The Medic Portal

11/01/2026

🌍 Thinking About Studying Medicine in the UK as an International Student? Here’s What You Need to Know 🩺🇬🇧

The UK remains one of the world’s top destinations for international medical students, offering globally recognised degrees, early clinical exposure, and diverse student communities. But before you apply, it’s essential to understand the costs, lifestyle, and application process.

💰 Tuition & Living Costs for International Medical Students

Medical school fees in the UK vary by university and location. As an international student, you can expect:

Tuition fees: approx. £30,000–£70,500 per year

Living costs: around £1,000–£1,500 per month, depending on where and how you live

The NHS offers UK domestic students bursaries in their final years, but not international students, but some universities will do the same for international students to compensate for this.

🏙️ Settling Into Life in the UK

UK universities are highly multicultural and welcoming, but your experience will depend on location.

Prefer fast-paced city life? London offers unmatched energy and opportunity.

Looking for something calmer? Many rural universities provide a quieter, close-knit student experience.

Want the best of both worlds? Universities just outside London combine campus community with city access - like the University of Hertfordshire.

Wherever you study, universities support international students with accommodation, healthcare, wellbeing, and social integration. And yes—medical students really do stick together. With the UK’s compact size, travelling and exploring the country is easy too ✈️🚆

📝 Applying to Study Medicine in the UK as an International Student

International applicants apply through UCAS, just like UK students—but there are key differences to watch for:

International-specific entry requirements

English language test scores (e.g. IELTS)

UCAT performance

Every medical school sets its own criteria, so researching each university carefully is critical.

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See our full guide here: https://www.themedicportal.com/blog/living-and-studying-in-the-uk-a-guide-for-future-international-medical-students/

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Discover what it’s like to live and study Medicine in the UK as an international student, with insights into student life, costs and applications.

09/01/2026

Do you know about the four pillars of medical ethics? 🏛️

💡 You need to understand medical ethics and be ready to answer ethics questions or tackle MMI stations that focus on this topic.

💡 Medical ethics describes the moral principles by which a doctor must conduct themselves. You need to understand the concept of medical ethics when you’re applying for medical school, but you aren’t expected to be an expert.

💡 Patient autonomy is one of the four pillars of ethics.

Patient autonomy is a fundamental principle in medicine that recognizes the rights of patients to make decisions about their own healthcare.

It emphasizes that individuals have the ultimate authority to determine what happens to their bodies and to participate in the decision-making process regarding their treatment options.

This means that healthcare professionals cannot impose treatments or interventions on patients without their informed consent. Instead, they must provide patients with all relevant information, including potential risks, benefits, and alternatives, to enable them to make informed decisions about their care.⁠

💡 Autonomy is one of the things you need to consider when you’re answering ethics questions in your interview. You need to think about the following things:

Have you explained fully the patient’s medical condition, their options for treatment and the advantages and disadvantages of those treatments?

Is the patient able to retain this information, evaluate their options and arrive at a decision?

Has the patient provided informed consent for our actions?

💡 If you're at interview, you could be asked a question like this:

What are the ethical issues involved with a depressed patient who has refused treatment, and admitted they’re having suicidal thoughts?

What are some of the ethical dilemmas associated with patient autonomy?

💡💡💡

If you want to learn more about ethics and beneficence, head to this link here: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/medical-ethics/medical-ethics-autonomy/

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07/01/2026

💡If you're still sitting around anxiously waiting to see whether your dream med school has invited you to interview or not yet, don't worry. Have a look to see which med schools you can expect to interview at in January.⁠
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Part Two coming soon (or full guide here: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/)! ✨⁠
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02/01/2026

Happy 2026! 🎉

We're now mid-way into the interview season for medical schools, and some schools have already stopped sending out interviews.

If you haven't gotten an invitation to interview from one of these universities, it may be that they will not be inviting you at all.

These universities are:
- The University of Cambridge
- Cardiff University
- The University of Oxford
- The University of Warwick

That said, the interview season is still young! Do not give up hope - there are many other brilliant med schools who will be continuing to interview. 💡

If you want to see which med schools are still interviewing in 2026, head over to the link here to see more: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/

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29/12/2025

Do you know about the four pillars of medical ethics? 🏛️

💡 You need to understand medical ethics and be ready to answer ethics questions or tackle MMI stations that focus on this topic.

