Chester's four-year MBChB is open to graduates of any subject, accepts UCAT, GAMSAT or MCAT, and asks every applicant for 70 hours of recent, relevant work experience.
By Dr Akash Gandhi · Last checked: 22 September 2026
Chester graduate entry medicine is the four-year MBChB (UCAS code A101), and you need a 2:1 honours degree in any subject (or a 2:2 with a Master's or Doctoral qualification), a UCAT, GAMSAT or MCAT score above Chester's annual minimum threshold, and at least 70 hours of relevant work experience from the three years before you apply.
Chester invites every applicant who meets its academic criteria and test standard to interview: six multiple mini interview stations over about an hour and a half, each observed and scored by two trained assessors. Chester does not publish its test threshold, saying only that it changes each year and is set above the national mean.
Chester Medical School agreed a 2024 start date with the General Medical Council and is progressing through the GMC's approval stages for a new medical school, with Warwick Medical School as its contingency partner. International graduates can apply through UCAS.
Chester sets a minimum amount of work experience and a date window for it. You need at least 70 hours of work experience relevant to medicine, meaning roles that give insight into the NHS or another healthcare system, the role of a doctor or other health professional, or the perspective of patients and carers. For the 2026-27 admissions cycle (2027 entry), the hours must fall between 15 October 2023 and 15 October 2026.
| If you are... | Chester asks for |
|---|---|
| Training or working as a health professional with direct patient or service-user contact | Evidence of your training or work, plus an online or virtual work experience course (Chester points to a free Brighton and Sussex Medical School course) |
| Anyone else | At least two relevant experiences: one in a role with direct hands-on care of people with healthcare needs (paid or voluntary), and others that can be shadowing a health professional or an online work experience course |
International applicants: check which wording applies
Chester's international applicants page, and the International Students tab of the course page, describe the 70 hours differently: shadowing counts for up to 20 hours, and references are needed to evidence the experience if you are invited to a selection centre. The 2027 entry window appears on the Home Students tab, so confirm with Chester admissions if you are applying from outside the UK.
Source: University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27)); University of Chester, Applying for Graduate Entry Medicine (international applicants) (no year stated); Medical Schools Council, Chester Medicine (A101) (Start date September 2027)
Chester says graduates in the arts, humanities or languages are eligible to apply, and it welcomes applicants from outside science and allied health backgrounds. The degree routes are:
| What you hold | Accepted? |
|---|---|
| 2:1 honours or above, any subject | Yes |
| 2:2 honours | Only with a Master's or Doctoral qualification |
| Intercalated or integrated Master's (for example MEng, MPharm) | Yes, at the equivalent of a pass or above at Master's level (minimum 2:2) |
| Final-year undergraduate | Yes, with any offer conditional on a 2:1 or above |
| 2:2 with a Master's under way | Yes, with any offer conditional on the Master's being awarded |
You must meet a minimum threshold in UCAT, GAMSAT or MCAT. Chester says the thresholds fluctuate each year and will be set above the national mean, and it does not publish a figure. The Medical Schools Council entry lists A-levels and GCSEs as not scored. For test preparation, see our UCAT tutoring or GAMSAT tutors.
Chester does not consider applicants who left a medical or dental school because of academic failure. Other reasons for leaving are considered case by case, and Chester always contacts the previous medical school. Entry is into Year 1 only.
Source: University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27)); Medical Schools Council, Chester Medicine (A101) (Start date September 2027)
Which test suits you depends on your degree, your timeline and your other choices. We tutor both, and a free call is enough to work out which one to sit.
Academic criteria and test standard
Degree route, reference and a test score above the year's minimum threshold.
Everyone who qualifies is interviewed
Chester says all applicants who meet the academic criteria and entry test standards will be required to attend for interview, and no place is offered without one.
Six multiple mini interviews
The process lasts about one and a half hours. Station content changes each year, and every station is designed around the GMC's Good Medical Practice. Two trained assessors observe and score you at each station, drawn from medical professionals, academics, current students and lay people.
Score profile reviewed
After the MMIs, each candidate's score profile is reviewed to decide who receives an offer. Chester does not give individual feedback on selection.
Chester has not said whether 2027 interviews are online or in person, or published interview dates. The interview dates table is updated when schools publish. As every station is designed to assess against the GMC's Good Medical Practice, it can help to prepare with that guidance to hand, for example through mock interviews.
