Keele Medical School: Overview

Keele Medical School is one of the top 5 medical schools in England according to the 2022 Times University rankings. Keele offers an integrated, 5-year MBChB course, featuring elements of problem-based learning (PBL), clinical placements, lectures and workshops. 

Keele is also one of the smallest medical schools in the UK with just over 120 students admitted per year. Therefore, studying at Keele will definitely benefit those who prefer more personalised learning in a quieter environment.  

💡 How To Prepare for Medicine Interviews at Keele?

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:

Pre-interview Selection:
🔢 How does Keele select candidates for interviews?

GCSEs: Checked to ensure you meet minimum grade requirements, but not beyond that.

A-levels: Not used to shortlist for interviews, beyond meeting minimum entry requirements.

Roles & Responsibilities (R+R): This is the most important element of the application for UK students at Keele. It’s a document where you have to list and reflect on all of your non-academic activities that relate in any way to helping others, care or medicine. You can find more information about it on Keele’s website.

Personal Statement: Personal statements and references are not used to shortlist candidates for interviews at Keele.

UCAT: UCAT is only used in tie-cases, “when the threshold R+R score exceeds the number of interview slots available” and doesn’t play a significant role when shortlisting for interviews.

BMAT: BMAT is used to rank international candidates for an interview. 30ish candidates with the best BMAT score will receive an interview invitation at Keele.

You can find more detailed information on the selection process at Keele on their official website.

📊 What is the lowest required UCAT/BMAT score to get an interview at Keele?

Note: Keele Medical School requires UCAT from Home candidates and BMAT from international students and graduates.

🇬🇧Home Students: For 2022 entry, the UCAT cut-off score was 2280 and Band 4. The average score to get an interview was 2520. However, keep in mind that UCAT is not given significant weighting at Keele.

🌏International Students: Using Keele’s BMAT scoring system, the cut off in 2021 was 14.1 out of 24.25 total points. However, the BMAT cut off tends to change every year, as it depends on the number of applications and average scores. Therefore, it’s hard to predict what the score will be this year, so treat the previous cut-offs with a pinch of salt.

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📤 When does Keele send out interview invitations?

Interview invitations from Keele are usually sent out on a rolling basis from December to March.

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

🇬🇧Home Students: In 2021, 1825 UK students applied for medicine at Keele and 686 of them (38%) were interviewed.

🌏International Students: Latest data available is from 2019: Out of 215 applications, 29 were chosen for an interview. So roughly 14% of all international candidates were invited for an interview at Keele in the past.

🗓️ Keele Medicine Interview Dates:

Medicine interviews at Keele run from December until early March.

💬 What’s the interview format at Keele?

Historically, Keele is known to have conducted MMI interviews. In the last two years when interviews were moved online, Keele stuck with MMIs, but changed the format as follows:

The MMI comprised two 15-minute interviews, each held by two interviewers. Each of the interviewers was assessing you separately to ensure fairness and reliability. Both of the interviews were held on the same morning/afternoon but were separated by minutes or hours of spare time in between.

Each interview was comprised of 3, 5-minute parts (a’la stations) with 2 questions per each part (giving you ~2.5min. per question)

From the logistical point of view: a separate invitation link was sent by Keele to each of the interviews and at the start of each interview your ID was checked against your appearance.

Since the format of the interview may change this year depending on the Covid-19 guidelines, make sure to check Keele University official website for the latest information.

🚀 TOP Tip: Interviewers at Keele Medical School are known to be strict with timing. Don’t be surprised if you are stopped mid-answer - it’s not your fault, you’ve just run out of the time allocated for the question.

➗ Keele Interview Maths Test:

If interviews at Keele will be held in-person this year, Keele may include a 30-minute maths test as a part of the interview. This used to always be the first item of the interview agenda at Keele but was scrapped as interviews were moved online.

Follow these links to see an official Sample Keele Maths Test Questions and Answers.

