Medicine and dentistry glossary
UK admissions terms, from A100 to UKWPMED
UK medicine and dentistry applications run on their own vocabulary. In the 2027-entry cycle, applicants sat the UCAT in summer 2026 and applied through UCAS by 18:00 on 15 October 2026, with no more than four medicine or four dentistry choices. Shortlisted applicants are then invited to interview, often an MMI or a panel. The BMAT no longer exists. Each entry below explains one term and why it matters to you.
- UCAS deadline, 2027 entry
- 15 Oct 2026, 18:00 UK time
- Medicine or dentistry choices
- Up to 4 of your 5
- UCAT total score
- 900 to 2,700 (since 2025)
- Personal statement
- 3 answers, 4,000 characters
- BMAT
- Discontinued, no longer used
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How to use this medicine and dentistry glossary
Applying to medicine or dentistry in the UK means learning a new vocabulary fast. Admissions pages use terms such as MMI, SJT band and gateway year, often without explaining them. This glossary explains each term in plain English and says why it matters to you as an applicant.
The terms are grouped in the order you meet them, from choosing a course to your first job after graduating. Use the menu to jump to a group. Each entry spells out its abbreviation, so you can search the page for either form.
Dates and numbers are labelled with their cycle. Unless an entry says otherwise, they apply to 2027 entry, the cycle whose medicine and dentistry deadline was 15 October 2026. If you are in Year 12 now, you will apply in autumn 2027 for 2028 entry, and most of those dates are not published yet.
| Courses and degrees | MBChB, BDS, UCAS course codes, graduate entry, gateway years, intercalation and teaching styles |
|---|---|
| School qualifications | A-levels, GCSEs, Highers, the IB, predicted grades, Access to HE and resits |
| Admissions tests | The UCAT and its scores, SJT bands, thresholds, the GAMSAT and the discontinued BMAT |
| The UCAS application | The 15 October deadline, your four choices, the personal statement, the reference and shortlisting |
| Interviews and selection | MMIs, panel interviews, work experience, NHS values and the professional codes for doctors and dentists |
| Offers and results | Conditional and unconditional offers, firm and insurance choices, deferral, Extra and Clearing |
| Fair access and funding | Widening participation, contextual offers, POLAR4 and TUNDRA, UKWPMED, the NHS Bursary and fee status |
| Who's who | The GMC, GDC, Medical Schools Council, Dental Schools Council, BMA and BDA |
| After you qualify | The MLA, GMC registration, the Foundation Programme, PIA, Dental Foundation Training and the planned NHS commitment for new dentists |
Medicine and dentistry degrees and course types: MBChB, BDS, A100 and GEM
What the degree names and UCAS codes mean, the different routes into a course, and the main ways schools teach.
Degrees, codes and routes in
MBChB, MBBS and BM (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery)
MBChB, MBBS, MB BCh and BM BCh are different abbreviations for the same qualification: a bachelor's degree in medicine. The letters depend on the university, not on the quality of the course. Graduates can get provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), which lets them start work as a Foundation Year 1 doctor.
BDS and BChD (Bachelor of Dental Surgery)
BDS is the undergraduate degree that qualifies you as a dentist. Leeds calls its degree BChD, and the Dental Schools Council says both lead to the same dentistry degree. Standard entry dentistry takes five years in the UK, and new graduates can apply to join the General Dental Council (GDC) register.
A100 and other UCAS course codes
A100 is the UCAS course code most medical schools use for standard entry medicine, and many dental schools use A200 for dentistry. Codes are not universal. A101, for example, is a graduate entry course at Swansea but a widening participation course at Leeds and at King's College London. Copy the code from each school's own page.
GEM (Graduate Entry Medicine)
Graduate Entry Medicine is a medicine degree for people who already have a first degree, usually lasting four years instead of five. Most courses ask for at least a 2:1, and many want a biological or health-related degree. Some are open only to UK students. Depending on the school, you sit the UCAT or the GAMSAT.
