St Mary's University, Twickenham (St Mary's London School of Medicine) Interview Questions for 2027 Entry

19 Oct

St Mary's University in Twickenham has been teaching students since 1850. In September 2026, it did something it had never done before: it opened a medical school. The first student doctors at St Mary's London School of Medicine are only a few weeks into their course, and the school is already choosing its second cohort.

If you've applied for 2027 entry, you're walking into a selection process that only one group of applicants has ever been through. It's also one of the most unusual in the United Kingdom (UK). St Mary's isn't asking for the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) this year, and its interview isn't a conversation with a person. It's a recorded online Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) that you complete on your own, talking to a camera.

This guide explains exactly how that works. We've gone through St Mary's own admissions pages, its Medical Schools Council (MSC) listing and its Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) course entry to show you how the school shortlists, how the interview runs and what it's likely to be looking for. Then we've written 54 practice questions in the style you'll meet, including 12 you're only likely to be asked at St Mary's. 💙

🌍 Before you read on: you're right that the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at St Mary's is open to international students only for 2027 entry. UCAS confirms that applicants from the UK and the Republic of Ireland can't apply this year. The Medical Schools Council describes this as standard practice for a new undergraduate medical school, and St Mary's says it expects to open the course to home students in the future.

🏥 An Introduction to St Mary's London School of Medicine

St Mary's University, Twickenham (which now often calls itself St Mary's University, London) sits on a green, historic campus at Strawberry Hill in south-west London. It began life in 1850 as a Catholic college set up to train teachers, and teacher education is still a big part of what it does. Medicine is its newest and boldest addition.

The university announced its School of Medicine in October 2024, after the General Medical Council (GMC) confirmed it was on track. By July 2026 the GMC had confirmed that St Mary's had made enough progress to start teaching, and the first cohort arrived in September 2026.

Here are the essentials:

Course: a five-year MBBS, UCAS course code A100, institution code S64, starting on 14 September 2027.
Where you'll study: the purpose-built Centenary Building on the Twickenham campus, home to an Integrated Skills and Simulation Centre, a teaching ward and an assisted-living teaching space.
Who leads it: the founding Executive Dean is Professor Sonia Kumar, who spent more than 20 years as a General Practitioner (GP) in deprived communities in south London and has held academic roles at Imperial College London, King's College London and the University of Leeds.
Where the curriculum comes from: St Mary's teaches the MBBS curriculum created by the University of Lancashire (formerly the University of Central Lancashire, or UCLan), which has been training doctors since 2015.

🌍 Who can apply for 2027 entry?

International applicants with overseas fee status. If you're at a UK sixth form but would pay international fees, you can apply. If you're not sure of your fee status, check St Mary's fee status guidance before you do anything else.
Graduates are welcome, with at least a 2:1 honours degree in any subject awarded within the last three years, plus A Levels at ABB (more on that below).
UK and Irish home applicants can't apply for 2027 entry.

You can apply through UCAS (the main deadline for medicine was 15 October 2026) or, if St Mary's is the only UK university you're applying to, directly to the university. UCAS says applications after the deadline may be considered but aren't guaranteed consideration.

🎓 What about General Medical Council approval?

Every new UK medical school goes through the same process. The GMC, which regulates doctors and medical education in the UK, reviews the school every year as it follows the first cohort from Year 1 all the way to graduation. Only then can the school be fully approved to award UK medical degrees in its own right.

That's normal, not a warning sign. St Mary's also has a safety net: the University of Lancashire is its contingency partner. In the unlikely event that St Mary's didn't achieve GMC approval, students would transfer there to finish their studies, so anyone who passes their assessments would still graduate with a GMC-recognised medical degree.

Like every UK medical student, you'll sit the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) before you graduate. Pass it and your degree, and you can apply for provisional registration with the GMC and for the UK Foundation Programme, the two-year paid training programme for new doctors.

💼 A word on the Foundation Programme

St Mary's is upfront that Foundation Programme places aren't guaranteed. You need the right to work in the UK, and you compete with other UK graduates. There is some good news for international students, though. Under the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026, graduates of UK medical schools are prioritised for Foundation Programme and specialty training places, and the British Medical Association (BMA) confirms that international students at UK medical schools count as UK graduates for this purpose, whatever their nationality.

