We're currently reviewing our selection procedure for 2014.
Please revisit this page in June 2013 for more information.
Our selection procedure aims to be fair, open and transparent to all applicants. In this highly competitive field, the success of any application depends on its strength relative to all the other applications.
All applications are given full consideration, irrespective of the applicant's age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, marital or parental status, religion, social class, nationality, ethnic origin, or area of UK residence.
We and our parent universities are committed to a programme of widening access to higher education. Our admissions process selects applicants on the basis of their potential, and we will take account of evidence of educational, social, health or other personal disadvantage.
Details of our selection procedure
Selection for medical school implies selection for the medical profession. All medical school admissions teams are tasked with selecting those applicants with the potential to be the best doctors. We are guided by current thinking on what makes a good doctor; for example, The Role of the Doctor Consensus Statement, agreed in 2008, outlines the unique combination of attributes and abilities doctors require. We recognise the importance of a transparent selection process, and we agree with the Medical Schools Council's guiding principles for the admission of medical students, revised in 2010.
When you decide to embark on a career in medicine, you shouold consider the range of different careers available within the medical profession, and the education and training these involve. The majority of UK medical graduates will go on to work as hospital doctors or in primary care for the NHS. Significantly, up to 50% will become general practitioners, providing comprehensive health care for the local community. There is a broad spectrum of careers across medical, surgical and other specialties, and it should be noted that whilst many of these specialties have historically been hospital-based, healthcare is moving towards a more community-centred model of delivery, so doctors will increasingly be expecting to deliver healthcare in a range of settings.
All UCAS forms that meet our minimum academic criteria are read and scored by a trained HYMS assessor. We consider your personal statement and your reference together as one document. We don't consider unsolicited references or any additional information, except for evidence of mitigating circumstances.
Using a standard assessment sheet, we score your UCAS form. The scoring system for 2014 entry is under review. We assess the level of evidence you provide for each of the following personal attributes:
- motivation for medicine
- a realistic understanding of medicine, including hands-on experience of caring and observing healthcare in hospital and community settings
- self-motivation and responsibility
- communication skills
- ability to work with others
- other unusual qualities or life-experience
When writing about your work experience, we look not only for a list of what you've done but also for your reflections on what you learned about yourself, or the medical profession, from that experience.
Our selection procedure ensures that any declared disability or criminal conviction is not allowed to influence the UCAS form assessment.
If we find out that any of the information on your UCAS form is untrue or misleading, you may forfeit your offer or place at HYMS.
We're currently reviewing how we will use the UKCAT for 2014 entry.
We're currently reviewing how we will choose who to interview for 2014 entry.
We're currently reviewing our interview process for 2014 entry.
We're currently reviewing how we will make offers for 2014 entry, and we hope to publish more details soon.
Feedback
HYMS is a very popular medical school. We had 933 applications in 2012 for just 130 places, plus 123 applications from overseas applicants for just 10 places. So we will inevitably disappoint many people.
If you are unsuccessful in your application, we are happy to send you feedback. However, in line with the recommendations of the Schwartz report (September 2004), the only feedback we can provide is your numerical ranking in our scoring system. This is because our many excellent applicants are in fact competing against each other, and so we score applicants' relative strengths rather than their weaknesses. This also means we're usually not able to give specific advice on individual applications, except when the interviewers ask us to pass on specific feedback comments.
We will only be able to send feedback after February 2013, because of time pressures. To request it, you'll need to send us a letter, signed by you (not anyone else). We will write back only to your UCAS-registered address. We don't provide feedback in response to email or telephone enquiries. This is because of data protection issues -- we have to make sure that the information reaches only you and not any third party.
Please include your UCAS number in the letter and post it to the Admissions Office, Hull York Medical School, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD.
Adjustment, Clearing and UCAS Extra
We are unlikely to enter Adjustment or Clearing. We're currently in UCAS Extra for international applicants only.