Graduate entry dentistry
Graduate entry dentistry is a BDS course for graduates with an honours degree in a science subject, and for healthcare professionals with a degree. It usually takes four years. For 2027 entry the Dental Schools Council lists graduate courses at Aberdeen, King's College London and Lancashire, and the Aberdeen and King's courses are open only to applicants from the UK.
Gateway year (foundation year)
A gateway or foundation year is an extra first year for students who have faced barriers to learning, so the degree often lasts six years. Places are for UK students who meet strict eligibility rules. For 2027 entry Leeds' Gateway Year to Medicine typically asks for BBC, while King's College London's Extended Medical Degree Programme asks for ABB and spreads the first stage over longer.
How courses are taught
Intercalation (intercalated degree)
Intercalation is an extra year, taken partway through a medicine or dentistry course, to study one subject in depth and earn a separate degree, often a BSc. It is compulsory at some schools, which is why some standard medicine courses last six years, and optional at others. Imperial's six-year course ends with both an MBBS and a BSc.
Traditional and integrated courses
A traditional course teaches the medical sciences first, often for around three years with limited patient contact, before clinical training in hospitals and GP practices. Cambridge works this way, with three years of medical sciences and then three clinical years. An integrated course teaches science alongside clinical work from the start, often organised by body system, such as the heart or lungs.
PBL and CBL (problem-based and case-based learning)
Problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning (CBL) both build teaching around patient cases. The Medical Schools Council describes PBL as a self-directed style, often linked with more patient contact in the early years. CBL uses a case, worked through in a small group, to focus on the knowledge and skills it needs. Glasgow includes PBL among its teaching styles, and Imperial describes its approach as case-based.
A-levels, GCSEs, Highers and the IB: qualification terms for medicine and dentistry
Each school sets its own academic rules, so these entries explain the terms and show how far requirements differ for 2027 entry.
A-levels (Advanced Level qualifications)
A-levels are subject qualifications, and most medicine and dentistry offers are for three of them. The Medical Schools Council says the usual minimum for standard entry medicine is AAA, including chemistry or biology and sometimes both. For 2027 entry Birmingham asks for AAA in both medicine and dentistry, while Cambridge asks for A*A*A. General Studies and Critical Thinking are usually not accepted as a third subject.
GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education)
GCSEs are the exams most students in England take in Year 11, at 15 or 16, and medical and dental schools weigh them very differently. Birmingham's medical school scores seven GCSEs, and for 2027 entry that academic score makes up 45% of the score it uses to choose who to interview. Other schools mainly check minimum grades, such as grade 6 or B in English for Glasgow medicine.
Highers and Advanced Highers (Scottish qualifications)
Highers and Advanced Highers are the Scottish school qualifications that Scottish applicants offer instead of A-levels, and offers can depend on when you sit them. For 2027 entry Glasgow asks medicine applicants for AAAAB at Higher in S5 plus BB at Advanced Higher in S6, at the first attempt. In 2026, Qualifications Scotland published results on 4 August.
IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma
The IB Diploma is an alternative to A-levels, and offers are set as a total points score plus grades in Higher Level (HL) subjects, usually including chemistry. For 2027 entry medicine at Birmingham asks for at least 32 points with 6, 6, 6 at HL, Glasgow for 38 points, and Cambridge for 41 to 42 points with 7, 7, 6 at HL.
Predicted grades
Predicted grades are the grades your school or college believes you are likely to achieve, and your teacher can add them to your UCAS application. Schools use them differently. For 2027 entry Birmingham requires medicine applicants to be predicted at least AAB, while Aston says it does not consider predicted A-level grades at any stage and Liverpool medicine does not use them for school leavers.
Access to HE Diploma (Access to Medicine)
An Access to HE Diploma is a college course that prepares people without traditional qualifications for university, and many are designed for mature learners. Acceptance varies by school and by Access course, so the Dental Schools Council advises checking with schools before you enrol. Liverpool medicine gives special consideration to approved Access courses, and King's College London's Extended Medical Degree Programme is designed for students taking A-levels or Access to Medicine at a non-selective state school.