This is a live topic for every international applicant. Understand it properly, because a thoughtful interviewer may well ask about your plans after graduation.

⭐ How Does St Mary's Stand Out From Other UK Medical Schools?

🚫 No UCAT for 2027 entry

This is the headline. Almost every undergraduate medical school in the UK asks for the UCAT. For 2027 entry, St Mary's doesn't. It says it has dropped aptitude tests to remove barriers to applying, so it won't ask for the UCAT, the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) or the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). That makes your academic record and your interview far more important here than at most schools.

🎥 An interview with nobody else in the room

St Mary's runs its MMI through SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews). The questions are pre-recorded, you record your answers, and assessors mark them afterwards. No live interviewer, no small talk, and no second chances once you've started. It's a very different skill from a face-to-face interview, and it needs different preparation.

🤝 A medical school built around its community

St Mary's describes itself as one of the UK's first socially accountable schools of medicine. In April 2026 it launched a Social Accountability Framework, developed with community organisations, National Health Service (NHS) partners and people with lived experience. The aim is to train doctors who understand how housing, employment, bias and access to services shape people's health, with a particular focus on health inequalities across south-west London.

🩺 Real roles with real people from Year 1

You'll be on placement in GP and community settings from your first year. St Mary's course description gives some striking examples of what that looks like:

Years 1 and 2: placements in primary care and with a music therapy charity, plus social action projects with local community groups.
Years 3 to 5: training in health coaching (helping people tackle preventable illness, lifestyle factors and social isolation) and taking on patient advocacy roles alongside the wider healthcare team.

🧬 A course that follows the patient's whole journey

The course is split into two phases.

Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2): integrated science and clinical medicine (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, immunology and more), Medicine and Society (psychology, sociology, epidemiology, statistics, medical law and research skills), and clinical and professional practice through simulation, small-group case discussions and early placements.
Phase 2 (Years 3 to 5): Year 3 focuses on generalism (general medicine, urgent care, surgery and general practice), Year 4 on specialism (including mental health, cancer and end-of-life care, women's health and child health), and Year 5 on the transition to practice, with emergency medicine, mental health and assistantships in GP and hospital medicine.

You'll also choose speciality choice components (SSCs) across both phases, so you can explore areas that interest you.

💻 Digital medicine is part of the plan

Artificial intelligence (AI), digital health and technology run through the curriculum. Expect simulation suites, virtual reality (VR), a digital anatomy table and, unusually, an E-Sports Arena that St Mary's uses for learning. The curriculum is also aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so global health sits alongside local health.

🗺️ Placements across four regions

Clinical placements run across London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Named partners include West London NHS Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the Practice Plus Group in Ilford, plus local GP practices and hospices such as Princess Alice Hospice, Royal Trinity Hospice and Meadow House Hospice.

In Years 3 to 5, some placements may be more than an hour from Twickenham station. St Mary's will either reimburse your travel or offer accommodation at the host site, and students placed further away in Year 3 are prioritised for closer placements in Year 4.

🏅 Your interview can earn you a scholarship

St Mary's automatically considers every international applicant for one of 10 scholarships worth £3,000 a year, taken off your tuition fees for every year you're enrolled. They're awarded on MMI performance, to applicants who show a strong fit with the school's values and a clear commitment to social purpose. In other words, a great interview here doesn't just get you a place. It can save you £15,000.

🏆 St Mary's Rankings: UK, Worldwide and Student Experience

Let's be honest about the numbers. St Mary's is a small, teaching-focused university, and it isn't a league-table heavyweight overall. Where it really shines is in what its own students say about it.

🇬🇧 UK league tables

Complete University Guide 2027: 79th out of 130 UK universities.
Guardian University Guide 2027: 114th, down from 93rd the year before.
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027: 113th.

🌍 Worldwide rankings

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings and Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings: St Mary's doesn't currently appear in either headline table. These rankings lean heavily on research volume, so smaller teaching-led universities often aren't included.
QS Europe University Rankings 2026: in the 701–900 band.
THE Impact Rankings 2025: 1001–1500 overall, and in the 401–600 band for both Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) and Quality Education (SDG 4).

😊 Student experience ratings

This is where St Mary's punches well above its weight.

