About Queen's Belfast Medical School (2023 Edition)
Queen’s University Belfast is an incredibly student-centred university.
It uses an integrated approach to learning but leaning more towards the traditional side of the scale.
They ensure the best quality education and strongly believe in hands-on teaching like full body dissection, early patient contact and intense clinical exposure from the very first year.
They cover all the scientific foundation of the course over the first two years followed by the three clinical years.
Queen's University Belfast Interview Information
😊 How does Queen's University Belfast select candidates for interviews?
GCSEs: They take into account GCSE performance with the best 9 subjects being scored based on the table below:
A-Levels: For a valid application, Queen’s Belfast requires A*AA at A-Level including Chemistry and Biology or AAA (including Chemistry and Biology/Mathematics/Physics) and A in a fourth AS-level subject.
Personal Statement: It is not used to select candidates for interviews, however it may be considered when sending offers.
UCAT: This is what Queen’s Belfast uses to shortlist candidates for the interview process. They award a score based on your UCAT score based on the table below:
Based on the scoring from GCSE and UCAT grades, candidates are ranked and then selected for interviews.
🧬 What is the interview format?
The university will be conducting online MMIs for 2023 and will likely have 7-8 stations that lasts for an hour in total. Queen’s Belfast has stated that candidates will receive detailed information for the interview when receiving their invitation and that before each station, candidates will be given instructions/information for the station.
📆 When will you get interview invitations?
Based on previous years, the university usually sends out their invitations between December 2022 and March 2023.
👩💼 When are the interviews usually held?
The interviews will be held on the following dates:
12th, 13th and 14th of December 2022
10th, 11th and 12th of January 2023
7th and 9th of February 2023
15th of March 2023
📝 What are the main topics I will be asked at the interview?
The university looks for empathy, problem-solving, moral reasoning and communication skills as key competencies during their interview.
☑️ How will my interview be marked?
The interview will be scored on how well you can demonstrate the relevant key competencies in each station and offers are made solely based on interview scores.
🏠How many applicants are there per interview (Home)?
The university normally receives around 1200-1500 applications and give out 600-700 invitations to Home students – 2.1 applications per interview (48.1% chance).
🌎 How many applicants are there per interview (International)?
In 2022, the university received 399 applications and gave out 230 invitations to International students – 1.73 applications per interview (57.6% chance).
✨How likely is it that I will be given an offer after an interview?
Normally, the university gives out 400 offers from 600-700 interviews for Home students – 1.6 candidates per offer (61.5% chance).
In 2022, they gave out 44 offers from 230 interviews for International students – 5.2 candidates per offer (19.1% chance).
It could be really useful to have some extended knowledge about Medicine or the NHS which you would be able to bring into relevant stations.
Specially look out for role play scenarios.
UCAT SJTs are a good place to start for ethical questions.
Read the question, think about all the different opinions and create a discussion in your head.
Go through the GMC's Good Medical Practice and review the main aims of the NHS constitution.
The examiners might pick up on personality traits, skills or work experience in your personal statement, so make sure you know what you included in it.
As with any interview, it is all about managing the interviewer’s perception of you and painting yourself in the best light possible. You will be given one minute outside the interview room to read the instructions and consider how you will approach the scenario.
Ask yourself what competencies the scenario might be trying to test. If it is a problem you are faced with, ask yourself what steps you would take to solve the problem, your available options. Discuss these with the assessor so that they can appreciate your decision-making processes.
Check out our Medicine Interview Course!
Example Interview Questions
🔥 Motivation Interview Questions
How has the recent pandemic affected your motivation to study this course?
What makes you think you are an ideal candidate for studying medicine?
Why Queens University Belfast?
Why medicine?
Tell me what you learned from your work experience at...
Give the advantages of disadvantages of working in a group or individually.
Which do you prefer? And why?
⚖️ Medical Ethics Interview Questions
If a patient has tested positive with HIV , and refuses to tell their partner. What would you do?
Your mother rings you and asks you to come round and help with a significant family decision. Her 70-year-old father has been diagnosed with a condition that will kill him sometime in the next five years. He can have a procedure that will correct the disease and not leave him with any long-term problems, but the procedure has a 10% mortality rate. He wants to have the procedure, but your mother is not in favour of it. How would you help mediate this issue?
You are a junior doctor and found out that a senior staff/doctor did something which you know is wrong and might harm the patients. What would you do?
📰 NHS Interview Questions
Should the NHS provide services for IVF and other non essential treatments?
🏨 Current Affairs
Have you heard about the Billy Caldwell case?
What are your thoughts on legalisation of medical marijuana?
🎭 Roleplay Interview Questions
You are a member of x hospital, explain to the patient that their confidentiality has been compromised because you left a file in a public
You the candidate are asked to assume you are a first year medical student and that on your way home from class you reach a bus stop. At the bus stop a class mate is sitting there looking glum, obviously upset. You don't know their name. Demonstrate how you would approach this situation. Your classmate will be waiting at the bus stop when you enter the station.
You are a first-year medical student. On your way home from class, you reach a bus stop and see, a classmate sitting there looking glum, obviously upset. You do not know their name. Demonstrate how you would approach this situation. Your classmate will be waiting at the bus stop when you enter the station.
📝 Problem Solving Questions
You the candidate are asked to assume you are a first year medical student living in a student house with other students enrolled in a variety of courses. The neighbours have complained
You are a first-year medical student living in a student house with other students enrolled in a variety of courses. The neighbours have complained about noise coming from your house. What options do you have to deal with this situation?
A student in your tutorial group is not doing his/her job for an assignment which you are supposed to complete as a group. What would you do?
You are a GP and suspected a patient of yours has lung cancer after looking at his/her X-ray film. What would you do?
At QUB, the teaching style has recently been updated to Case Based Learning. The anatomy lectures are followed by one or two sessions of full body dissections in small groups through the week. QUB also promises you early clinical exposure from the first year itself. They have a family attachment scheme where a group of students give several house visits to a patient over each semester. QUB also offers an international elective in year 5 where students are offered a chance to carry out a clinical module abroad. Students also get various opportunities for research and intercalations.
Belfast is the basically the downtown of Northern Ireland. It’s the perfect combination of a buzzing city life and a more subtle country life. Whether you are looking for intimate galleries, high energy music gigs, traditional bars or a buzzing nightlife, there is always something to do. The city centre is just a mile away from the main campus. Belfast is known for having the most affordable accommodation in the UK and so most students live in the university accommodation (two located in the city centre and one near the university). You could probably walk to most places in the city centre or around the campus, however, there is always public transport conveniently available almost everywhere.
At Queen’s, they organise different food events which could bring together all international or Erasmus students. The accommodation also holds weekly socialising events where medics could socialize with non-medics. The medical school and various medical and non-medical societies also hold various events to help you socialize with those in your year group and those outside your year group. The medical school also puts the medical students in small groups for various activities (dissection, practicals, clinicals, family attachment) so that you get opportunity to socialize with your peers. There are more than 100 societies that you could choose to enrol yourself into including kickboxing, LGBTQIA+, Eurovision society, BMSA etc.
At QUB, there are numerous medical societies for everyone. The BMSA (British Medical Student Association) and the SWOT (Students Working Overseas Trust) are responsible for major socializing events like the Med Formal, Toga party, bar crawls etc. The QubScrubs hold various suturing events and educational conferences like “Women in Surgery”. The AMSA (Asian Medical Student Association) hold many conferences and educational workshops as well.
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