Medicine: Graduate Entry (BMBS)

• We appreciate that starting a Medicine programme is a major step for our new students, and acknowledge that it is the longest and one of the most demanding academic programmes.
• The University places a high priority on caring for and supporting students so that they can thrive in all aspects of their time at Bangor, so from Welcome Week onwards, you'll be given as much help and support as needed over health and welfare as well as your academic work.
• Services offered include money advice, health and welfare support, advice on private housing, dyslexia support and counselling and study skills.
• We pride ourselves on providing personalised support for our students, and from day 1 you will be allocated a Personal Tutor, an academic staff member from the school who will act as your mentor and guide throughout the entire programme.
• The University has a peer-guide scheme and the School’s own senior medical students are linked to more junior students so that they can share their experience.

• Our learner-centred approach includes small group teaching and learning so you’ll benefit from more contact time with your lecturers.
• The Year 1 curriculum is based on small group teaching, including Case Based learning which links your scientific learning to real-life patient stories and places the patient at the centre of your studies.
• Case Based Learning takes place in groups of 10 to 12 students with a trained academic facilitator who guides students through each case.
• We employ a large variety of teaching methods but have very few traditional lectures although we do hold ‘plenaries’ (interactive sessions where students receive information from expert scientists or clinicians).
• There are also specialist seminars, interactive tutorials and workshops, practical skills and simulation and VR training.
• We encourage supported self-directed learning to help you to develop your own problem solving and communication skills, both essential for a future doctor.
• The use of varied methods of teaching, learning and assessment helps you to widen your own learning style and promotes lifelong learning, a vital part of your career as a future doctor.

• Anatomy teaching takes advantage of modern technology, including the ‘Anatomage’ electronic dissecting table, glassless 3D Video screens and mobile apps.
• There is a dedicated Anatomy teaching room with high-fidelity plastic models of all body components.
• Practical clinical skills and interventions can be practised electronically and in simulators including a VR room.
• Refresher Anatomy and Self-Directed Learning sessions are available at the start of Year 3 and 4 speciality placements.

• We provide interprofessional education opportunities to mirror the world of clinical work, where a wide range of healthcare professionals work together for the benefit of patients within clinical teams.
• "Interprofessional Education (IPE) occurs when two or more professionals learn, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care” Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE), 2002.
• We are passionate about promoting and delivering IPE and there will be multiple opportunities for this throughout your time at Bangor.

• There are many opportunities during the Year 2 LIC and across Year 3 and 4 placements to gain experience of remote, rural and mountain medicine in the stunningly beautiful North Wales geographic setting.
• The programme includes a unique Rural Health simulation day ‘in the field’, delivered in partnership with voluntary services including Mountain Rescue, Welsh Ambulance Service, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, RNLI and specialist University and Health Board staff.

• We prepare you for Early Patient Contact sessions by teaching basic clinical skills in our state-of-the-art Simulation and Skills Training and VR Centre.
• You will also learn to listen intensively and speak to patients using professional actors and expert patient volunteers, with teaching delivered bilingually.

• Early patient contact sessions help to inspire your medical science learning in the early stages of the programme.
• They are preceded by preparation sessions and take place in carefully chosen medical facilities, so our students are not overwhelmed by their first clinical experience.
• Early patient contact builds over the first two years of the programme, exposing our students to progressively more complex clinical environments.

• Our Simulation and Skills Centre is equipped with SIMman 3G simulators and SMOTS video recording and playback facilities.
• All students receive training and certification in Life Support techniques and patient safety prior to undertaking clinical training.
• A VR room provides immersive scenario training allowing students to become competent at dealing with clinical problems that occur rarely but require immediate recognition and action.
• Student midwives and Year 4 Obstetric students undertake interprofessional education training together.

• In Year 3 you will undertake a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC), a yearlong first clinical placement.
• The LIC placement is primarily in a GP practice under the supervision of an expert GP Tutor, with the opportunity to follow your patients' journeys through primary and hospital care facilities for investigations and treatment.
• You will gain experience of the work of other members of the multidisciplinary primary health care team including Community Midwives, Community Psychiatric Nurses, Health Visitors, Social workers and others. Alongside this, you will also gain experience in Dermatology, ENT, Rheumatology and General Medicine.
• LICs are a relatively new model for medical education currently being evaluated around the world, whereby students follow a range of patients for longer periods and develop a close relationship with a mentor who closely guides their learning.
• Longitudinal placements have been shown to enhance students’ understanding of patient-centeredness, the importance of a whole of life perspective, family dynamics and the social context of a patient’s presentation.
• The LIC experience helps to develop a more holistic understanding of patient care, enhancing your clinical skills, communication abilities, and empathy.
• You will see a wide range of conditions, consulting directly with patients, and will receive 1:1 teaching from your GP tutor supplemented by a day of campus teaching each week supplemented by exposure to hospital practice.
• Spending your first clinical year mainly in the specialty of General Practice is an excellent preparation for hospital speciality placements that follow in Years 3 and 4.
• The School is a participating member of the international Consortium for Integrated Clerkships (CLIC).

