Kent and Medway Medical School: Overview

Kent and Medway medical school is, in fact, a mix of the highlights of a few universities and medical schools: The medical course is carried out jointly by the University of Kent and the University of Canterbury and is based on Brighton and Sussex’s integrated MBBS curriculum. How cool is that?

The BM BS programme at Kent and Medway puts a large emphasis on clinical exposure and a patient-centred approach to practising medicine. For this reason, in between lectures, tutorials and PBL lessons, you’ll get to a lot of clinical activities, which will start as early as the first semester of Year 1.

Moreover, Kent and Medway is one of the cosiest medical schools, enrolling just over 100 medical students a year. This, in conjunction with the peaceful surroundings of the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University campuses, will offer a pleasant, calm environment to study medicine. You can read more about the course structure at Kent and Medway under this link.

Selection For Medicine Interviews at Kent and Medway Medical School:
🔢 How does Kent and Medway MS select for interviews?

Achieved Grades: Academic screening is the first part of the selection process at KMMS. Those students whose achieved grades (GCSEs or A-levels for gap year students or degree for graduate students) surpass the minimum entry requirements will pass on to Stage 2 - selection by UCAT score.

Predicted Grades: Not considered at all in the selection process. Only achieved grades are taken into account.

Personal Statement: The personal statement is not considered at any point by KMMS when selecting students for medicine interviews.

UCAT: Each year Kent and Medway set a UCAT cut-off score, depending on the average scores and score distribution of all students applying to KMMS in a given year. Candidates who pass the year’s UCAT threshold will be considered for contextualisation (a process where your achieved grades are converted to a score relative to the average scores at your school/region). Since all applications are contextualised by Kent and Medway, a higher UCAT score will not automatically translate to higher chances of getting invited to an interview.

Under this link, you can find more details about the selection for interviews at Kent and Medway.

💡 How To Prepare for Medicine Interviews at Kent and Medway?

Preparing for Kent and Medway medicine interviews isn’t an easy process. It goes far beyond just reading an article, skimming through an interview book or doing a mock interview. It requires good organisation, gathering loads of knowledge and working on your confidence. Luckily, with Medfully it is simpler and more efficient than ever:

📊 What is the lowest required UCAT score to get an interview at Kent and Medway?

🇬🇧 Home Students: In the last few years, the UCAT cut-off at Kent and Medway was set to 2430, which was the equivalent of approx. 40th decile. However, the average UCAT score for students invited to Kent and Medway medicine interview was 2623 for 2021 entry.

🌍 International Students: The same UCAT cut-off was used when inviting international students to an interview.

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📤 When does Kent and Medway send out interview invitations?

Historically KMMS has sent out most medicine interview invitations in December of the application cycle.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 How many candidates get interviewed for Medicine at Kent and Medway?

For the 2022 entry, Kent and Medway MS has received 1463 applications and interviewed 404 students (28%). This number includes both students with the home fee status and international students.

Medicine Interviews at Kent and Medway (2023):
🗓️ Kent and Medway Medicine Interview dates (202r Entry):

Most likely, medicine interviews and Kent and Medway MS will be held between December 2023 and January 2024.

💬 What’s the interview format at Kent and Medway?

In the past years, Kent and Medway Medical School had conducted fairly long and unique MMI interviews. The MMI was comprised of 6 stations, each lasting 7 minutes (+ 2 minutes of downtime between stations) and a 42-minute group station, where students are asked to do a task or discuss a scenario with a group of other candidates.

During the group station, you’ll be observed and assessed by the interviewers on your interpersonal skills, such as your ability to work efficiently in a group, communication, empathy etc.

According to Kent and Medway’s official website, in the past years, Kent and Medway MMIs revolved around the following topics: data handling, problem analysis, situational judgement, roleplay, task and values-based stations. However, KMMS also points out that they reserve the right to change the topics and timing of the MMI stations each year.

The entire medicine interview at Kent and Medway, including briefing, all of the stations and debriefing, will take approximately 3 hours.

