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Widening participation schemes a teacher can put a student forward for

37 widening participation schemes for medicine, dentistry and veterinary applicants, grouped by who runs them. Some need a school nomination or a teacher reference and some the student can join alone, and each entry says which. Every entry gives the eligibility criteria in the scheme's own words, what the student actually gets, what you have to do, and a link to the official page with the date it was checked. Most open between September and January of Year 12, a full cycle before the deadline students are watching.

Written by Dr Akash Gandhi, NHS GP and founder of TheUKCATPeople. Updated 16 September 2026.

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Key facts

  • This directory lists 37 widening participation schemes relevant to medicine, dentistry and veterinary applicants, grouped into national schemes, university schemes by subject, and nation or region specific routes.
  • Every entry was read from the scheme's own official page and shows that link and the date it was checked. Nothing is carried forward from a previous cycle or taken from a third-party listing, and where a provider's page is silent the entry says to check it rather than guessing.
  • 21 of the schemes are open to medicine applicants, 16 to dentistry applicants and 15 to veterinary applicants.
  • The UCAT bursary is the earliest and highest-value item here, and it is the one that needs you: the free school meals route requires a letter from the school confirming receipt, and the application and evidence deadline stated for the current cycle is 24 September.
  • Some schemes require a school nomination or a teacher reference and cannot be applied for by the student alone. Each entry states which, so you can separate what is on your desk from what is on theirs.
  • Most schemes open for applications between September and January of Year 12, and a few run on into the spring. That is a full cycle before the UCAS deadline the student is focused on, and a scheme missed in Year 12 usually cannot be picked up in Year 13. All entries were verified on 16 September 2026, and criteria change every cycle.

Policies and criteria change every cycle. This directory is re-checked each September; verified 16 September 2026.

The case for doing this in September

Why widening participation is a teacher's job more than a student's

Widening participation is the part of this application that a school can influence more than any other. A student cannot change their UCAT score in October and cannot change their GCSE grades at all, but whether they are on an access scheme is very often decided by whether an adult in their school knew the scheme existed and put their name forward in time. That is the whole of the gap this page is trying to close. Some of these schemes are heavily oversubscribed and others quietly go unfilled, but in both cases the eligible students who miss out are overwhelmingly the ones nobody told.

The second thing worth saying plainly is that these schemes are not a consolation prize. Several of them change what an offer looks like, not just what a summer looks like. A contextual or reduced offer can be the difference between a student needing AAA and needing ABB, and a guaranteed interview removes the shortlisting stage, where applications are commonly ranked on scores before anyone reads them. A student who completes the right scheme is not a weaker candidate who was helped over the line. They are a candidate whose application is finally being read against the circumstances it was produced in.

The practical difficulty is that eligibility for these schemes rests on facts that families do not volunteer, and that a student will rarely raise unprompted. Whether a parent went to university. Whether the household is on a low income or receives particular benefits. Whether the student has ever been in care, is a young carer, is estranged from their family, or is the first in their family to consider higher education at all. None of these come up in a normal conversation about UCAS choices, and a fifteen year old does not usually know that any of them are relevant, let alone valuable. They will not tell you unless you ask, and they will not ask you because they do not know there is anything to ask for.

So the teacher's job here has three parts, and only the third one is paperwork. The first is to find out, early and without embarrassment, which of your students meet criteria they would never mention. The second is to know which schemes those criteria unlock, which is what the directory below is for. The third is the nomination itself, which is usually a short form and a reference, and which is the easiest part of the whole process once the first two are done.

If you want the wider picture of supporting applicants who are not straightforward candidates, the supporting every applicant guide covers the borderline student, the reapplicant and the student holding four rejections.

Before the directory

The criteria families do not volunteer

Eligibility for almost everything below rests on facts a student will not raise unprompted, because they do not know they are relevant. Asking well is most of the work.

Ask the whole cohort, not the students you suspect

Singling a student out is the fastest way to get a no, because at sixteen the cost of being visibly identified as poor outweighs an abstract benefit next summer. Put the questions to every Year 12 who is considering medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine, in writing, as a routine administrative step. Framing it as something the school does for everyone removes the stigma that stops the students you most want to reach from answering honestly.

The criteria that never come up unprompted

Parental education, household income and benefits, care experience, young carer status, estrangement, refugee or asylum status, and whether the student would be first in the family to attend university. Schemes also use postcode and school-level measures the student cannot report themselves, such as POLAR4 or IMD quintile and the school's attainment profile. Those you look up; the rest you have to ask for.

Record the answers once, use them all year

The same handful of facts determines eligibility for most of the schemes below, for contextual admissions at the universities the student eventually applies to, and for the extenuating-circumstances section of the UCAS reference. Collecting them once in September of Year 12 and holding them securely saves repeating the conversation four times, and means nothing is missed when a deadline lands in a busy fortnight.

Check the school's own eligibility too

Several schemes test the school as well as the student, using measures such as progression rate to higher education or the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals. If your school qualifies, every eligible student in it does, which turns one check into a cohort-wide opportunity. If it does not, the student-level routes below still apply, so it is worth knowing which category you are in before September.

Read this before the directory

Where to start, and what this directory shows

Start with the UCAT bursary, because it is the earliest deadline on this page and the only one where the school holds the evidence. It waives the whole UCAT fee for a student who meets any one of its criteria, and the free school meals route needs a recent letter from the school or college confirming receipt, which nobody but you can write. The application and evidence deadline stated for the current cycle is 24 September, and where evidence is missing the grace period given is usually a single business day. The bursary is also quietly a contextual marker: the scheme policy states that bursary status is passed to Consortium universities, some of which use it to help identify candidates from under-represented backgrounds, though only if the voucher is actually redeemed by the stated deadline.

The second thing worth knowing is one box on the UCAS form. Six medical schools recognise each other's widening participation programmes through the UKWPMED scheme, so a student who completes one of the six named programmes can be considered at all six, with a guaranteed interview and a reduced offer. The step that unlocks it is easy to miss entirely: the student has to complete the Extra Activities section of the UCAS form, choose masterclass or subject insight, and name UKWPMED as the activity provider. A student who does the two-year programme and skips that box has done the work and lost the benefit.

Subject coverage is uneven, and it is better to know that in September than in February. 21 of the entries below reach medicine applicants, 16 reach dentistry and 15 reach veterinary medicine, but the raw counts flatter the picture. Dentistry has almost nothing of its own: nearly every dentistry route here is a dentistry strand inside a university-wide access programme, and the only dedicated national dentistry provision found was NHS England's commissioned Access to Dentistry work. Veterinary medicine is thinner still, and most of what exists there solves the work experience problem rather than changing the offer, because placements are found through family contacts that a widening participation applicant does not have.

