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Medicine (MB ChB) (2021 Entry)

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  • Course Type
  • Postgraduate Taught
  • Qualification
  • MB ChB
  • Duration
  • Full-time: 4 years
  • Location of Study
  • University of Warwick


Our four year MB ChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) is an undergraduate programme designed for graduates.

It is a challenging but extremely rewarding programme designed to help you become a highly competent, compassionate and strongly motivated doctor, committed to the highest standards of clinical practice, professionalism and patient care.


Our four year MB ChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) programme is designed for graduates. It is a challenging but extremely rewarding programme designed to help you become a highly competent, compassionate and strongly motivated doctor, committed to the highest standards of clinical practice, professionalism and patient care.

Our innovative and distinctive programme is the largest graduate-entry course in the UK, with an intake of 193 graduates each year (from 2018 entry). The course is taught by staff at the forefront of their subjects at the University of Warwick and at our regional hospitals. We offer innovative new facilities for teaching anatomy and clinical skills based at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

By the time you graduate, you will have developed the knowledge and key personal skills and attitudes necessary to pursue a successful professional career as a doctor.

Find out more information and details on how to apply on the Warwick Medical School website.

Important Information

Although a Bachelor’s Degree, this is a Graduate Entry course and is administered by the Postgraduate Admissions Service. For further information regarding entry requirements, work experience and course specifics visit our departmental website. For all other enquiries, please contact our PG Team.


Year One

Year One will be delivered through largely university-based teaching, including integrated clinical exposure in various settings. You will be allocated to small learning groups made up of around ten students of different backgrounds and experiences. This method of working enables everyone to bring their own skills and knowledge to the group so you learn from one another, which we strongly believe enhances your learning experience. You will benefit from cutting-edge anatomy teaching using plastinated specimens and 3D imaging, and will build your clinical skills through supervised day-to-day work with patients both in the hospital setting and in the Community.

Year Two

Year Two will begin with a similar learning environment to Year One. You will gradually increase the amount of time you spend learning in health care settings, so that by the middle of this year you will find yourself immersed in community and hospital-based clinical teaching.

Year Three

You will learn in the context of a series of specialist blocks, further enhancing knowledge around core subject areas and developing professional skills. The majority of your learning will be based in GP practices in the wider community and in hospitals through our partner trusts.

Year Four

The majority of your learning will continue to be based in the wider community and hospitals through our partner trusts whilst preparing you to start practice as a Foundation Year I (FY1) doctor. In addition, a six-week elective in a setting of your choice enables you to observe how medicine is practised in another country or in a different social, cultural and physical environment. Our graduates emerge committed to the highest standards of clinical practice, professionalism and patient care.


Case-Based Learning

Case-Based Learning (CBL) is at the core of the MB ChB curriculum and is integrated across all four years of the programme. CBL is a leaner-centred method of teaching and learning that we regard as ‘directed discovery’. It identifies what is essential to know about a patient case while encouraging students, individually and in small groups, to take an active role in identifying what they need to learn and how they can learn it.

Assessment

Students are assessed both formatively and summatively across all four years of the course.

Formative assessments help to inform learning and are normally placed at the end of each teaching block.

Summative assessments inform progression and take place at the end of Year One, end of Year Two, and in Year Four. The summative examinations consist of both a written and clinical element.

In addition, students must evidence engagement with the programme which includes demonstration of both academic and professional development, as well as a minimum attendance requirement.

Graduating students will receive a Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery. The final degree is unclassified. Awards of ‘with honours’ are based on a criteria determined by the Board of Examiners.

Work Experience

For 2021 applicants, WMS will now accept work relevant work experiences conducted over the past 4 years (from 15 October 2016 to 15 October 2020). The types of experience that we value include voluntary work in a nursing home, care home, hospice or hospital volunteer, as well as employment in professional healthcare roles and official community-based healthcare. Your work experience must include experience of the healthcare environment, ideally of the NHS, and of direct hands-on care of people/patients (not friends or family members) with healthcare needs. We strongly encourage you to attain a variety of work experiences, as this will provide a better insight and understanding of the demands and requirements of a medical career. More information about our work experience requirements can be found on the Warwick Medical School website.


Entry Requirements: To apply, you should have, or be predicted to gain, a minimum of an upper second class honours (2:1) degree (or overseas equivalent) in any subject. Candidates with a lower second class degree should hold either a Masters or a Doctoral qualification to be considered for entry to the MB ChB. More information about our academic qualification requirements can be found on the Warwick Medical School website.

All applicants must have gained at least 70 hours of work experience in a healthcare setting. Find out more about this requirement on the Warwick Medical School website.

UCAT: All applicants must take the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) or if appropriate, the UCATSEN. Please note that UCAT testing is available throughout the world. We use the UCAT verbal reasoning score as one of the predictors of success in certain examinations at medical school. Our first round of selection therefore identifies those with a verbal reasoning score at or above the mean for the cohort sitting UCAT in the year of application. More information about the UCAT can be found on the Warwick Medical School website.

Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) The General Medical Council (GMC) has decided to introduce a Medical Licensing Assessment – the MLA - from 2022 to demonstrate that those who obtain registration with a licence to practise medicine in the UK meet a common threshold for safe practice. Applicants should be aware that to obtain registration with a licence to practise, medical students will need to pass both parts of the MLA, pass university finals and demonstrate their fitness to practise.

For further information, please visit the GMC Medical Licensing Assessment website.

Additional requirements: You will also need to meet our English Language requirements.


For up-to-date information concerning fees, funding and scholarships visit our fees and funding webpages.

Additional course costs
There may be additional costs associated with studying this programme, such as personal clinical equipment – stethoscope, pen torch and laboratory coat, materials for research projects, printing, and travel costs between placements.

Students in their final year will undertake an elective of their choosing, which could be either home or abroad.

Students offered a place on the MB ChB programme will be required to submit a Disclosures and Barring Services (DBS) Enhanced check upon admission. MB ChB students are required to be re-checked every two years either by the DBS Update Service or full DBS enhanced check.

This information is applicable for 2021 entry.

Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our terms and conditions to find out more.


Upon successful completion of the MB ChB, graduates will be able to provisionally register with the General Medical Council and begin their Foundation posts. More information about the Foundation Programme can be found here.

Helping you find the right career

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant who works within Student Careers and Skills to help you as an individual. Additionally your Senior Careers Consultant offers impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events, tailored to our department, throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

  • Career Society at Medical School Event
  • AFP Interview Preparation
  • Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
  • Foundation Programme (UKFPO) Information evening

Find out more about our Careers and Skills Services.


There are a number of different ways to visit the University of Warwick throughout the year. We host bespoke PG visits, where you can talk directly with your chosen department and explore our campus through a personalised tour. Some departments also host their own events and open days, where you can learn more about your department or course of study. To find out more about all of these opportunities, visit the Warwick Medical School website.