Aston University Medical School is based in the heart of Birmingham city centre. It welcomed its first students in 2018, and received full approval from the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2023, when its first doctors graduated. Aston is ranked 37th out of 40 for Medicine in the Guardian University Guide 2027, with over 91% of students satisfied with their teaching, and 36th in the Complete University Guide 2027 (up from 37th in 2026).
Aston University Medical School offers a “patient-focussed and student-centred” curriculum, using a range of teaching methods, including:
The curriculum is taught over five years in two phases. In Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2), you’ll build your understanding of the fundamentals of medicine, working through the body systems alongside topics such as public and global health, pharmacology and the psychological and sociological aspects of medicine. In Phase 2 (Years 3 to 5), you’ll move into clinical apprenticeships, learning mainly on placement.
You'll gain clinical experience early, with a placement in the first term of Year 1. The curriculum information outlines the following clinical placements:
Phase 1:
Phase 2:
Aston’s facilities include a clinical skills centre, a simulated hospital ward and a critical care simulation unit with high-fidelity manikins, so you can practise your skills in a safe environment before and alongside your placements.
Aston University Medical School works with a network of carefully selected NHS trusts and over 100 GP surgeries, with a particular emphasis on primary care. Placements take place across the West Midlands, and partner hospital trusts include:
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A Student Selected Component (SSC) is offered within Year 3, 4 and 5, providing the opportunity to study an area of particular interest. As part of your SSC, you may be able to complete a research project with the Aston Medical Research Institute, which focuses on areas such as maternal health, mental health, cardiovascular medicine and regenerative medicine.
Following your finals in Year 5, you will have the opportunity to complete a six-week Elective; this can be undertaken anywhere in the world, provided it is suitable.
Aston also strongly encourages students to intercalate, normally after Year 3. Options include BSc and MSc programmes in areas such as biomedicine, artificial intelligence for health, neuroscience and public health, and eligible students who intercalate at Aston have their tuition fees paid at the home rate and receive a stipend. You can find more information on Aston’s intercalated degrees page.
Aston University Medical School is partnered with NHS trusts and primary care providers with “an exceptionally diverse range of communities and settings, such as inner-city areas, towns and rural locations”, which will expand your clinical experience.
Other selling points you could mention at interview include:
The typical entry requirements for 2027 entry are:
T Levels and Access courses aren’t accepted. You can find the full list of accepted qualifications on the course page. For a comparison with other medical schools, take a look at our guide to medicine entry requirements.
It’s important to note that predicted grades aren’t used at any stage of the selection process, so your GCSE results play a big role in whether you’re invited to interview. You must also be at least 18 years old by 1 October in the year you start the course.
Widening access: eligible applicants can receive a contextual offer of AAB, with As in Chemistry and Biology. Aston also runs the Wesleyan Pathway to Medicine programme for students in Years 12 and 13 in the West Midlands, which can lead to a reduced offer. You can find more information on the widening participation page.
Aston University Medical School uses the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format for its interviews, and all MMIs are held online. Each station tests a different attribute, and some stations may involve an actor or a scenario to discuss with the assessor. For 2025 entry, the MMI was scored out of 50, with a maximum of 10 marks at each station.
As mentioned previously, the MMI will not be assessing your medical knowledge, but rather ensuring that you have the personal attributes required for a career in medicine. As outlined on their website, Aston University assesses attributes including:
Interviews normally take place between December and March in the year of your application. If you’re invited, you’ll be able to choose from a number of dates. Your personal statement isn’t scored, but it may be used during your MMI.
For more information and guidance for taking the MMI at Aston Medical School visit their website here and the AMS Advice Zone.
Most medical schools require you to pass an admissions exam before you’ll be invited for interview.
Admissions exam for Aston: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
The UCAT is designed to assess your characteristics, attitudes and professional behaviours that are required for medical school. The exam is now made up of 4 sections: Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement (SJT). Abstract Reasoning has been removed from the test.
Aston Medical School requires you to complete the UCAT in the same year in which you apply. As the UCAT can only be taken once per year, this means you will not have an opportunity to resit the exam, should you not pass or score as highly as you’d like. Therefore, it’s essential that you prepare well for the exam! For 2027 entry, the UCAT is being held between 13 July and 24 September 2026.
Aston doesn’t publish a UCAT cut-off score. Instead, applicants are ranked using a combination of their academic score (out of 24, based mainly on your GCSEs) and their total UCAT score, and the highest-ranked applicants are invited to interview. Your SJT band isn’t scored. Offers are then made based on your academic score, UCAT score and MMI score combined. Home, widening participation and international applicants are ranked separately.
For 2025 entry, the scores of applicants invited to interview were as follows:
| Score | Lowest invited to interview | Average invited to interview |
|---|---|---|
| UCAT (all applicants) | 2320 | 2696 |
| UCAT (home applicants) | 2460 | 2743 |
| Academic score (out of 24) | 22 | 23.84 |
Source: Aston Medical School FAQs. These UCAT scores are based on the previous UCAT format, which included Abstract Reasoning, so they aren’t directly comparable with scores from the current test.
To help you prepare, there’s the free Medibuddy question bank, which uses artificial intelligence to carefully select questions based on your individual strengths and weaknesses within the syllabus. This ensures that you’re focusing on the areas which will make the biggest difference to your UCAT preparation and ultimately your UCAT score.
You can also see exactly how you’re performing in each of the 4 sections with the question dashboard (below), so you can identify the areas that you’ve “mastered” and those which you need to spend more time on.
You’ll find more information in our complete guide to the UCAT and tips on how to prepare on our website.
You can also see how other medical schools use the test in our guide to UCAT universities.
Tuition fees for students starting in 2027/28 are:
Check the course page for the latest information.
Good luck with your application to Aston! For more help, take a look at our guides to applying to medical school and the best medical schools in the UK.
