School of Medicine – Variation to admissions policy for 2027 entry

This policy provides detail on the additional requirements of the following programmes offered by the School of Medicine:

• MBBCh Medicine (A100)
• MBBCh Medicine Feeder Stream (A101)

Note: this policy should be read in conjunction with the Cardiff University Admissions Policies and published entry requirements.

1. Pre-application eligibility checks

1.1 To be eligible to apply for these programmes you must:

a) be 18 years of age by 20 September of year 1 (please see the age on entry policy for more information),

b) and fulfil the Fitness to Practice regulations and eligibility to pursue regulated programmes requirements (please see the Fitness to Practise and eligibility to pursue regulated programmes policy for more information),

c) and meet the minimum entry requirements at Level 2 (typically GCSE) and Level 3 (typically A level), including grade and subject requirements.

2. Entry requirements

2.1 The typical entry requirements for GCSEs, A level, BTEC, International Baccalaureate (IB), and T Level applicants (hereafter referred to as “standard entry requirements”) are published on Coursefinder and UCAS (including grade and subject requirements, and whether or not these qualifications are accepted).

2.2 All applicants must provide evidence of prior academic capability in externally moderated, publicly validated examinations, e.g., GCSE, IGCSE, or equivalent qualifications. For applicants with UK qualifications, only those that are defined in the National Database of Accredited Qualifications are acceptable.

2.3 English Language requirements must be met and achieved at the point of application. Applicants with an achieved English Language test that meets the minimum requirements, but expires between the application deadline date and the date of enrolment (e.g. IELTS), will be subject to a Conditional Offer if successful in receiving an offer.

2.4 The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) eAssessment is an acceptable level 2 qualification.

2.5 Non-standard entry requirements: Applicants who do not meet the standard entry requirements should refer to the appendices for further guidance.

2.6 Applicants to A101: Applicants to A101 must meet the entry requirements for A101 published at the point of entry to one of the approved feeder streams, as detailed in the progression agreement with the partner institution.

2.7 Additional requirements at A level: Only one Biology subject at A level (from Biology, Human Biology, or other biology variants) will be considered.

2.8 Resits at level 2: We will only accept Level 2 (e.g., GCSE) resits completed within 12 months of the original sitting except English Language which has no time limit. All resits must be completed and grades achieved prior to application.

2.9 Resits at Level 3: Resits at Level 3 are ordinarily not permitted. Consideration of Level 3 resits will only be granted to applicants who accepted a conditional offer for Medicine at Cardiff University in the previous admissions cycle and can provide verified evidence of extenuating circumstances. Such evidence will be reviewed and approved by a senior panel comprising academic and clinical staff.

All supporting documentation must be submitted to the School of Medicine Admissions Group (via medadmissions@cardiff.ac.uk) no later than 20 September. This deadline ensures that the evidence can be evaluated and a formal decision reached prior to any reapplication.

Applications where modules have been re-sat in either AS level or A level, on the understanding that the full Level 3 qualification is completed within the standard two-year A level period are considered.

2.10 A minimum of 3 A levels (or equivalent) must be completed over the standard 2-year period. Applicants unable to meet the 2-year completion timeframe due to extenuating circumstances must contact medadmissions@cardiff.ac.uk no later than 20 September. Evidence will be required for discussion with senior academic and clinical staff.

2.11 Applicants who choose to take an additional A level after completing 3 A levels must achieve AAA in their original three subjects.

2.12 UCAT: All applicants are required to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) during July to October of the year of application. Test results obtained in previous years are not accepted. The UCAT decile ranking will be used as part of the interview shortlisting or offer selection process. There is no fixed UCAT threshold. A UCAT cut-off may be applied to shortlist further.

2.12.1 Any extenuating circumstances relating to the UCAT must be submitted to UCAT and follow their policy and procedures.

2.13 Transfers: (also known as RPL) onto A100 or A101 are not accepted.

2.14 Current undergraduate students: Applicants applying before completion of an honours degree must be in their final year. Any offer will be based on achieving a 2:1 or higher as well as having achieved the minimum entry requirements for graduates for the A100 programme.

2.15 Applicants who have started a degree, but have chosen not to complete it, may apply for the A100 but must have:

• withdrawn from their course and
• provided the Medical Admissions Team (medadmissions@cardiff.ac.uk) with a letter from their university confirming the withdrawal was voluntary and not as the result of failure to progress due to poor academic performance or probity concerns.