Location filters this list faster than subject does. Close to half of everything below is gated by a nation, a region, a commuting distance or a list of partner schools, so the quickest way to use this page is to rule out what is not in your area before reading the eligibility criteria at all. If your school is not already partnered with a university that runs one of the bigger programmes, that is worth finding out now rather than at the point a student needs it.

Finally, for medicine there are three entries that need no school involvement, no partnership and no postcode: In2MedSchool for mentoring, Observe GP for general practice insight, and the Brighton and Sussex virtual work experience course. Any student can start all three this afternoon, and In2MedSchool's criteria are wide enough that students who fail the free school meals and postcode tests elsewhere often still qualify. The veterinary equivalent is Nottingham's free virtual work experience course, which the same university's admissions page counts towards its own work experience requirement. These are the honest default when a student meets no criteria, when your school qualifies for nothing, or when a deadline has already gone and something useful still has to happen.

11 schemes

National schemes

Run by a national body, a charity or a partnership of universities rather than owned by one institution, so they are the ones to run past every eligible student in your cohort regardless of where they intend to apply. The UCAT bursary is the single highest-value item on this page for a low-income applicant, and it is also the one with the earliest deadline.

UCAT Bursary Scheme

UCAT Consortium

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Bursary or fee waiver
Who is eligible
Open to UK candidates who meet at least one bursary criterion and upload one piece of evidence. The criteria are receipt of free school meals (a letter from the school or college confirming receipt, local authority funded only, for the academic year stated on the page), the 16 to 19 Bursary in England or EMA in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Learner Support in further education at 19 plus, a full rate means-tested undergraduate student finance maintenance award, or, for the candidate or a parent or guardian living at the same address, Universal Credit with a statement dated within the last three months, Working or Child Tax Credit, Income Support, income-based JSA or ESA, or Asylum Support. Candidates over 21 who are no longer in full-time secondary or undergraduate education must be personally in receipt of a qualifying award or means-tested benefit.
What it gives
A full fee waiver for the UCAT, delivered as a bursary voucher, one per candidate per test cycle and not replaced if the test is missed. Bursary status is also passed to Consortium universities, and the scheme policy states that some may use it to help identify candidates from backgrounds under-represented at university and that it will not disadvantage an application. That flag only happens if the voucher is redeemed by the stated redemption deadline.
When to apply
For the current cycle the page states that applications open on 20 May at 14:00 UK time, the application and evidence deadline is 24 September at 15:00 UK time, and the refund request deadline is 16 October at 17:00 UK time. Candidates are advised to apply before booking the test, although those who have already paid may still apply. Applications are usually processed within three working days.
Your part in it
The student applies through their own UCAT account, but the free school meals route needs a recent letter from the school or college confirming that they receive them. Write that letter before the student applies: where evidence is missing, the grace period given is usually only one business day.
Worth knowing
The highest-value single item on this page, because it is money off a compulsory test and a contextual marker at UK medical and dental schools at the same time. 17.1 per cent of UK test takers received a bursary in 2024. Veterinary applicants do not sit the UCAT, so it does not reach them.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

UKWPMED Scheme

Medical Schools Council, with six UK medical schools

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Guaranteed interview
  • Contextual or reduced offer
Who is eligible
The applicant must have completed an eligible widening participation programme at one of the participating medical schools, meet the GCSE and A level subject and grade requirements of each medical school, sit the UCAT and meet each school's requirements, and apply through UCAS in the 2026 to 2027 cycle for 2027 or deferred 2028 entry. Only applicants eligible for Home (UK) fee status are considered.
What it gives
Mutual recognition across the six schools: a guaranteed interview at participating medical schools and a reduced offer, given on the page as ABB and varying by school. The point of the scheme is that completing one school's widening participation programme unlocks consideration at all six.
When to apply
The 2026 to 2027 UCAS cycle, for 2027 or deferred 2028 entry. No separate opening or closing date is given beyond the UCAS cycle. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
Nobody nominates, but there is one procedural step that is very easy to miss and that loses the whole benefit: the student must complete the Extra Activities section of the UCAS form, select Masterclass/subject insight, and enter UKWPMED as the activity provider. Students also consent to each medical school verifying eligibility by contacting the institution that ran the programme.
Worth knowing
Participating schools are Birmingham, Brighton and Sussex, Hull York, Keele, Manchester and Peninsula. The qualifying programmes named on the page are Birmingham's Routes to the Professions: Medicine, BSMS BrightMed, Keele Steps2Medicine, the Manchester Access Programme, the Preston Widening Access Programme for Medicine, and Peninsula Pathways. Hull York runs no programme of its own but accepts completers of the others.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Realising Opportunities

A partnership of nine research-intensive universities, coordinated by Newcastle University

School nominates
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Guaranteed interview
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Every student must meet all of the first-stage criteria: attend a state-funded school or college currently working with a partner university to deliver the programme, study in Year 12 or equivalent in England, hold at least five GCSEs at grades 9 to 6 or equivalent, with at least a grade 4 in English Language and Mathematics if those are not among them, and be a Home registered student or expect to be. They then need second-stage criteria, and students who meet fewer than two are unlikely to be offered a place: a home postcode with low progression to higher education or high deprivation, first generation of the family to attend university, receipt of or entitlement to free school meals now or in the last six years, receipt of or entitlement to discretionary payments, the 16 to 19 bursary or Pupil Premium, or attendance at a school performing below the national average in key areas or with above-average free school meal eligibility. Students in or formerly in local authority care, young carers, and those estranged or living independently are strongly encouraged to apply even without other second-stage criteria.
What it gives
An alternative offer typically two A level grades below the standard offer at all nine partners, plus additional consideration on UCAS applications, a launch event, the Academic Skills Module, Skills4Uni, a partnership fair and events with travel support. The published benefits guide gives medicine and dentistry detail: Birmingham's typical alternative offer is AAB for Medicine and ABB for Dentistry with the UCAT still required, Exeter guarantees an interview to all completers for courses requiring one including BMBS Medicine with a contextual offer of AAC, and Leicester's alternative offer for Medicine is AAA with completers predicted AAA at first sitting invited directly to interview without the usual academic and UCAT combined score.
When to apply
The 2025 teacher guide states that applications open on 1 September. No later guide is published. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
This one fails silently if the school does nothing. The host university contact sets a teacher up as a School User on the programme hub, and the teacher then issues eligible students with a Student Application Key. Without that key a student cannot apply at all. The teacher also reviews applications and student progress on the hub, and the programme asks schools to put forward students from a range of subject areas.
Worth knowing
England only, Year 12 only, and only at schools already partnered with one of the nine universities, which is the first thing to check. Roughly six in ten applicants get a place. Completion needs Skills4Uni, the Academic Skills Module with a written reflective piece, and attendance at two events, finished by November of Year 13, and recognition lasts for two years after leaving post-16 study. Alternative offers are never made on foundation year programmes. The website's eligibility and how-to-apply pages currently return 404, so the official PDF guides are the citable source.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Sutton Trust UK Summer Schools

