Preparing for the Brighton & Sussex Medical School interview

To prepare for the MMIs, BSMS recommends reflecting on your work experience using the core skills, values and attributes needed to study medicine published by the Medical Schools Council, including teamwork, leadership, good communication skills, resilience, and empathy. Build a clear and honest answer to "Why medicine?" and "Why BSMS?" from your own experience, and choose the things that genuinely matter to you, such as the way the course is taught, the placements, or the communities you want to serve.

Applicants who can speak concretely about access, education, and social context, and connect it to their own experiences, tend to resonate with interviewers. If you've engaged with public health or the humanities, highlight how it informs empathy, communication, and patient-centered practice.

Use experiences you can discuss in your own words and with real detail.

England's policy environment is defined by workforce strain and reform pressures. We kept this section to what we could verify from primary sources, because quoting a statistic you cannot source is worse than not quoting one.

NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (June 2023). NHS England's plan sets out that, if fully implemented, the permanent NHS workforce would grow from about 1.4 million in 2021/22 to between 2.2 and 2.3 million by 2036/37.

It is a useful anchor when you discuss staffing, training places and retention.

Beyond the plan, think about how primary care access, health inequalities and service capacity vary between places, including coastal and rural areas. If you cite a local figure in an interview, make sure you can name the source (for example NHS England, the Office for National Statistics or a local public health report) and the year.

Interview discussions often test your ability to combine current events with ethical reasoning and practical problem-solving. Pick issues you have read about from reliable sources and can discuss in a balanced way.

• Industrial action and workforce morale. Be ready to acknowledge system-wide impacts such as elective backlogs, continuity challenges, and staff welfare, while staying balanced and patient-centered. Show that you can hold staff welfare and patient safety in productive tension without polarising the discussion.
• Mental health demand. Think about prevention, early intervention, school-based support, and multidisciplinary care when proposing realistic improvements to children's and young people's mental health services.
• Cost of living and health. Consider how financial pressure affects diet, heating and chronic disease, and how social support can complement medical treatment. In stations on public health or ethics, weigh clinical care alongside structural determinants.
• Migrant health access. Lead with empathy, safeguarding, and a practical understanding of how patients register with and use NHS services.
• Ageing populations. Discuss medication reconciliation, falls prevention, frailty screening, and coordinated care pathways to demonstrate readiness for an older patient population.
• Environmental health. Link environmental determinants such as air quality to public health interventions and evidence-led advocacy.

Use this focused plan to mirror BSMS's published format, then convert insight into performance with Confetto.

• Run AI-powered MMI simulations of short, assessor-style discussions, covering ethics, teamwork, and data analysis scenarios, and practise responding to follow-up questions.
• Drill complex cases (e.g., healthcare rationing, child and adolescent mental health waits, migrant access) with dynamic role-plays to sharpen adaptability and structured communication.
• Use Confetto's performance analytics to refine how you present any statistic you cite, including its source and year, clearly and concisely.
• Practice reflective “Why medicine?” and “Why BSMS?” answers built from your own experience and from what the school publishes.
• Stress-test your virtual setup with timed, recorded sessions that evaluate clarity, tone, pacing, and environment, and have your photo ID ready, then iterate using targeted feedback.

Is the BSMS interview an MMI?

Yes. BSMS describes its interview as a Multiple Mini Interview made up of discussions with trained assessors.

Its most recent published description (2025/26) is five discussions of ten minutes each, with each discussion held with a trained assessor and marked out of 20.

Does BSMS interview virtually?

For 2027 entry, UK applicants can choose an in-person interview (early December or early January) or a Zoom interview (late January or early February). International applicants interview in person, or on Zoom if they can't attend because of mitigating circumstances. Confirm the format for your applicant category in your invitation and on the official admissions page.

How does BSMS choose who to interview?

By UCAT, among applicants who meet or are predicted to meet its academic requirements. BSMS aims to give 30% of its interviews to candidates with contextual data flags, ranked separately.

How is the BSMS MMI scored?

In the 2025/26 description, each discussion is marked out of 20 and the scores combine into a global score out of 100, which is ranked to decide offers.

When does BSMS make offers?

Between January and April, after the Admissions Review Group considers MMI results.

How can I demonstrate fit with BSMS?

Be specific and honest about why you want this course and this career. Tie your experiences to access, community and teamwork, and avoid reciting a prepared script because the school's own student advice warns against set answers.

What ethical themes are commonly tested?

Practice common medical ethics themes such as consent, autonomy, confidentiality and fair use of resources, for example a patient refusing treatment for religious reasons, and how to balance individual rights with population health.

Do I need a personal statement for BSMS?

BSMS says it does not use personal statements at any point in the admissions process. Applications are screened using the UCAT, and you must sit it in summer 2026 for 2027 entry.

• Format. BSMS uses an MMI of assessor discussions. The latest published format is five 10-minute discussions (2025/26), so rely on your invitation for your cycle's schedule.
• Dates and ID. For 2027 entry, interviews run from December 2026 to February 2027, in person or on Zoom, and photo ID is required at the start.
• Sourced facts. Ground your answers in your own experience and in sourced facts, such as the 2023 NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, rather than half-remembered local statistics.
• No set answers. Avoid memorized answers: the school's own student advice cautions against set responses.

Turn this context into interview-ready performance with Confetto. Build fluency in BSMS's MMI discussions through AI mock stations, targeted scenario drilling, and analytics that sharpen how you present evidence and reflect under pressure.

Start your free week so you can adapt with confidence on interview day.

Also applying elsewhere in the UK? See our new interview guides to Anglia Ruskin University School of Medicine (an in-person MMI of six 7-minute stations), Kent and Medway Medical School (an MMI with a group station) and Norwich Medical School (UEA) (an on-campus MMI of six 5-minute stations).

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.

Sources: BSMS admissions process, BSMS virtual open day: admissions.

Confetto isn't affiliated with Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Everything here about the school comes from its public admissions pages, checked in October 2026. Formats can change between cycles, so go by your invitation email.