Dr Chris Paton

Medical School Resources

Formerly published as New Media Medicine (newmediamedicine.com), 2004–2014.

A reference set of 66 short pages for prospective medical students, applicants, and early-career doctors. The pages cover UK and international admissions tests (UCAT, GAMSAT, MCAT, PLAB), each UK medical school, the major Irish and Australian schools, and the principal stages of UK postgraduate training.

These pages are part of chrispaton.org and replace the category landings of New Media Medicine, an early digital health blog and UK medical school applications community I ran at newmediamedicine.com between 2004 and 2014. New Media Medicine grew out of the older medical PDA blog doctorsgadgets.com (2002–2008) and ran as a vBulletin forum covering medical school admissions in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the United States, plus postgraduate training and exam revision. The original user-generated forum threads are not republished here; the content below is original framing intended to point applicants towards the current authoritative source for each topic. Admissions details change every year — always confirm with the official source linked in each page.

Admissions tests

• BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test) — discontinued The BMAT was used by Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, and a small number of other schools. Cambridge Assessment discontinued the test after the 2023 sitting.
• GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) The graduate-entry admissions test used by medical schools in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.
• MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) The standardised admissions test for US and Canadian medical schools, administered by the AAMC.
• PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) The exam required by international medical graduates to register with the UK General Medical Council.
• UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) The UK and ANZ admissions test for medicine and dentistry, formerly known as the UKCAT.

Application

• Access to Medicine Courses Foundation and Access to HE diplomas designed to prepare non-traditional applicants for entry to UK medical schools.
• Australian Medical School Entry Applying to medicine in Australia — undergraduate and graduate-entry routes, UCAT ANZ and GAMSAT.
• Irish Medical School Admissions Applying to undergraduate or graduate-entry medicine in the Republic of Ireland.
• Mature Students Applying to Medicine Routes into medicine for mature applicants — graduate-entry programmes, access courses, and second undergraduate degrees.
• Medical School Interviews (MMI and Panel) How UK medical schools structure interviews — multiple mini-interview (MMI) circuits, panel interviews, and what they assess.
• Personal Statements and the UCAS Application How to approach the UCAS personal statement and supporting application material for medicine.
• UK Dental School Admissions Applying to dentistry in the UK — entry requirements, the UCAT, and routes for graduates.
• UK Medical School Admissions Overview An overview of the UK admissions process for medicine — entry routes, tests, and how schools shortlist.

