First Choice: Medicine

Who is First Choice: Medicine for?

First Choice: Medicine is for Year 12 students interested in pursing MBChB Medicine and is targeted at groups currently underrepresented in Higher Education, who meet our Widening Participation Criteria. First Choice: Medicine is open to First Choice Schools and Colleges only.  

To be eligible for First Choice: Medicine, students must:  

• Be a Year 12 student at a First Choice College or Sixth Form 
• Be a resident in the United Kingdom 
• Have a Home Student fee status. The Government classes all students as ‘Home’, ‘European Union (EU)’ or ‘International’. If you are classed as EU or International, then you are not eligible to apply 
• Meet our academic requirements (see academic requirement information below) 
• Meet at least one of the University of Sunderland’s Widening Participation Criteria 

How are First Choice: Medicine places allocated?

Places are limited and will be awarded based on the responses given on the application form. Each application form will be assessed on an individual basis, and places will be awarded at the discretion of the University. 

Priority will be given to applicants who meet the most University of Sunderland Widening Participation Criteria and live in the North East of England: 

• In receipt of, or entitled to, free school meals within the last six years. 

• From low household income or low socioeconomic status - The University of Sunderland identify low household income as: Band 1 - Annual household income of £25,000 or less and Band 2 - Annual household income of between £25,001 - £42,875. 

• From areas of low higher education participation - The University of Sunderland identify low participation as POLAR4 Quintiles 1 and 2, and will access this on your behalf based on the home postcode you supply. 

• Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater. 

• Those care experienced, or who are permanently estranged from both parents or carers. 

• Recognised carers 

• Those whose parents or carers are serving, or have served in the UK Armed Forces. 

• Refugees 

• Black, Asian and minority ethnic students 

• Those with a diagnosed disability 

Please note the University’s decision to allocate a place is final. If you are unsure if you meet the following criteria, please contact First Choice.

We urge teachers and advisers to check the First Choice: Medicine entry criteria before informing students about the scheme. 

How to apply to First Choice: Medicine

Our First Choice Team will visit your school or college, and you will be asked to complete a register your interest form.  On completion of the form, we will send you an application form to complete if your preferred subject is Medicine.  

Please note our application form will ask you to provide information about you, your studies and your background. This information will help the University determine if you are eligible for the scheme and if you meet any of the University of Sunderland’s Widening Participation Criteria definitions of under-represented groups. You must provide accurate information and be able to provide evidence if required. 

Guaranteed interview

The School of Medicine will guarantee a Multiple Mini Interview to those students who are applicants of the Medicine MBChB course who:

• Attend all compulsory elements of Medstart
• Meet the GCSE, A Level and UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) requirements
• Complete the interview selection tool

You are expected to attend all sessions of the Medstart Y12 scheme to be eligible for the guaranteed MMI. Exceptions may be made if you have extenuating circumstances.

The guaranteed Multiple Mini Interview will be applied following the receipt of an application for the 2025 intake of the Medicine MBChB course at the University of Sunderland and will be subject to academic screening and UCAT test scores meeting our requirements.

When you submit your UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) application form to study the Medicine MBChB course at the University of Sunderland, assuming you have met our academic screening and a satisfactory UCAT score, our Student Administration Team will send you information on how to complete an online interview selection tool. You still need to complete this assessment as preparation for your interview, but you will be guaranteed to progress to Multiple Mini Interview.  

This information will be sent to our Student Administration team who will then be able to flag the guaranteed interview on your application if you apply to Sunderland for Medicine.

Please note the information on how the guaranteed multiple mini interview will work is accurate at the time this page was published. The University reserve the right to change the application process for the Medicine MBChB course, in which case the process for the guaranteed multiple mini interview may change. If the process changes, the University will contact all students eligible for the guaranteed multiple mini interview to outline these changes and any new requirements.