Hull York Medical School: Overview

As a fairly new medical school, Hull York Medical School is an innovative and compelling place to study medicine. With a large clinical focus and a patient-centred approach, Hull York’s medicine course offers a lot of clinical exposure and students get to interact with real patients as early as the first semester of Year 1.

During the first two years, half of the medical students attend their classes at the University of Hull and the other half at the University of York. This means, that students at HYMS are able to enjoy more personalised teaching in smaller groups and a calmer environment. If that sounds right up your alley, then Hull York Medical School is the right place for you.

Furthermore, Hull York Medical School is one of the few universities that offer a Medicine with a Gateway Year programme, which is a widening participation initiative. You can read more about the Gateway programme at Hull York here.

Selection For Medicine Interviews at Hull York:
🔢 How does Hull York Medical School select for interviews?

GCSEs (up to 30 points): Grades from the best six achieved grades at GCSEs are translated into a score out of 30 points (5 subjects for A101 Gateway Medicine).

A-levels: Predicted A-level grades (or equivalent) aren’t checked beyond screening if you meet minimum entry requirements.

Personal Statement: The personal statement does not form a significant element of the selection process, but can be a determining factor in borderline cases (both when selecting for interviews and post-interviews). Furthermore, your personal statement may also be a starting point for a discussion at the Hull York medicine interview.

UCAT (up to 40 points): The UCAT score makes up for almost half of the total score in the selection for the interview process. All applicants applying in a given year to HYMS are scored against each other. The higher the person’s rank, the more points they receive for their UCAT score.

UCAT SJT (up to 15 points): You can get up to 15 points for your SJT score according to the following scoring system: Band 1 = 15 points, Band 2 = 10 points, Band 3 = 5 points, Band 4 = automatic rejection.

Contextual Data: WP up to 15 points, if you meet at least two of the following: you are coming from an area of low participation if you have no parental experience of higher education or benefit from the UCAT bursary. You can find more detailed information about it here.

Reference: Hull York Medical School’s website states the following: Any application submitted without a completed academic reference will be rejected. If it is a while since you were studying, and you have been in a full-time job for more than one year, we will also require a reference from your latest employer who will be asked to comment upon your suitability to study Medicine.

🚀 TOP Tip: Although most medical schools don’t pay a lot of weight to your personal statement, don’t be tempted to make things up or neglect it totally. For your application to be considered, the personal statement has to be clearly related to medicine and show some form of commitment and passion for the subject. And most importantly, all information you include has to be true - if it turned out during the interview that some claims are fabricated or exaggerated, your application will be withdrawn automatically and you might get yourself into trouble.

💡 How To Prepare for Medicine Interviews at Hull York?

Preparing for medical school interviews requires more than just reading an article or doing a mock interview. It requires intentionality, structure and commitment. Luckily, with Medfully it is simpler and more efficient than ever:

📤 When does Hull York send out interview invitations?

Historically, HYMS started sending out interview invitations at the end of November and continued on a rolling basis until mid-January.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 How many candidates get interviewed for Medicine at Hull York?

🇬🇧 Home Students: For 2022 entry medicine, 1350 students with the home status applied for medicine at Hull York, and 800 (59%) have been invited to an interview.

🌍 International Students: Out of 180 international students who have applied for 2022 entry medicine, 50 (28%) have been invited to an interview.

Interviews at Hull York Medical School (HYMS) - 2024 Entry:
🗓️ Hull York Medicine Interview dates (2023):

Most likely, this year's medicine interviews at HYMS will be held between December 2023 and January 2024.

💬 What’s the interview format at Hull York Medical School?

HYMS medicine interview is an MMI interview comprised of 6 stations, each lasting 5-7 minutes. The entire interview should last somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes if you include the introduction and some downtime between the stations. The HYMS MMI typically covers the following topics (source):

• Station #1 (5 points): Your understanding of current issues in medicine
• Station #2 (5 points): Your understanding of what it means to be a doctor and motivations for medicine
• Station #3 (5 points): Critical thinking skills
• Station #4 (15 points): Group work station
• Station #5 (10 points): Scenario station (you are given a hypothetical scenario and are asked to explain how you would behave)
• Station #6 (10 points): “Student station” (an opportunity to explore why you want to be a doctor)

🚀 TOP Tip: Check out the Questions section at the bottom of this blog, where you’ll find sample interview questions for each of the above topics.

🏆 How likely is it I’ll be given an offer after an interview at Hull York?

🇬🇧 Home Students: For 2022, out of 800 home students who got interviewed by HYMS, 600 (~75%) got an offer to study medicine (please note the data are rounded and not exact).

🌍 International Students: For 2022, out of 50 international students who got interviewed by HYMS, 40 (~80%) got an offer to study medicine (please note the data are rounded and not exact).

📈 Want to save yourself some time, stress and money preparing for the interview at Hull York Medical School? Be a top achiever and prepare with Medfully; the best interview preparation tool for self-paced interview preparation.

💅 What to do before the interview at Hull York Medical School?

• boost your confidence and improve interview knowledge by preparing using Medfully
• find and bring your ID to the interview
• plan your journey - if you are invited for an in-person interview and have to travel from far away, make sure to arrive in Hull a day or two in advance so that you can be fresh on the day of your HYMS interview
• prepare a formal interview outfit in advance, try it on and see if you feel confident and comfortable in it
• relax - the medicine MMI at HYMS are all about learning more about who you are (remember the interviewers aren’t there to eat or bully you!)

