Interview Questions
You are on the committee for organising an information evening about a GP surgery’s flu vaccination day. Pitch your idea to everyone.
Years 1-2 are pre-clinical years, followed by years 4-6 which are based solely in clinical placements. It is the only Scottish institution that offers a year of full time, research-based study in Year 3 that leads to a BMedSci (Hons). As the course progress, you will be exposed to different attachments from biomedical sciences to clinical practice within GP practices and hospital attachments in Edinburgh and across south east Scotland. During the final year of the course, after completing the dreaded finals exams, you get the opportunity to travel abroad to learn medicine in a different country.
Most mornings at Edinburgh Medical School you have lectures until lunch then will have tutorials or PBL in the afternoon. The tutorials and PBL will relate to content in that week’s lectures. All accommodation choices offered are excellent but have different location and can be catered/self-catered according to your preference. The best bit about living in Edinburgh is that everything is close enough together that everywhere is pretty much walking distance. It’s absolutely possible to lead a balanced lifestyle at Edinburgh and societies will help you do so. Edinburgh is a very inclusive community of medical students with student societies for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic medical students (insta @bame_medics_edinburgh) and for LGBT+ medical students (insta: edinburghlgbtmedics).
Large enough to offer something for everyone, but small enough to feel like home, Edinburgh is modern and sophisticated, with a diverse, multicultural community. The diverse global community offers all students the opportunity to learn more about the world. Clubs and societies like Archery, Trampolining, Teakwondo, Acappella, Yoga to name a few, will help you develop your interests, meet like-minded people, indulge a hobby or simply socialise. The student union host events all year round and have hundreds of both medical and non-medical societies. Edinburgh Student Union is a very inclusive community of medical students with student societies for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic medical students (insta @bame_medics_edinburgh) and for LGBT+ medical students (insta: edinburghlgbtmedics).
The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom. The medsoc engages in the advancement of medical knowledge and provides assistance to medical students and professionals.
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