Resits (retaking exams)
A resit means retaking an exam to improve your grade, and schools treat resits very differently. For 2027 entry Imperial does not accept resit qualifications and Glasgow medicine requires grades at the first attempt, while Newcastle's dental school accepts A-level resits only from previous applicants. Whatever you do, UCAS requires you to list every result, including retakes.
Admissions test terms: the UCAT, SJT bands, deciles, the GAMSAT and the BMAT
Most UK medical and dental schools use the UCAT. These are the terms you will meet on its website and in school admissions policies.
| Section | Questions | Time | Scored as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 44 | 22 minutes | 300 to 900 |
| Decision Making | 35 | 37 minutes | 300 to 900 |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 36 | 26 minutes | 300 to 900 |
| Situational Judgement | 69 | 26 minutes | Band 1 to 4 |
Each section is preceded by a short timed instruction section, and the standard test is just under two hours. Source: UCAT Consortium, Test Format and Scoring.
UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test)
The UCAT is the computer-based admissions test used by most UK medical and dental schools. You can sit it once per test cycle, in the summer before you apply: the 2026 test, for 2027 entry, ran from 13 July to 24 September 2026. Results go to universities in early November and count for one application cycle only.
UCAT subtests and total score
The UCAT's three cognitive subtests are Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning. Each is scored from 300 to 900, which gives a total of 900 to 2,700, and there is no negative marking. Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn in 2025, so take care with totals quoted in older guides. In the 2026 test the average total was 1,918.
UCAT decile
A UCAT decile shows where a score sits among everyone who took the test that year. In the 2026 test the 5th decile, the middle score, was 1,920, and the 9th decile, the boundary of the top 10%, was 2,250. Deciles move each year, and some schools, such as Birmingham's medical school, score applicants by national decile rather than by raw total.
SJT band (Situational Judgement Test band)
The SJT band is your result in the UCAT's Situational Judgement Test, which asks you to judge appropriate behaviour in clinical or study scenarios. It is reported as a band from 1, the highest, to 4 rather than as a score. In 2026, 15% of candidates were in Band 1 and 11% in Band 4. For 2027 entry Liverpool medicine needs home applicants to be in Bands 1 to 3.
UCAT threshold (cut-off score)
A UCAT threshold, or cut-off, is the lowest score a school will consider at a stage of selection. Some schools fix it in advance, while others set it each year and usually publish the scores they used before. Liverpool's medicine cut-off for 2026 entry was 1,960 for home applicants, while Birmingham's medical school says it has no minimum UCAT cut-off.
UCAT bursary and access arrangements
A UCAT bursary waives the test fee, which was £70 in the UK in 2026, for eligible UK candidates, such as those getting free school meals or a 16 to 19 Bursary. Access arrangements, such as 25% extra time or rest breaks for a disability, must be approved by the UCAT Office before you book your test.
Other admissions tests
GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test)
The GAMSAT is an admissions test for graduates, run by ACER and sat in March or September. For 2027 entry it is used by graduate courses including Swansea, Chester, Surrey, Worcester and City St George's, and for non-school-leavers applying to Exeter medicine and to Plymouth medicine and dentistry. Results from the 2025 and 2026 sittings count.
BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test), discontinued
The BMAT was an admissions test that some medical schools used instead of the UCAT, and it has been discontinued. Imperial says it used the BMAT until 2024 and switched to the UCAT for 2025 entry, and Oxford and Cambridge now also ask applicants to sit the UCAT. Ignore BMAT advice in older guides.
UCAS terms: the 15 October deadline, four choices and the personal statement
The parts of the application itself, and how schools use them to decide who to interview.
UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service)
UCAS runs the online application for UK undergraduate courses, including medicine and dentistry. You make one application with up to five choices, one personal statement and one reference. For 2027 entry the fee was £34.50, and you may be able to have it waived if you received free school meals at any point in secondary school.
