Keele Medical School Interview Questions (2026 Entry): Format, Dates, Tips & Examples
Quick introduction
Keele University’s MBChB (A100) selects applicants who match the school’s person specification and NHS values, using UCAT and your UCAS personal statement to shortlist, and structured online interviews to decide offers. For 2026 entry, details are published on Keele’s official site, which is the authoritative source for policy and dates.
How Keele decides whom to invite to interview
Home (UK) applicants. Keele combines:
A UCAT “grade” (1–10 points) derived from UCAT quintiles (with +1 for a UCAT bursary, +1 for contextual eligibility, +1 if your school is in Keele’s region), and
A personal statement grade (0–15 points) aligned to Keele’s person-specification.
These are added to a total of 25, used to rank for an interview. In 2025, the threshold was 15/25 (with some individuals below the threshold invited if VR ≥ 600). Applicants with UCAT <1700 or SJT Band 4 are not considered. International applicants are ranked by UCAT total and must have a score of ≥1950 and an SJT Band of ≤3.
Notes for 2026 entry. Keele confirms it is using the UCAS personal statement as selection evidence for home applicants and has updated its criteria to reflect the new UCAS format for 2026. Keele provides a 2026 personal-statement guidance PDF describing what to evidence.
How Keele interviews for 2026 entry
Mode: Online via Microsoft Teams.
Structure: Two separate 15-minute interviews, usually ~2 hours apart. You’ll receive advance readings shortly before the day: (1) a short case; and (2) the GMC’s “Achieving good medical practice: guidance for medical students” (Professionalism – key areas of concern). You’re not expected to memorise these, but you should read them.
Assessors: Trained interviewers from the University, local healthcare, and the wider community.
Decision basis: Interview performance; UCAT may break ties at the offer threshold.
Keele’s current process is a two-station structured interview (not a multi-station MMI). Gain the skills and confidence you need to succeed - Book our Medical School Interview Course.
What is the interview style?
Keele explicitly describes two 15-minute structured interviews, each anchored to the person-specification and broader professional roles/ethical issues. You’ll discuss prepared material (GMC professionalism and a short case), and interviewers will probe your insight, communication, judgement, and values.
When are interviews held?
For 2026 entry, Keele states interviews will run from December 2025 to April 2026.
What topics are covered?
Interviews align with Keele’s person specification and NHS values. Expect discussion around:
Understanding a doctor’s roles in team, community, and society;
What medical students must learn and why that fits you;
Evidence of an academic/transferable skill relevant to medicine;
Engagement/communication with diverse people and supporting others;
Balancing responsibilities/time sustainably;
Professionalism & ethics (via the GMC professionalism guidance).
How many applicants receive an interview—and how many get offers?
Applications: Keele reports 2,743 total applications for 2025 entry (A100) and indicates it intends to invite ~620–650 interviews in total across A100/A104 for the 2026 cycle.
Historical context (home applicants): FOI data show, for earlier cycles:
2019/20: 1,103 applicants → 521 interviews → 303 offers
2020/21: 1,343 → 605 → 346
2021/22: 1,830 → 505 → 283.
Interpret with care: recent cycles use a different shortlisting model (personal statement scoring replaces the old R&R form), and national application volumes have risen—so interview/offer ratios can shift year-to-year. Always check Keele’s current pages for this cycle.
When are offers released?
Keele says the earliest decisions are likely to be made in January/February 2026; it aims to issue all final decisions by the end of March 2026, although some may be delayed into April if extra information is required. Ties at the offer threshold are resolved using UCAT. Offers are released via UCAS Hub.
Student comments (anecdotal)
While official pages are definitive, applicants often share timelines and experiences:
Forum posters noted Keele reads and scores personal statements, so interview invites may start later than some schools (often December), and WP invites can be prioritised in the first batch.
A 2024-intake poster reported receiving an offer shortly after the interview (individual experiences vary).
Remember: forum comments are anecdotal; rely on Keele’s site for policy and dates.
Extensive example prompts aligned to Keele’s format
Because Keele uses two structured interviews (not a many-station MMI), think in terms of themes. The prompts below mirror Keele’s person-spec and advance reading (GMC professionalism + a case).
Theme A — Roles of doctors & the healthcare system
What are a doctor’s responsibilities to patients, colleagues, the organisation, and society? Where do tensions arise?
