Year 12 medicine, dentistry and vet applicant checklist

Mostly research. None of it is hard, and it makes picking four universities in Year 13 much easier. By Christmas the student should know what the course involves, what it asks for at A level and which schools are realistic for them.

1. 1.Decide which course they are applying for

   Medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine are three different careers with three different application routes. One approach is to ask the student to read the career guide for the course they think they want, then explain the day-to-day job back to you in their own words.

   Where to send them: Deciding on medicine, step by step · A career in dentistry · UK vet schools

   • Veterinary: There is no separate vet career guide. Start with the UK vet school hub, which covers how the course is structured and the extramural studies (EMS) each school expects.

2. 2.Check the entry requirements against the A levels they are already taking

   Subject combinations can often still be changed in Year 12 and rarely in Year 13, so a mismatch is much easier to fix if you catch it this term.

   Where to send them: UK medical school entry requirements · What A levels do you need for dentistry · UK vet schools

   • Veterinary: Vet schools generally expect Biology and often Chemistry at A level. Requirements vary more between vet schools than between medical schools, so check each one on the vet school hub.

3. 3.Build a longlist of eight to ten universities to research

   Eight to ten in Year 12 usually narrows to four in Year 13. The school hubs give the same facts for every university, which helps when one open day was far slicker than the rest.

   Where to send them: UK medical schools · UK dental schools · UK vet schools

   • Veterinary: There are far fewer vet schools than medical schools, so the longlist is shorter and the research on each one needs to be deeper.

4. 4.Start looking for work experience early, before the summer

   Placements that need a DBS check, an application form or a waiting list are often filled by spring. The finder lists free and virtual options alongside the ones that need arranging, so a student with no family contacts is not stuck.

   Where to send them: Work experience finder

5. 5.Set up one long-term, regular volunteering commitment

   Something done weekly for a year usually gives a student more to reflect on than a single impressive week. A care home, a charity shop, a youth group or a school mentoring scheme all count. Reading the work experience guide first can help the student see what they might get out of it.

   Where to send them: Medicine work experience guide · Dentistry work experience guide · Vet work experience guide

   • Veterinary: Vet schools ask for a set number of weeks of animal handling and clinical experience, split between practice and husbandry. The vet work experience guide lists what each school asks for.

6. 6.Give them a reflection log to use from the start

   Universities care more about what a student took from a placement than the placement itself, and that is hard to remember a year later. Our teacher work experience page carries a printable log the student can fill in within a week of each activity.

   Where to send them: Printable reflection log

7. 7.Join or start a MedSoc

   A school MedSoc gives applicants a weekly hour together, peer support through the UCAT and interviews, and a reason to read something beyond the syllabus. It can also save some one-to-one time.

   Where to send them: Running a school MedSoc

Summer work experience gets confirmed, the supracurricular record starts to fill up, and the student begins the UCAT slowly in January or February with no pressure on scores yet.

1. 8.Start the UCAT slowly in January or February

   A short weekly habit is plenty. The student reads what each subtest is, tries a few timed questions on the free trainer and gets used to the clock. It stays small through the summer exams and picks up in the holiday. That spreads preparation over six or seven months without much strain. Left until July, it becomes a six-week cram, and most students find that too short.

   Where to send them: UCAT preparation guide · Free UCAT trainer

   • Veterinary: Most veterinary courses do not use the UCAT, so a vet applicant spends these weeks on work experience breadth instead. Confirm on each vet school's own page.

2. 9.Learn what the UCAT is and how universities use it

   Universities use the UCAT in quite different ways, and it helps to know that before any practice. The page below shows how each school uses the score, so that later on a number can be turned into a sensible list of universities.

   Where to send them: How universities use the UCAT · UCAT deciles

   • Veterinary: Most veterinary courses do not use the UCAT. Check each vet school's requirements before your student spends a summer preparing for a test they may not need.

3. 10.Pick one free online course and finish it

   One finished short course the student can talk about is usually more useful than several unfinished ones. The directories are filterable by topic and length, so you could suggest one that fits a half-term.

   Where to send them: Free medicine courses · Free dentistry courses · Free veterinary courses

   • Veterinary: The veterinary directory is organised the same way, and animal welfare, zoonoses and one health courses all give a vet applicant something concrete to discuss.

4. 11.Start a wider reading list they will keep up with

   Books, podcasts and documentaries all count, and a student who commutes will keep up with a podcast when they will not keep up with a book. Some teachers ask for a one-line opinion after each.

   Where to send them: Medical podcasts for applicants · Best books for a dentistry application

5. 12.Decide whether an EPQ is worth it for this student

   An EPQ on a relevant question gives an applicant something concrete to discuss at interview, and some universities make a reduced offer for it. It is a lot of extra work, though, so it should be a deliberate choice.

   Where to send them: The EPQ for medicine, dentistry and vet applications

6. 13.Confirm the summer work experience in writing

   If anything is still unconfirmed by Easter, it can help to follow it up and add a free virtual programme as a backup, in case a summer placement falls through.

   Where to send them: Work experience finder

7. 14.Try the free UCAT trainer once, with no score pressure

   One untimed session on the free trainer shows the student the question styles, and that is enough for now. Spring scores mean very little, so ignore them.

   Where to send them: Free UCAT trainer

UCAT registration and the test itself happen over the summer, along with the first proper personal statement draft and the work experience booked in spring. Getting these done makes the autumn of Year 13 much calmer.

1. 15.Register for the UCAT as soon as booking opens

   Registration and booking open in the summer and popular test centres fill first. Students who register later may find fewer convenient dates and centres left. The current cycle's dates are on the registration guide.

   Where to send them: UCAT registration guide

   • Dentistry: Dental schools use the UCAT too, so dentistry applicants follow exactly the same registration timetable as medicine applicants.
   • Veterinary: This step only applies if a vet school on their longlist asks for the UCAT, so confirm it on each vet school's admissions page.

2. 16.Choose a test date that leaves room for preparation and a holiday

   Some students book very early, before they have prepared, or in the final week, with no margin if they are ill. Working backwards from a possible date together can help them choose one that suits.

   Where to send them: How to choose a UCAT test date

3. 17.Build a written UCAT preparation plan before any practice starts

   A good plan runs from the light start in January to the test date and steps up once the summer exams are over. It names the days, the subtests and the time set aside for going back over wrong answers, which is where most of the improvement comes from.

   Where to send them: UCAT preparation guide · UCAT revision timetable and strategy

4. 18.Practise on the free UCAT trainer through the summer

   Timed practice under test conditions helps most. The trainer is free, so every applicant in your cohort can use it without any school budget.

   Where to send them: Free UCAT trainer

5. 19.Convert practice scores into a realistic university list

   A raw UCAT score is hard to interpret on its own. The calculator turns it into deciles and shows where it sits against the schools they are considering, which can help the student focus on universities where their score is competitive.

   Where to send them: UCAT score calculator

6. 20.Write a first draft of the personal statement over the summer

   The UCAS personal statement is now three structured questions instead of one essay. A rough summer draft makes the autumn edits much easier; students who start in September often find the deadline tight.

   Where to send them: Medicine personal statement guide · Dentistry personal statement guide

   • Veterinary: There is no separate vet personal statement guide. The structure advice in the medicine guide applies directly; the content needs to be animal and practice based, and should name the weeks of experience completed.

7. 21.Write up each piece of work experience within a week of doing it

   It helps to point them back to the reflection log each time. The personal statement and the interview both draw on what they learned and what surprised them, and that detail fades fast.

   Where to send them: Printable reflection log