💡 Medical ethics describes the moral principles by which a doctor must conduct themselves. You need to understand the concept of medical ethics when you’re applying for medical school, but you aren’t expected to be an expert. Last week we discussed beneficence

💡Non-maleficence is another one of the four pillars of ethics.

The concept of non-maleficence is derived from the Latin phrase “primum non nocere” (“first, do no harm”). It can be applied to assessing the risks of medical procedures – or ensuring that all treatments and medical advice are administered by professionals with appropriate qualifications.

The need to learn and gain practical experience is also often correlated with the pillar of non-maleficence.

🚨 Non-maleficence differs from beneficence.

If a treatment causes more harm than good, then it should not be considered. This is in contrast to beneficence, where we consider all valid treatment options and then rank them in order of preference.

💡 If you're at interview, you could be asked a question like this:

Does euthanasia have a place in modern medicine?

What are the ethical issues associated with abortion?

What are the ethical issues if a 14-year-old patient asks her GP for the oral contraceptive pill?

💡💡💡

If you want to learn more about ethics and beneficence, head to this link here: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/medical-ethics/medical-ethics-non-maleficence/
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24/12/2025

oh boy! i hope this year i get empathy!

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21/12/2025

Do you know about the four pillars of medical ethics? 🏛️

💡 You need to understand medical ethics and be ready to answer ethics questions or tackle MMI stations that focus on this topic.

💡 Medical ethics describes the moral principles by which a doctor must conduct themselves. You need to understand the concept of medical ethics when you’re applying for medical school, but you aren’t expected to be an expert.

💡Beneficence is one of the four pillars of ethics.

Beneficence is a core principle in medical ethics that guides practitioners to act as they believe is in the best interest of the patient. Unlike non-maleficence, it goes beyond simply doing no harm and encourages to actively help others.

💡 It might be useful to think of beneficence as of the process of ranking the available options for the patient from best to worst, taking into consideration the following aspects:

- Will this option resolve this patient’s medical problem?
- Is it proportionate to the scale of the medical problem?
- Is this option compatible with this patient’s individual circumstances?
- Is this option and its outcomes in-line with the patient’s expectations of treatment?

💡 If you're at interview, you could be asked a question like this:

Why is it important to consider the best interests of a mother in cases involving abortions?

What should be done if a patient refuses treatment for a life-threatening condition?

💡💡💡

If you want to learn more about ethics and beneficence, head to this link here: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/medical-ethics/medical-ethics-beneficence/

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What is beneficence? Read our guide to find out and get to grips with an example scenario for this key pillar of ethics.

19/12/2025

Did you know? 💡 MMIs are now the most common type of interview for dentistry, so you’ll need to prepare for this interview format.

The interview is broken down into multiple different stations – usually somewhere between 4 and 10 stations, depending on the university. Each station typically lasts 10 minutes or less.

But what will you get asked at one of these MMI stations? 💡

🦷 It’s very likely that you will be tested on your understanding of dental ethics during your MMI interview.

You should understand the General Dental Council’s standards for dentists and the four pillars of ethics for healthcare professionals:

These are beneficence, non-maleficence, patient autonomy and justice.

🦷 As an aspiring dentist, you’re expected to have some knowledge of current issues in the world of dentistry.

Example questions may include:
🦷 Do you think that all dental treatment should be free on the NHS?
🦷 What specific issues do the elderly face in terms of oral health care?
🦷 What challenges could dentists have in the next few decades?

🦷 In a roleplay station, you will be given a scenario and asked to interact with an actor. You could be told that you are a dentist and the actor is playing the role of e.g. a reluctant/phobic patient, a child patient, a patient who is objecting to an aspect of their treatment, or a colleague who is doing something wrong.

The roleplay scenario isn’t always dentistry-related.

🦷 Manual dexterity involves being able to use your hands/fingers to complete tasks with a high level of precision. If you don’t already have a hobby that requires manual dexterity, it might be worth starting one to practise this skill.

In your MMI, you might face a practical station designed to assess your manual dexterity skills. Or you might be asked to tell interviewers about your manual dexterity skills and how you have made an effort to develop them.