UK medical schools

• Aberdeen Medical School Aberdeen. five-year MBChB.
• Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (QMUL) London. five-year MBBS and graduate-entry programme.
• Birmingham Medical School Birmingham. five-year MBChB and four-year graduate-entry programme.
• Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) Brighton. five-year MBBS.
• Bristol Medical School Bristol. five-year MBChB and six-year gateway programme.
• Cambridge Medical School Cambridge. six-year undergraduate (3-year tripos + 3-year clinical) and 4-year graduate-entry course.
• Cardiff Medical School Cardiff. five-year MBBCh and four-year graduate-entry programme.
• Dundee Medical School Dundee. five-year MBChB.
• Durham Medical School (Phase 1 — Stockton campus) Stockton-on-Tees (Phase 1) and Newcastle (Phase 2). five-year MBBS — Phase 1 taught at Durham, Phase 2 jointly with Newcastle.
• Edinburgh Medical School Edinburgh. six-year MBChB with intercalated BMedSci (Hons).
• Glasgow Medical School Glasgow. five-year MBChB and six-year gateway programme.
• Hull York Medical School Hull and York (joint). five-year MBBS.
• Imperial College School of Medicine London. six-year MBBS with intercalated BSc.
• Keele Medical School Keele (Staffordshire). five-year MBChB and six-year health foundation year programme.
• King's College London (GKT — Guy's, King's and St Thomas') London. five-year MBBS, four-year graduate-entry programme, and an extended six-year programme.
• Leeds School of Medicine Leeds. five-year MBChB and six-year extended programme.
• Leicester Medical School Leicester. five-year MBChB.
• Liverpool Medical School Liverpool. five-year MBChB.
• Manchester Medical School Manchester. five-year MBChB.
• Newcastle Medical School Newcastle upon Tyne. five-year MBBS.
• Nottingham Medical School Nottingham (with Derby clinical campus). five-year BMBS with integrated BMedSci, plus four-year graduate-entry at the Derby campus.
• Oxford Medical School Oxford. six-year undergraduate (3-year BA in Medical Sciences + 3-year clinical) and 4-year graduate-entry.
• Peninsula Medical School (now University of Plymouth and University of Exeter) Plymouth / Exeter. five-year BMBS.
• Queen's University Belfast Medical School Belfast. five-year MBBCh.
• Sheffield Medical School Sheffield. five-year MBChB.
• Southampton Medical School Southampton. five-year BM5, six-year BM6 widening-participation route, and four-year BM4 graduate-entry.
• St Andrews School of Medicine (formerly Bute Medical School) St Andrews (Phase 1) — clinical training elsewhere. three-year preclinical BSc(Hons) with clinical years completed at partner schools.
• St George's, University of London London (Tooting). five- or six-year MBBS, four-year graduate-entry.
• Swansea Medical School Swansea. four-year graduate-entry MBBCh only.
• UCL Medical School (Royal Free, University College and the Middlesex) London. six-year MBBS with integrated iBSc.
• University of East Anglia (UEA) Medical School Norwich. five-year MBBS.
• Warwick Medical School Coventry / Warwick. four-year graduate-entry MBChB only.

International medical schools

• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) School of Medicine Dublin, Ireland. six-year undergraduate and four-year graduate-entry medicine.
• Sydney Medical School (University of Sydney) Sydney, Australia. four-year graduate-entry Doctor of Medicine (MD).
• Trinity College Dublin (TCD) School of Medicine Dublin, Ireland. five-year undergraduate and four-year graduate-entry programmes.
• University College Cork (UCC) School of Medicine Cork, Ireland. five-year undergraduate and four-year graduate-entry medicine.
• University College Dublin (UCD) School of Medicine Dublin, Ireland. six-year undergraduate and four-year graduate-entry medicine.
• University of Limerick (UL) School of Medicine Limerick, Ireland. four-year graduate-entry medicine only.
• University of Queensland (UQ) School of Medicine Brisbane, Australia. four-year graduate-entry Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Postgraduate training

• Foundation Programme (FY1 / FY2) The two-year programme that follows medical school in the UK — the bridge between graduation and specialty training.
• International Medical Students and IMGs Studying medicine in the UK as an international student, and routes for international medical graduates.
• Medical Electives and Working Abroad Medical electives, intercalated overseas placements, and considerations when working abroad after qualification.
• MRCP (Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians) The postgraduate diploma required for entry to higher specialty training in internal medicine and most physician specialties in the UK.
• Specialty Training in the UK NHS How UK doctors move from Foundation training into specialty training under the Modernising Medical Careers framework.
• USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) The three-step exam sequence required for medical licensure in the United States.

Specialties

• Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine Training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine in the UK — the seven-year pathway and the FRCA.
• Emergency Medicine Training in emergency medicine in the UK — from medical school exposure to specialty training and the FRCEM.
• General Practice GP training in the UK — the three-year run-through programme, the MRCGP, and life as a general practitioner.
• Health Informatics and Digital Health Careers and training in clinical informatics and digital health — a relatively new specialty path within UK medicine.
• Ophthalmology Training in ophthalmology in the UK — the seven-year programme and the FRCOphth.
• Paediatrics Paediatric training in the UK — the run-through programme and the MRCPCH.
• Psychiatry Psychiatric training in the UK — Core Psychiatry Training, the MRCPsych, and higher training.
• Surgical Training Training pathway in surgery in the UK — Core Surgical Training, the MRCS, and higher surgical specialty training.