The Sutton Trust, with partner universities

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Veterinary
  • Summer school
  • Application support
  • Contextual or reduced offer
Who is eligible
Applicants must attend a state-funded, non-fee-paying school or college, be studying in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland or S5 in Scotland, and generally be under 18. Academically they need at least five GCSEs at grades 9 to 6, or five National 5s at A or B, including English and Maths. The widening participation criteria considered are first generation of the family to attend university, eligibility for free school meals while at secondary school, a school with below-average attainment or low progression to higher education, a neighbourhood with a low rate of progression to higher education or socio-economic deprivation, and having been looked after or in care. Care-experienced applicants need only meet the age, school and academic requirements, and the page states that not meeting all criteria will not disqualify an applicant.
What it gives
A completely free week-long residential at a partner university: over fifteen hours of undergraduate-level teaching across around forty subject areas, living in halls, and workshops on navigating UCAS and writing a personal statement. Some partner universities make contextual offers to summer school completers. Medicine courses run at Cambridge, and the Royal Veterinary College is a partner university.
When to apply
For the 2026 cycle, applications opened on 12 January 2026 with a main deadline of 5 March 2026, a Cambridge deadline of 12 February 2026, a teacher verification deadline of 11 March 2026, and decisions in late April and May. The Cambridge Medicine summer school ran from 17 to 21 August 2026. The 2026 round has closed and no 2027 dates are published. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
Teacher verification is required and has its own later deadline than the student deadline, so an application can be complete and still fail because nobody replied. The student supplies a teacher's name and email address, and the teacher verifies qualifications and background and can explain extenuating circumstances. Diarise the verification date, not the student deadline.
Worth knowing
Partner universities listed are Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial, Sheffield, Nottingham, the Royal Veterinary College, Southampton, St Andrews, UCL and Warwick. Nottingham runs Medicine and Medical Sciences and Glasgow runs Medical and Life Sciences, but only the Cambridge Medicine course page was verified directly, so check the scheme page for the others. Highly oversubscribed.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Pathways to Medicine

The Sutton Trust, with Imperial College London, Leicester, Liverpool and Nottingham

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Work experience
  • Mentoring
  • Summer school
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must attend, and have always attended, a state-funded, non-fee-paying school or college, be in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland or S5 in Scotland, and hold at least five GCSEs at grades 9 to 6 including English and Maths. The widening participation criteria considered are first generation to attend university, eligibility for free school meals while at secondary school, a school with below-average attainment or low progression to top higher education institutions, a neighbourhood with low progression to higher education or high socio-economic deprivation, and having been looked after or in care. The page states that the more criteria a student meets the more likely they are to secure a place, and that they do not need to meet them all. Care-experienced applicants need only the age, school and academic requirements.
What it gives
A two-year, completely free programme running from Year 12 into Year 13, with travel costs included: clinical or digital work experience placements of three to five days, monthly soft-skills workshops, university taster sessions and question and answer sessions, undergraduate mentoring, the Sutton Trust Online platform, a week-long national conference, a summer residential and application support. The page states that taking part increases access to contextual offers at many partner universities, with the detail shared with participants during the summer.
When to apply
Applications open in early September and close between the end of September and early December depending on the host. The deadlines listed by programme are Imperial 23 September, Leicester 26 October, Liverpool 2 November and Nottingham 2 November. Offers usually come between early October and early November, with a launch around November or December. Confirm the year on the course list page before advising.
Your part in it
Teacher verification applies across Sutton Trust programmes: the student supplies a teacher's name and email address, and the teacher verifies qualifications and background and can explain extenuating circumstances. The student also writes a personal statement of no more than 300 words.
Worth knowing
Regional in practice rather than national. In-person programmes require living within a 90-minute commute of the host university, and the page states that a student will not be accepted at a university that is not within a reasonable commuting distance. There are no online medicine options. The Imperial deadline in late September is the nearest.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

The Aspiring Professionals Programme

The Social Mobility Foundation

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Mentoring
  • Work experience
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must be in Year 12, lower sixth or S5. On background they must be either eligible for free school meals or care experienced, or meet at least two of: first generation to attend university, household income lower than £45,000, or a parent or guardian in a target occupation group or unemployed. On grades they need four GCSEs at 7 to 9 in England and Northern Ireland, four National 5s at A to B in Scotland or four GCSEs at A* to A in Wales, plus predicted A level grades of ABB or equivalent, with exceptions made for care-experienced young people. The medicine sector adds its own requirements: studying Chemistry and at least one of Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Physics, and at least five grades A or 7 at GCSE including in all science subjects and Maths.
What it gives
Free of charge, with reasonable expenses covered for events: professional mentoring with someone working in medicine, tailored skills sessions and career workshops, university and degree apprenticeship application support, and work experience with employers. Support continues from Year 12 through to the student's first graduate job. The programme runs in three strands, City, Medicine Residential and Reach, with Reach prioritising students living more than 60 minutes from a City location.
When to apply
Applications open in September and usually close in December, with outcomes from January.
Your part in it
The teacher page names three jobs: identify eligible students against the academic and background criteria, encourage them to apply, and provide an email reference, since the student nominates a teacher to give one.
Worth knowing
Eligibility depends on where the student lives and goes to school as well as on the sector, so the online eligibility checker is the only reliable answer. The £45,000 household income threshold is unusually explicit and is worth quoting to parents. There is no dentistry or veterinary sector.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

