University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine Interview

The University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine is a research-intensive Russell Group medical school where you’ll study at Southampton General Hospital, described by the university as “a top UK teaching hospital”. Southampton is ranked 21st out of 40 for Medicine in the Guardian University Guide 2027, with 87% of students satisfied with their teaching and a career prospects score of 99 out of 100, and 30th in the Complete University Guide 2027 – and it has one of the strongest student-staff ratios of any English medical school in the Guardian table.

Teaching Overview

The University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine uses lectures, classes and tutorials, coursework and independent learning to deliver its integrated modules, which are built around clinical topics rather than taught as separate basic science subjects. You’ll begin to gain clinical experience within the first weeks of your course and undertake the following clinical attachments throughout:

• Phase 1 (Year 1 & 2) – ‘the fundamentals of medicine’: You'll learn medical history-taking and examination skills in primary care and hospital settings, with your applied learning based around clinical topics such as head and neck cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart valve disease in Year 1, and liver failure, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, stroke, epilepsy and depression in Year 2.
• Phase 2 (Year 3) – ‘progression into clinical practice’: You’ll undertake three nine-week clinical placements in primary care and long-term conditions, medicine and elderly care, and surgery and orthopaedics, alongside modules in mental health and population and planetary health.
• Phase 3 (Year 4 – Y5 finals): Thirty-seven weeks in Year 4 covering acute care, child health, medical ethics and law, obstetrics and gynaecology and genitourinary medicine and psychiatry, plus speciality weeks in neurosciences, dermatology, head and neck, and ophthalmology. Phase 3 continues into the first half of Year 5 with placements in medicine, surgery and primary care.
• Phase 4 (Y5 after finals) – ‘preparing for independent practice’: A six-week ‘assistantship module’ in medicine and surgery, where you’ll work as an apprentice FY1 doctor, plus a student selected unit which can be an elective abroad or in the UK, a clinical placement, or a research or education project.

You’ll also attend shifts as a healthcare support worker, giving you a real insight into multi-professional teamwork before you qualify.

Anatomy is taught in the Anatomical Sciences Laboratory, run by Southampton’s Centre for Learning Anatomical Sciences, which holds “a significant high quality collection of prosected specimens, anatomical models and a collection of both a normal and pathological potted specimens”. You’ll need to buy a white coat for use in the anatomy laboratory.

You can find more information about the course structure and content here.

Teaching Hospitals / Clinical Partnerships

During the programme, you’ll study at Southampton General Hospital, part of University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, where you’ll also have access to the dedicated Health Services Library. In addition to this, you may also undertake clinical placements in:

• Partner trusts in Portsmouth, Winchester and Southampton, where your Year 3 placements take place
• A wide range of settings across the Wessex region in your final two years, including hospital trusts, GP surgeries, urgent care centres, the ambulance service and third sector organisations in the community

This spread of sites means you’ll see everything from tertiary specialist care in a major teaching hospital to community and district general hospital medicine, so be prepared to travel for some placements.

Extracurricular / Additional Opportunities

Throughout the programme you’ll have a wide range of choice, in the form of student selected topics within modules, as well as a final year student selected unit, allowing you to explore areas of interest. You will also have the option to study anywhere in the UK, or abroad, for your elective placement. There are opportunities to explore public, global and planetary health as well as medical humanities.

Research is embedded throughout the degree – you’ll learn from academics whose research has changed patient care, from pandemic response to cancer therapies, and build the research skills you’ll need as a doctor.

At the end of Year 3, you can also apply to intercalate: either a Master of Medical Science or MSc at Southampton, or an iBSc or MSc at another university. You can find out more on the BM5 course page.

Away from the curriculum, MedSoc is the student body for all Southampton medical students, supporting numerous sub-societies ranging from academic and charitable groups to sports clubs, and organising events, socials and student-led charitable work.

Selling Points

The University of Southampton offers a six-year ‘Widening Participation’ BMBS programme (BM6). This aims to widen access, with an alternative route into studying medicine, and is available to UK applicants who meet three of the six widening participation eligibility criteria as well as the academic criteria – the typical offer is BBB. You can find out more information about the programme here.

Southampton also offers an accelerated four-year programme, if you already have achieved a honours degree in any discipline, generally with a minimum 2:1 grade. You can find out more about Southampton’s Medicine BM4 Graduate Entry (BMBS) programme here.

Other selling points you could mention at interview include:

• Very early clinical experience, starting in the first few weeks of Year 1 and including shifts as a healthcare support worker.
• A research-led degree, with research skills built into the course and the option to intercalate for a Master of Medical Science at Southampton.
• A genuine commitment to widening participation, through the BM6 programme, contextual offers and places reserved for local applicants.
• A supported transition to foundation training, with a six-week assistantship in Year 5 where you work as an apprentice FY1 doctor.

Entry Requirements

The typical entry requirements for 2027 entry are:

• A Levels: AAA to include Biology and one additional science from Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Environmental Studies or Geography (with a pass in the practical element where separately endorsed).
• GCSEs: seven GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English language, mathematics and either biology and chemistry, combined science, or science and additional science.
• International Baccalaureate: 36 points overall with 18 at Higher Level, including 6 in Biology and one additional science.
• Graduates: an Upper Second-Class Honours (2:1) degree in any subject, plus four GCSEs at grade 4/C or above including English language, mathematics and science (there are no A Level requirements for graduate applicants).