National Student Survey (NSS) 2026: 13th of all UK universities for average positivity across the seven main themes (up 21 places) and 2nd in London. Around 91.5% of students rated academic support positively, and 89.4% rated the teaching on their course highly.
Complete University Guide 2027: 18th in the UK for student satisfaction.
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023: rated Gold for student experience (Silver overall).
The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025: top 10 in the UK for teaching quality.

📉 What about medicine league tables?

St Mary's won't appear in medicine subject rankings for several years. Those tables rely on data such as course satisfaction and graduate outcomes, and a school that opened in 2026 simply doesn't have any yet. Don't read anything into its absence.

💡 What this means for you

Overall university rankings tell you very little about the quality of a medical degree. Every UK medical school is held to the same GMC standards, and every UK graduate sits the same MLA. For a medical applicant, the strong student satisfaction scores and the small, supportive setting are arguably more relevant than an overall league position.

🎯 How Does St Mary's Decide Who to Call for an Interview?

With no UCAT to rank applicants, St Mary's shortlists on your academic record. Understanding how it scores you will show you exactly where you stand.

Stage 1: Meeting the minimum requirements

For 2027 entry you'll need:

A Levels: AAA, including Chemistry or Biology plus another science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Maths). St Mary's actively welcomes a non-science third subject.
International Baccalaureate (IB): 36 points, with 6 in three Higher Level subjects, one of which must be Chemistry or Biology. If you haven't taken English and Maths at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level, you'll need at least 5 in them at Standard Level.
Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers: AAAAB at Higher, including Biology or Chemistry, and AAB at Advanced Higher, with an A in Chemistry or Biology.
GCSEs: at least six at grade 6 or above, including Maths, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Double Science), or international equivalents.
Graduates: a 2:1 honours degree in any subject from the last three years, plus A Levels at ABB, including Chemistry or Biology and another science, with one of them at grade A.
English language: International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic 7.0 overall, with at least 7.0 in every component, or an accepted equivalent.

⚠️ Watch out for these details

Fourth A Levels don't count. The MSC listing says Human Biology, Sports Science, Further Maths and Statistics are accepted only as a fourth A Level, and fourth A Levels don't form part of the scoring.
The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) isn't scored. It's still worth doing for its own sake, but it won't boost your ranking here.
Resits are considered only in exceptional circumstances, with documented evidence.
Predicted grades matter. Conditional offers are based partly on your predicted grades, so you need to be predicted at or above the standard offer.

Stage 2: Academic scoring and ranking

This is the part most applicants miss. St Mary's is clear that meeting the minimum requirements doesn't guarantee an interview, and the MSC listing adds that applicants with only the minimum grades are unlikely to be shortlisted.

Two scoring details stand out:

Your GCSEs are scored on your best eight. Six grade 6s gets you through the door, but eight strong grades is what helps you climb the ranking.
Your three main A Levels (or equivalent) are scored, while extras such as a fourth A Level or EPQ aren't.

St Mary's hasn't published its full scoring formula, so treat this as the shape of the process rather than an exact calculation. The message is simple: at St Mary's, your grades do the job that the UCAT does at other schools.

📝 What about your personal statement?

St Mary's doesn't use it to decide who gets an interview. Instead, the MSC listing says it's used during the interview. That means anything you've written is fair game, so re-read it carefully and be ready to talk about every experience and claim in it.

🔬 Do you need work experience?

No. St Mary's says work experience isn't required, though you can mention it in your personal statement or at interview. That's helpful for international applicants who couldn't arrange hospital placements. What will matter is whether you can show genuine insight into what being a doctor involves, wherever that insight came from: volunteering, caring for a relative, part-time work, virtual experience or simply talking to people who work in healthcare.

🧮 How Is the UCAT Used at St Mary's?

It isn't used at all for 2027 entry.

St Mary's says it won't require any aptitude test, including the UCAT, GAMSAT or MCAT, so that cost and access don't stand in the way of good applicants. That's a change from the school's first admissions cycle: for 2026 entry, the UCAS course listing said every applicant had to sit the UCAT.

Here's what that means in practice:

A low UCAT score won't count against you here. If your 2026 UCAT didn't go to plan, St Mary's won't see it.
Your grades and your interview carry the weight instead. With no test to separate applicants, your GCSEs, A Levels (or equivalents) and MMI performance decide everything.
Ignore any "St Mary's UCAT cut-off" you see online. Any figure relates to the first cycle, and it doesn't apply to 2027 entry. The UCAT also dropped its Abstract Reasoning section from 2025, so its total now runs from 900 to 2,700 instead of the old maximum of 3,600. Any older figure on the 3,600 scale can't be compared with today's scores anyway.
Most other UK medical schools still need the UCAT. If St Mary's is one of several choices, you'll still have needed to sit it for the others.