Source: University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27)); University of Chester, Applying for Graduate Entry Medicine (international applicants) (no year stated)
As a new medical school, Chester goes through the General Medical Council's staged quality assurance, which culminates in approval to award a primary medical qualification. Chester agreed a 2024 start date with the GMC and says it is progressing through the approval stages. Graduates who meet the GMC's fitness to practise requirements will be eligible for provisional registration and can apply for Year 1 of the UK Foundation Programme, where places are competitive.
Source: University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27))
| Year | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mainly university-based in the Wheeler Building: five blocks of five weeks combining lectures, case-based learning, practicals, simulation and clinical skills, then a transition block |
| 2 | Three ten-week Core Clinical Education placements in general medicine, surgery and other specialties, plus general practice and community psychiatry, and a student-selected component |
| 3 | An 8-week academic block with a research-based student-selected component, then six-week Specialist Clinical Placements in six of eight specialties |
| 4 | The last two specialist placements, an Advanced Clinical Cases block before the Medical Licensing Assessment, an elective in the UK or overseas, and an assistantship |
Case-based learning in small tutor-led groups runs through all four years, and Chester describes its curriculum as spiral: core themes are introduced and then revisited at each stage. You meet patients from early in the course.
| Fee status | Fee per year |
|---|---|
| Home | £9,790 (2026/27), which may rise in line with the government fee cap |
| International | £46,000 (2026/27) |
Home students apply for undergraduate student finance in Year 1. In Years 2 to 4, fees are paid through a combination of the income-assessed NHS Bursary and a tuition fee loan. Irish nationals living in the UK or the Republic of Ireland are treated as home students for fees. International applicants need IELTS 7.0 or equivalent, with no more than two components at 6.0 or 6.5.
Source: University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27)); University of Chester, Applying for Graduate Entry Medicine (international applicants) (no year stated)
15 October 2023 to 15 October 2026
Window in which your 70 hours of work experience must fall
University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27))
15 October 2026, 18:00
UCAS deadline for 2027 entry medicine courses
UCAS, 2027 entry deadline for most courses in medicine (2027 entry)
After shortlisting
Six-station MMI; 2027 dates not published
University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27))
September 2027
Course starts in Chester
University of Chester, Graduate Entry Medicine MBChB course page (2027 entry (work experience window for the 2026-27 cycle; fees stated for 2026/27))
Swansea GEM
Also takes any degree subject and accepts GAMSAT or UCAT, with MCAT open to international applicants.
Warwick GEM
Warwick Medical School is Chester's contingency partner.
Ulster GEM
Another graduate entry course open to a 2:1 in any discipline, though it takes GAMSAT only.
See every UK course side by side in the graduate entry medicine comparison table, or read the full Chester medical school profile for the five-year course, rankings and admissions statistics.
Graduate entry guides
Help with a graduate application
Practise in the format this school uses, with mock MMI and panel interviews and written feedback after every session.
At least 70 hours of relevant work experience, gained between 15 October 2023 and 15 October 2026 for 2027 entry.
Unless you already work or train as a health professional with patient contact, it must include at least two experiences, one of them hands-on care of people with healthcare needs. Online courses count for up to 10 hours.
Yes. Chester accepts a 2:1 in any subject and names arts, humanities and languages graduates as eligible.
Chester does not publish a figure. It says the minimum threshold for UCAT, GAMSAT and MCAT changes each year and is set above the national mean.
Only with a postgraduate qualification. A 2:2 is considered if you hold a Master's or Doctoral qualification, and if your Master's is still under way any offer is conditional on it being awarded.
Chester is progressing through the GMC's approval stages for a new medical school, which culminate in approval to award a primary medical qualification. It agreed its 2024 start with the GMC and expects full approval in the final year of the programme, in 2028, with Warwick Medical School as its contingency partner.
Yes. Chester's course page says all applicants who meet the academic criteria and the entry test standard are required to attend interview, and its international applicants page adds that no place is offered without one.
Yes. International graduates apply through UCAS, need IELTS 7.0 or equivalent (with no more than two components at 6.0 or 6.5). The international fee for 2026/27 is £46,000 a year.
Last checked: 22 September 2026. Universities update entry requirements during the cycle, so confirm on Chester's own pages before you apply.
Photo: University of Chester Senate House by secretlondon123, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped.
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