Become a Doctor

You can apply for our Graduate Entry Medicine with an Undergraduate degree, in any discipline. Head to our course page for our full entry requirements.

If you do not have an undergraduate degree, you can join our Pathways to Medicine programme – a group of BSc Medical Sciences courses – that offer the opportunity of a guaranteed interview for our Graduate Entry Medicine course, with a lowered GAMSAT score.  Visit Pathways to Medicine to find out more.

Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea is open to graduates of any discipline so you do not need a Science A level or degree to study Medicine with us. Instead, we rely on our admissions test, the GAMSAT, to demonstrate our applicants' scientific, analytical, and reasoning abilities. You can find our full entry requirements on our course page.

We do not allow transfers straight into our medical degree. This is because we have to be able to ensure all our students have met the requirements set out by our accrediting body the General Medical Candidate (GMC). We need to be able to ensure that all the students we are graduating meet the standards to practise safely and we can only do this by ensuring all our students follow the entirety of our innovative 4-year spiral curriculum.

Following withdrawal from another medical course, we will accept applications into the first year only on a case-by-case basis. We do not allow transfers, but we may allow students to start their medical degree again with us.

We will need a letter from their previous institution so we can be sure, that there were no misconduct or poor practice reasons behind your previous withdrawal. Should it be discovered at any later date that attempts have been made to conceal malpractice or disciplinary issues this will bring into question an applicant or students’ integrity and may result in an applicant being rejected or expelled from the course.

All medical graduates must complete their two years of Foundation Year Training . This is an additional 2 years of practice to help newly-qualified doctors to hone their skills and decide upon a clinical specialism.

Additionally it is important for a clinician to keep an understanding of advances in the science of Medicine and advances made in the field, so Doctors must complete CPD to keep on top of latest clinical practice techniques and skills.

You are never too old to become a doctor.  If you are committed to a competitive process to get a place to study medicine and can demonstrate a commitment to medicine you are perfect candidate to become a doctor.

Medicine (Graduate Entry) at Swansea is designed to give people a second chance to study Medicine. So no matter your stage in life we are ready to welcome you to study with us.

In the UK Medicine tends to be a 5-year undergraduate degree, and students who successfully complete this degree will be awarded a MBBCh or an MBBS. Once awarded a medical degree students will then move to their Foundation Year 1 (F1) and Foundation Year 2 (F2) posts, before becoming a Junior Doctor. So to become a fully qualified Doctor it will take 7 years; 5 years of study and 2 years of Foundation training.

At Swansea University, our medical degree is a Graduate Entry programme. These degrees require students to already have a degree and as such Graduate Entry Medicine is a condensed 4-year degree. Students will also graduate with an MBBCh or MBBS from a graduate entry programme and will still be needed to complete the F1 and F2 years of training before becoming fully qualified. This means becoming a fully qualified doctor through the graduate entry route will take 6 years; 4 years of study and 2 years of foundation training.

Placements will start in the first weeks of the course; our spiral curriculum approach will allow you to embed your learning in the classroom and lecture theatre into your practice. Placements and classroom-based learning will be approximately 50:50 in your first 2 years and in the second 2 years most of your time will be spent on placement with some learning taking place at the University.

Yes, electives are still an integral part of our course for students in their final year. Many students will choose to travel abroad for this to experience clinical practice in a different environment, whilst others may choose to undertake their electives in a variety of different environments in the UK. Following their elective, students are asked to complete a reflective portfolio on their experience at their elective.

Our interview is set up as two 20-minute panel interviews and a written task. One panel is your “Academic” interview, and this is undertaken by an Academic from the University and a current Medicine Student.  This interview will focus on your achievements to date and what has driven you to become a doctor. The other panel is a “Clinical” interview, undertaken by a practising doctor and a lay member of the public. This interview will seek to understand your ethical reasoning and uncover the type of doctor you will become. The written task is designed to allow you to demonstrate your situational judgement and reasoning.

Throughout the selection process, we are looking to explore your communication skills, your insight and integrity, and your commitment to becoming a doctor whilst also assessing your abilities to solve problems and cope with pressure.

In our interview process, one thing we are looking for is a commitment to medicine. Many applicants will be able to prove this through volunteering for care homes, St Johns Ambulance or similar organisations and groups. Personal experience is also relevant, for example if you have cared for a loved one at home.

Experience and volunteering in medical and care related settings will give you insight into medical practice. Drawing on your experiences in your interview will help you to show a commitment, drive and passion for becoming a doctor. 

All students must take an admissions test before submitting an application to study MBBCh Medicine (Graduate Entry) with us. We will accept GAMSAT or UCAT for Home applicants, and GAMSAT, UCAT or MCAT for International applicants. 

We recommend that you visit each admissions test page to note the registration deadline and sitting dates for each test. Please note that you do not need your admissions test score before submitting your application, we only require you to have sat an admissions test. All test scores will come to us directly from the test providers, but in some circumstances, we may ask you for your score. 

Results from our admissions tests will determine which applicants are invited to our Selection Centre for interview. For full details on our admisisons tests please visit our Graduate Entry Medicine course page. 

We accept GAMSAT test scores from the last four test sittings before the UCAS October deadline.

We accept UCAT scores from tests completed in the year of application. 

We accept MCAT test scores within 24 calendar months of the UCAS October deadline.