Once your score gets you the interview

Your UCAT gets you the interview. The interview gets you the offer.

A mid-range score can win offers when your interview is strong, and even a high one can fall short without preparation. Our interview course is taught in small groups by NHS doctors, with realistic MMI practice and feedback on every station.

See the medical interview course Add a mock MMI circuit

💻 How Does St Mary's Interview? Style, Structure and Delivery

The style: Multiple Mini Interviews

Every shortlisted applicant takes an MMI. Rather than one long interview, you work through a series of short, separate questions or tasks, each designed to test something different. Because each one is marked on its own, one shaky answer doesn't sink the rest.

Delivery: online, recorded and automated

This is what makes St Mary's so different. Its MMI runs on Sammi-Select software using SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews). St Mary's describes it as a fully virtual, asynchronous interview:

🎬 The questions are pre-recorded.
🎙️ Your answers are recorded on camera.
📝 The admissions team assesses your recordings after you've finished.
⏱️ The whole interview takes about 1.5 hours.
🚫 Once you start, you must finish in one sitting. You can't pause, save or come back later.
📆 You choose when to take it, at any point during the interview window. In the 2026-entry cycle, that window was eight days long.
⛔ There are no extensions to the deadline. If you have a problem, contact the admissions team as early as possible.

Structure and timings

St Mary's hasn't published how many questions or stations there are, how much thinking time you'll get, or how long you'll have to answer each one. Your invitation and the interview website will explain this, so read every instruction slowly.

What you can plan for is the total time. Block out at least two hours, so you've got time for technical checks and setting up before the roughly 90-minute interview begins.

What makes a recorded MMI feel different

Nobody reacts. There are no nods, smiles or encouraging noises. Silence can feel like failure. It isn't.
Nobody rescues you. You can't ask the interviewer to repeat or clarify a question, so read or listen to each one carefully before you start.
The clock is in charge. A live interviewer might let you finish a sentence. Software won't. Practising with a timer is essential.
Everyone gets the same questions. That's a strength of the format: every applicant is judged on exactly the same task, in exactly the same way.

What to have ready

A laptop or desktop on mains power, with a working webcam and microphone
A quiet, well-lit room with a plain background, and a sign on the door
Photo identification (ID), such as your passport
A stable internet connection, ideally wired, with a phone hotspot as a back-up
A glass of water, and a bathroom break before you start
Your certificates and transcripts to hand. The interview page has a separate section on evidence of qualifications, so read it alongside your invitation

🕐 Time zone warning

St Mary's gave the 2026 interview window in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+0), opening and closing at 12pm UTC. If you live in Asia, the Middle East, Africa or the Americas, convert both times carefully. Don't leave it to the final day.

📅 When Are St Mary's Interviews Held?

For 2026 entry, the main interview window opened at 12pm UTC on 26 January 2026 and closed at 12pm UTC on 3 February 2026. St Mary's also offered a small number of international places through Clearing in summer 2026.

St Mary's hasn't yet published its interview dates for 2027 entry. If it follows a similar pattern, you can expect an online interview window early in 2027, but keep an eye on your emails (including your junk folder) and your UCAS Hub, and check St Mary's interview information page regularly.

🗂️ What Topics Are Covered in the St Mary's Interview?

St Mary's hasn't published a list of stations. It does, however, leave plenty of clues about what it values, and a well-prepared applicant will use them.

The "care" principle. St Mary's builds its MBBS around four values: Compassion (for your patients, yourself and other students), Ambition, Readiness and Excellence.
Social accountability. The school's whole identity is about serving communities and tackling health inequalities.
Its scholarship criteria. Scholarships go to applicants whose interviews show a strong fit with the school's values, a commitment to social purpose and a drive to create positive change. That's a fairly direct description of what a high-scoring interview looks like.
Your personal statement. St Mary's uses it during the interview.
The GMC's Good Medical Practice, which sets out the standards every UK doctor works to.

