Updated · 3 min read
Preparing for the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry interview
For September 2027 entry to the five-year MBBS (A100) program at Queen Mary University of London, Barts and The London holds an online panel interview between January and February, with decisions communicated in March when all interviews have been completed. The school expects 311 Home places and up to 24 Overseas places for September 2027 entry, and selection follows values-based recruitment and the core values of the NHS.
Barts medicine uses an online panel interview
For Queen Mary's five-year Medicine program, the current selection page describes an online panel interview, not a six-to-eight-station MMI. Prepare to discuss your application and your reasons for medicine in a conversation with interviewers.
What the selection page says
- Dates and decisions. The page is for September 2027 entry and says interviews take place between January and February, with decisions communicated in March when all interviews have been completed.
- Places. Expected places for September 2027 entry to the five-year MBBS (A100) program are 311 Home students and up to 24 Overseas students.
- Shortlisting thresholds. Applicants must apply by the UCAS deadline of 15 October, sit the UCAT in the year of application, achieve an overall UCAT score within the fourth decile range or above with SJT Bands 1 to 3 (applications in SJT Band 4 or below the fourth decile are not considered further than the first shortlisting), and where applicable hold a predicted minimum UCAS Tariff of at least 152 (A*AA).
- Panel. Panels typically include two senior academic or clinical staff members and sometimes a lay selector.
- Assessment areas. The stated assessment areas include motivation, understanding the profession, teamwork, problem solving, communication and contribution to university life, following values-based recruitment and the core values of the NHS.
- Your application and post-interview selection. Your panel may access your UCAS application, and selection after interview may consider interview score, situational judgment test, UCAS tariff of entry qualifications predicted or achieved, or weighted scoring of degree and UCAT score.
Read the official A100 selection criteria and follow your invitation for the precise arrangements.
This guide covers medicine A100. Don't transfer its arrangements to dentistry or graduate entry without checking the relevant programme.
Confetto is independent of Queen Mary University of London and Barts and The London.
Prepare for questions about what you actually did
Print or save the application you submitted. Highlight every sentence that implies a skill or responsibility.
If you wrote that you supported someone, be able to explain what that meant. Did you listen, organise an activity or pass a concern to a supervisor?
Avoid letting a small role become a clinical intervention when you retell it.
What Queen Mary says about experience
Queen Mary says people-focused experience can come from paid work or volunteering; clinical shadowing isn't the only route. It also says the personal statement isn't scored, although the panel may ask about your application.
That's a reason to know your examples, rather than memorise your statement word for word. These points are in the same selection guidance.
A claim-and-evidence sheet
Make a two-column sheet. On the left, put the claim you made.
On the right, put the event that supports it, what you personally contributed and what you'd change. An empty right-hand column exposes a weak answer before your interview does.
A panel drill with follow-up questions
This is our practice exercise, not Queen Mary's interview script. Ask a partner to choose one example from your application.
Give yourself ninety seconds for your opening account, then let your partner interrupt with follow-ups for four minutes. These are training times, not the school's published timings.
- Explain the situation in a sentence. Keep names and identifying patient details out.
- Describe one decision you made. Explain why you chose it at the time.
- Say what happened next, including any part that didn't go well.
- Answer a challenge: what would someone else involved say about your account?
Why the fourth step matters
The fourth step is the useful one. It tests whether your reflection survives a different perspective.
If your answer turns everyone else into an obstacle and you into the hero, rewrite it. A credible example leaves room for another person's priorities.
After the drill
After the drill, your partner should write down your actual role. If they can't tell what you did, shorten the background.
If they can tell what you did but not what you learned, add a specific change in how you'd behave next time.
Build a grounded answer to why Barts
The 2027 course page states that in Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2) students take five systems-based modules and three student-selected components in each of the two years, and clinical placements start in September of Year 1 with a group placement in a general practice (GP) surgery. Pick a feature you've read about and explain why it fits the way you want to learn.
You don't need to recite local poverty figures or name research centers you haven't investigated.
An example link
For example, you could connect an interest in community learning to an experience where the same person's needs looked different over time. Explain what you noticed and what you still want to understand.
Example answer, written by Confetto's team: "What draws me to the five-year MBBS at Barts is that clinical placements start in September of Year 1 with a group placement in a general practice (GP) surgery, alongside five systems-based modules and three student-selected components in each of the two years of Phase 1. During my care volunteering, I saw how ongoing conditions are supported in primary care, so starting in a GP surgery from the first weeks of Year 1 matches how I want to connect classroom science to patient care."
Don't say you took responsibility for care if you only observed it.
Test your draft
Use this test on your draft: replace “Barts” with another school. If the answer still works unchanged, add a verified course detail and your own reason for caring about it.
A list of facilities won't do that job.
Original questions for your next rehearsal
These prompts are ours. They aren't reported or predicted Barts questions.
- You described yourself as resilient in your application. Tell us about a setback where your first response wasn't helpful. What changed?
- Which part of being a doctor do you expect to find difficult, and what experience shaped that view?
- A teammate says you didn't listen to them. How would you establish what happened before defending your actions?
- Choose one feature of Queen Mary's medicine course. What would it ask of you as a learner?
For the teamwork prompt, start by asking for an example of the behaviour. Then explain how you'd compare their account with yours and agree a practical change.
Don't promise that good communication will make every disagreement disappear.
Check your online setup
- Device and connection. Rehearse on the device and connection you'll use.
- Sound. Ask your partner to test how clearly they can hear you at a normal speaking volume.
- Invitation details. Check the invitation for identification requirements, platform instructions and what to do if the connection fails.
- Contacts. Keep the admissions contact information within reach.
If you want another round of spoken practice, Start your free week with Confetto's medical school practice for AI mock interviews with follow-up questions and rubric-based feedback. Use the feedback to choose one answer to revise, then say it again without reading a script.
Also applying elsewhere in the UK? See our new interview guides to UCL Medical School (an MMI held on campus for home applicants) and King's College London Medicine (a remote MMI).
More UK guides: UK medicine interviews, school by school, UK medicine interview questions and how the MMI works. Practice out loud with UK medicine mock interviews.