King's College London

If considering applying to study medicine, we advise you check details in this website - GMC Outcomes for Graduates – that sets out the skills, procedures and levels of competence newly qualified doctors must have, so they can practise safely when they start work.

 

Academic achievement

You should carefully check that you will meet the minimum academic standards before making an application. Please note that many applicants meet the minimum requirements and so all applications are considered within a competitive environment.

Contextual consideration

As part of the assessment process, we take into account contextual information to gain a more complete picture of each application. More information can be found on the Contextualised admissions website. Please note, we do not make contextual offers for this programme and applicants eligible for contextualised admissions should consider applying to our Extended Medical Degree Programme MBBS (A101). 

Deadline to meet requirements

In order to enrol onto our programmes, successful offer holders must be able to evidence that they can meet our requirements by the beginning of August in the year of entry. Any applicants who feel that they could be eligible for the programme but who will not be able to provide evidence of meeting our requirements by August should instead apply in a later application cycle when they are able to do this.

Deferrals

Deferral requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and are not guaranteed for this programme.

We are unable to defer Overseas fee paying applicants for this programme, however, we are able to make an exception for those who defer due to military/national service.

For Home fee paying applicants, applications can be submitted for deferred entry by choosing the appropriate year of entry on the UCAS application. If your circumstances change and, therefore, you need to request a deferral after an offer has been made, then we can generally permit these for this programme. However, each deferral request will be considered on a case-by-case basis and we reserve the right to decline any post-offer deferral request. Requests should be submitted via a message on King’s Apply with an explanation of the reason for making the request.

Graduate applicants to Medicine A100

Suitably qualified graduate applicants to Medicine are welcome to apply to our five-year programme (A100). Any interested applicants should check very carefully that they meet the requirements for the programme.

• Bioscience graduates will be considered with minimum 2:1 (upper second class honours) undergraduate degree (or international equivalent) in a Biosciences subject with both Biology and Chemistry content. 
• All other graduates will be considered with minimum 2:1 AND grades AA at A-Level in both Biology and Chemistry (or international equivalent)

In addition, all applicants are required to meet the GCSE requirements for the programme.

Qualified graduate applicants who are eligible for both our four-year Graduate/Professional Entry Programme (A102) and our five-year programme (A100) are welcome to make an application for both. However, due to the competition for places it is only possible to consider applicants for the programme they apply for. As such, the only way to be considered for both programmes is to apply for both programmes.

Foundation courses

Applicants studying Foundation Year programmes in the UK are welcome to apply for this programme. Foundation programmes from other universities and further education providers in the UK are considered on a case-by-case basis. Whether or not we can consider a particular foundation year as suitable for study at King's depends on the content of the syllabus and modules studied. In the past we have accepted foundation programmes from a number of other institutions.

We are unable to accept Foundation programmes that are integrated as part of a main degree at another institution. These may be called Year 0 or Integrated Foundations. We are also unable to accept non-UK Foundation courses.

Once you have submitted an application, the Admissions Office may contact you via King's Apply to ask for further details on your qualification, such as a list of modules and course specifications.

The King's International Foundation Programme has pathways available for progression onto our King's undergraduate degree programmes.

King's International Foundation – Health, Life & Biosciences Pathway

International students studying King’s International Foundation Programme - Health, Life & Biosciences Pathway can now apply to Medicine MBBS. To be eligible for the Foundation, you must meet the English language and academic entry requirements, including having followed a school curriculum abroad (in a non-majority English speaking country) that would not allow you to apply for direct entry to a UK university otherwise (for example your country’s national high school diploma), and have not completed an international qualification like A-Levels or International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. Before starting the King's International Foundation programme, students will need to ensure that they also meet the Medicine MBBS entry requirements (including the UCAT). Eligible students that successfully apply to Medicine are guaranteed an interview for the 5-year MBBS programme.

Personal statement and reference

Your personal statement is one of the many factors in the overall assessment of your application. We are looking particularly for evidence of appropriate commitment to, and realistic appreciation of, the academic, physical and emotional demands of a medicine degree programme and career. We would normally expect that you will have undertaken some work experience in a caring environment and/or observation in a Medical clinical setting. If this is not possible, we look for evidence that you have worked in a setting where you can interact with the general public, eg in a pharmacy, check-out or restaurant.

Communication skills and the ability to work successfully in a team are of great importance. We look for applicants who have participated as fully as possible in school or college life, making the most of the opportunities available to them and also demonstrated some experience of society beyond their immediate environment.

Your interests, achievements and contribution to your community are taken into account in addition to academic ability. We aim to ensure that all of our students can cope with the heavy academic workload of the programme and display those professional qualities, skills and attitudes that help to make competent and caring medical professionals.

We would expect your application to be strongly supported by your referee both in terms of academic achievements/potential and in terms of your character and suitability for medicine.

Shortlisting

When considering those students which will be shortlisted for interview the selectors consider the following; GCSE (or equivalent performance), predicted or achieved A-level grades (or equivalent), the personal statement, the reference and the score in the UCAT. These contribute to the shortlisting of candidates, and we do assess for this programme holistically, taking in to account all these factors and your performance in the context of your educational background. Examination results and the UCAT score are perhaps the most important factors when considering applications. These are highlighted as they provide us with the fairest and most consistent method of assessing applicants.

The interview

No offers are made without an interview. Interviews are held between November and May and you must be available for interview in order to be considered for admission. A large number of applications are received for Medicine and although we recognise that this is an anxious time for you, all applications are carefully considered and therefore you should not expect a decision post-interview until the cycle has completed in May.

Interviews are an essential part of the assessment process, and our interviewers are assessing communication skills, exploring general social and ethical issues, normally health related, and assessing the interviewee’s general suitability for the programme and as a health professional, as well as how the interviewee will contribute to the university as a whole.

Information regarding interviews will be detailed in the information communicated via King's Apply to those who are invited to an interview.

We operate a “fit-to-sit” policy for interviews, therefore, we are unable to take into account mitigating circumstances for the interview performance. If there are any issues within the interview which you consider affected your performance, you should ensure these are raised with the Admissions team at the time. 

Receiving a decision

There continues to be considerable pressure on the available places for students wishing to study Medicine. Applications each year for our undergraduate medical programmes are around 5500 for a total of roughly 410 places. Around 4000 of these applications are for A100. 1200–1400 applicants are selected for interview across all medicine programmes and there are around 300 places available on A100. We aim to notify all applicants of final decisions by the end of May at the latest.

Resits

In a standard admissions cycle, we are able to consider applicants who have retaken their qualifications, however, you should bear in mind that your application for this programme will be reviewed alongside other strong applicants who might be viewed more favourably if they achieved the required grades within a standard timeframe, for example, a two year period for A-levels. We will only consider second resits if there are significant mitigating circumstances. In these situations we still cannot guarantee that your application will be considered, but you should submit a Mitigating Circumstances form so that this can be considered alongside your application. Please note, we consider taking the same subject again at the same level, even within a different qualification, to be a resit.

We consider applicants who have recently achieved grades which are below the entry criteria, and have subsequently studied/are studying another qualification to seek entry, such as an Access to HE Diploma or a Foundation programme, to be resit applicants.

Transfers

Transfers into this programme are not permitted.

UCAS Choices

A maximum of four choices on the UCAS form may be made for programmes which lead to a professional qualification in medicine. You may add one of the following alternative non-health programmes to your UCAS application: Anatomy, Developmental & Human Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics, Pharmacology, Physiology, Neuroscience, Biomedical Science. Please be assured that you will be considered as having a full commitment to medicine whether you include a non-health programme choice or not.