Putting those together, expect a mix of:

💡 Motivation for medicine and realistic insight into the job
❤️ Compassion, empathy and looking after yourself and others
🗣️ Communication, including "talk to the camera" role plays
⚖️ Ethics and professionalism
🌍 Social accountability, health inequalities and social justice
🤝 Teamwork and the wider healthcare team
💪 Resilience, reflection and readiness for medical school
💻 Digital health, AI and innovation
🏥 The NHS, global health and healthcare in your home country
🏫 Why St Mary's, and why a brand-new medical school

📊 How Many Applicants Are Interviewed, and How Many Get Offers?

Nobody outside St Mary's can answer this yet. The school hasn't published how many people applied, were interviewed or received offers in its first cycle, and it hasn't published the size of its 2027 intake.

What we do know is that St Mary's describes its first students as an inaugural international community, and everything about the school points to a small cohort. Treat any applicant or offer numbers you see online with caution, and we'll update this article as soon as official figures are published.

🏅 What Is the Interview Scoring Method?

St Mary's hasn't published its MMI mark scheme. Here's what we can say with confidence:

Your recordings are marked after the event by the admissions team, rather than live.
Interview scores are compared and ranked. We know this because scholarships are awarded on MMI performance, which only works if applicants can be placed in order.
The highest scorers show the school's values. The scholarship criteria point to alignment with St Mary's values, social purpose and a commitment to making a positive difference.

At UK medical schools that use MMIs, each station is usually marked separately against set criteria, and the scores are added together. The Medical Schools Council's own guide to running a mock MMI uses this kind of station-by-station mark scheme.

Three things follow for you:

No single answer decides your fate. If one goes badly, take a breath and treat the next as a fresh start.
Consistency wins. Solid, thoughtful answers to every question will usually beat a couple of brilliant ones and several weak ones.
Structure helps the assessor. When someone is watching a recording, a clear answer with a beginning, middle and end is far easier to mark well.

📬 When Are Offers Released?

St Mary's doesn't publish fixed offer dates. It says offers are dependent on success at interview, so nobody receives an offer without completing the MMI. Expect decisions to follow once the interview window has closed and the recordings have been marked. If you applied through UCAS, the decision will appear in your UCAS Hub. Direct applicants will hear from the university.

Most offers will be conditional. St Mary's makes them partly on your predicted grades, and it won't confirm your place until it has your final results and evidence of them. Other conditions include:

An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, plus a police check from your home country
Occupational health checks
Meeting the IELTS requirement, if it applies to you
A tuition fee deposit for international students. For the 2026 intake this was £10,000, payable before St Mary's issues your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), which you need for your student visa

Tuition fees for international students were £48,000 a year for 2026 entry. St Mary's says 2027 fees will be published shortly, so check before you commit.

💬 54 St Mary's Medical School Interview Questions for 2027 Entry

St Mary's hasn't released any of its real questions, so be sceptical of anyone who claims to have them. The questions below are written to match a recorded MMI: a single prompt on screen, sometimes with a follow-up, answered straight to camera. The role plays are written for a recorded format too, where you speak to the camera as if it were the person in the scenario.

How to practise: read each prompt once, give yourself a short moment to think, then answer out loud to your webcam for two to three minutes without stopping the recording. Don't script your answers. Watch a few back and you'll quickly spot your habits.

💡 Motivation and insight into medicine

St Mary's wants doctors with purpose. Show them yours, with evidence.

Why do you want to be a doctor? Tell us about one experience that shaped that decision. ↪️ Follow-up: What would you do if you couldn't study medicine?
What do you think a doctor does in a typical week that most people never see?
What will be the hardest part of being a doctor, and why doesn't that put you off?
Doctors, nurses and physician associates all care for patients. Why have you chosen to become a doctor rather than another healthcare professional?
What have you done to test whether medicine really suits you, rather than assuming it does?

💡 A strong answer is specific. Name something you saw, did or read, then explain what it taught you. "I want to help people" on its own won't score.

❤️ Compassion: for patients, yourself and others

The first letter of St Mary's "care" principle. Expect it to come up.

What does compassion look like in a ten-minute GP appointment?
Tell us about a time you supported someone who was struggling. What did you do, and what did you learn about yourself?
Why is it important for doctors to look after their own wellbeing? How do you look after yours?
Can compassion be taught, or are people simply born with it?
Describe a time you had to stay kind and patient with someone you found difficult. How did you manage your own reaction?

