About Keele Medical School (2023 Edition)
Keele University Medical School is a well rounded, forward-thinking and supportive school.
It boasts a modern, spiral, highly-integrated medical curriculum. Keele is a tight-knit community that allows for extra support from staff and students. Keele provides early patient contact and provides practical ways to get a hands on experience.
The staff and directors are very responsive to student feedback and are always there to offer support continuously without fail.
Keele University Interview Information
🔍 How does Keele select candidates for interviews?
All candidates undergo academic screening, for which predicted grades are not used, please note:
GCSE grades
GCSE grades are checked to ensure applicants meet the minimum requirements but after this stage these are not looked at. (English and Maths at Grade 6 or higher, Five GCSES required with Grade 7 or higher, Science Subjects Grade 6 or higher).
A levels
A*AA. Any science A-Level (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) completed in England from 2017 must include a pass in the practical endorsement.
University Admissions Tests
UCAT for home applicants. BMAT for international applicants. For home students taking the UCAT, applicants whose scores are in the bottom 20% / SJT band 4 automatically rejected. In 2021, this was less than 2280. UCAT scores are used to distinguish who gets an interview in borderline cases.
R+R form
In addition to the UCAS application form and grade and entrance exam requirements, all applicants to study medicine at Keele must complete the ‘R+R’ (Roles and Responsibilities) form, which can be found on their website. The deadline for the R+R form may change year on year, so ensure to check the specific date for this well in advance of your application. For the 2023 entry the deadline was 24 November 2022. UCAT scores are also not considered again unless applicants have tied UCAT R+R or interview scores, in which case this may be used to decide between applicants chosen after interviews.
🧬 What is the interview format?
MMI.
For 2021 entry, online interviews consisted of two 15-minute mini-interviews, each with two interviewers.
🤵 What to expect on interview day?
Each interview consists of 3 equal parts or stations, and it is essential that these run
to time as in a standard MMI.
The dress code for the interview is smart.
🎯 Interview scoring system
The interviews will cover the following areas:
Motivation and resilience
Ethical reasoning
Professionalism
Caring for others
Comprehension
Responsibilities you have undertaken
Each interviewer will allocate marks for each section separately, so you will be
assessed independently by 4 different interviewers
📆 When will you get interview invitations?
Invitations send out on a rolling basis from December onwards. Keele aim for this to be received at least two weeks before the interview date.
🧑🏫 Examiner review
The interaction of the interview is generally very friendly and the process is fun. The interviewers sometimes asked follow up questions corresponding to the station itself.
📅 When are the interviews usually held?
December to March.
📝 What are the main topics I will be asked at the interview?
Communication and enthusiasm
Foremost, the interviewers assess an applicant’s ability to communicate, as this is a key skill required by doctors. The best candidates express ideas in a succinct, logical and coherent manner, and do not sound robotic or overly rehearsed. This is especially true for questions such as ‘why medicine?’ - giving an authentic response which is personal to you will help to make you stand out to the interviewers. The interviewers are looking for candidates who are enthusiastic about medicine, and so getting this message across in an interview will stand you in best stead for receiving an offer.
Hobbies and interests outside of medicine
Furthermore, the interviewers are looking for well-rounded students - talking passionately about any hobbies you pursue outside of your studies, and demonstrating a good level of knowledge in these areas is good here. Interviewers may use your personal statement as a starting point to find out more about you as a person so good practice for this would be to get someone who doesn’t know you well to ask you questions about yourself.
Experience in care
Interviewers will also be looking for any past experiences you have had in the care sector - here you will get the opportunity to talk about perhaps work experience or volunteering you have done which has given you a better idea about the qualities needed by a doctor and shows you have a well-rounded and realistic view of the role of different healthcare professionals.
Current affairs
Lastly, interviewers may ask for your opinions on current affairs in medicine and healthcare - such as new vaccine role-outs or cancer treatment trials. Therefore, being able to demonstrate to the interviewers that you are invested in current issues in the field and have formed opinions on difficult topics is important.
☑️ How will my interview be marked?
After you leave the interview room, the panel discuss your strengths and weaknesses for five minutes but you will not be informed of the decision for a couple of weeks.
📨 What to expect after the interview?
It is anticipated that the earliest date Keele will be able to confirm a decision is January/February. Some candidates may be placed on a waiting/hold list as their performance at the interview was close to the offer threshold. However, all final decisions will be made by the 31 March UCAS deadline.
🏠How many applicants are there per interview (Home)?