🦷🦷🦷

We have a full guide at our website. Head over to the link here to find out more: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/dentistry/dentistry-interviews/dentistry-mmis/

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17/12/2025

🧑‍⚕️Going into interview season, we're going to be doing side-by-side comparisons of the different interview processes at different med schools.⁠
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👉 This week we're looking at the University of Edinburgh and Kent and Medway Med School.⁠

👉 Interviews for the University of Edinburgh are sent out on a rolling basis. Interviews for Kent and Medway are sent out from November. At Kent and Medway interviews run from January, and interviews at the University of Edinburgh run from December-January.

👉 Edinburgh and Kent and Medway both use an MMI selection day followed by a group assessment.

👉 Edinburgh University scores applicants based on their academic achievements.

Kent and Medway Medical School first considers applicants based on minimum GCSE requirements and a UCAT threshold, before ‘contextualising everyone’. (more here: https://kmms.ac.uk/entry-requirements-2025/)

👉 Edinburgh will interview you on:

– Teamwork
– Communication
– Motivation to study Medicine
– Why Edinburgh?
– Scotland area and diversity
– Work experience

👉 Kent and Medway will interview you on:

– Resilience
– Commitment to medical training
– Commitment to quality of care, compassion and improving lives
– Communication

We have a full table comparing interview processes on our website.: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/

Where do you want to see next? Comment below. 👇⁠

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14/12/2025

💡Which dentistry schools are using MMI interviews?

💡MMIs are now the most common type of interview for Dentistry, so you’ll need to prepare for this interview format.

💡MMI stands for Multiple Mini Interviews. This type of interview requires you to complete a series of short assessments, in which you will answer a variety of questions and demonstrate different skills.

The interview is broken down into multiple different stations – usually somewhere between 4 and 10 stations, depending on the university. Each station typically lasts 10 minutes or less.

Next week, we'll be looking at what kind of questions you'll be getting asked at a dentistry MMI station. ✅

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12/12/2025

🧑‍⚕️Going into interview season, we're going to be doing side-by-side comparisons of the different interview processes at different med schools.⁠
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👉 This week we're looking at the University of Manchester and the University of Newcastle.⁠

👉 Interviews for the University of Newcastle run from December to January and are sent out on a rolling basis. At Manchester interviews run from December to March.

👉 Manchester and Newcastle both use an MMI selection day.

👉 Manchester starts by screening all applications to ensure academic requirements meet their threshold for that year. A threshold is also set for the UCAT.

At Newcastle, applicants who pass initial academic screening are ranked based on their UCAT score alone.

👉 Manchester will interview you on:

– Communication
– Motivation to study Medicine
– Work experience
– Medical ethics
– Current interest points in Medicine/ medical research

👉 Newcastle will interview you on:

- Roleplay
- Ice breaker at first station
– Integrity, honesty and probity
– Empathy and self-awareness
– Compatibility with Medicine

We have a full table comparing interview processes on our website.: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/

Where do you want to see next? Comment below. 👇⁠
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10/12/2025

Let's practice a medical ethics question. 💡

During your med school interview, you'll have to discuss medical ethics on an incredibly complex range of topics. The following is an example you may get at interview:

'What is patient confidentiality, and when it is appropriate to breach it?'

Discuss the ethical issues involved.'

💡 In this dilemma, there are several things to consider.

You need to have an understanding of what patient confidentiality means and what kind of information it covers.

You may wish to mention implied consent, where a patient is aware that a doctor will share information about them to other individuals in the healthcare team to provide the patient with the best possible care.

Explain how a doctor is duty-bound to abide by the regulations that are in place to protect patient confidentiality, and how professional duty should always come above personal beliefs.

⚠️There are also some very common mistakes to avoid:

Not knowing the actual meaning of patient confidentiality.

Not knowing the situations that patient confidentiality is applied in. As a medical student, you will also be bound by the rules of patient confidentiality.

Mentioning incorrect situations where patient confidentiality can be breached, or saying that it can never be breached. It is better not to mention specific scenarios if you are not confident that they are correct.

💡 💡 💡

The answer guides to these ethics questions are put together by medics who have successfully navigated interviews at top Medical Schools. We have a full guide on our website - head to the link here: https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/medical-school-interview/medicine-interview-questions/ethics-questions/
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