🗣️ Communication: talking to the camera

In a recorded interview, the camera is your patient. Look at it, not at yourself on screen.

Role play. Imagine the camera is Mr Daniels. His wife's hip operation has just been cancelled for the second time, and he's angry. You're a first-year medical student on placement, and he's asked to speak to someone. Talk to him now.
Role play. Imagine the camera is your friend. They've just failed an important exam and tell you they're thinking of giving up on their dream course. What do you say to them?
Explain to a ten-year-old, watching this recording, why washing their hands helps stop infections spreading. Don't use any medical words.
Explain, step by step, how to tie a shoelace to someone who can't see you.
Many patients in the UK speak English as a second language. How would you make sure a patient has really understood what you've told them?

💡 For the role plays, speak as if the person is in front of you. Acknowledge how they feel before you try to fix anything, apologise where it's appropriate, and keep your language simple.

⚖️ Ethics and professionalism

Weigh up both sides, then come to a view. Sitting on the fence all the way through won't score well.

A 15-year-old asks her GP for contraception and doesn't want her parents to know. What issues does this raise?
An adult patient with full capacity refuses a blood transfusion that could save their life. Should the doctors respect that decision?
A coursemate posts a photo from their hospital placement on social media, and a patient can be seen in the background. What should you do?
Someone in your course group chat keeps making jokes about patients, and others are laughing along. How do you respond?
Should people whose illness is linked to lifestyle choices, such as smoking, be given lower priority for some NHS treatments?
Some countries allow assisted dying. What are the arguments for and against it, and how should a doctor respond if a patient raises it?
At the end of your placement, a grateful patient offers you an expensive gift. What do you do?

💡 The four pillars of medical ethics (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice) give you a useful framework. Use them to think the problem through, rather than reciting them as a list.

🌍 Social accountability, health inequalities and social justice

This is the heart of St Mary's identity. Prepare it as carefully as your motivation answers.

What does the term "health inequalities" mean? Give an example from the UK or from your home country.
Why might two people living ten miles apart in the same city have very different life expectancies?
How might someone's housing, income or loneliness affect their health?
Beyond treating illness, what responsibility, if any, does a doctor have to the community they serve?
Tell us about a time you made a positive difference in your school, neighbourhood or community. What actually changed because of what you did?

🤝 Teamwork and the wider healthcare team

Tell us about a time a team you were part of disagreed. What did you do?
What could a doctor learn from a pharmacist, a nurse or a carer? Give a specific example.
You think a decision made by someone more senior might be wrong. How would you raise it?
Tell us about a time you led a group. What would your team say you did well, and what would they say you could do better?

💪 Resilience, reflection and readiness

"Readiness" is another of St Mary's four values. Show them you're ready for what medical school asks of you.

Tell us about a time you failed at something. What did you change afterwards?
Describe some feedback you didn't enjoy receiving. What did you do with it?
Halfway through Year 1, you're struggling with the workload while also adjusting to life in a new country. What do you do?
What's one thing about the way you study that you'll need to change to cope with a medical degree?

💻 Digital health, AI and innovation

How do you think artificial intelligence will change a doctor's job over the next ten years? ↪️ Follow-up: If an AI tool gives a patient the wrong advice, who is responsible?
A patient arrives at their appointment having already "diagnosed" themselves with an AI chatbot. How should the doctor respond?
What are the benefits and risks of patients seeing doctors online rather than face to face?

🏥 The NHS, global health and healthcare in your home country

International applicants often under-prepare here. Don't be one of them.

How is the NHS funded, and how does it compare with the healthcare system in the country where you grew up?
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the NHS right now, and what would you do about it?
What is the General Medical Council, and why does its guidance, Good Medical Practice, matter to you as a future doctor?
Climate change has been described as a threat to health. How can it affect people's health, and what part can doctors play in responding to it?

💡 You don't need to be an expert in NHS policy. You do need the basics: how the NHS is funded, who works in it, the main pressures it faces, and how it differs from the system you know best.

🏫 Questions Specific to St Mary's London School of Medicine

Every medical school wants to know you've chosen it on purpose. At a brand-new school with a strong identity, that matters even more. These are the questions to prepare most carefully.