🚀 TOP Tip: Wondering what questions get asked at the KMMS interview? Take a look at the “🧠 Kent and Medway Medicine Interview Questions” section on the bottom of this blog.

📅 How will the day of my Kent and Medway Medicine Interview look like?

Below you can find a short explanatory video prepared by Kent and Medway MS, outlining what you can expect on the day of your interview:

🏆 How likely is it I’ll be given an offer after a medicine interview at Kent and Medway?

For 2022 entry, 404 students were interviewed for medicine at KMMS and 207 (52%) were offered a place (this data includes home students, graduates and international students).

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Kent and Medway?

KMMS usually sends replies in batches between January and March of the application cycle.

🧠 Kent and Medway Medicine Interview Questions:

Although Kent and Medway hasn’t yet published what topics will be covered in this year’s MMIs, here are the topics from past interviews:

Data handling:

Problem analysis:

• Imagine you are on a raft and swimming toward a deserted island. Luckily you have a backpack with a few necessary items for survival. Suddenly your raft starts to sink. You need to get rid of five out of the ten items listed below. Which one would you choose and why? The items: Box of matches, Water repellent jacket, hammock, sunscreen, a box of sardines, mirror, cell phone, encyclopedia, flip flops, a knife.

Situational judgement:

• 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?
• A 14-year old boy is rushed into A&E after a car crash. The patient is unconscious and has sustained huge blood loss as a result of the accident. Together with your team, you decide the boy requires an urgent blood transfusion. As you are about to take the boy into the OR, his parents arrive and forbid you to carry on with the blood transfusion on religious grounds. How would you proceed, and what factors should you consider?

Roleplay:

• 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. Break the news to your neighbour.
• You are a 3rd-year medical student. Together with a group of your classmates you've been working on a presentation on the impact of different calcium sources on hip fractures in older adults. As you prepare the setup you realise you forgot to save your part of the presentation. In turn, your group's presentation is incomplete. Approach your group leader and discuss the issue with them.

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

✅ Kent and Medway Medical School Interviews: 3 Tips

Dedicate Extra Time To Prepare for The Role Play

For those of you who are just starting to prepare for your medical school interviews, role play stations are MMI stations where you have to play out a scenario (provided to you before the station) with the interviewer (who will usually be a trained actor).

Roleplay stations test your interpersonal skills, such as communication, empathy or teamwork in action and allow the admissions team to check if you have them only on paper or in real life too. For this reason, most students find role-play the scariest and most daunting station.

However, although you cannot predict the exact scenario that will come up, you can still prepare for a role play. You can use one of the scenarios listed above and get a friend or family member to play the other party. Convince them to try to show the characteristics of the other party and exaggerate a little bit (don’t change your mind immediately, get furious, let them shout at you etc.).

And most importantly, be yourself during the role play! Make sure your personality and your personal values shine through.

Strike A Good Balance On The Group Task

The 40-minute group task is a significant and demanding element of the Kent and Medway medicine interview. During the station, you will be assessed by interviewers on your soft skills, including your communication, leadership and teamwork abilities.

On the one hand, remember to take the initiative and be an active member of the team (don’t just sit there silently waiting to agree with someone’s solution). However, wanting to be an active team member is a double-edged sword - it’s easy to overdo it and be dominant (which is something you’d want to avoid, even as a group leader). Remember to let others speak, to listen actively to their ideas and evaluate them. After all, it’s called a group task.

Know How To Apply The Four Pillars Of Medical Ethics

Since the Kent and Medway medicine interview is heavily focused on situational judgement and clinical scenarios, the four pillars of medical ethics (and the 3 C’s - capacity, consent and confidentiality) will be your best friend. Make sure you not only understand but can also apply each of the four pillars (beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy and justice). In our free medicine interview guide, you’ll find tips on how to dissect any medical scenario using the 4 pillars.

Furthermore, have a look at GMC’s Good Medical Practice guidelines for doctors, which will give you a general overview of how a model doctor should act at their work.

🤞 Fingers crossed for your Kent and Medway medical school interview! You’ll smash it 💪