Check Keele’s website for the latest information on the maths test that will be conducted this year or best email the admissions office directly.

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

Home Students: Last year, after 686 interviews Keele made 412 offers, so approx. 60% of all interviewed candidates have received an offer.

International Students: (Latest information available is from 2019). After 29 interviews Keele gave out 17 offers to international candidates. This makes around 60% of all international students interviewed.

💅 What to do before the interview at Keele Medical School?

• carefully fill out the roles and responsibilities form
• download Microsoft teams and check the connection
• upload your ID and all completed exam qualifications to the Keele applicant portal
• choose a formal interview outfit well in advance and check if you feel comfortable and confident in it

🤵‍♀️ What are the interviewers like at Keele?

Candidates who were interviewed at Keele generally agree the interviewers are friendly, smile and give you a sense of reassurance that what you say makes sense. However, they are known to be strict with timing and can interrupt you in mid-answer if you run out of time.

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Keele after an interview?

Keele sends responses to interviewed candidates on a rolling basis, usually within 2-3 weeks from the interview. However, if your interview score is close to the threshold, you may be put on a waiting list and have to wait longer for a response from Keele. All decisions will be made by the 31st of March.

Moreover, it’s possible to request feedback between the 1st of April and the 31st of July of the application cycle.

🧠 Keele Medicine Interview Questions:

Keele Medical School is very kind to include the interview topics on their website. Here are a few example questions from each of the topics used at Keele:

Motivation and resilience:

• Applying for medicine is a long and challenging process, much harder than applying to most other subjects. What keeps you motivated to pursue a career in medicine?
• Why would you like to study at Keele Medical School? Follow-up: How could you contribute to Keele?
• How can medical schools teach students to be more resilient?

Ethical reasoning:

• Why do we keep patient information confidential and what kind of information should not be disclosed? Follow-up: Can confidentiality be ever breached?
• What are the ethical considerations around the topic of abortion?
• 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?

Professionalism:

• What should a doctor do if the procedure they are required to perform goes against their faith?
• Can you think of a situation when lying to a patient would be acceptable and appropriate?

Caring for others/Responsibilities:

• In your roles and responsibilities form you’ve written about insert a volunteering/work experience placement. Could you tell us a bit more about what your responsibilities were and what you learned from the experience?
• How are sympathy and empathy different? Is any of them more important than the other in medicine?
• What would you consider to be your greatest non-academic achievement?
• What has been the most challenging aspect of insert volunteering/work experience placement?
• Despite the cutting-edge advancements in medicine, it’s not always possible to cure the patient. How will you manage the emotional burden that carries?

🚀 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 Keele Medical School in past years. Publishing such information would be against Keele’s policy. The above questions are adjusted for the interview style at Keele Medical School and are meant to give you a broad sense of the questions you may face.

✅ Keele Medical School Interviews: 3 Tips

Work on your mental maths:

If Keele decides to include their interview maths assessment as a part of the MMI, you want to have your maths skills on point. Refresh your GCSE maths and go through the Sample Questions provided by Keele Medical School (find Answers here). Practice makes perfect!

Ask strangers to interview you

During your medicine interview at Keele medical school, you’ll be interviewed by a total of 4 interviewers, each of which can have a different attitude, interviewing style and perspective. Asking strangers to interview you will get you used to this variety and make you more comfortable with it on the interview day. Simply reach out to your fellow aspiring medics on forums like Reddit and TSR. Remember to offer something in return - conduct a mock interview with them too or get them a coffee.

Take time with the roles and responsibilities (R+R) form

The roles and responsibilities form can make or break your interview invitation at Keele. Think back on all of your non-academic responsibilities and experiences involving help and care. Dig up any reflections that you may have written down. Take time to structure all your answers, check your grammar and get your teachers/family to review it.

🤞 Good luck with preparing for the Keele Medicine interview! Fingers crossed!