As long as both these conditions are met, the application will be considered within the applicant cohort for the year of application and will be subject to the full selection process in line with those applying with achieved A levels.

2.16 In line with GMC guidance on fitness to practise, applicants are responsible for disclosing any circumstances that may give rise to a fitness to practise concern. Such matters will be reviewed by senior academic and clinical staff, as they may affect eligibility for entry to the programme and could have implications for future registration and employment as a doctor.

Any fitness to practise issues identified after an application has been submitted may result in the withdrawal of an offer.

3. UCAS Application Deadlines

3.1 A fully completed and accurate application (including all previously achieved and pending academic and English language qualifications, academic reference and personal statement) must be submitted via UCAS by 15 October 2026 at 18:00hrs (UK time).

3.1.1 Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered and will be rejected as “late".

3.1.2 Where we are unable to give an academic score to your application due to missing information, including where a personal statement or academic reference has not been supplied, your application will be rejected as incomplete.

3.2 If you have non-standard qualifications or Level 3+ qualifications which have already been achieved, you are invited to send us certificates and transcripts at the same time as submitting the UCAS application. You can upload copies of your qualifications to our application portal Cardiff University Student Information Management System (sims.cf.ac.uk) upon receipt of your Cardiff University username and password, or PDF/JPEG copies can be sent directly to admissions@cardiff.ac.uk from the email address given on the UCAS application with ‘Medicine application – supporting documents’ in the subject line and your full name, programme you have applied to, and UCAS ID in the body of the email.

4. Selection process

4.1 If you meet the minimum entry requirements at Level 2 (typically GCSEs) and Level 3 (typically A levels), have submitted an acceptable personal statement and academic reference, and have completed the UCAT within the required timeframe, your application will be given an academic score based on the Level 2 and 3 (if applicable) qualifications achieved and your UCAT decile ranking.

4.2 The highest scoring applicants are invited to interview. (Please see the Interview and audition policy for more information on the framework in which interviews are conducted.)

4.2.1 Applications are scored based on achieved qualifications and UCAT decile rankings.

4.2.2 Mandatory subjects are scored first, then a score given to the remaining highest graded subjects.

4.2.3 If you fail to submit two scores for double science by the deadline, you will be given an assumed grade at one grade lower than the grade given. For example, if you state you achieved an A grade, you will be scored assuming you achieved AB grades.

4.2.4 Your UCAT score may be used in the selection process where the number of applicants with the same academic score exceeds the number of interview places.

4.3 Additional consideration is given in the scoring process for:

- applicants who are classed as contextual. Please see the contextual admissions policy for more information on who is considered contextual and how this is applied to each programme.

- applicants who are participating in certain widening participation initiatives in the year they apply for the programme. Participation in one of the following initiatives and meeting the minimum entry requirements ensures a guaranteed interview:

• Cardiff University Step-Up to University programme
• Sutton Trust attendees to Cardiff University Summer School
• Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (specifically the Doctoriad Yfory scheme)
• Agored Cymru Access to Higher Education (Medicine) diploma

- applicants who are domiciled in Wales.

- applicants who are part of our High Performance Sports Programmes.

4.3.1 If you are eligible in more than one category listed above, you will only be given additional consideration in one of these categories.

5. Deferrals

5.1 Applicants applying for deferred entry should indicate so via the intended start date on their UCAS application.

5.2. Consideration for deferred entry is not guaranteed unless applied for via the UCAS application. All deferral requests received after receipt of an application will be considered after A level results are released in August unless exceptional and unknown extenuating circumstances have arisen which means the applicant is unable to start the programme the year they stated on their application form. This must be evidenced.

5.3 If granted, only one deferral year request will be accepted.

5.4 Applicants applying for a deferred entry place will be interviewed alongside other applicants in the cohort they apply in and if successful, their offer will reflect their deferred entry year request.

6. Oversubscription

6.1 The School of Medicine has an oversubscription policy to manage numbers on each course, as these are capped by the Welsh Government. Please see the oversubscription policy for more information on who this may apply to and how and when it may be used.

The table below outlines additional information relating to non-standard entry requirements for Level 3 and 3+ qualifications. Any qualifications not listed in this section or published on the course pages are deemed unacceptable for entry.

For the majority of applicants, the University's international equivalency table can be used to work out the appropriate equivalent to the A Level and GCSE requirements for entry. However, there are some exceptions and/or additional requirements that apply.

For more information, please contact the School of Medicine directly: medadmissions@cardiff.ac.uk.