Graduate applicants should have attained at least a 2.1 Honours degree in a Biological, Biomedical or Health Science discipline, plus normally a minimum of BBB at A level including Biology and Chemistry and an AS level subject at grade B. Applicants must already hold their degrees at the time of application.
Applications for Liverpool medical school are screen to ensure they meet the minimum entry requirements. The personal statement plays a crucial role in all applications as there are no other entry exams. Applicants should be clear why they are choosing medicine and what knowledge and insight they have into a career in medicine. They should:
The admissions tutors will also be looking to see evidence that applicants have a realistic understanding and insight into the advantages and disadvantages of a medical career. That they are able to strike a good work-life balance and handle stress, perhaps through personal interests and hobbies. They are also interested in seeing how each applicant has contributed to school life and to the local community through leadership and teamworking roles, as well as evidence of effective written and oral communication skills.
Liverpool are said to have a more relaxed approach to their interviews. The panel normally consists of two doctors who will ask fairly standard questions such as ‘why medicine?’, ‘why Liverpool?’ and ‘have you always wanted to study medicine?’. They will have copies of candidates’ personal statements and will ask further questions based on the content and seek further clarification or explanation. They are also likely to be questions on recent ethical issues and well as personal interests, hobbies and extra-curricular activities.
As the programme at Liverpool involves PBL, with a large amount of self-directed learning and self-motivation required, candidates are expected to demonstrate that they are suited to this kind of approach and roughly a third of the interview is spent on PBL with candidates explaining the strengths and weaknesses of this approach and the aspects about it which they feel will suit them.
The campus is just ½ mile away from the city centre, so very accessible. Liverpool is a lively, friendly and inexpensive city to live, work and study in – and was awarded the European City of Culture in 2008.
Liverpool medical school was the first in the UK to adopt a PBL approach to the curriculum and this is now well established into the modern, integrated medicine programme.
£72m is being invested in state of the art facilities for research in the Old Liverpool Royal Infirmary, including the establishment of a Centre for Personalised Medicines to develop treatments tailored to a patient’s individual genetic make-up.
Liverpool medical school graduate entry course is 4 years duration and consists of the following:
The objective of Year 1 is to fast-track graduates through the first two years of the standard 5-year MBChB programme, building on their prior scientific knowledge.
Topics covered in Year 1: Year 1 is an introduction to the science and practice of medicine, combined with patient interaction in the 2nd Semester. Students will, in their PBL groups, study a series of clinical scenarios designed to integrate learning in different disciplines. Each PBL scenario is supported by a daily 50 minute plenary which provides a guide to the level of details which should be covered in the PBL.
Students also attend communication skills modules throughout the year and in addition, clinical skills units are studied at least once a week throughout the first Semester. Clinical practice starts at the end of Semester 1 with a 4-week slot and continues into Semester 2, where students are on attachments in hospitals and the community, learning to take histories from patients and performing examinations.
These years comprise of studying further science, extensive clinical experience and PBL based on the human lifecycle.
In Years 2 and 3 students will move from studying normality (studied during Year 1) to the recognition of abnormality (Year 1), then on to diagnosing disease and planning patient management (Year 3). Students will refine and apply communication skills, data handling, critical appraisal skills and evidence-based medicine and learn clinical methods and apply these in the community and in hospital.
Topics covered in Year 2: In Year 2, students develop the recognition of adult and child abnormality and introduces patient care and management through 5 intensive clinical and community rotations of 6 weeks each in:
These placements are supported by PBL sessions for one day a week.
Students must submit a Critical Thinking module in Year 2. This is an ongoing 6 month project to produce a proposal for piece of original research and students must:
The research project is never undertaken but the objective is for students to develop skills in self-criticism, evaluation and objective setting, including seeking and responding to feedback.
Year 2 ends with an elective placement.
Topics covered in Year 3: This year develops the diagnosis of adult and child abnormality and patient care and management with three 12-week clinical and community rotations in:
Students will spend a minimum of 3 days a week in hospital placements and 1 day in community placements on each section of each rotation. PBL sessions 1 day a week support clinical practice during these attachments.
Topics covered in Year 4: Students will gain intensive clinical experience in their final year, undertaking five 8-week clinical attachments on a rotational basis, which are:
Students must take 3 compulsory SSMs which are spread across Years 2 and 3. Two of them comprise a 4-week period of supervised and structured study. The remaining SSM comprises one day per week over a 19-week period plus an extra two days during week 13. Performance is assessed through a 3,000 word dissertation and these determine student’s final degree classification. SSMs cover a wide range of topics including:
There are no taught anatomy sessions at Liverpool, instead, students are allocated time in the Human Anatomy Resource Centre (HARC) where they can examine cadaveric prosections, anatomical models, microscopy stations and radiographs as well as computer-aided learning in dissection and embryology. Technicians are available to answer questions. Attendance at HARC is entirely optional but recommended in order to support PBL learning.
In the first year, written exams consist of MCQs, true/false questions, EMQs, SAQs and a clinical exam OSCE. The pass mark for the written exams is 60% and 80% for the OSCE.
In the clinical years, students are required to complete a portfolio of all case histories that they present to doctors, their key clinical experiences and examinations and clinical skills which they have performed while on attachment. Students will sit further written papers – MCQs, SAQs and an OSCE. Finals are at the end of Year 3 and include a LOCAS which involves taking histories and examining real patients, then giving a differential diagnosis and management plan.
The 4th Year is assessed through portfolio work and meetings with academic supervisors.
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a major component of the curriculum at Liverpool. Students work in small groups of 8-9 with a trained facilitator to study a series of 2-week modules based around a different clinical case scenario. In their groups, students will identify the most important issues to be researched to understand the scenario better. Students then use self-study periods to build their knowledge of the ideas and questions which the group raised, using core texts, recommended websites and journals. The group then meets again a week later, to revisit the case and share knowledge.
Each PBL scenario is supported by a daily 50 minute plenary to give students a guide to the level of detail they should be covering. Students also study in the Human Anatomy Resource Centre (HARC) and receive clinical skills training by qualified doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, ranging from hand washing to measuring blood pressure, using a stethoscope, performing examinations, injections and taking blood on models.
Students take a 5-week elective at the end of Year 3 in any subject of interest which is related to medicine. Students are encouraged to study medicine anywhere in the world providing it is safe to do so. The majority of students choose to experience a healthcare environment in an overseas setting. A report on their experiences must be submitted.
Liverpool participates in an Erasmus scheme where students have the opportunity to study at a partner University in the EU for a period of 16 weeks during Year 4 in place of one of the Selectives in Advanced Medical Practice, providing they have a sufficient knowledge of a second European language – usually the equivalent of a grade B at A level standard. This gives students the opportunity in clinical specialist subjects which they would not otherwise be studying in Liverpool and to further develop a European language skill. Partner Universities for medical students at Liverpool include:
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The information on this page is correct as of August 2010
