Hanna | Co-Founder of Medfully
02 Jul 8 min read

Ultimate Guide to Leicester Medicine Interview (2023) | Questions & Tips


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

GCSEs: Achieved grades constitute 50% of the students’ scores in the selection process at Leicester. 8 GCSE grades are taken into account and converted into a score out of 32 according to the following system: *A or 8/9 = 4 points, A or 7 = 3 points, B or 6 = 1 point.

A-levels: Predicted grades aren’t used when selecting students for medicine interviews beyond checking if they meet minimum entry requirements.

Personal Statement + Reference: The personal statement and the reference don’t play a significant role when selecting students for medicine interviews. According to Leicester, they are only used in borderline cases.

UCAT: The UCAT score accounts for 50% of the total score in the selection process. The obtained UCAT scores are converted (excluding the SJT score, which isn’t considered when selecting for Leicester medicine interviews) according to the following scoring system:


Based on the above, each application is converted into a score out of 64. The top 1100 home students and top 100 international students are usually invited to an interview. Under this link, you’ll find the detailed document outlining the scoring system and selection process at Leicester Medical School.


📊 What is the lowest required UCAT score to get an interview at Leicester?

🇬🇧 Home Students: Historically the lowest scores to get a medicine interview at Leicester averaged around 2150-2200 (for 2022 entry the UCAT cut-off at Leicester was 2370). Converted into the scoring system used by Leicester (together with the predicted and achieved grades), the lowest score to get an interview was 57/64 in the past years.

🌍 International Students: Historically, interview UCAT cut-off scores for international students at Leicester averaged around 2150-2200. Converted into the scoring system used by Leicester (together with the predicted and achieved grades), the lowest score to get an interview was also 57/64 for international students.

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📤 When does Leicester send out medicine interview invitations?

Typically Leicester starts sending out invitations for medicine interviews around December. Invitations are then sent out on a rolling basis until all interview spots have been filled (usually around February of the application cycle).


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

🇬🇧 Home Students: For 2022 entry, 2360 students applied for medicine at Leicester and 1136 have been invited to a medicine interview (48%).

🌍 International Students: For 2022 entry, 514 international students applied for medicine at Leicester and 168 have been invited to a medicine interview (33%).

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Leicester Medicine Interview (2023):
🗓️ Leicester Medicine Interview dates (2024 entry):

This year’s Leicester medicine interviews will most likely take place between December 2023 and March 2024. For the latest updates and the exact interview, dates check this page.


💬 What’s the medicine interview format at Leicester?

In the past years, Leicester Medical School has been conducting standard MMI interviews, which included 7-9 stations. Each station was led by a different interviewer and held in a different room (or breakout room during online interviews). In total, the interview lasts about 60-90 minutes. Both during the in-person and online medicine, MMIs students had about a minute of time to read the instructions before entering the station.

2022 Leicester Medicine Interviews:

Wondering what Leicester medicine interviews looked like in 2021/22? For 2021 and 2022 entry, Leicester conducted online interviews via an online platform called Blackboard Collaborative (used by many other medical schools too).

Below you can find a video with instructions recorded by Leicester, which was sent out to candidates before their online interview last year: 


Leicester Medicine Interview Topics:

The interviewers at Leicester will assess you on a number of different qualities and skills including; your motivations and interest in medicine, insight into your strengths and weaknesses, ability to reflect, organisation, academic ability, problem-solving, ability to deal with uncertainty/risks and challenges, conscientiousness, insight into your health, communication skills, teamwork, compassion and empathy, resilience, ethical judgement.

🚀 TOP Tip: Have a look at the “🧠 Leicester Medicine Interview Questions” section below for sample interview questions that are likely to come up during your Leicester interview!


💡 How To Prepare for Medicine Interviews at Leicester?

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:

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

🇬🇧 Home Students: For 2022 entry, 1136 students have sat Leicester medicine interviews, and 542 of them have received an offer (48% of those who sat the interview and 23% of all who applied).

🌍 International Students: For 2022 entry, 168 international students have been invited to medicine interviews at Leicester and 56 of them have received an offer (33% of those invited to the interview and 11% of all international students who applied).


⏳ How long does it taks to hear back from Leicester?

Although the admissions officers at Leicester aim to reply to students as soon as possible, due to the number of applications each year, this can take a few weeks. Leicester notes that post-interview offers and rejections are usually sent out between January and the end of mid-May of the application cycle.


