UCAS Applications to Medicine Statistics 2023

UCAS has now released data on medical school applications in the UK for 2023 entry. We look at these statistics and look at what they mean for students applying for medicine.

• There was a record number of students applying to study medicine in the last two years. For 2022 there was 29,710 applicants and 28,690 for 2021 entry.

• In 2023, we have 26,820 students applying to study medicine. Although this number has dropped slightly historically this is a higher number of students applying to student medicine than before the COVID 19 pandemic.

• The number of students reapplying to study medicine is 5,010 which is only slighty less than the record number of 5,720 re-applicants we saw last year. These we assume would include students who did not get the grades needed for medicine first time round, or perhaps the required UCAT or BMAT results.

• During the pandemic there was an increased number of medical school places of 10,500 for the UK. The number of places for 2023 has now been reduced back to 7,100 for home applicants and 500 for international students.

• There is no indication from the current government that this will change at present, but in the past places have been increased after results day and successful students were offered incentives to defer entry or change medical school.

• We are aware of students that choose not to apply during the pandemic and take a year out, as well as others that did not agree with predicted grades given by their teachers and deferred entry until they had actual grades.

Whilst statistically it could be said that it is more competitive to get into medical school this year, we advise all students to focus on their medical school interview preparation as well as A-level studies if you are sitting them in 2023.

Whilst statistics can help with the choice of medical school, overall statistics and the level of competition should not detract you from your goal of getting a place to study medicine in 2023.

Come to our Medical School Interview Course which is taught in person by Dr Mannan in small classrooms such as this.

Gain the knowledge, skills and interview techniques that you need to master your medical school interviews and gain offers 📚