The 15 October deadline (equal consideration date)
The 15 October deadline is the date by which applications for most medicine and dentistry courses must reach UCAS, at 18:00 UK time. For 2027 entry it was 15 October 2026, the same day as Oxford and Cambridge and three months before the 13 January date for most other courses. Late applications are rarely considered, and your school may set an earlier internal deadline.
Four choices and the fifth choice
UCAS lets you apply to no more than four courses in any one of medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. You can use your fifth choice for a different subject, and the Medical Schools Council says doing so will not affect how your medicine application is considered. Check first that the fifth-choice university will accept a statement written for medicine.
UCAS personal statement
The personal statement is your chance to show why you want to study the course and why you suit it. From 2026 entry it is three separate answers: why this course, how your studies have prepared you, and what else you have done outside education to prepare. The limit is 4,000 characters in total, with at least 350 per answer, and all your choices see the same statement.
UCAS reference
The UCAS reference comes from someone at your school or college who knows you academically, never a family member or friend. It can cover your school's context, circumstances that affected your studies and why you suit the course, in up to 4,000 characters, and a teacher referee can add your predicted grades. You cannot send your application until the reference is complete.
Shortlisting and admissions policies
Shortlisting is how a school decides who to invite to interview, and its admissions policy sets out how it does it. Methods differ widely. For 2027 entry Birmingham's medical school ranks standard home applicants on a score that is 45% GCSEs, 40% UCAT and 15% context. Liverpool medicine ranks non-graduates by UCAT first and does not routinely use personal statements to decide interviews.
Interview terms: MMI, panel interview, work experience and professional values
MMI (Multiple Mini Interview)
An MMI is a circuit of short interview stations, each assessing specific qualities, such as communication or teamwork. Some stations ask you to talk to an actor playing a role. Birmingham's 2027-entry medicine circuit is six or seven 8-minute stations, including 2 minutes to prepare. Many medical and dental schools use MMIs.
Panel interview
A panel interview is a longer conversation with two or more interviewers, who may be clinical or admissions staff, a senior student or a member of the public. The Medical Schools Council says panels usually last 20 to 30 minutes. Glasgow's 2027-entry medicine interviews are online, last 30 minutes, use two interviewers and include an ethical scenario.
Work experience (relevant experience)
Work experience means time spent seeing or helping with care, through a placement, volunteering or a paid job. The Medical Schools Council says the key thing medical schools look for is what you learned and can reflect on. It adds that they see volunteering in a care home as just as good a source of experience as shadowing a doctor. The Dental Schools Council asks you to show you have explored dentistry as a career.
NHS values and values-based recruitment
The NHS Constitution for England lists six values: working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives, and everyone counts. Values-based recruitment means selecting students partly on these values. Since April 2015, universities contracted by Health Education England, now part of NHS England, to deliver NHS-funded training have assessed students for these values. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own value statements.
Good medical practice (GMC guidance)
Good medical practice is the GMC's guidance on the principles, values and standards of behaviour expected of every registered doctor, set out in four domains. Medical students follow a version written for them, Achieving good medical practice, which was updated in 2024. The UCAT Consortium's own SJT tutorial suggests reading Good medical practice as preparation.
Standards for the Dental Team (GDC code)
Standards for the Dental Team is the GDC's code of conduct, performance and ethics for every registered dental professional. It sets out nine principles, starting with putting patients' interests first, and has applied since 30 September 2013. Dental students are expected to meet professional standards too, and the GDC publishes guidance on student fitness to practise.
Offer terms: conditional, unconditional, firm, insurance, Extra and Clearing
What the decisions on your application mean, what you can do with them, and the dates that matter for 2027 entry.
Conditional offer
A conditional offer is a place that becomes yours if you meet set conditions, usually exam grades. Medicine and dentistry offers can include other conditions as well. Glasgow, for example, requires satisfactory health and police checks before you start medicine.