2.9 applicants per interview
7.9 applicants per place
🌎 How many applicants are there per interview (International)?
7.2 applicants per interview
22 applicants per place
✨ How likely is it that I will be given an offer after an interview?
General chance of receiving an offer after interview: 46%
Number of offers given out: 264
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL is a very patient-oriented learning style in which students learn through independent studying and guided group work with a tutor. It is a very open approach in which you make your own learning objectives with your group and share information you find out with each other. This encourages self-directed learning and teamwork. You won't really find a purely PBL teaching style; consider these teaching these teaching styles as a spectrum. Medical schools tend to take a blended approach alongside lectures and seminars etc.
Check out the Keele University Medicine Website (linked below) as it offers a great explanation of the PBL course and how the spiral curriculum works.
MMI
The website explains the interview format (MMI stations) as well as dives deep into the format of their curriculum.
Practice a lot of MMI stations found online with friends and family members as well as teachers to get used to them.
Clinical maths test
Practice questions available on Keele’s website for the 30-minute clinical maths test before or after the interview and I would make sure you look at these, so you know what to expect.
Check out our medicine interview course!
Example interview questions
🔥 Motivation Interview Questions
What made you pick Keele?
What made you pick medicine?
Why not nursing?
What do you know about the PBL style of teaching and learning?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of PBL?
What aspects of PBL do you think will suit your learning style?
⚖️ Medical Ethics Interview Questions
Watch a video and comment on the 4 pillars of medical ethics.
Why is patient autonomy important?
An obese patient would like a knee replacement due to severe knee pain. There is significant evidence to show that being overweight impairs post-operative recovery as well as the lifespan of the knee replacement. Explain your actions in this scenario.
Are the internet and easy access to medical information good for patient care?
What is your opinion on Herceptin?
What would you do if you ruled the country?
What alternative punishment do you think should be given to white collar criminals to minimise overcrowding prisons?
🏥 Work Experience Interview Questions
Talk about an aspect of your personal statement that you will be asked about and further explain what you did and your experience there
Tell us about your work experience at...and what you learned from it.
🛠️ Problem Solving Interview Questions
Given situational cards and three options of what to do in that situation and depending on what you pick, you have to back your answer with an explanation. You will be challenged with follow up questions.
🎭 Roleplay Interview Questions
Given a roleplay situation with a patient volunteer and have to explore what is going on while most importantly being empathetic
Coping with uncertainty in a stressful situation
Dealing with a difficult customer
🧍Values and Skills Interview Questions
Pick different qualities of a doctor and explain your choice/prioritisation
You are on your first clinical placement, the nurses are extremely busy and have asked you to help. What do you do?
What are your hobbies?
How do you cope with stress?
📻 Current Affairs Interview Questions
Discuss the Covid-19 pandemic
Keele University has full body dissections that allow you and your group to consolidate your learning from a textbook setting to a real life setting. This provides a way to continuously learn throughout the year and consolidate information. The school also has prosections focusing on certain organ systems depending on the corresponding units. Keele provides opportunities beginning in first year for hospital placement and clinical exposure starting from day 1 in order to gain experience with patients. The school also provides opportunities for intercalated degrees either after year 2 or year 4 to explore other student interests.
Stoke on Trent is a very small and quiet town. Keele has a huge campus with 600 acres of land and is beyond beautiful. Its placed in a lovely location being surrounded by Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and London (all being almost 45 mins away). Keele University is a very lively school and the medical course provides ways in order to maintain a work-life balance such as giving the afternoons off on Wednesday for involvements in societies. On campus, there are lots of sports and societies involved such as MedSoc, surgical society, anatomy society and many more. This provides ways to meet other students. Keele University is very self-sufficient with a grocery store on campus, a sports centre and a gym all on campus.
At Keele University, there are a ton of opportunities to meet new people and mingle with other courses. The University creates a welcoming environment where students share accommodation with other medical students in your year as well as other non-medical students. The school also provides events and workshops that involve all other healthcare courses allowing for the creation of a multidisciplinary team and providing a way to make friends from all over! There are also a ton of clubs available ranging from sporting, music, medical, cultural and drama societies. MedSoc society also plans a ton of events for medical students to mingle with other medics and meet other people in their cohort.
The Med Society has a huge reputation for putting on the best socials and creating amazing events for all of its medical students. Some of the events include the med ball, the end of year bar crawl as well as parties all throughout. The medical society is very active and is always there to get student feedback and suggestions for events. As there is about 200 students per year, the med school has a friendly, tight-knit community atmosphere which makes Keele very unique.
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