Why have you applied to St Mary's, rather than a medical school that has been training doctors for decades?
You'd be joining one of the first cohorts at a brand-new medical school. What are the advantages and the risks, and what would you contribute to shaping it?
St Mary's describes itself as one of the UK's first socially accountable schools of medicine. What does that mean to you, and how might it shape the doctor you become?
Our "care" principle stands for Compassion, Ambition, Readiness and Excellence. Which matters most in a doctor, and which do you most need to develop?
In your early years you could be on placement with a music therapy charity, and later you'll train in health coaching and patient advocacy. What can a medical student offer a patient that a busy doctor might not have time for?
Our curriculum is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Choose one and explain how it connects to health.
You'll learn in simulation suites, with virtual reality and digital tools. Can technology ever replace learning from real patients?
The GMC will review St Mary's every year until its first students graduate, and the University of Lancashire is our contingency partner. What did you think about before applying to a school in this position?
St Mary's has dropped the UCAT for 2027 entry to remove barriers to applying. Do you think admissions tests are a fair way to select future doctors?
Placements run across London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, and some may be more than an hour away. How will you manage the travel alongside your studies and the rest of your life?
Do you plan to work in the NHS after you graduate, or return to your home country? How will training here help your future patients either way?
St Mary's has been educating students since 1850 and puts social justice and inclusion at the heart of its medical school. You'd also be part of a small international cohort, far from home. What will you bring to that community?

💡 For question 50, don't be defensive. Show you've done your research: new medical schools are reviewed by the GMC every year, there's a contingency arrangement with the University of Lancashire, and the curriculum itself has already produced doctors. Weigh that against the benefits of a small, new cohort and a school built around its values. Interviewers respect applicants who've thought it through.

💡 For question 53, honesty works best. You don't need a fixed plan, but you should know the basics: Foundation Programme places aren't guaranteed and need the right to work in the UK, and graduates of UK medical schools, including international students, are currently prioritised for UK training places. Whatever you decide, explain how what you learn at St Mary's will make you a better doctor for your future patients.

🗣️ What Students and Applicants Say

St Mary's has run just one full interview cycle, so there isn't yet a large body of applicant feedback. The themes below reflect what applicants commonly report about recorded online MMIs, including those run on SAMMI-style platforms. They're paraphrased composite themes rather than direct quotes, so treat them as flavour, not fact.

"Talking to a screen is stranger than you think." Applicants often say the hardest part was the silence. With no one nodding back, they found themselves rushing or second-guessing. Those who'd rehearsed to a webcam beforehand felt far calmer.

"Read the question properly. Then read it again." With no interviewer to ask for clarification, a misread prompt means a wasted answer. Applicants who slowed down at the start of each question say it made the biggest difference.

"Pick your moment in the window." Because you can't pause once you've started, applicants recommend choosing a time when you're fresh, the house is quiet and nothing else is planned. Several say doing it at the same time of day as a practice run helped.

"The values questions kept coming." Applicants to values-led schools often report that compassion, community and purpose came up again and again, in different forms. Specific examples from their own lives landed better than general statements.

"They really wanted to know why a brand-new school." At a new school, the "why us?" question carries extra weight. Answers built on specific features of the course went down well; vague talk about "an exciting opportunity" didn't.

"Check the time zone twice." International applicants regularly mention converting deadlines from UTC. Leaving it to the last day, then discovering the window closes in the middle of your night, is a stress nobody needs.

🚀 Top Tips to Succeed at the St Mary's Interview

Practise alone, on camera, against a timer. This is the single most important thing you can do. Record yourself answering questions with no one in the room, watch them back and fix the two habits that bother you most. It feels awkward, and it works.

Learn the "care" principle and make it yours. Compassion, Ambition, Readiness and Excellence. Have a real example from your own life for each one, ready to use wherever it fits.

Read the Social Accountability Framework. It's the clearest statement of what St Mary's is trying to be. If you understand it, your answers on health inequalities, community and "why St Mary's" will be in a different league.

Know the new-school story. Understand how GMC approval works for new medical schools, what the contingency arrangement with the University of Lancashire means, and why the school is starting with international students. You'll sound informed rather than caught out.

Get the NHS basics right. Know how it's funded, who works in it, its biggest pressures and how it compares with healthcare at home. Read up on the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 too, because it affects your future directly.