• Hospital placements take place across the three acute hospitals of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board: Ysbyty Gwynedd (Bangor), Ysbyty Glan Clwyd (Rhyl) and Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
• This is supplemented by experience in 22 Community hospitals across North Wales, many of which serve small, remote communities.
• All major specialities required for undergraduate medical training are available within North Wales, but a Final Year elective can be carried out at any medical facility in the world that is approved for undergraduate medical training.

• Studying medicine in Wales, a bilingual country, helps you to develop valuable communications skills. The ability to feel confident to treat patients whose first language is not your own will equip you to work anywhere in the world, and you will frequently consult with interpreters working across the UK.
• As a Welsh speaker you can opt for a significant part of your course, and for some assessments, to be in Welsh and may be eligible to apply for a Coleg Cenedlaethol Cymraeg Scholarship. A Welsh speaking personal tutor will be made available to those electing to study part of their course in Welsh. As part of our widening access agenda, Welsh speakers are also eligible to secure a contextual offer.
• Bangor University is committed to supporting Welsh speakers and learners and bilingualism is embedded within all aspects of the student experience. There are many opportunities for absolute beginners to learn the language, existing speakers to build their confidence or for fluent Welsh speakers to access specialist resources.
• North Wales is home to a significant number of Welsh speakers, this provides many opportunities to use the language whilst on placement, be that as a learner or a fluent speaker.

Please note:

• we are currently not accepting international students for this programme
• we do not accept qualification resits.

Graduate entry qualification requirements: Feeder streams

This degree pathway is open to applicants completing our recognised feeder streams who are due to graduate with least at upper Second Class Honours with one of the following qualifications:

• BSc (Hons) Medical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University (B210)*
• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University (BC97)*
• BMedSci (Hons) Medical Sciences, Bangor University (B100)
• BSc (Hons) Medical Sciences, University of South Wales (B901)

(*Please note that students are required to have completed the anatomy module on these courses)

Graduate entry qualification requirements: Other degrees

We will also consider applications from graduates of degree programmes relevant to medical studies, including Dental graduates. Applicants:

• must have graduated with at least an upper second Class degree
• must normally commence the course no more than 3 years after graduation from their undergraduate degree or relevant postgraduate study. This period may be extended for those currently working in a relevant healthcare field.*
• applicants will be assessed on an individual Recognition of Prior Education and Learning (RPEL) basis, with assessment of degree transcripts, relevant work experience and a formal knowledge assessment. This formal knowledge assessment will follow an entrance exam and interview process (see below). Applicants must contact the University to arrange an RPEL assessment prior to submitting a UCAS application.

Applicants must also have:

A Levels/GCSEs

• BBB/ABC at A-level or equivalent including Biology and Chemistry (in instance of ABC, compulsory sciences cannot be at grade C)
• plus English language or Welsh language at GCSE grade B/6 or equivalent
• plus 7 GCSEs including grade B/6 in GCSE Maths, Biology and Chemistry, or equivalent qualifications (level, subjects and grade).

or, Irish Highers and Leaving Certificates

• H2 in Biology, H2 in Chemistry and H2 in four other subjects.
• 9 Junior Certificates including Maths, English and Science at grade B and grade O3 in English and Maths in the Leaving Certificate.

or, Scottish Highers and Leaving Certificates

• Grades BBC – two compulsory sciences must be grade B
• National 5s and Highers will be accepted in lieu of GCSE. Equivalent level, grade, and subject requirements must be met. Duplicate subjects will not be counted twice.

You must also:

• show an awareness of the UK healthcare system and the nature of the medical training in your personal statement and at interview.

Please note, we do not accept BTEC or T Levels for this programme, nor do we accept Critical Thinking, General Studies, Citizenship Studies or other similar subjects.

Dental graduates

Dental graduates who have completed further postgraduate training and obtained appropriate professional qualifications with the intention of specialising in Oral Maxillo-facial Surgery (OMFS), and who meet the above criteria, may apply. Please contact the University with the following information on application: A full Curriculum Vitae, and academic reference or a reference from a Maxillofacial Surgeon. The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (OMFS) provides information for applicants for training in OMFS. We will also consider applications form dental graduates seeking to qualify in medicine.

