Lancaster Medical School: Overview

Lancaster Medical School is one of the UK’s smallest medical schools, enrolling just over 125 students every year. It offers an innovative PBL (problem-based learning) course, where most PBL teaching is carried out in groups of 7-8 students. Thanks to the small-group size, medical students at Lancaster can benefit from personalised teaching and form close bonds with the rest of the year group

Furthermore, Lancaster places a strong emphasis on clinical exposure, which starts from Year 2 and is carried out in hospitals, clinics and the community around Lancaster. At the beginning of Year 2, clinical placements will take about 1/3 of your week and will steadily increase until 5/5 days a week are filled with clinical placements in Year 5.

Selection For Medicine Interviews at Lancaster (2023):
🔢 How does Lancaster select for interviews?

Predicted & Achieved Grades: Academic screening forms the first part of the selection for the interviews process at Lancaster. Both the predicted and achieved grades (or qualifications in the case of graduate applicants) are checked against the minimum entry requirements. Those candidates whose grades meet the entry requirements will progress to Stage 2, which involves ranking according to BMAT scores.

Personal Statement: It is not entirely clear what role the personal statement plays in the selection for interviews at Lancaster Medical School. However, as it is not mentioned in any of the four stages of the admissions process, most likely it’s not an important element of the application. Nonetheless, your personal statement should be relevant to medicine and show evidence of insight into medicine (e.g. work experience, volunteering etc.), as well as demonstrate reflections. Under this link, you’ll find Lancaster’s guidance on the medicine personal statement.

BMAT: All students applying for medicine at Lancaster are ranked according to their BMAT score. The top ~500 candidates (who also meet minimum entry requirements) are usually offered an interview.

💡 How To Prepare for Medicine Interviews at Lancaster?

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:

📊 What is the lowest required BMAT score to get an interview at Lancaster Medical School?

🇬🇧 Home Students: In the past years the BMAT cut-off (lowest score to be invited to an interview at Lancaster) was usually around 10.5 (sum of all 3 sections) and the average score for 2022 entry was 11.9.

🌍 International Students: Typically the BMAT cut-off score for international students applying to Lancaster medicine is around 11.3. The average score of candidates invited to the interview was 12.9 for 2022 entry.

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

📤 When does Lancaster send out interview invitations?

Lancaster tends to send out interview invitations between December and February of the application cycle. If you are invited to a medicine interview at Lancaster, you’ll be given two weeks' notice.

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

🇬🇧 Home Students: For 2022 entry, a total of 752 students applied from the UK, and 511 (68%) were interviewed.

🌍 International Students: For the 2021 entry (latest available data) 256 international students applied for medicine at Lancaster, and only 28 (10%) received an interview invitation.

Medicine Interviews at Lancaster 2023:
🗓️ Lancaster Medicine Interview dates (2024 Entry):

Medicine interviews at Lancaster will most likely take place between January 2023 and February 2024.

💬 What’s the interview format at Lancaster?

For 2024 entry, Lancaster will be conducting MMI interviews (which will most likely take place in-person, on the Lancaster campus). The MMI at Lancaster typically consists of 12-15 stations, each lasting 5 minutes and revolving around different topics. In total, together with the introduction and debriefing, the interview will last around 2 hours.

Lancaster Medicine MMI Topics:

The MMI at Lancaster is most likely to revolve around the following topics (please note this is not an exhaustive list): your motivations to study medicine, work experience, your suitability for medicine, scenario-based questions, suitability for the PBL curriculum, teamwork station.

Most stations at Lancaster MMI will be standard MMI stations, where you read the instructions, walk into a room, answer the question (and likely a follow-up) and leave after 5 minutes have passed. However, you can also expect a 20-minute teamwork station, where you’ll be assigned to a group with several other candidates and asked to discuss a scenario or do a task together. In the meantime, you’ll be observed by the interviewers and assessed on your interpersonal skills, such as communication, ability to work under stress, empathy or leadership.

