Applying to Medicine: Free Tools and Guides
Free, evidence-based help for UK medicine applicants. Match your grades to 41 medical schools, and find out what they actually do with your personal statement and reference.
Which medical schools should you apply to?
You get four medicine choices on UCAS. The free matcher checks your A-level grades, GCSEs and UCAT (optional) against the published criteria of 41 UK medical schools. It suggests four: one aspirational, two realistic and one safer. It models your chance of an interview, not an offer, and there's no sign-up.
Open the matcher in a new tab →
Does my personal statement matter?
For most schools, very little. Of 41 medical schools, 26 don't use it for shortlisting and 5 use it only as a tiebreak. Another 7 set a pass standard, and 3 score it (Keele, Birmingham and Lancashire). Interviewers can still ask about anything you write.
Does my reference matter?
It confirms the picture rather than creating it. Of the 14 schools with a published policy, only Lancashire scores it, and Glasgow and Aston need it to be satisfactory. Three things matter more: your school's internal deadline, your predicted grades and telling your referee about any extenuating circumstances.
Your A-level grades come first
Whichever schools you choose, the offer depends on top A-level grades.
What are my odds of an A or A* from my GCSEs? →
Free A-level Biology revision resources →
Key dates
You sit the UCAT in the summer before you apply. The UCAS deadline for medicine is 15 October, and your school's internal deadline is usually earlier.
Need an A* in Biology for your offer?
One-to-one lessons and weekly AQA and OCR A group classes with a tutor of 30 years' experience.