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How Medical Schools Decide Who Gets an Offer After the Interview
Every medical school interviews more people than it can take, so after the interviews each school has to rank its candidates and decide who gets an offer. Most rank on interview performance alone, some add your SJT band to your interview score, and a few blend the interview with your UCAT and grades. This article goes through how each university decides, and what you should know to give yourself the best chance of turning an interview into an offer.
Schools where the interview is all that counts
For most medical schools, once you get to interview it's your performance on the day alone that decides whether you get an offer. It doesn't matter if you had the highest UCAT in the pool or just scraped an interview: after being invited, every candidate starts level, and offers go to the highest interview scores until the places are filled. That's the case at 30 medical schools:
Some of these schools have a tie-break rule, which only comes into effect when two applicants have the same interview score at the cut-off. For most people it never applies, but for completeness:
| UCAT |  Bristol Keele Southampton St Andrews Liverpool |
|---|---|
| SJT band, then UCAT |  ARU |
| Rest of the application |  Edge Hill Leicester |
Schools that count SJT as an interview station
A few schools treat your SJT band as an extra station added to your interview score, with the same weight as any other station. A Band 1 gives you a head start, and a Band 3 or 4 leaves you roughly a station behind.
BirminghamBand 1 = full marks, Band 2 = two thirds, Band 3 = one third, Band 4 = 0
SheffieldSJT quartile scored out of 5, on top of eight stations
Newcastle*Band 1 = 5, Band 2 = 3, Band 3 = 1, as one extra station
UEA*SJT score counted inside the interview half
*Newcastle and UEA then blend that interview score with your academics or UCAT, so they also appear in the next section.
Two more schools don't treat the SJT as a station, but do score it and add the points to your interview total:
QMULBand 1 = 2, Band 2 = 1, Band 3 = 0, added to the interview marks
City St George'sRanked on combined MMI and SJT score
If your SJT is Band 3 or 4, see which medical schools to apply to with a low SJT band.
Schools that blend the interview with your UCAT or grades
At six schools your pre-interview score doesn't disappear. It's carried forward and combined with your interview score at a fixed weighting, so a strong UCAT or strong academics can lift a middling interview, and a weak one can drag a good interview down.
The interview carries at least half the weight everywhere except Aston, where it's only a quarter and your academic score does most of the work.
HYMS is a case of its own: it ranks on the interview, then adds up to 10 contextual points for widening-participation markers.
See where your UCAT and grades keep working after the interview
Enter your GCSEs, A-Levels and UCAT score and our free University Selector will show you where you have a good chance of an interview, with every decision linked to official university sources.
Schools that use a holistic approach
Three schools weigh everything together rather than ranking on a score. Don't assume the interview is all that counts.
- Cambridge colleges make a holistic decision: interview alongside academic record, UCAT and contextual data.
- Oxford interviews you blind of your UCAT, ranks you, then discloses your UCAT and SJT band to tutors before offers are finalised.
- Buckingham makes offers on combined assessment-day and interview performance.
What this means for your choices
- 1.If your UCAT or GCSEs are just over the line, favour the interview-only schools. Once you're invited, you start level with everyone else.
- 2.If your UCAT or academics are strong, the six blended schools give you a cushion. A top score keeps working for you after interview, so a nervous performance is less likely to sink you.
- 3.If your SJT is Band 3 or 4, be careful with the six SJT schools. You're giving away points to people who interview no better than you.
At most medical schools, the interview is the whole decision. Your UCAT and grades got you the invitation, but they don't come with you into the room. Prepare for the interview as if it's the only thing that counts, because at 30 of the 44 schools, it is.
Frequently asked questions
Do medical schools look at your UCAT after the interview?
At most schools, no. Thirty UK medical schools decide offers on interview performance alone, and a few of those only look at the UCAT again to break a tie. Six blend the interview with your UCAT or grades (Aston, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, UEA and Lincoln), and six add your SJT band to the interview score (Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, UEA, QMUL and City St George's).
Which medical schools make offers based on the interview alone?
Anglia Ruskin, Bangor, Bristol, Brunel, BSMS, Cardiff, Dundee, Edge Hill, Exeter, Glasgow, Hertfordshire, Imperial, KCL, Keele, KMMS, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth, QUB, Southampton, St Andrews, St Mary's, Sunderland, UCL, UCLan and the University of Greater Manchester. Some use the UCAT or the rest of your application as a tie-break only.
Does your personal statement matter after the interview?
Rarely as a score. Manchester says it isn't used in the offer decision at all. Edge Hill reads it only to separate tied scores, and Southampton and Imperial use it to shape interview questions rather than to rank you. The exceptions are Oxford and Cambridge, where tutors see your whole application, personal statement included, when deciding offers.
Do contextual applicants get an advantage after interview?
Only HYMS adds points to your post-interview score. Imperial says its offer threshold varies depending on whether you're classed as a widening-participation applicant, and Leicester may use contextual markers in a tie. Many schools, including Nottingham and KMMS, reduce the grades in your offer rather than change your ranking.