In2MedSchool

In2MedSchool, a registered charity

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Mentoring
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must be in Year 12 in England or Wales, S5 in Scotland or Year 13 in Northern Ireland, with gap year students applying to medical school also eligible, and must attend a state school that is not fee-paying, private or independent. They must meet at least one widening participation criterion, and the list is the broadest of any scheme here: neither parent attended university, free school meals, history in care, young carer, estranged from both parents or guardians, disability, forced migrant, Black African or Black Caribbean ethnicity, attended a non-selective state school for GCSEs or A levels, a parent not in a skilled profession, living in a low higher education progression area, English as a second language, or Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background. Students not in school or college cannot join.
What it gives
Completely free one-to-one mentoring with a UK medical student or doctor, covering admissions test preparation, personal statements, interview preparation and exploring the career pathway, plus online and in-person events and resources. The charity also runs school visits.
When to apply
No application opening or closing dates are stated. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher action is needed: the student applies directly. Schools can separately invite the charity in for a school visit.
Worth knowing
One of only three entries on this page that is free, UK-wide, needs no school partnership and can be joined by a student on their own. The criteria are wide enough that a student who fails the free school meals or postcode tests elsewhere often still qualifies here, through the English as a second language, disability, young carer or ethnicity routes.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Observe GP

Royal College of General Practitioners

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Work experience
Who is eligible
An online alternative to work experience for aspiring medics aged 16 and over living in the UK. It is not available to under-16s. There is no widening participation gate: it is open access.
What it gives
A free interactive video platform giving insight into the role of a GP and the wider primary care team, with a downloadable reflective diary. The page states that it is supported by the Medical Schools Council as a suitable element of relevant experience to help prepare an application to medical school.
When to apply
No deadlines: it is available on demand. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher action is needed and the student registers directly, but teachers and careers advisers can register separately and use the platform to improve outreach and participation.
Worth knowing
Not a widening participation scheme as such, but the Medical Schools Council endorsement makes it the safest free substitute for a student who cannot get clinical work experience, which is itself one of the commonest widening participation barriers. The same page states that the college partners with UK medical schools to offer general practice work experience placements to pupils from widening participation backgrounds, administered by the medical schools themselves.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Summer Schools for Medicine and Dentistry

Medical Schools Council and Dental Schools Council, funded by NHS England

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
For students in Years 11 and 12 in England from under-represented backgrounds, particularly those from areas with limited outreach to medical schools. NHS England describes the wider target group as students who are care experienced, in receipt of free school meals, resident in a low higher education participation area, or in an area of high deprivation.
What it gives
Free summer schools with residential, commuter and online places: a simulated university experience, exposure to medical and dental careers, interview preparation, admissions test guidance, networking and confidence building. NHS England states that the programme reaches around 600 students a year across the South East, South West, Lincolnshire, the North East and Cumbria.
When to apply
The page states that applications for the summer schools have now closed, and no dates for the next round are published. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher step is stated on the page. Teachers are directed to contact the Medical Schools Council outreach team, which is worth doing early if you are in one of the named regions.
Worth knowing
England only, and explicitly aimed at regions with little medical school outreach, so a school in an outreach cold spot should register interest early rather than assume it is not for them. One of the very few places dentistry is named alongside medicine on equal terms.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Studying Healthcare

Medical Schools Council, with the Dental Schools Council and Pharmacy Schools Council

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Open access, with no eligibility gate on the listings themselves. Individual listed events set their own criteria.
What it gives
An events section listing free events and learning opportunities run by medical, dental and pharmacy schools, filterable by careers talk, dentistry, medicine, teacher and adviser conferences, webinars and workshops, plus learning packages and application guidance.
When to apply
Rolling listings with no application window. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher action is needed for a student to use it. Teachers can use it to find outreach worth sharing and to book the teacher and adviser conferences for their own professional development.
Worth knowing
This is the closest thing to a national listing of medicine outreach, but it is worth knowing its limits before relying on it: it filters by subject and event type only. There is no filter by region and none by widening participation eligibility, and no searchable national database of widening participation schemes exists on the Medical Schools Council site.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Access to Medicine and the Professions

NHS England Workforce, Training and Education

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
The commissioning page states that all programmes target students considered to have widening access and participation backgrounds, for example those who are care experienced, in receipt of free school meals, resident in a low higher education participation area, or in an area of high deprivation. Each commissioned programme sets its own additional criteria.
What it gives
Not a scheme a student joins directly: it is the funding layer behind several of the others here. The commissioned partners named are the Medical Schools Council summer school programme, Future Quest Routes into Medicine and the Professions in deprived areas of the South West for years 10 to 13, Pathways to Medicine, the Aspiring Professionals Programme, the Studying Healthcare website, and Access to Dentistry, which runs residential summer schools for 70 students in years 11 and 12 plus an online programme for more than 100, across the South East, South West, London and the East of England.
When to apply
Not applicable at this level, since each commissioned programme runs its own cycle. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
Use it as a map of what is funded where, then refer students to the programme covering your region, point them at the Studying Healthcare hub, and attend the teacher and adviser conferences funded through the Medical Schools Council.
Worth knowing
Most provision is regional, so a teacher's first question should be which commissioned programme covers their area. Access to Dentistry, named here, is the only dedicated national dentistry access provision found anywhere in this research. The separate Get Into and Get Started programmes are for ages 16 to 30 and aim at entry-level NHS roles and apprenticeships, not at medical school applicants.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

2 schemes

University medicine schemes

Run by one university or medical school for medicine applicants. There are fewer of these here than you might expect, because most university access programmes are open to all subjects and appear under dentistry or region below, with their medicine strand noted in the entry.

UNIQ

University of Oxford

School must be eligible
  • Medicine
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Three minimum criteria, all required. The student must be in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland or S5 in Scotland; must currently be studying at a UK and Islands state school or college in the first year of further education, which excludes independent, private and public school students even on a scholarship or bursary, though home-educated students are accepted; and must be a settled UK or Islands resident or expect home fee status, and be under 18 at the time of the residential. Prior attainment is a minimum of six GCSEs with one or more at grade 7 or A and above, or six National 5s with one or more at A. Selection strongly prioritises students who are or have been in care, including foster care, a residential children's home, a supervision order or kinship care, then current or past free school meals eligibility and socio-economic background.
What it gives
A completely free week-long subject-specific residential in an Oxford college, with travel, accommodation, meals, staffing and tuition covered, plus additional online support towards a competitive Oxford application. There is a dedicated Medicine course and a Biomedical Sciences course among more than thirty. Taking part does not guarantee an Oxford place.
When to apply
Applications for the last round opened on 15 December and closed at midday on 13 January, and are now closed. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
There is no nomination and no reference at the point of application, but the school is contacted for verification: free school meals status is checked with the school or college, and care experience may be verified with a referee. The state school requirement is a school-level test, so check it before encouraging an application.
Worth knowing
Single-university but UK-wide in reach, and the window is December to mid-January, far earlier than most schemes, so a teacher who waits until spring has missed it by months. The academic bar is lower than teachers tend to expect: the page states that selection puts greater emphasis on prior attainment than on predicted grades, and that grade requirements may be lower than you might expect. Oxford has no dentistry or veterinary course.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