You must be at least 18 years old at the start of induction week – younger applicants may be offered a deferred place. BM5 is open to both home and international students, with international applicants competing for a limited number of places and needing IELTS 7.0 overall and in each component. BTEC is accepted only as a Level 3 National Extended Certificate at Distinction alongside AA in Biology and one additional science at A Level (Applied Science isn’t accepted), and the Access to HE Diploma (Medicine) is accepted from approved institutions. Mature non-graduate applicants must be over 21 at the point of application. Full details are on the course page, and you can compare schools in our guide to medicine entry requirements.

Widening access: BM5 school leavers from the UK who meet two of the university’s contextual admissions criteria can receive a contextual offer of AAB (the standard GCSE requirement still applies). The criteria include having been in care for three months or more, living in a low-participation neighbourhood or an area in the most deprived 20% on the Index of Multiple Deprivation, having taken part in a recognised outreach programme, having received free school meals after the age of 14, being estranged from your parents, or having received a UCAT bursary voucher. The six-year BM6 programme is a separate route for UK applicants who meet three of six eligibility criteria (first generation to higher education, means-tested benefits, care experience, IMD lowest 20% postcode, free school meals or 16–19 bursary, or being a young carer), and a number of BM6 selection day places are reserved for applicants with a Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Dorset or Wiltshire postcode.

Interview Information

Southampton Faculty of Medicine include an interview and group task within their ‘selection days’. Your personal statement will be used as part of the selection day process, which will assess you against non-academic criteria, including:

• Your personal characteristics, for example your motivation and resilience
• Your ability to reflect on your relevant life experiences
• Your communication skills
• Your ability to interact with others
• Your understanding of the “values of the NHS constitution”

Selection days are held in person at the University of Southampton – there are no online or remote alternatives, no extra time is offered, and every applicant has to take part in the group task, although the faculty will make reasonable venue adjustments if you contact the admissions team in advance.

For 2027 entry, selection days will run from January to the end of February 2027, with the exact dates published in autumn 2026. Home applicants are invited two to three weeks before their selection day and international applicants five to six weeks in advance, and you’ll be emailed full event details once you’re invited. Alternative dates aren’t normally offered. Southampton aims to respond with a decision by the end of March 2027, and offers are made on your selection day performance, with your UCAT score used as a tie-break if scores are level. You’ll find more information about the selection day here.

Top Tips for your Southampton Interview

• Practise working in a group. The group task is compulsory and assessed, so get used to contributing clearly while bringing quieter people into the discussion.
• Know your application inside out. Selectors draw on what you wrote in your UCAS application, so be ready to expand on and reflect upon everything you mentioned.
• Learn the NHS Constitution values. Understanding them is one of Southampton’s five non-academic criteria, so have examples ready that show them in action.
• Reflect, don’t just describe. Southampton wants evidence that you’ve learnt from work experience, paid employment and personal experiences, in and outside health and social care.
• Plan your travel carefully. Interviews are in person only and dates can’t be swapped, so book travel as soon as you’re invited.

Admissions Exam

Most medical schools require you to pass an admissions exam before you’ll be invited for interview.

Admissions exam for Southampton: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)

The UCAT assesses your characteristics, attitudes and professional behaviours against those required for medical school. The exam is divided into 4 sections: Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement (SJT) and Verbal Reasoning. Abstract Reasoning has been removed from the test.

For 2027 entry, the UCAT is being held between 13 July and 24 September 2026, and you must sit it before the 15 October UCAS deadline in the year you apply.

Southampton Med School rank applicants by UCAT score and invite the top candidates to one of their selection days. Importantly, the university states that it “does not currently use the Situational Judgement Test”, so it’s your total cognitive score that counts. For 2027 entry, BM4, BM5 and BM6 applicants are all ranked by UCAT score, with BM6 local applicants ranked separately and the highest scorers guaranteed an invitation. Southampton doesn’t publish a cut-off score, explaining that the UCAT score of applicants attending a selection day “varies year on year”. Any figures you find online from cycles before 2025 were scored out of 3600 under the previous five-subtest format, so they aren’t directly comparable with today’s 2700-point scale.

Source: How to apply, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine.

To help you to successfully prepare for all sections, the free Medibuddy AI-powered question bank carefully selects questions based on your strengths and weaknesses within the syllabus, to ensure that you’re focusing on areas which will have the biggest impact on your UCAT score.

You can also clearly see in the question bank dashboard the areas you have “mastered” and those which you need to focus more time on.

It’s crucial that you prepare well for all areas to ensure that you get the best UCAT score possible and secure your interview place!

For more information and guidance, see our complete guide to the UCAT and our UCAT preparation tips.

You can also see how other medical schools use the test in our guide to UCAT universities.

Tuition Fees

The tuition fees currently listed on the BM5 course page for a year’s study are:

• Home students: £10,050 per year
• EU and international students: £35,900 per year for Years 1 and 2, rising to £64,900 per year for the clinical years (Years 3, 4 and 5)

Your fees cover tuition and all examinations, but not costs such as vaccinations, travel and parking for placements, or medical insurance for an overseas elective. Fees increase each year, so check the fees, costs and funding section of the course page for confirmed figures for your year of entry.

Key Dates for 2027 Entry

• 24 September 2026 – last UCAT test date
• 15 October 2026, 18:00 – UCAS application deadline
• Early November 2026 – the faculty receives UCAT scores
• November 2026 to February 2027 – applications screened and selection day invitations sent (2 to 3 weeks’ notice for home applicants, 5 to 6 weeks for international applicants)
• January to February 2027 – in-person selection days at the University of Southampton
• Late March 2027 – decisions made

Good luck with your application to Southampton! For more help, take a look at our guides to applying to medical school and the best medical schools in the UK.