Medicine at University of Glasgow Medical School & Interview Questions 2024

Key Aspects

🎓 Glasgow Medicine Interview Questions & Topics 2024

The interview session will last around 30 minutes in total, divided into two sections: panel A and panel B.

• Panel A will explore what being a doctor means and related topics around this.

• The panel B section will focus more on the applicant as a future doctor and will include a discussion of an ethical scenario – applicants choose one from two given scenarios.

The interviews are conversational, with no writing required at any stage of the process. The only part of the interview that requires reading is the panel B section, where the applicant reads two ethical scenarios and chooses one for discussion.  

We have included additional time in the time allocated for this task in order to be inclusive of applicants who have additional needs.  The scenarios are also very brief, only two or three sentences. Applicants will be interviewed by two interviewers, who cover both Panel A and Panel B.

Glasgow recommends looking at the following topics for the interview:

• Revisit your personal statement (interviewers have no knowledge about you other than your name)

• Think of examples of your achievements and skills

• Consider your personal characteristics

• Reflect on previous interactions or experiences

• Be aware of current issues/challenges within the NHS

• The curriculum at Glasgow medical school

• What it means to be a doctor

These normally take place in December with offers normally being made by late March each year. Candidates receiving offers are those who not only achieve the academic standards required but also show they have seriously considered the implications of a medical career and who display the characteristics desirable in a future doctor, as well as demonstrating a commitment, motivation and enthusiasm for a medical career. 

Although specific work experience in a hospital or general practice is not essential, it is important for all applicants to find out about the realities of a career in medicine. Meeting minimum entry requirements does not guarantee an interview.

❓ Glasgow Medical Interview Past Questions 2024 & Likely Topics

Please find below a list of suggested questions that could come up at your interview this year, created by our team to help guide your preparation. 

Motivation to study medicine + Personal Statement

1. Why medicine?

2. Why Glasgow?

3. What did you learn from your work experience?

4. What qualities of a doctor did you see from your work experience?

5. Take us through your personal statement.

6. What is your greatest achievement on your personal statement?

7. Tell me about XXX (anything that you have written on your personal statement).

8. What do you know about the Glasgow Medicine course? How is it taught?

9. Why do you think you will be well suited to this course?

10. Why medicine and not dentistry or nursing?

11. What is your greatest achievement?

12. Tell us about your volunteering

13. What are your hobbies?

14. What are the negatives of a career in medicine?

Personal Insight

1. Why should patients trust you?

2. What are your best qualities?

3. How do you manage stress?

4. Can you provide us with an example of a time when you demonstrated resilience?

5. Give us an example of a time when you demonstrated teamwork.

6. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

7. How would your friends describe you?

8. Tell us about an article that you have recently read.

NHS & Local Area

1. What is the CQC?

2. What changes would you make to the NHS if you could?

3. What are the NHS values and why are they important?

4. What is it like to be a doctor?

5. How do you deal with overpopulation?

6. What do you know about the local area here in Glasgow?

7. What are the main challenges that face the NHS?

8. How has COVID changed the way the NHS operates?

9. What do you think are going to be the long-term consequences of COVID on the NHS?

10. How does the healthcare system differ here compared to other areas in the UK?

Ethical Scenarios at Glasgow

1. Understanding of the four ethical principles

2. Understanding of the GMC’s good medical practice

3. What is the debate surrounding euthanasia, should it be legalised?

4. Should abortion be banned?

5. Who would you give this organ to? [Prioritisation]

6. If you notice that a colleague has turned up to work drunk, what would you do?

7. Who can you escalate concerns to within a hospital?

🗣️ University of Glasgow Medicine Interview Tips 2024

1. Know Your Personal Statement: The Glasgow Medical School website states that “Personal statements are looked at during the interview”. As a result, it is paramount that you know your personal statement inside out. Be prepared to talk about any aspect of your personal statement. E.g. if you mentioned the EPQ - make sure you can talk about this in some detail, be able to talk about what you learnt about and maybe even the implications of research on clinical medicine.

2. Have examples ready to use: many of the questions asked at Glasgow are example-based, ie, they require you to draw on certain examples from your personal life, medical work experience and medical volunteering to help make key points that the selectors are looking for. As such, it is paramount that you spend time learning about these examples and thinking about different scenarios that you can use at the interview. It is helpful if these scenarios are malleable and can be applied to a number of different questions e.g. being a football captain, deputy head girl or playing in the school orchestra.

3. Personal Attributes - Glasgow is very likely to ask you about personal attributes during the Glasgow panel interview. As such it is paramount that you go through and learn these. Glasgow has repeatedly focussed on your strengths and weaknesses as a person, so make sure that you have suitable examples for this. Check out our 420+ interview question and answer guide for dealing with such interview questions. 

4. Know the doctor training pathway: this is useful to mention in answers to show awareness about the career in medicine - and demonstrates that you have a considered approach, fortunately, we have a guide to the NHS and the doctor’s training pathway.

5. Know the Glasgow Course - we would always recommend doing this for every university that you plan to apply to. It is paramount that you know about the different topics covered each year. How does this differ from other universities? What is their policy on intercalation? Have you any idea about what you would plan to intercalate in at Glasgow? Remember there is very early clinical exposure at Glasgow - this can be an advantage!

6. Know the local area - Glasgow is a diverse region of Scotland, with a number of local factors and diseases that differentiate the Glasgow region from the rest of the UK. Ensure that you research both communicable and non-communicable diseases in the area. How might this impact healthcare provision in the area?

7. Reflect Well - the Glasgow Medicine selectors love reflection, make sure that you are good at not just stating what you have learnt, but also how this helped and what you benefitted from, and what you will carry forward about this at medical school and in clinical medicine. This is especially true when reflecting on your medical work experience during the medicine interview.

8. Don’t over-rehearse - this is a common theme amongst interview students and is very obvious to a trained examiner. As such, we would recommend focusing on the structure of your answer, and then naturally letting it flow when speaking to the answers, concentrating on the delivery of your interview answers. Read about our top tips for medicine interviews here. If you are struggling with this, consider booking sessions with an expert medicine interview tutor.

9. Learn about the non-academic societies at Glasgow - this is really important and might augment your Why Medicine question as well as help you formulate an answer to how you will contribute to life at Glasgow University. Spend time on their website, or looking at their instagram for ideas about societies that you could think about joining.

10. Learn Medical Ethics & NHS Hot Topics - it is extremely likely that you will be asked about medical ethics at a medicine interview in Glasgow, so there is no excuse not to brush up on your knowledge of these topics, especially the four pillars of medical ethics. Learn how to provide a balanced argument on this. Check out some of our free articles on NHS Hot Topics here. It is good if you have an opinion on them, as long as you present a balanced and well-reasoned argument, ultimately, which side you choose does not matter, but is helpful to have. Check out our bank of 420+ medicine interview questions.

11. Learn the NHS Core Values - This can be drawn into different answers about personal qualities or qualities of a doctor, which has formed a feature of stations in the past, and a good understanding of these core values will help you stand out against others. It is important to know about the NHS in general for your medical interviews - read our article here on this.

12. Good Medical Practice - Glasgow also puts emphasis on knowing the values and qualities of a good doctor, which can be found in this document and are likely to come up at the interview in the panel stations. This is universal to many universities, and something that we always recommend students cover during their medicine interview preparation.