BSMS Virtual Work Experience

Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Widening Participation and Outreach

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Work experience
Who is eligible
No eligibility is stated on the page and the course is open to all, with no widening participation gate.
What it gives
A free online course providing virtual work experience for those looking to apply to medical school: an introduction to the NHS, then the roles and skill sets of six different medical specialists and the wider issues doctors face.
When to apply
No dates: it is available on demand. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher action is needed: the student enrols directly on the outreach course platform linked from the page.
Worth knowing
Built by a widening participation team specifically for students who cannot access traditional work experience, often because their family has no contacts in the NHS, but open access rather than eligibility-gated, which makes it one of the three things on this page you can recommend to any student immediately. The same medical school separately runs BrightMed, a genuine widening participation programme and one of the qualifying routes into the UKWPMED scheme.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

9 schemes

Dentistry and university-wide access schemes

Dentistry has very few access routes of its own. Almost all of what exists sits inside a university-wide access programme with a dentistry strand rather than in a scheme the dental school runs, which is why these entries also carry a medicine tag where the same programme serves both. Check the parent university's general scheme as well as anything named for dentistry.

Enhanced Support Dentistry Programme, BDS A206

King's College London, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences

School must be eligible
  • Dentistry
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Applicants must have attended only non-selective state education within a London borough since the age of 11. Non-selective is defined as schools where candidates are not required to sit an entry exam, so community schools, free schools and academies. Students who attended a grammar school must apply to the standard A205 programme instead. The London borough requirement is waived for K+ widening participation students, and overseas fee status students are not eligible.
What it gives
A separate UCAS-coded five-year BDS route with a dedicated enhanced support personal tutor and additional study skills provided where needed. The A level requirement is AAB, with an A in Biology or Chemistry plus a B in a second listed science, which the page states matches the standard dentistry BDS requirement, so the benefit is a ring-fenced route with academic support rather than a grade reduction. No UCAT threshold is stated.
When to apply
For September 2027 entry, with interviews generally between December and March. No separate application deadline is stated beyond the UCAS medicine and dentistry deadline. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
Applicants list every school they have attended since the age of 11 on the UCAS application, and those schools are checked against Department for Education records for non-selective status. Confirm the status of each school the student attended from age 11 before advising them onto this route rather than the standard one.
Worth knowing
A strong fit for London state school students, and one of very few dentistry routes with its own UCAS code rather than a place inside a general access programme.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Online Medicine and Dentistry Lecture Series

King's College London, Widening Participation and Social Mobility

Student applies, you signpost
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Open to students in Years 11, 12 and 13, gap year students before application, and mature students on Access to HE courses. Applicants must attend, or have recently attended, a state, non-fee-paying school. Students from non-selective schools are automatically eligible; those from selective schools must meet one other widening participation criterion, which is listed on the application form.
What it gives
Thirteen core online lectures covering the personal statement, the UCAT and interviews, with weekly question and answer sessions with practising doctors and dentists and with current students. No offer adjustment is stated.
When to apply
The series runs from March to July. Applications for the last round have closed and the next round opens in October.
Your part in it
No teacher step is stated: students apply directly. Because it is free, national and needs no travel, it is the easiest thing on this page to point a whole cohort at, so put the October opening in the calendar.
Worth knowing
One of the few dentistry-facing offers with national reach rather than a regional gate.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Access to Sheffield, dentistry pathway

University of Sheffield, School of Clinical Dentistry

School nominates
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Summer school
  • Mentoring
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must meet one or more of: eligible for free school meals, living in an area of disadvantage as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, care experienced or a care leaver, a young carer, experiencing estrangement, or a forced migrant. Academically they need a minimum of five GCSEs at grades 9 to 6 plus grade 4 in English, Maths and Science, with A levels including Biology and Chemistry for the BDS route. They must be no older than 17 as of 1 September in the application cycle, live within commutable distance for a 9am campus arrival, and be expected to be home fee-paying, with exceptions for forced migrants.
What it gives
A two-year Year 12 to Year 13 pathway: a welcome and team-building day, a dentistry careers conference, a practical taster day and a three-day residential summer school, then UCAS and personal statement support in Year 13 including one-to-one sessions with dental students, a dental school lecture, a mock dental school interview and a celebration evening. It leads to a contextual offer from the university, subject to conditions including passing an interview where one is required.
When to apply
Applications open in September and close in early November.
Your part in it
The head of sixth form or course leader confirms eligibility and coordinates completion of the online application form, so this one sits on the school's desk rather than the student's.
Worth knowing
Also branded Discover Dental Professions in the university's own materials, and it covers both the dentist route and the dental hygiene and therapy route. A commutable-distance rule applies, so it is effectively regional.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Bridge the Gap

Queen Mary University of London, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must be in Year 12 and attend a state-funded school or college currently involved in the programme, or live or study at a state-funded school or college in Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest. GCSEs must be a minimum of 777666 including Biology, Chemistry, English Language or Literature and Mathematics, with two sciences at A level, the first Chemistry or Biology and the second a further science. They must also meet one priority criterion or two standard criteria from the university's access list: priority criteria are care experience or estrangement and disability, and standard criteria include first in family, free school meals at key stage 4 or a current 16 to 19 bursary, Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background, a home postcode in the two most deprived deciles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation or in named ACORN groups, refugee or asylum-seeker status, attendance at one of three named sponsored academies, and young carer status.
What it gives
Interactive workshops, taster lectures and question and answer sessions with travel expenses reimbursed, with advance payment available for care-experienced students, a Year 13 continuation programme, and on successful completion a contextual offer for medicine or dentistry at Queen Mary.
When to apply
Year 12 events run from January to July across the 2026 to 2027 cycle. Applications close on Friday 13 November 2026 at 23:55.
Your part in it
Applicants must give the email address of their designated teacher or school contact for verification, so agree who that is before the student applies and watch for the verification request.
Worth knowing
The most explicit contextual-offer-for-dentistry route in East London, and one of the nearer deadlines on this page.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Routes to the Professions