Qualification resits

We will only accept Level 2 (e.g. GCSE) resits completed within 12 months of the original sitting. These must be completed prior to application. The exception to this is English Language which has no time limit for resit but must be included as achieved or pending on the application form.

We do not accept Level 3 (e.g. A Level) resits. However, it should be noted that we do not consider exams taken after centre assessed grades to be re-sits.

Re-sits of A Level module units will be considered provided that the final exam has not already taken place and a grade awarded.

Contextual admissions

We carefully consider your contextual data (the circumstances in which you've been studying) upon application. We will be considering this in the offers that are made, which may be lower than advertised. Further details about contextual offers can be found here.

Applying

A complete application must be submitted to UCAS by the deadline. We may not consider supplementary information received by the University after this deadline.

Admissions test

You must have taken the UCAT within two-years of applying. We don’t have a minimum threshold score; however, we will use UCAT scores in our application assessment procedure in deciding who to invite to interview.

Interviews

Should you be selected, you will be invited to attend an interview. We use the multiple mini interview (MMI) format, which is a series of short, carefully timed interview stations that you will rotate around in turn. All applicants must attend for interview if invited.

Where an applicant has been successful and invited to interview, a dummy date will be issued through UCAS. This is a requirement of UCAS and is NOT your interview date. The offer will state that you must disregard the date provided and that you will be contacted by email shortly.

Applicants should receive an email the following day directly from Bangor inviting them to select their own interview slot. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that they check their inbox, including their junk mail, regularly and book their interview slot. If you have not received an email within 48 hours of the invite via UCAS, applicants must email medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk. If you do not follow up and/or book your slot before the booking closing date, we cannot make alternative arrangements.

Entrance Exam

The Entrance Exam will be delivered in Bangor University using the Medicine School Council Assessment Alliance (MSCAA) platform. Candidates will undertake a Multi Mini Interview, followed by the exam.

The Entrance Exam will be mapped against the learning outcomes of Year 1 and will be standard set with faculty lecturers, with the addition of the most appropriate statistical method to set the pass mark as decided by the Standard-setting Group and psychometrician.

Please note the entrance examination does not apply to applicants coming from our recognised feeder streams (listed above).

Find out more about the Entrance Exam.

Enrolment conditions

All BMBS students will need to undertake a three week long Summer School. This will include clinical skills and an introduction to case based learning. This will take place in August before the start of the academic year. For more information see course content.

Before starting the course, all successful applicants will be required to undergo a health check, including screening for blood-borne viruses and tuberculosis, by our Occupational Health Service. If you are non-immune to Hepatitis B, you will need to complete a full immunisation programme before taking part in clinical procedures. Having a blood-borne virus or other infectious diseases won’t prevent you from completing this course and obtaining General Medical Council registration, but some specialities won’t be open to you during training or in your career. If you have a health issue that you think might have an impact on your ability to study or practise, please contact us before applying.

While it is not mandatory, we would encourage all applicants to be vaccinated against Covid-19 for their own protection and that of colleagues and patients.

Criminal convictions

If your application is successful, you will be required to complete a DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) before admission to the course.

If you have a relevant criminal conviction, this will be stated in the check and may affect your ability to enrol on the course. Applicants who are on the barred list should be aware that applying to this course is likely to be considered a criminal offence. Those with criminal convictions who are not on the barred list should contact medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk prior to application.

Previous study of medicine

Those who have previously studied medicine or other professional health programmes are required to notify us prior to application. If you did not complete your course due to criminal convictions or academic failure you should email medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk prior to application. If you did not complete your course for health reasons you should contact medicineconfidential@bangor.ac.uk prior to application.

Important information

• Entry requirements are subject to change year by year.
• All applicants should be permanent UK residents on the day of application. We will not consider those who are awaiting approval of permanent UK residency.
• All applicants must be 18 years old at the start of the course.
• Applicants can only apply to Bangor University for a maximum of two cycles.
• Applicant’s level 3 entry qualifications should not be more than five years old at the start of the course. This will be the case unless the applicant has been continuing in education in a relevant health-related subject area or working within a healthcare-related role. These should have been continuous from leaving level 3 education with limited or no gaps. Gaps between two different A Level (or equivalent) science subjects listed on our website should not be more than three years. Please email medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk for further clarification before applying.
• International qualifications will be considered on an individual basis. Please email medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk with copies of your qualifications before applying.

If you have any further questions about entry requirements, please email medicineadmissions@bangor.ac.uk.