Hull York Medical School (HYMS) is the joint medical school of the Universities of Hull and York, built around clinician-led problem-based learning and clinical experience that starts in the third week of Year 1. HYMS is ranked joint 10th out of 40 for Medicine in the Guardian University Guide 2027, with 96.7% of students satisfied with their teaching – one of the highest teaching satisfaction scores of any UK medical school – and 18th in the Complete University Guide 2027, up from 22nd in 2026.
Hull York Medical School offers an integrated curriculum, allowing you to “explore topics through a range of themes and disciplines, each presented in a clinically relevant context”. These are delivered using a variety of teaching methods, including:
PBL is central to your learning within the first two years; your PBL group is facilitated by an experienced clinician who also acts as your main pastoral contact, and you’ll stay with the same group throughout Year 1 before joining a new one in Year 2. More information about PBL at Hull York Medical School can be found here.
Hull York Medical School provide detailed information about their approach to teaching anatomy, including the use of prosection and opportunities to undertake dissection-based studies, through the Scholarship and Special Interest Programme or elective. Weekly anatomy sessions link back to your PBL case and combine formalin-embalmed and plastinated prosections with anatomical models, digital resources such as Complete Anatomy and Acland’s Video Atlas, and medical imaging including CT, MRI and ultrasound. You can also undertake whole-body dissection as part of an intercalated MSc in Clinical Anatomy. More information about teaching of anatomy can be found here.
You’ll undertake the following clinical placements throughout the programme:
You’ll also need to pass the General Medical Council’s Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) before you can join the medical register, and your MB BS is awarded jointly by the University of Hull and the University of York. More information about the curriculum, course structure and teaching methods at Hull York Medical School can be found here.
In your first two years you’ll be placed in or around your home campus city. From Year 3 onwards you’ll be allocated a base site of Hull or York each year and travel to placement sites across the region, including:
Each hospital site has dedicated teaching and communal space, a medical library and a student liaison team, and you’ll be allocated a clinical tutor who acts as your Educational Supervisor. You can see the full list on the clinical placements page.
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You’ll undertake a six-week elective at the beginning of your final year, providing you the opportunity to work within a specialist service within the UK or to travel abroad. Recent students have gone as far as Vanuatu, Nepal, Belize, Malaysia and South Africa, as well as to UK settings from Shetland to elite sport; the elective is self-funded.
Throughout the course you’ll also complete the Scholarship and Special Interest Programme (SSIP), a small-scale project in each year of the programme. Phase 1 themes range from medical humanities and health inequalities to experimental medicine, Phase 2 projects are clinically focused research, audit, quality improvement or teaching projects, and your Phase 3 SSIP takes the form of your elective. Beyond the curriculum, the INSPIRE programme and the student-run Student Research Society offer further routes into research, with many students presenting at conferences or publishing their work.
Hull York Medical School also offers the optional opportunity to undertake an intercalated degree, either after your second year (an intercalated BSc) or after your third year (a BSc, a Masters, or in exceptional cases a PhD). Options include clinical anatomy, immunology and infection, neuroscience, pharmacology and drug development, public health and health professions education, and you can choose to intercalate elsewhere in the UK or internationally. More information about this, including the intercalated degree programme options, can be found here.
Outside of the curriculum, Hull York Medical School has a vast range of medical specific societies you can get involved in, including the MedSoc at Hull or York, Wilderness Medicine, Teddy Bear Hospital, SurgSoc, Students for Global Health, the Cardiology Society, the Pre-Hospital Care Programme (where you can train with Yorkshire Ambulance Service as a Community First Responder) and sports teams. Both MedSocs also run a “medic parent” mentoring scheme pairing first years with a student in the year above.
The placement locations, which range “from rural and coastal communities to densely populated urban environments”, provide a diverse clinical experience.
Hull York Medical School also offers Medicine with a gateway year as part of their 'widening participation initiative designed to facilitate access to medicine for those from underrepresented backgrounds'. You can find more information about the 'gateway year' here.
Other selling points you could mention at interview include:
The typical entry requirements for 2027 entry are:
You must be aged 18 or over on 1 October in the year you enrol, and you must sit the UCAT in your year of application and achieve an SJT Band of 1, 2 or 3. A BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate is accepted in place of a third A Level alongside Biology and Chemistry, and a set list of approved Access to HE Diploma (Medicine) courses is accepted. There are 228 home places and 11 international places each year, and all applicants must complete HYMS’s Additional Information form by 30 October 2026 or their application will be rejected. You can find the full details on the entry requirements page, and compare schools in our guide to medicine entry requirements.