Unconditional offer
An unconditional offer means you have a place without any more grade conditions to meet, for example because you already hold your results after a gap year. UCAS says you may still need a DBS or PVG criminal record check or proof of your results. If you accept an unconditional offer, you are committing to that university and cannot also hold an insurance choice.
Firm and insurance choices
Your firm choice is the offer you accept as your first preference, and your insurance choice is a back-up, usually with lower entry requirements. You can hold one of each and must decline any other offers. You cannot choose between your firm and insurance places when your results arrive, so pick an insurance offer you would be happy to take.
Deferred entry
Deferred entry means applying in the normal cycle but starting a year later, for example after a gap year. Not every course or university allows it, and agreeing to a deferral is up to the school, so check each policy first. You still sit the UCAT in the year you apply: the 2026 UCAT covers 2027 entry or deferred entry in 2028.
UCAS Extra
Extra lets you add one more choice at a time if you used all five choices and are not holding any offers. You cannot hold an insurance choice through Extra. Some medicine courses do not recruit this way: Liverpool, for example, says it does not accept applications through Extra, so check before you add a course.
Clearing
Clearing is how universities fill places still free on their courses, open to anyone not holding an offer, including people who missed their conditions. It opens in early July, before results day, and only lists courses that still have places. Do not count on finding medicine or dentistry there, and contact a university before you add it as a Clearing choice.
| What happens | Date |
|---|---|
| Universities must decide on applications sent by 13 January | 12 May 2027 |
| Reply deadline if your last decision arrives by 31 March 2027 | 5 May 2027 |
| UCAS Extra open | 25 February to 1 July 2027 |
| Clearing opens | 2 July 2027 |
| A-level results day | 12 August 2027 |
Dates from UCAS for the 2027 entry cycle and from JCQ for A-level results. Dates for 2028 entry are not published yet.
Widening participation, contextual offers, UKWPMED and the NHS Bursary
WP (widening participation)
Widening participation, or WP, means schemes that increase opportunities for people from under-represented backgrounds to reach university and the health professions. The Medical Schools Council says every university runs them, from outreach events to gateway courses and lower contextual offers. The Dental Schools Council says removing barriers helps build a profession that represents the communities it serves.
Contextual offer (contextual admissions)
Contextual admissions means a school judges your grades in light of your background, such as your school's results, free school meals, time in care or where you live. It can lead to a lower offer, a guaranteed interview or extra consideration if you just miss your grades. For 2027 entry Birmingham's contextual offer for medicine is one grade lower, AAB, and you do not need to apply for it.
POLAR4 and TUNDRA
POLAR4 and TUNDRA are Office for Students measures of how likely young people in a local area are to go on to higher education. POLAR4 groups areas into quintiles, and quintiles 1 and 2 are the low-participation areas. UCAS says some universities use postcode measures like these, and the OfS will not update POLAR4 and recommends TUNDRA where possible.
UKWPMED (Widening Participation in Medicine collaboration)
UKWPMED is a collaboration of UK medical schools that recognise each other's widening participation programmes. If you complete one, such as Keele's Steps2Medicine or the Manchester Access Programme, you can get an interview and a lower offer at participating schools, subject to their rules. For the 2027 cycle it covered A100 applications from Year 13 students with home fee status.
NHS Bursary
The NHS Bursary is NHS funding for the later years of a medicine or dentistry degree for students who normally live in England. On a five or six-year course it usually starts in year five, and on a graduate entry course in year two. It can include a tuition fee contribution, a grant and a means-tested bursary. Students from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland apply to their own funding bodies.
Home and international fee status
Fee status is whether a university classes you as a home or an overseas student, which decides the fees you pay. In England the government caps funded medical and dental places, and the recent increases can only be used for home students. Gateway courses and UKWPMED are also limited to UK or home students. If you are unsure of your status, ask the universities.
Who's who in UK medicine and dentistry: GMC, GDC, MSC, DSC, BMA and BDA
GMC (General Medical Council)
The GMC is the regulator for doctors across the UK. It keeps the official register of doctors, sets the professional standards in Good medical practice, sets the standards and outcomes for medical education and checks the quality of medical courses. It also introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment that UK medical students now take.
