Medicine (Graduate Course)

The Graduate Course in Medicine is an accelerated four-year programme.

The emphasis of the programme is the acquisition of clinical skills by direct patient contact in hospital and community environments, and the integration of core medical science with clinical medicine.

Please note that this course is only open to applicants who would be eligible for Home fee status at the point of application. International graduates may apply for affiliated entry to the Standard Course (A100). Home fee status candidates can apply to both the standard (A100) and graduate-entry (A101) course but must apply to the same college for both.

How to apply

In addition to their UCAS application for A101 at Cambridge, applicants for A101 must complete a Graduate Course in Medicine supplementary application form. The deadline to submit the Graduate Course in Medicine supplementary application form (SAF) for 2025 entry is 22October 2024. The deadline for UCAS applications for 2025 entry is 15 October 2024. Applicants who apply for A101 at UCAS but who do not submit the SAF will be automatically deselected.

Information about the application process for A101 at Cambridge can be read on the University website.

Applicants for A101 at Cambridge are required to sit the UCAT.

Due to the competitive nature of the course, it is important that you make sure you meet or will meet the below pre-medical requirements and that you have appropriate healthcare experience before you apply for the course.

Course Requirements

There are two sets of academic requirements for this course. The first is your academic performance to date, based on A levels (or equivalent) and your first degree. The second set relates to the entrance requirements which must be met before studying medicine at Cambridge.

Academic requirements

Academic requirements must be met in order for your application to be considered – you must have contextualised A level results of:

A*A*A if you graduated with a 2.i or have yet to complete your first degree

ABB if you have graduated with a 1st class degree.

If you didn’t take A levels we will consider your performance in equivalent qualifications such as the IB, BTECs or Access courses.

Our contextualisation of A level results (or equivalents) will take account of personal circumstances and any educational disadvantage you may have experienced. This is done on a case-by-case basis taking all the available information provided in your application into account.

If you took pre-degree qualifications outside of the UK the please see the University website for equivalencies.

We would expect contextualisation of degree outcomes to have been undertaken by the awarding university: owing to the competitive nature of this course we cannot accept a final degree award of less than a 2.i (or equivalent).

Where universities classify degrees differently, we would usually follow the equivalencies given on the University website.

Dentists (BDS) with a distinction will be considered to have a first-class degree; merit is considered equivalent to a 2.i.

Postgraduate qualifications, such as Masters or Ph.D degrees, are not part of the entry requirements for A101 at Cambridge.

Entrance requirements

Applicants must have:

a good Honours degree with a 2.1 or above in any discipline
A Level Chemistry normally passed at grade A or above within seven years of entry, and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics (at A or AS Level), or equivalent

Information about equivalent entrance requirements for A101 at Cambridge can be read on the University website.

Admissions test

You will need to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test.

You will need to register in advance for this test.

Visit the UCAT page for more information.

Shortlisting

Applicants meeting the academic requirements are scored on the duration and variety of their work experience, reflection, and references. Applicants are scored by at least 2 assessors in parallel to minimise bias. The top scoring 90 or so candidates are then invited to interview.

We strongly recommend obtaining some healthcare experience as a paid or volunteer worker, since we particularly value experience in a caring role. Typically, students who are made offers for this course have varied and consistent hands-on patient care experience, over a number of years. Applicants whose experience is largely based on shadowing are unlikely to be competitive. Where applicants are already qualified healthcare workers, it is essential that they have a range of experience outside of their own discipline.

Interviews

The interview is in the multiple mini interview format (normally 10 stations), with each station lasting 5 minutes. The interviewers include clinicians, medical sciences experts and lay academics.

Further information on the course can be found on the Clinical School and the University of Cambridge websites.