🧠 Leicester Medicine Interview Questions:

During the Leicester Medicine MMI, you’ll be assessed on a number of qualities. Below you can find these qualities with example interview questions for each one:

Motivations to study medicine:

  • What steps have you taken to find out if medicine is the right choice for you?
  • Why would you like to study medicine at Leicester?
  • In your personal statement you’ve written that the aspect of being able to care for people appeals to you the most out of all responsibilities that doctors have. However, doctors aren’t the only healthcare workers that take care of people. In fact, nurses have even closer contact and spend more time caring for patients than most doctors do. Why didn’t you apply for nursing then?

Interest in medicine:

  • In your opinion, what has been the greatest advancement in medicine in the last 20 years?
  • Is there any medical speciality that you think you’d like to pursue in the future?
  • What are the 3 main challenges that GPs face nowadays?
  • What do you understand by the term Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)? Why do doctors need to work in MDTs?

Your personality:

  • You have 2 minutes to sell yourself.
  • What’s your greatest non-academic achievement?
  • What have people criticised you for? Follow-up: How do you respond substantively to criticism?
  • What role does insert name of a sport play in your life?

Problem-solving:

  • 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?

Communication skills:

  • You were supposed to take care of your friend's cat, while they were on holiday. A few hours before your friend was meant to come back, you realised you forgot to close the front door and the cat went missing. You tried looking around the house but to no avail. Your friend (Max), just arrived home. How would you break the news to them?
  • A patient weighing 72kg requires a 75mg dose of Ibunapratosan via an IV drip. You have a 0.1L bag with an Ibunapratosan concentration of 5mg/mL. What volume of fluid from the bag should you give to the patient?
  • How would you describe how to make tea to an alien who has never heard about water, cups or tea bags?

Empathy and emotional intelligence:

  • 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?
  • You are an FY2 doctor, currently working in a paediatrics ward. You have been taking care of a 5-year old child with suspected leukaemia. As you are walking through the hospital hallway, you stumble across the child's parents, who have been waiting there for hours and look very distressed. As they ask you about the blood results, you realise you forgot to take the samples to the lab. How would you explain to the parents they have to wait another few hours because of your mistake?

Ethical judgement:

  • 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?
  • A 19-year old patient comes to your GP practice and discloses they regularly engage in the use of illicit drugs. They ask you not to tell anyone, including the police. What factors should you consider in such a scenario, and who would you inform about the situation?

🚀 TOP Tip: Have a hard time answering any of the above questions? You’ll find insider tactics to tackle Leicester Medicine Interview 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 Leicester Medical School in past years. Publishing such information would be against Leicester’s policy. The above questions are adjusted for the interview style at Leicester Medicine Interview and are meant to give you a broad sense of the questions you may face.


✅ Leicester Medical School Interviews: 3 Tips

Use The Reading Time Efficiently

During your Leicester medicine interview, you’ll have a minute of time to read the instructions about what to expect at the upcoming station. Although a minute may not sound like a lot of time to prepare, make sure you use that time efficiently.

First and foremost, read the question/scenario/topic carefully. Take your time, make sure you understand it, if not read through the instructions again. If you have some time left, try to come up with some points or examples that you can bring up to illustrate your arguments. You won’t have time to recite an answer in your head, but you can do a small brainstorming exercise.

In the last 5-7 seconds, take a few deep breaths and give yourself a motivational boost by saying “you can do it” before entering the station.


Be Passionate!

Chances are, you’ll be talking about your passion for medicine and motivations to study it during some of the stations at the Leicester MMI. To make your point come across, don’t just say how excited you are to join Leicester or work towards becoming a doctor - show it too.

Remember to keep an open body language (lean forwards, arms open, straight back) and smile when talking about medicine. Your non-verbal communication will demonstrate a genuine passion and may speak louder than words.


Practise With Strangers

MMIs are a bit like speed-dating. You have a short window to meet a complete stranger and convince them to like you. In terms of mindset and attitude, there is no better way to prepare for MMIs than to do mock interviews with as many people as you can find.

Practise with your dog, friends, family, teachers etc. The more people you expose yourself to during your interview preparation, the more comfortable you’ll be facing different interviewers every few minutes on the interview day.


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