Read Good Medical Practice. You don't need to memorise the GMC's guidance, but knowing its main themes (knowledge and skills, patients, colleagues, and trust and professionalism) will strengthen your ethics and teamwork answers.

Re-read your personal statement. St Mary's uses it during the interview. Anything in it is fair game, so make sure every word is true and that you can talk about it confidently.

Structure every answer. A clear opening, two or three developed points and a short conclusion are easier for an assessor watching a recording to mark well. If your mind goes blank, say what you're thinking, calmly, and build from there.

Look at the lens, not the screen. Put a small sticker beside your webcam to remind yourself. Eye contact through the camera makes a real difference to how warm and confident you come across.

Speak clearly and steadily. St Mary's asks for IELTS 7.0 in every component for a reason: clear communication keeps patients safe. Slow down, keep your sentences simple and pause between ideas.

Plan the day like an exam. Test your technology the day before, have your ID and documents ready, convert the deadline into your own time zone and block out two hours. Don't leave it until the final day of the window.

Treat every question as a fresh start. If one answer goes badly, let it go. The next assessor won't know, and the next question is a new chance to score.

And do a proper mock. Practising alone builds fluency, but it can't show you how you come across to a trained examiner. If you want a timed MMI circuit with real examiners and written feedback, that's exactly what our MMI Courses are built for. 👉 Book a Mock MMI Circuit

📌 Key Facts at a Glance

💙 Medical school: St Mary's London School of Medicine, St Mary's University, Twickenham (also known as St Mary's University, London), Strawberry Hill campus

💙 Course: MBBS Medicine, five years full time · UCAS code A100 · institution code S64

💙 Start date: 14 September 2027

💙 First cohort: started September 2026

💙 Who can apply for 2027 entry: international students only. Not open to UK or Irish home students.

💙 How to apply: through UCAS (deadline 15 October 2026), or directly if St Mary's is your only UK choice

💙 Curriculum: developed by the University of Lancashire (formerly UCLan), which is also the contingency partner during GMC approval

💙 A Level requirement: AAA, including Chemistry or Biology and another science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Maths)

💙 IB requirement: 36 points, with 6 in three Higher Level subjects, including Chemistry or Biology

💙 GCSE requirement: at least six at grade 6, including Maths, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Double Science). Scoring uses your best eight

💙 Graduates: 2:1 in any subject from the last three years, plus ABB at A Level

💙 English language: IELTS Academic 7.0, with 7.0 in every component

💙 UCAT: not required for 2027 entry (nor GAMSAT or MCAT)

💙 Shortlisting: academic scoring and ranking; minimum grades alone are unlikely to be enough

💙 Personal statement: used during the interview, not for shortlisting

💙 Work experience: not required, but can be discussed

💙 Interview type: recorded, asynchronous online MMI using SAMMI on Sammi-Select software

💙 Interview length: about 1.5 hours, completed in one sitting

💙 Interview window: 2026-entry window ran 26 January to 3 February 2026 (12pm UTC). 2027 dates not yet published

💙 Scholarships: 10 awards of £3,000 a year, based on MMI performance

💙 Offer conditions: academic grades, Enhanced DBS check, home-country police check, occupational health checks and a tuition fee deposit before CAS

💙 Tuition fees: £48,000 a year (2026 entry figure; 2027 fees to be confirmed)

💙 Clinical placements: from Year 1, across London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire

💙 Rankings: 79th (Complete University Guide 2027) · 114th (Guardian University Guide 2027) · 113th (The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027) · 13th in the UK and 2nd in London (NSS 2026) · TEF 2023 Gold for student experience

💙 Admissions contact: med.admissions@stmarys.ac.uk

Good luck. Choosing a brand-new medical school takes a bit of courage, and St Mary's knows it. Show them you understand what they're building, and why you want to be part of it. 💙

🔗 Useful Links

St Mary's London School of Medicine

Admissions guidance

Professional standards and your future career

Rankings and student experience

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The Blue Peanut Team

This content is provided in good faith and based on information from medical school websites at the time of writing. Entry requirements can change, so always check directly with the university before making decisions. You’re free to accept or reject any advice given here, and you use this information at your own risk. We can’t be held responsible for errors or omissions — but if you spot any, please let us know and we’ll update it promptly. Information from third-party websites should be considered anecdotal and not relied upon.