A patient cannot access follow-up due to transport costs. How should the team respond?
How would you explain the limits of confidentiality to a teenager asking for contraception advice?
Theme B — Understanding medical training & your preparation
What knowledge/skills/behaviours do medical students need—and how have you begun to develop them?
Tell us about an academic/transferable skill you’ve acquired that’ll matter at medical school. Evidence of its impact.
Talk us through a time you balanced competing commitments over months. What changed about your approach?
Theme C — Communication & teamwork
Describe a time you adapted your communication to support someone from a different background.
You see a peer being excluded on placement. What would you do?
When have you constructively managed disagreement in a team?
Theme D — Professionalism (anchored to the GMC guidance)
You posted a photo from placement on social media and later realised a patient could be identified. What now?
A friend arrives for a clinical session smelling strongly of alcohol. Discuss risks, duties, and next steps.
You witness a near-miss. How do you raise a patient-safety concern appropriately?
Theme E — Ethics & society
Should lifestyle choices ever influence prioritisation for treatments? Explore autonomy, justice, and compassion.
A parent refuses a recommended vaccine for their child. How would you navigate this?
Resource allocation: Would you fund a new cancer drug with marginal benefit or invest in primary prevention?
Theme F — Case analysis (from pre-released material)
Identify key clinical, ethical, and communication issues in the provided case. What additional information would you seek?
Which risks are immediate vs longer-term? Who must be involved in decisions and why?
Want realistic dry-runs with probing follow-ups? Book our Medical School Interview Course and join our MMI mock circuits for timed stations.
Top tips for the Keele interview
Map your stories to Keele’s five criteria. Build a mini-portfolio of experiences that clearly demonstrate communication, sustained responsibility, team contribution, insight into medicine, and a concrete academic/transferable skill. Keele’s 2026 PS guidance is your checklist.
Revise GMC professionalism (student version). Expect questions drawn from “key areas of concern”(confidentiality, social media, fitness to practise, raising concerns). Practice applying this to grey scenarios.
Practise concise, structured answers. Two 15-minute slots pass quickly—use signposting (e.g., “first… second… finally…”).
Prepare for the pre-released case. Rehearse a systematic approach: stakeholders, risks, ethics, safeguarding, communication, follow-up.
Know your UCAT—but don’t fixate. It helps shortlist and break ties, but offers are made on interview performance.
Tech check for Teams. Test your setup (ID, lighting, audio) and keep your notes minimal—you’ll be assessed on communication, reasoning, and professionalism, not reading scripts.
Time your application strategy. Interviews run from Dec to Apr; early preparation smooths January pressure (mock interviews from Dec to Feb are ideal).
FAQ
Is Keele still using the Roles & Responsibilities (R&R) form?
No. For this cycle, home applicants are scored on their UCAS personal statement, in addition to their UCAT results. Keele has published the 2026 PS guidance setting out precisely what to evidence.
What UCAT do I need for 2026 entry?
Home: applications with UCAT <1700 or SJT Band 4 are rejected; the remainder are graded by quintile for shortlisting. International: ≥1950 and SJT ≤ Band 3, then ranked by total UCAT. Cut-offs vary by cohort.
When are Keele interviews?
December 2025 to April 2026.
How many will be interviewed?
Keele indicates ~620–650 total interview invitations across A100/A104 for 2026 entry.
When are offers released?
Earliest: Jan/Feb 2026. Aim: by the end of March 2026 (some decisions may be in April). Offers go via UCAS Hub.
What is the interview style—MMI or panel?
Two 15-minute structured interviews (not a many-station MMI), online via Teams, covering professionalism, roles, ethics, and your evidence against the person-spec.
What’s the interview-to-offer rate?
Keele hasn’t yet published 2026 figures. Historical FOI data (home) show offers of 303/521 (2019/20), 346/605 (2020/21), and 283/505 (2021/22); however, shortlisting and volumes have changed since then.
Final prep boost
If you want laser-focused practice on Keele’s two-interview format—with ethical scenarios and GMC professionalism case workups—our clinicians can help:
Book our Medical School Interview Course – taught by NHS doctors who teach at 3 UK Medical Schools
Join our MMI mock circuits (we adapt stationing to Keele’s two-interview style)