GDC (General Dental Council)
The GDC is the UK-wide regulator of more than 120,000 members of the dental team. It registers qualified dental professionals, sets the Standards for the Dental Team, investigates concerns about fitness to practise and works to ensure the quality of dental education. It is illegal for anyone to practise dentistry unless they are registered with the GDC.
MSC (Medical Schools Council)
The Medical Schools Council represents the UK's medical schools. Applicants meet it through Studying Healthcare, the free advice site it produces, and its entry requirements comparison tool. Each medical school still sets its own entry requirements, so the school's own page is the final word.
DSC (Dental Schools Council)
The Dental Schools Council represents dental schools across the UK and Ireland. Each year it publishes a guide to the entry requirements for every UK dentistry degree, which for 2027 entry covers grades, admissions tests, interview methods, work experience and widening participation schemes. The DSC says you should still confirm details on each school's website.
BMA (British Medical Association)
The BMA is the trade union and professional body for doctors in the UK. It supports members in their professional lives and negotiates for better pay and working conditions. It is separate from the GMC: the GMC regulates doctors, while the BMA represents them.
BDA (British Dental Association)
The BDA is the trade union and professional body for dentists in the UK, covering general practice, community dental services, hospitals, academia and research. It offers membership to dental students. Like the BMA for doctors, it represents its members, while the GDC is the regulator.
After medical or dental school: the MLA, the Foundation Programme and DFT
You will not need these terms to apply, but they come up at interview and explain what each degree leads to.
Medicine: from degree to specialty training
- Pass the Medical Licensing Assessment as part of your degree
- Graduate and get provisional registration with the GMC
- Complete Foundation Year 1 (F1), then gain full registration
- Complete Foundation Year 2 (F2) and its certificate
- Apply for core, specialty or GP training
Dentistry: from degree to NHS practice
- Graduate with a BDS or BChD, usually after five years
- Apply to join the GDC register
- Complete one year of Dental Foundation Training, or Vocational Training in Scotland
- Work in NHS dentistry, for example as an associate in a practice
MLA (Medical Licensing Assessment)
The MLA is the GMC's assessment of the core knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to practise safely in the UK. Students graduating from UK medical schools from the 2024-25 academic year onwards must pass it as part of their degree before joining the medical register. It has two parts: an applied knowledge test (AKT) and a clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA), which some schools run as an OSCE.
Foundation Programme (F1 and F2)
The UK Foundation Programme is a two-year, paid training programme that bridges medical school and specialty or GP training. In Foundation Year 1 (F1) new doctors hold provisional GMC registration and begin to take supervised responsibility for patient care, and completing F1 leads to full registration. In Foundation Year 2 (F2) they take on more, and its certificate shows they are ready for core, specialty or GP training.
UKFPO and Preference Informed Allocation (PIA)
The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) runs the national application to the Foundation Programme, through one system called Oriel, and allocates around 10,000 UK medical graduates to F1 programmes. Since 2024 it has used Preference Informed Allocation. Each applicant gets a computer-generated rank that is not based on performance at medical school, and the system aims to give as many people as possible their first choice.
DFT (Dental Foundation Training)
Dental Foundation Training is the one year of further training that new dental graduates must complete to practise in the NHS. It is called DFT in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Vocational Training in Scotland, and you can apply to both schemes. You need a BDS and full GDC registration, and the Dental Schools Council describes entry as highly competitive.
NHS commitment for new dentists (planned)
The NHS commitment for new dentists is a government plan to require newly qualified dentists to work in the NHS for a minimum period, announced in the 10 Year Health Plan for England. The Department of Health and Social Care says it is expected to apply to students starting a dental degree from the 2027/28 academic year, with more detail to come.
Medicine and dentistry glossary: your questions answered
Where this guide's facts come from
Checked against these sources on 19 October 2026. Rules change between cycles, so confirm anything that decides your application on the official page for your entry year.
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