Aston University Medical School offers a “patient-centered” curriculum, using a range of teaching methods, including:
The curriculum is taught over five years in two phases. 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:
Gain access to a recording of our free webinar and find out what a day in the life of medical student Helen looks like. There's also videos covering all aspects of medical school applications and the UCAT.
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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.
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 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.
Aston University also offers medical students the opportunity to complete a certificate in Health Leadership to enhance your leadership skills.
Aston University Medical School uses the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format for its interviews. It specifies that your MMI will consist of between seven and ten different stations.
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:
For 2024 entry, Aston Medical School's MMIs took place online using Microsoft Teams. Interviews take place between December and March in the year of your application.
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 made up of 5 sections: Abstract Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement (SJT) and Verbal Reasoning.
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!
To help you to do this, 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 5 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.
