The principles described here apply to our standard process of selection for interview. The following categories of applicant each have amended processes, which are described elsewhere:
- Graduate
- Widening Participation
Further information on these categories can be found in the relevant sections (see 'Entry Requirements').
For information on how we score international applications, please see the 'Selection for interview - 5-year MBChB (International)' section further down this page.
We will apply the following selection process to all standard applicants:
- Applications will receive an overall score, which is the sum of weighted scores for each of three components: academic, UCAT and contextual
- The inclusion of a contextual element to the score replaces our previous method of assigning 20% of interview places to contextual applicants
- The weighting will be: 45% academic, 35% UCAT and 20% contextual. Please note, these are different weightings to those used in the 2020/21 application cycle
- We will not score your personal statement, but you must offer evidence of commitment to medicine (see 'Preparing to Apply')
Scoring an application
An application score is generated from GCSE and UCAT results as well as a contextual element as follows:
GCSE
Each application will receive a score for academic achievement based on results in seven GCSE (or equivalent) subjects. The subjects that will be scored are: English (both English Language and English Literature), Mathematics (or one, but not both, of Methods in Mathematics and Applications of Mathematics), Biology and Chemistry (or dual award science), plus two additional GCSEs in any subject. We will not exempt anyone from requiring a score for all identified subjects.
For the subjects specified above a minimum of grade B/6 must be offered and the scores allocated to the different grades are as follows:
8 or 9/A* = 4
7/A = 2
6/B = 1
For each of the two unspecified subjects, a score of 2 will be allocated when an 8 or 9/A*grade has been obtained. Lower grades will not receive a score.
The total GCSE score will be scaled to a maximum of 4.5.
Because we rank applicants according to a total score, we cannot define a GCSE grade profile that will be acceptable.
UCAT
There is no minimum UCAT cut-off score. Your total UCAT score from the four subtests (i.e. excluding the band result for the Situational Judgment Test, SJT), will be ranked among those for all applicants. The scores will be segregated into deciles and we will allocate our own score to each decile. For example, the top 10% of applicants’ scores will be in the top decile and will receive a maximum score of 3.5 in our process. For guidance, the decile ranges in 2020-21 are as follows (converted to a 0 – 3.5 scale):
Guidance on UCAT scoring
| Total UCAT score | Decile | Converted score |
|---|
|
2910 and above
|
10th
|
3.500
|
|
2790 - 2900
|
9th
|
3.111
|
|
2730 - 2780
|
8th
|
2.722
|
|
2670 - 2720
|
7th
|
2.333
|
|
2620 - 2660
|
6th
|
1.944
|
|
2560 - 2610
|
5th
|
1.556
|
|
2500 - 2550
|
4th
|
1.167
|
|
2420 - 2490
|
3rd
|
0.778
|
|
2320 - 2410
|
2nd
|
0.389
|
|
2310 and below
|
1st
|
0.000
|
It is important to note that the thresholds for each decile will be different for a new set of applicants. Therefore, the UCAT score applied to your application may differ from the above table but the difference is expected to be marginal.
The band score for the Situational Judgment Test (SJT) component of UCAT will be used at the interview stage.
Contextual
Applicants must have attended a contextual school to receive a score for this element.
Please note that the consideration of contextual information is not new.
One change we have made is to incorporate the contextual element into the algorithm used to score all applicants, instead of setting aside 20% of interview places for contextual applicants.
A second change is to incorporate POLAR4 data into our process.
We describe elsewhere the mechanism we use for identifying a contextual school and an explanation of POLAR4 (see ‘Entry Requirements MBChB (5 year)’).
Contextual School
View the list of schools that meet our contextual criteria. If you studied at one of these schools for GCSEs and/or A Levels, you will receive a score for the contextual element. Applicants from state (non-independent) schools in Wales will receive a contextual score.
POLAR4
You can retrieve your POLAR4 quintile from the Office for Students website: OFS Postcode Lookup.
We will allocate a score based on the following scheme:
POLAR4 scoring scheme
| POLAR4 Quintile |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5 |
|---|
| Allocated score |
2.0 |
2.0
|
1.6 |
1.2
|
0.8 |
|---|
How we select interview candidates
Selection for interview is determined by ranking applicants according to the total application score (combination of GCSE, UCAT and contextual scores, with a maximum of 10). We expect to interview over 1,100 standard applicants.
If this ranking does not allow us to identify an exact cut-off, we will rank applicants with the same score according to their UCAT results (focusing primarily on the score for Verbal Reasoning).
Please note that it is not possible to advise on the threshold score because this will vary each year according to the number and quality of applications we receive. For more detailed information regarding thresholds from previous application cycles, please see our application statistics document.
To find out if you are likely or unlikely to be offered an interview, please use our downloadable calculator tool. The guidance you receive from this is based on data from previous admissions cycles and also the projected impact of changes to the process. It is important to note that this tool is a guide only and does not guarantee either an invitation to interview or an offer to study at the University of Birmingham. We model historical data to ensure it is accurate in the majority of instances.
To ensure that we are identifying applicants with the necessary skills and aptitude, we will also consider all other information in an application, including your personal statement and reference, both before and after interview.