Widening access: HYMS scores contextual data for UK school leavers at both the interview selection and offer stages, and eligible applicants can receive a reduced offer of AAB (IB 35) if they meet two or more markers such as receiving a UCAT bursary, living in a POLAR4 quintile 1 or 2 area, being first in their family to attend university or attending a lower-attaining school, or one marker such as being care experienced, having refugee status, coming from a military background or from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background. An alternative offer of ABB is available if you complete a recognised widening participation programme, including UKWPMED schemes and Realising Opportunities. Some contextual applicants also get a fast track to interview with a UCAT decile of 4 or above (decile 5 for Realising Opportunities completers and Hull or York BSc Biomedical Science graduates), and the six-year Medicine with a Gateway Year route has a standard offer of BBC (IB 30).
Hull York Medical School uses the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format for its interview. For 2027 entry, Home fee status candidates will attend in person at the University of Hull and University of York campuses, and overseas fee status candidates will interview online – online interviews aren’t available to Home applicants. Panels include health professionals, academic staff, senior medical students and people from outside the medical profession, and you won’t be tested on medical knowledge.
The in-person MMI is scored out of 90 points across the following stations:
| Station | Points |
|---|---|
| Group exercise (groups of up to 10, facilitated by a PBL tutor) | 22 |
| Mini-interview 1 | 17 |
| Mini-interview 2 | 17 |
| Individual scenario station (pre-recorded video) | 17 |
| Student station (interviewed by senior HYMS students) | 17 |
Source: Hull York Medical School interviews page.
You’ll be given your first question for each interview station before you go in, plus five minutes’ thinking time, and each station has two interviewers who score independently. The online format for international applicants has six stations worth 15 points each – three mini-interviews, a student station, an individual scenario station and a group exercise in a group of up to six – with two minutes’ thinking time per virtual room. Across the whole MMI you’re assessed on teamworking, insight into a medical career, understanding of the NHS Constitution values, motivation, awareness of current medical issues, communication, your understanding of the HYMS course, personal qualities such as empathy and resilience, and critical thinking.
MMIs run each December and January, and offers are made after all interviews are complete, by the end of March. More information about each of the stations, as well how your MMI will be assessed and scored can be found here.
Before you’ll be invited to interview, most UK medical schools require you to pass an admissions exam.
Admissions exam for Hull York: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
The UCAT assesses the characteristics, attitudes and professional behaviours that you require for medical school. The exam now includes 4 subtests: Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement (SJT). Abstract Reasoning has been removed from the test.
For 2027 entry, the UCAT is being held between 13 July and 24 September 2026. You must sit it in your year of application, and you must achieve an SJT Band of 1, 2 or 3 – Band 4 is not accepted.
For Hull York Medical School, your UCAT score and Situational Judgement (SJT) band will be scored alongside your GCSE results and any contextual data to determine if you’ll be selected for interview. Your UCAT score and SJT band make up half of this scoring, and points are awarded for your total UCAT decile rather than your raw score:
| Interview selection component | Maximum points |
|---|---|
| Best six achieved GCSE grades (best five for the Gateway Year) | 35 |
| Total UCAT decile | 35 |
| UCAT SJT Band (Band 4 not accepted) | 15 |
| Contextual admissions points (UK school leavers) | 15 |
Source: Hull York Medical School selection procedure.
HYMS doesn’t publish a UCAT cut-off score, because applicants are ranked against others in the same cycle and the top scorers are invited – so the threshold moves each year. For 2025 entry, HYMS received 1,625 applications for Medicine, interviewed 904 applicants and made 796 offers, alongside 416 applications, 119 interviews and 111 offers for Medicine with a Gateway Year. Your personal statement isn’t scored, although it is read for borderline candidates and checked before offers are made.
The free Medibuddy UCAT question bank will help you to effectively prepare for all sections of the exam. By continuously assessing your strengths and weaknesses, it can carefully select questions that focus on the areas which you need to develop, to improve your overall UCAT score.
With the question bank dashboard (below) you can quickly identify the areas which you have “mastered” and those which you need to dedicate more time to.
Hull York Medical School specifies that you must achieve Band 1, 2 or 3 in the SJT. The question bank dashboard clearly shows how you’re performing, with your calculated skill level, the total number of questions answered and correctly, and your response time, to make it easier to judge if you’ll meet the minimum requirements for your chosen medical school.
For advice on how to prepare for the UCAT and more information about the exam, including test dates and fees, visit our UCAT page.
You can also see how other medical schools use the test in our guide to UCAT universities.
Tuition fees for students starting in 2026 are:
Fees for 2027/28 haven’t been confirmed yet and are subject to increase in line with government policy, so check the fees and funding page for the latest information. You’ll also need to budget for a stethoscope (typically from £90) and for placement travel, although travel schemes and bursaries are available.
Good luck with your application to Hull York Medical School! For more help, take a look at our guides to applying to medical school and the best medical schools in the UK.