Moreover, some of the stations may require you to read a passage or watch a video, take notes and subsequently comment on it.

🚀 TOP Tip: Wondering what questions get asked at the Lancaster Medicine Interview? Take a look at the “🧠 Lancaster Medicine Interview Questions” section at the bottom of this blog.

👥 What are the interviewers at Lancaster like?

In the past years, people doing interviews at Lancaster were mostly friendly and approachable. Interviewers at Lancaster can include university staff, NHS doctors, patients, medical students and laypeople.

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

🇬🇧 Home Students: After 511 students were interviewed for 2022 entry medicine at Lancaster, 274 have received an offer (53% of those interviewed and 36% of all students who applied).

🌍 International Students: After 28 international students were interviewed for 2021 entry medicine at Lancaster, 10 have been offered a place (35% of those interviewed and 4% of all who applied).

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

• plan your journey if you are invited to an in-person interview - make sure to arrive in Lancaster a day or two before your interview date
• prepare a formal attire that you’ll wear for your Lancaster medicine interview
• review your personal statement (just in case it is brought up during the interview)
• use Medfully Interview Guide to increase your interview knowledge and boost your confidence

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Lancaster?

Lancaster usually takes a while to reply after interviews. You can expect to hear back from Lancaster around the end of March of your application cycle.

🧠 Lancaster Medicine Interview Questions:

Motivations For Medicine:

• What are the 3 things about medicine that appeal to you the most?
• Why would you like to study medicine at Lancaster?
• What challenges are you likely to face as a medical student and how are you planning to deal with them?

Work Experience:

• What steps have you taken to decide if medicine is the right university course for you?
• What are the 3 most improtant lessons you took away from your work experience/volunteering placement?
• What challenges have you observed the healthcare team face?

Suitability For Medicine:

• Why would you make for a good doctor?
• How could you contribute to the community at Lancaster University?
• What is empathy and why is it important in medicine? How you were able to learn to be a more empathetic person?

Suitability for PBL:

• Tell us about a challenge you have faced recently and how you were able to overcome it.
• Tell us about a situation when you had to work in a team.
• Do you work better as a team member or a team leader?

Groupwork station:

• 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. Discuss with the group how to best allocate the liver.

Scenario-based Station:

• During the following station, you’ll be asked to evaluate the interaction between a doctor and a patient. Pay attention to the doctor’s behaviour, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. After watching the video you’ll be asked to discuss what elements of the interaction should be improved on and how. You are allowed to take notes while watching the video. Video link.
• 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?
• One of your best friends is hosting her 18th birthday party on Friday evening. It's Thursday evening now. As you advise her on the outfit for tomorrow you realise you are responsible for interviewing a professor of cardiovascular surgery for members of your medical school's surgical society on Friday at 6 pm. How would you tell your best friend that you won't be able to attend their party tomorrow?

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

✅ Lancaster Medical School Interviews: 3 Tips

Know Lancaster Medical School Inside Out

One common way interviewers want to distinguish passionate students, who will contribute to their university, is to ask questions about the university itself. For that reason, questions about Lancaster Medical School are very likely to come up on your Lancaster MMI.

The interviewers at Lancaster may want to evaluate if you know what you are signing up for and if your decision to pursue medicine at Lancaster was a well-thought-out and conscious decision. Make sure to do your basic research before your interview; know what you find most appealing about Lancaster Medical School, what the PBL course entails, where clinical teaching happens or how you are planning to contribute to the community at Lancaster University.

Read GMC’s Good Medical Practice

GMC’s Good Medical Practice guidelines offer a comprehensive answer to the question “What makes a good doctor?” Reading through the document will help you understand that and formulate answers for all questions related to your insight into medicine or clinical judgement. An absolute must-read for anyone preparing for medicine interviews!

Strike A Good Balance On The Group Task

The 20-minute group task is a significant and demanding element of the Lancaster 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, listen actively to their ideas and evaluate them. After all, it’s called a group task.

🤞 Fingers crossed for your Lancaster medical school interview! You’ll smash it 💪