🤵‍♀️ What are the interviewers like at Hull York?

Interviewers at HYMS can come from a variety of backgrounds - health professionals, academic staff, medical students and laypeople, unrelated to medicine or medicine interviews. Regardless of their background, they are usually supportive, warm and friendly.

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Hull York?

In the past, interviewers at Hull York started replying back to candidates only once all interviews have been finished. Therefore, you might expect to hear back from them around February/March (but of course, this may change from year to year).

🧠 Hull York Medicine Interview Questions:

Station #1 (5 points): Your understanding of current issues in medicine

• What has been the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of our population in the UK? Follow-up: What can be done to tackle the long-term mental health impacts of Covid-19?
• Developing antibiotic resistance is a natural process, tied to basic principles of evolution. How do our actions impact the process of developing antibiotic resistance? What dangers are associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria?
• Would you approach a patient with dementia any different from a 30-year old with a sports injury? If yes, how?

Station #2 (5 points): Your understanding of what it means to be a doctor and motivations for medicine

• What is the role of scientific research in medicine?
• What's more important in medicine: sympathy or empathy? How can medical schools teach their students to be more empathetic?
• What are you looking forward to the least in medicine?
• What was the most memorable aspect of your work experience?

Station #3 (5 points): Critical thinking skills

• There are only 10 seats on a lifeboat, but 11 passengers on a sinking boat. What criteria would you use to decide who to leave behind?

Station #4 (15 points): Group work station

• Discuss the following scenario with other members of the group: Imagine you are the head of the surgical department in a hospital. There are two patients, A and B, both requiring an urgent liver transplant, but there is only one viable liver. Patient A is a 32-year old social activist, with a drug abuse history. Patient B is a 78-year old woman, who takes care of 3 children, whose parents died in a car accident. How would you allocate the liver and why?
  

Station #5 (10 points): Scenario station (you are given a hypothetical scenario and are asked to explain how you would behave)

• You are playing basketball in front of your house with a friend. You wanted to pass the ball to them, but they made a dodge and it hit your neighbour's new car instead. As you approach the car you see that the ball caused one of the windows to shatter. You don't know your neighbour very well but heard rumours about him being grumpy and rude. How would you break the news?
• A young mother comes with their 3-years old child to your GP practice as a part of the routine immunisation schedule. However, the mother reveals that she decided not to vaccinate their child against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and appears to be anxious. What would you do?

Station #6 (10 points): “Student station”

• What made you apply for medicine at Hull York?
• How can you contribute to our medical school?
• Why should we choose you?
• Why would you make for a good medical student?

🚀 TOP Tip: Have a hard time answering any of the above questions? You’ll find insider tactics to tackle all of the above questions and formulate convincing and structured answers at Medfully - The Best Medicine Interview Preparation Resource.

Please note that these aren’t questions that have been asked at Hull York in past years. Publishing such information would be against Hull York’s policy. The above questions are adjusted for the interview style at Hull York and are meant to give you a broad sense of the questions you may face.

✅ Hull York Medical School Interviews: 4 Tips

Be Your Genuine Self:

The primary aim of the interview is to learn more about who you are - if you’d make for a good medical student and later as a fellow doctor. This is why it’s really important that you show your true self as much as possible.

Make your personality shine through. Share your genuine values and opinions, instead of trying to impress the interviewers. And don’t even let the thought that you are not intelligent/good enough for a medical school like Hull York. They invited you to an interview for a reason! It will be alright!

Strike A Balance During The Teamworking Station:

One of the stations at the Hull York medicine interview is guaranteed to be a teamwork station. Most likely, you’ll be assigned to a group with other candidates doing the interview and have a multi-dimensional scenario to discuss or a task to do.

On the one hand, you should be an active part of the team and take the initiative by proposing solutions, putting forward your views and actively evaluating others’ thoughts. However, remember not to overdo it and dominate the group. Make sure to let others speak too and take the role of a leader. Don’t feel like it’s a competition of who says the most. It’s all about playing the role of a good team member.

Mandatory Reading: NHS Constitution + GMC’s Good Medical Practice

The NHS Constitution outlines what the patients and staff working in the NHS can expect from the NHS and what the NHS expects in return. Reading it will help you understand what values and rules all NHS workers have to abide by.

GMC’s Good Medical Practice sets out guidelines for doctors working in the NHS and will help you understand what it means to be a “good doctor”. These documents aren’t the easiest reads, but reading them carefully and analytically will certainly help you with answering questions about medical ethics and the NHS.

Stay Abreast Of Current Events In Medicine:

For your Hull York medicine interview, you can expect to be asked about current hot issues in medicine. The best way to prepare for such questions is to keep up with medical news (like the BBC Health) regularly before your interviews and keep track of the most notable events. 🚀 TOP Tip: The most effortless way to keep up with medical news? Subscribe to our newsletter on the bottom of the page and get the summaries of the latest NHS Hot Topics each week, directly into your inbox!

🤞Fingers crossed for your Hull York medicine interviews! You’ll smash them! 💪