University of Birmingham, Pathways to Birmingham

School nominates
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Guaranteed interview
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Mentoring
Who is eligible
Students must currently be in Year 12 and under 18 for the duration of the programme, attend a Pathways to Birmingham partner school in the wider West Midlands area, and meet the Pathways to Birmingham criteria. The streams for 2027 are Dentistry, Midwifery, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy.
What it gives
Mentoring from current undergraduates, university lectures, campus tours, industry insight events and three compulsory university-hosted events. On completion, and where academic criteria are met, a guaranteed interview invitation, with dentistry on the named list, plus a Pathways to Birmingham offer that is typically a reduction of up to two A level grades.
When to apply
Applications for the 2027 programme run from 1 October 2026 to 6 November 2026. The 2026 round is closed.
Your part in it
Applicants need a nominated teacher to support their application, and schools have a designated Pathways to Birmingham coordinator. Confirm your school's partner status first, because the programme is only open through partner schools.
Worth knowing
A guaranteed interview plus a two-grade reduction is one of the strongest combined offers in this directory, and one of the few that names dentistry explicitly. Completing this programme is also one of the qualifying routes into the UKWPMED scheme for medicine.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Manchester Access Programme

The University of Manchester

School must be eligible
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must meet all of: live in Greater Manchester or study at a school or college there, be in Year 12 when they apply, hold at least five GCSEs at grade 6 or above including at least grade 4 in English Language and Mathematics, have attended only non-fee-paying schools, attend a state post-16 school or college studying a two-year Level 3 qualification, and hold home fee status or be a UK national with settled status. They must also meet at least one category A criterion: free school meals, local authority care experience, neither parent nor carer holding a university-level degree, estrangement, sanctuary seeker or young carer status. The dentistry strand additionally requires six GCSEs at grade 7 minimum including specified sciences.
What it gives
Online and on-campus events, workshops and an academic assignment totalling around fifty hours, with dedicated medicine and dentistry activity including preparation for multiple mini interviews, and reduced entry requirements on completion. The page does not quantify the reduction for dentistry, so check the scheme page.
When to apply
Applications for the 2027 programme open in November 2026, with outcomes in early March 2027 and an appeal deadline of 1 April 2027.
Your part in it
The school or college's location and type are core criteria, so the first check is a school-level one. No nomination requirement is stated.
Worth knowing
Dentistry applicants must be on the relevant strand, and the general grade reduction does not automatically transfer to medicine or dentistry, so confirm the current rule with the university before relying on it. Completing this programme is one of the qualifying routes into the UKWPMED scheme for medicine.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Access to Leeds

University of Leeds

Teacher reference needed
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Applicants must meet at least two separate criteria from: parents or carers did not go to university, a home postcode in an area with low higher education participation or high deprivation, household income of £25,000 or below or eligibility for free school meals, attendance at a school performing below the national average at GCSE, and personal circumstances that disrupted education. Time in local authority care or care leaver status also qualifies. They must also meet the general applicant requirements: permanent UK residence and UK fee status, a UCAS application for a full-time undergraduate degree, the required Level 3 qualifications, no existing undergraduate degree, not on a foundation course, and no Access to HE Diploma except for healthcare degrees.
What it gives
The chance to study with entry requirements up to two grades lower than the standard offer, for example AAA reduced to ABB, plus a study module, support and events, and the Plus Programme during the degree. The Dental Surgery BChD course page confirms that the scheme applies but does not state the dentistry-specific reduction, so check the scheme page.
When to apply
Applications open in late September for entry the following year and are made after the UCAS application. The online module runs from April to July.
Your part in it
Referees may be asked to verify 16 to 19 Bursary Fund eligibility, and schools confirm GCSE performance data, so expect a verification request rather than a nomination.
Worth knowing
Not gated by region, which makes it unusual among the university schemes here. The university's separate health sciences eligibility pages block automated checking, so read them in a browser if you need the dentistry strand detail.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

PARTNERS Programme, supported entry route

Newcastle University

Teacher reference needed
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Essential criteria are UK residence, home classification for tuition fees, no existing higher education qualification, and predicted grades of at least CCC or equivalent. Students must also meet at least one of: postcode deprivation or low participation, attending a school where over half of pupils are eligible for free school meals, a Black, Asian or Minoritised Ethnic background at a UK state school, entitlement to or receipt of free school meals, care experience, first-generation student, a disability with Personal Independence Payment, caring responsibilities, estrangement, a military family, Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background, refugee, asylum or humanitarian protection status, student parenthood, or personal extenuating circumstances.
What it gives
An offer up to three A level grades lower than the typical offer, a free academic summer school, and dedicated support from application through to enrolment. Newcastle must be the student's UCAS firm choice and the summer school must be fully attended and completed. Dentistry A206 and Medicine A100 are both covered.
When to apply
For Medicine A100 and Dentistry A206 the deadline is 22 October 2026, against 29 January 2027 for all other courses. Applications for 2027 entry are open now.
Your part in it
Most criteria require referee approval of a completed application form, with the personal extenuating circumstances route assessed case by case. Brief the referee in advance, because the medicine and dentistry deadline falls just after the UCAS deadline when reference time is scarce.
Worth knowing
Up to three grades is the largest reduction found anywhere in this directory. The university's dental admissions policy document was not machine-readable, so the exact per-course reduction for the BDS was not verified: check the scheme page.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Access to Bristol

University of Bristol

School must be eligible
  • Dentistry
  • Veterinary
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Guaranteed interview
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must meet all of: home fee status, currently attending a state school or college, resident in a local postcode within an hour's journey of the university including south Wales, in the first or second year of A level study or equivalent, and meeting the GCSE entry requirements and studying the required Level 3 subjects for their chosen subject. Where the scheme is oversubscribed, priority goes to students eligible for free school meals, living in the two most deprived quintiles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation, mature students aged 21 and over, students of Black or Asian background or mixed heritage including these groups or other minority ethnic backgrounds, those who have spent three or more months in formalised local authority care, estranged students, those from Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater communities, students at an aspiring state school or college, first generation students, those with caring responsibilities, refugee status or a disability, and children of a parent or carer serving in the UK Armed Forces.
What it gives
Subject sessions from current students and academic staff, five on-campus sessions per term, a campus tour and an online study-skills session, with a guaranteed contextual offer or interview on completion. Contextual offers are typically two A level grades below standard entry requirements.
When to apply
The autumn stream, which carries Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Sciences, runs from 28 October 2026 online to 2 December. The spring stream runs from 20 January 2027 to 3 March. Sessions are on Wednesday afternoons.
Your part in it
Students must get permission from their school and list a key contact, typically the head of sixth form, so agree who that is and expect to confirm the student's eligibility.
Worth knowing
One of only two entries in this directory that covers dentistry and veterinary sciences in the same programme. The dentistry and veterinary streams run in autumn, so the late October start is the near-term date. Bristol's separately named Pathways to Veterinary Science activity routes into this scheme rather than running its own application.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

12 schemes

Veterinary schemes

Veterinary medicine is served more thinly still, and what exists mostly solves the work experience problem rather than changing the offer, because placements are usually found through family contacts that a widening participation applicant does not have. Only a handful of the entries here lead to a reduced offer or a guaranteed interview.

