Thread: What are the best British medical schools?

Hello, can anyone tell me what the best medical schools in England and other parts of the UK are? Also if it makes any difference I would be applying as an international, though from a Commonwealth country in the Caribbean if that matters for anything.

Which schools are known to be kindest to internationals in terms of acceptances?

Would being from a Caribbean Commonwealth country provide any benefit to me whatsoever in the admissions process?

And are there any exams I would have to take (like u need the SAT/ACT for American schools)?

Thanks in advance for the help. Any answers to the questions above would be greatly appreciated.

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The UKCAT is the admissions exam. There was a fellow on VMD recently who was accepted to Imperial (excellent school) and his experience might be of assistance to you -- try a search on this site. You could also look at the Irish schools, which are another desirable option.

Ok, thank you very much If it's not too much to ask, do you have any idea what the person's name was like?

Moving to UK and Irish Medical Schools Forum.

all medical schools are governed by the GMC - so technically there aren't 'better' and 'worse' ones. None of them are 'easy' to get into. It depends on what type of teaching you are looking to receive, whether you want to do 5 or 6 years and whether or not you want to get early patient contact.

In terms of acceptance in the UK,any university in London are more welcoming.Some universities in the countryside only admits students from that particular region.

The best universities are said to be:

UCL, IMPERIAL COLLEGE , EDINBURGH, KING'S COLLEGE, DUNDEE

In terms of recognition,they're all the same and they're all governed by the GMC as said above,so the quality is very similar,what changes is the teaching style(the newer ones are PBL),weather or not You have an early patient contact (like in Dundee,from year one) and some of them allow You to do an extra year abroad (Dundee and Aberdeen allow You to work in some African countries). They are all very hard to get into,but some are obviously more competitive and harder to pass.
The universities above are said to be very demanding,specially imperial,UCL and kings and they are a year longer than the other ones.
Edinburgh is extremely hard to get into and it's one of the oldest ones.
Dundee allows You to have experience abroad and You have patient contact from Year one.
OXFORD and Cambridge are said to be good too,but students say it's too old fashioned and boring,patient contact is quite late as well.

You do have to take the UKCAT before You apply and also,some extra exams for Cambridge and Oxford.
Being from a commonwealth country doesn't mean much I'm afraid,You're an international student anyway.
Hope that helps

Ok thanks for all the help. How hard is it to get into anyway? I know it's hard but to what degree? Like, impossible hard where basically only superstars get in? Because I looked on Imperial's website and they said they accept 21 internationals per year which is quite small to say the least..... and I'm almost sure they get a lot of applicants. Also, is UKCAT centered around material in high school? Or does it have college level problems on it?

The UKCAT is an aptitude test.It has nothing to do with biology and chemistry at all.It basically assesses how quick You are and how well You perform working under pressure.It's not possible to prepare for it,You can do some exercises to get used to the format of the exam,which covers reading,reasoning etc...Usually,universities like applicants who get 650+
How hard is it to get in???It varies from uni to uni.... In general,they are very selective,You don't have to be a super star to get in,but You need good grades and professional experience,competition is fierce.Overall 25 applicants per place,not impossible though.
Good luck

That's the thing though, how would someone who is just applying out of high school acquire professional experience? And that's weird, I thought that an entrance exam for a med school would at least have some bio and chem on it lol

You said that they accept about 25 internationals each, but how many apply on average or what is the acceptance rate like?

And when they look at your grades, what grade is it from? Because where I'm from, high school starts in grade 7 and goes to 13 so we have 7 years of high school but I know Canada has 5 years, US 4 years, etc. So how many years of high school do British students go through? Because I also know that they traditionally leave school at age 16+, while we leave school at 18-19+. So when does high school start in Britain or the UK in general, and when they are looking at our grades, would they be judging from grade 7- 13 or from wherever they (UK) start to 13? Because I know that in US for example, since high school starts in grade 9 for them, despite our high school starting in grade 7, they just consider grades 9-13. Thank you for all the help as I really don't have any idea about this.