Those who want to get into medical school often ask, “Do I need work experience?” It’s no surprise that applying to medical school in the UK is challenging. In short, yes, work experience is a crucial component of an application. But how you obtain this experience, what is deemed acceptable, and how it relates to the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) are more subtle questions.
In this blog, we will explore the demands of work experience in 2025, how it can influence your medical school application, and why UCAT coaching is a beneficial step for aspiring doctors.
Why Work Experience Matters
Work experience in medical school does not pass as some sort of checklist. Work experience is an important tangible sign that medical schools in the UK put in an applicant, showing that his or her vision for a career in medicine is realistic. Admissions teams want to know that students are committed to the career, have thought about its requirements and benefits, and have developed skills like empathy, communication, teamwork, and resilience.
Candidates who can demonstrate their knowledge of the type of work they will be performing and their self-awareness of being in the medical field, whether directly or indirectly, have an advantage over others in the current competitive job market. There is no universal requirement for the number of hours or specific types of clinical exposure. Instead, the quality of your personal reflections on the experiences you gain, along with the personal growth and perspective you demonstrate from them, is what truly matters.
What Counts as Work Experience for Medical School?
Medical school work experience does not have to be confined to shadowing doctors in hospitals or your GP – though this is very good work experience if you can get it. It is now acknowledged clearly in medical school that not every applicant has access to these opportunities, following the disruption of the pandemic, the still-enduring NHS resource pressures, and the child protection protocols that involve younger students.
Some relevant experiences will include:
- Caring or Service Roles: Volunteering in care homes to help with special education services, working with community groups, or any other employed or unpaid position that includes assisting people who are ill, handicapped, or underprivileged.
- Clinical Observations: Shadowing physicians, nurses, physiotherapists and other health practitioners to acquire an insight into the multidisciplinary face of medicine.
- Public Facing Non-Clinical Roles: Individuals who work in retail, hospitality, or outreach can gain transferable skills in communication and group dynamics – abilities directly applicable to medicine, as a matter of fact.
- Virtual and Online Experience: Virtual and online programmes of work experience are being promoted in medical schools after the pandemic. Such resources are still popular among students with a restricted or limited location, age, and other conditions.
The Medical Schools Council now emphasises that being able to write about your experience and evidence that learning has occurred is much more important than the mere list of placements.
Changes and Trends: The Latest on Work Experience
Work experience requirements are elastic and holistic, where the basis is on the level of comprehension rather than direct exposure to the field of healthcare in 2025. Other schools go further to say that experiences regarded as relevant are valid and can include things such as reading, podcasts, and documentaries as well as the traditional placements.
Students who are 16 or older and have some sense of safeguarding can take part in most hospital or GP placements. Younger students can all benefit and, often, need to volunteer within the community or virtually undertake work experience.
For those who are eager to gain some hands-on experience, a number of hospitals, sometimes leading London NHS Trusts, will provide a work experience week to 14–18 year olds during the summer.
How Work Experience Impacts Your Application
In most medical schools in the United Kingdom, work experience is required, with candidates being asked to write about it in the personal statement or gain a place based on an interview. Your focus completely depends on what you learnt about patient care, the struggles of those in the healthcare field, and how this experience has contributed to your determination to be a doctor. They are seeking candidates who are conversant with the realities, the ups, and downs of a medical profession.
Medical schools are increasingly finding them successful. Expressing personal growth, resilience, and the acquisition of essential attributes for the field of medicine is vital. Phrases such as ‘I spent two weeks in a hospital’ are less significant than ‘I was able to learn at a care home that it is crucial to listen to the stories of patients, which enriched my understanding of the feeling towards the elderly and elicited my empathy.’
Connecting Work Experience and the UCAT
The University Clinical Aptitude Test is a university entrance examination that plays a major role in securing admission to medical schools across nearly all of the UK. There has been a combination of UCAT, academic achievement and qualitative selection, such as personal statements and interviews at medical schools. Direct marks are not awarded directly to work experience on an application, but your capacity to demonstrate what you have learnt through work experience is reflected in various mini-interview (MMI) points or in panel interview types.
Recent developments validate the fact that the UCAT is a crucial component of the admission process even though it is weighted differently according to the university. Aberdeen, for instance, weights academic achievements at 30%, UCAT at 20%, and interviews at 50%.
Schools like Cardiff permit the use of academic records as the primary criterion, but employ UCAT as a tiebreaker or in cases of oversubscription. Another change that is made through the 2025 cycle is the elimination of the abstract reasoning section within the UCAT, which speaks to the necessity of preparing tests in a modernised manner.
The Value of UCAT Coaching
The first barrier to success in medical admission revolves around performance in UCAT. Most schools are so competitive that you must score well on the UCAT to get an interview, even if you have a diverse work portfolio.
There are changes to the UCAT announced in the 2025 UCAT, with changes in sections and cut-off scores higher for high schools, so having some coaching specific to the UCAT can make a huge impact, especially as they do change.
Areas covered during the personalised coaching process include:
- Awareness of new types and kinds of questions.
- Strategies that relate to time management, which is a crucial part of the UCAT.
- Specific training will focus on the identified areas of weakness.
- Accurate simulation of test pressure and endurance
Combining a great record of work experience with the best preparation for the UCAT, you can say you have the all-round application that medical schools are looking for: ability, aptitude, and a passion for medicine.
Final Thoughts
Do you therefore require medical school work experience in the UK? Absolutely. However, work experience as a medical school applicant in 2025 is more than marking a check box but amounts to learning in-depth information, acquiring the relevant key attributes that individuals need as lifelong learners, and demonstrating their fitness for the intense but gratifying profession. Understand that it does not matter where you are, whether in a hospital ward, a volunteer activity, a customer care job, or a virtual program; all that matters is your readiness to think, learn, and develop.
Never underrate the synergy between the problem-solving you get at work and the one you find in UCAT. An outstanding application combines impressive personal development experiences with a strong UCAT score, which is essential for gaining access to interview opportunities. One part clear thinking and one part hard work, coupled with the help of UCAT coaching directed towards learning the new format and expectations, and you will optimise the chances of being offered one of those elusive medical school places.