Veterinary Gateway BVetMed, D190

Royal Veterinary College

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Guaranteed interview
Who is eligible
Home students only, meeting all of the pre-conditions: a UK or Irish national resident in the UK or with settled status, predicted no more than two grades below the standard Gateway offer or holding a qualifying result from the previous twelve months, only one period of Level 3 study unless resitting, never having attended university, and having completed all education since the age of 11 at a UK state school that does not select on academic performance, does not charge tuition fees to any of its students, and is not classified as an independent school. Applicants must then score at least 20 points on a weighted matrix: the most deprived quintile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation scores 25 and the second 10, TUNDRA MSOA 1 scores 25 and 2 scores 10, care leaver status scores 30 and needs a letter from the relevant authority, a school with a college contextual flag scores 5 at each of Level 2 and Level 3, low household income with an eligible means-tested benefit scores 20, refugee status with a Home Office letter scores 20, and no parent, step-parent or guardian holding a higher education qualification scores 5. Where more applicants score 20 or above than can be interviewed, selection is by total score.
What it gives
A six-year BVetMed with a preparatory Gateway year and automatic progression to the BVetMed on successful completion. Entry is at CCC at A level including Biology and Chemistry, against the standard BVetMed requirement. Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool currently guarantee an interview to students on the Gateway year. Work experience is explicitly optional rather than required.
When to apply
The key information panel gives an application deadline of 13 January 2027, while the body text of the same page still carries a deadline of 14 January 2026, which is stale, so confirm with the college's admissions team. A supplementary Gateway form must be submitted in addition to the UCAS application, and interviews are normally held in person between January and March.
Your part in it
No teacher step is required, since eligibility is determined from the supplementary form. Schools can check their own contextual flag status on the college's contextual schools page, which is worth doing once because it is worth points on the matrix for every applicant from that school.
Worth knowing
The clearest and most mechanical eligibility test in this directory: a teacher can score a student against the matrix in about five minutes and know whether to advise this route. Note the two conflicting deadlines on the page.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Pathways to Veterinary Medicine

University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, with the Sutton Trust

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Work experience
  • Mentoring
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Students must be in Year 12 at the start of the programme, or Year 13 in Northern Ireland or S5 in Scotland, attend and have always attended a state-funded, non-fee-paying school or college, currently be studying Chemistry and Biology A level among three or more A levels or equivalent, and hold at least five GCSEs at grades 9 to 6, or five A or B grades at National 5, including English and Maths. The widening participation criteria are first generation to attend university, receipt of free school meals while at secondary school, attendance at a school with lower-than-average progression to higher education, a neighbourhood with low progression to higher education or high socio-economic deprivation, and having been looked after or in care.
What it gives
A two-year programme of online after-school and weekend skills workshops, masterclasses, information advice and guidance, mentoring and networking with professionals, work placement support and guidance, university taster sessions and lectures, the Sutton Trust Online platform, soft-skills workshops, a residential summer school at Nottingham with overnight stays in halls, and a visit to a local veterinary practice.
When to apply
The application deadline is 2 November, and the residential element is described as usually around November to December. The current cohort is open through the Sutton Trust website.
Your part in it
No teacher step is stated on either the university or the Sutton Trust page, so the student applies directly, but the November deadline is close enough that it is worth telling eligible students this month rather than next.
Worth knowing
National rather than regional, with no commuting-distance restriction, and it includes explicit work placement support, which makes it the strongest national option for a student with no veterinary contacts.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Destination Vets

University of Liverpool, Widening Participation and Outreach, with the Institute of Veterinary Science

School must be eligible
  • Veterinary
  • Work experience
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Year 12 students from a widening participation background studying across England, but local students only, because the summer school is non-residential. Priority goes to students on the university's own scholars programme or on Realising Opportunities. Pupils in local partner schools are then prioritised on a strong desire to study veterinary science, prior attainment and predicted ability, coming from a home where neither parent attended university in the UK or abroad, receipt of or entitlement to discretionary payments, the 16 to 19 bursary or Pupil Premium, receipt of or entitlement to free school meals, a home postcode with low progression to higher education or high deprivation, or parents working in non-professional occupations. Being in care, care experienced or a young adult carer is an alternative route in.
What it gives
A two-day summer school including a day at the two farm animal practices at the Leahurst campus, with lectures, practical activities and application guidance, followed by a full week of work experience at Leahurst in both the Small Animals Hospital and the Equine Hospital, or at the University Veterinary Practice. Free, with travel costs to Leahurst covered and lunch provided. Places are extremely limited.
When to apply
Dates for the next summer are to be confirmed and the page states that the deadline will be published there early in the year. For reference, the last round ran in mid-July with applications opening in February and closing in early May. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher step is required for the application itself, but partner school status and participation in the university's scholars programme drive priority, so the school route is what decides whether a student is competitive.
Worth knowing
The single best answer found to the no contacts, no work experience problem: a funded week in two hospitals is more than most applicants assemble on their own. Two older university URLs for this scheme are now dead, and a third-party listing advertises stale dates, so use the page linked here.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Future Vet

Harper and Keele Veterinary School, with Higher Horizons, Harper Adams University and Keele University

School must be eligible
  • Veterinary
  • Work experience
  • Guaranteed interview
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Year 12 students considering an application to veterinary school, who meet the Uni Connect target requirements and are on a suitable Level 3 study pathway to meet entry requirements. Higher Horizons is funded to deliver outreach across Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. The programme explicitly targets young people discouraged from applying to veterinary school by limited access to work experience.
What it gives
A veterinary taster day with a facility tour and access to current vet students and academics, two days of vocational experience across both campuses with small and large animals, one at the teaching hospital and one at the university farm, coaching on applying to vet school and preparing for selection interviews, and an optional study-skills session. On completion, a certificate recognised by UK vet schools, a guaranteed interview with the veterinary school, and eligibility for a contextual offer.
When to apply
Activities run across the academic year, with the pilot running four in-person activities between February and June and digital content in between. Applications for the last cohort are closed. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
The school is the access point: the page directs applicants to contact their Higher Horizons account manager, which means the school's Uni Connect contact rather than the vet school.
Worth knowing
A guaranteed interview plus a contextual offer plus two days of vocational experience is the strongest combination in the veterinary half of this directory. Regional, covering Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. Over half of the pilot cohort went on to apply to veterinary medicine.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Diversity Summer School

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh

Teacher reference needed
  • Veterinary
  • Summer school
  • Work experience
Who is eligible
Open to school pupils from across the UK. Applicants must live in the UK, be 16 or older, and be on track to meet the minimum entry requirements, and must meet one or more of: belonging to a minority ethnic group, living in a rural area, identifying as male, having a disability, attending a state school or college or being a mature student aged 21 or over, or fulfilling one or more widening participation criteria.
What it gives
A fully funded week-long residential covering animal science and research, clinical skills, the equine hospital and first aid, exotic animal practice, farm animal hospital work or a dairy farm visit, small animal practice, internal medicine and diagnostic imaging, veterinary pathology and veterinary public health, with an evening social programme. No offer adjustment or guaranteed interview is stated.
When to apply
Applications for the last summer school have closed and the page was last published in September. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
A teacher or guidance counsellor reference is required, alongside a signed consent form, so plan reference-writing time into the term when applications open.
Worth knowing
UK-wide and fully funded, and one of very few schemes anywhere that names rural residence and being male as under-representation criteria, which catches students who meet no other test on this page.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Royal Veterinary College Sutton Trust Summer School

Royal Veterinary College, with the Sutton Trust

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Summer school
  • Work experience
  • Mentoring
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Fifty places for current Year 12 pupils in England and Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland or S5 in Scotland, from under-represented backgrounds. Students must attend a state school and meet a number of the college's widening participation criteria, such as eligibility for free school meals, and are assessed against the entry requirements for the Veterinary Gateway or Veterinary Medicine pathway and must be on track to achieve them. The essential criteria are attending a non-selective state-funded, non-fee-paying UK school or college and having the academic potential to meet undergraduate entry requirements. Prioritised criteria are free school meals now or during secondary education with entry to a first degree before 21, an Asian, Asian British, Black, Black British, Caribbean, African, Mixed or Other ethnic group, or care experience. Additional criteria are the two most deprived quintiles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation, TUNDRA MSOA 1 or 2, a college contextual Level 2 or Level 3 school, forced migrant, asylum seeker or refugee status, being a carer, estrangement, or being first generation to attend university.
What it gives
A free five-day residential on the Hawkshead campus with meals and equipment provided: lectures, a research project, clinical skills, a real-life veterinary case, a student ambassador mentor each, sessions on the application process and a social programme. In the most recent published year the summer school provided seven hours of clinical work experience and seven hours of animal handling experience, with a similar figure anticipated subject to full participation. All travel, accommodation and food are covered.
When to apply
Applications for the next cycle are to be confirmed and the page invites students to register interest. The last cycle ran in the third week of August. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher step is required, but the page invites a teacher, adviser or learner to contact the schools team directly, which is the route to a place on the interest list.
Worth knowing
One of the very few schemes anywhere that puts a countable number of work experience hours in writing, which matters because vet schools ask for hours rather than enthusiasm. The page also warns that for vet applications, work experience must be completed within eighteen months of the application deadline.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Royal Veterinary College Year 11 Summer School

Royal Veterinary College

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Summer school
  • Work experience
Who is eligible
Current Year 11 pupils who meet the college's widening participation eligibility criteria and live within a 50 mile radius of either campus, in Camden in London or at Hawkshead in Hertfordshire. The programme is non-residential and capped at fifty pupils.
What it gives
A free three-day programme of practical activities and a range of animal handling work experience, with support from student ambassadors and staff. Food and drink on campus, transport to and from campus, equipment and activities are all covered. It also covers veterinary nursing and biological sciences.
When to apply
Applications for the next cycle are to be confirmed and the page invites students to register interest. The last cycle ran over three days in late August. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher step is required, but teachers and advisers are invited to contact the schools team, which is how to be told when applications open.
Worth knowing
Unusually early intervention at Year 11, which is useful for a school trying to reach students before A level choices are locked in and the Biology and Chemistry requirement quietly rules them out.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Sutton Trust Summer School, Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge

University of Cambridge, through the Sutton Trust

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
A minimum of GCSE grade 8 or National 5 grade A in Chemistry, currently studying Chemistry and one of Maths, Biology or Physics at A level, IB, Scottish Higher or equivalent, and meeting the general Sutton Trust summer school criteria and the Sutton Trust Online criteria, which weight postcode, school type, free school meals and first-generation status.
What it gives
A residential summer school with an introduction to the research taking place at the university, small group teaching on a focused biological topic, independent research with a presentation, and insight into the professional, ethical, financial, management and social responsibilities of veterinary practice. Fifteen places.
When to apply
Applications for the last round are closed and students are invited to register interest for the next. The last round ran in the third week of August. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
No teacher step is stated for this course, although Sutton Trust summer school applications in general require teacher verification, so expect a verification request if your student applies.
Worth knowing
Fifteen places nationally and a Cambridge veterinary offer of A*AA, so this is a narrow-target scheme worth flagging only to the highest-attaining students in a cohort.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

In2Surrey

University of Surrey

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Contextual or reduced offer
Who is eligible
Students must attend a state school and meet at least one of: eligibility for a 16 to 19 bursary, refugee status with indefinite leave to remain, being from a Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller, Showperson or Boater community, being a young carer or family caregiver, a disclosed disability or long-term health condition, a parent or carer who served in the UK Armed Forces or as a Reservist, being a mature learner aged 21 or over at the start of study, a home postcode in the second quintile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation or POLAR4, or completion of a Surrey Scholars activity.
What it gives
A reduced entry requirement of one A level grade or equivalent, applied case by case depending on the course, with subject prerequisites not necessarily reduced. The university's veterinary admissions document states that it continues to develop widening participation activity including this scheme, and that while the scheme does not guarantee a place it gives fair consideration to eligible students with the potential to succeed who may find it difficult to achieve the standard offer. The scheme page does not confirm whether Veterinary Medicine and Science is included in or excluded from the grade reduction, so check the scheme page before advising a veterinary applicant.
When to apply
Applications reopen in September and close on Sunday 2 June 2027 for 2027 to 2028 entry, and are made after the UCAS application.
Your part in it
No teacher step is stated: the student applies after submitting their UCAS application.
Worth knowing
The only Surrey veterinary widening participation route verified from an official page. No Surrey veterinary summer school or outreach programme with its own official page was found.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Virtual Work Experience and Exploring the Veterinary Profession

University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Work experience
Who is eligible
Open to anyone, and free.
What it gives
A free online course covering the structure of veterinary practice, the governing bodies, the day-to-day challenges and the roles that exist outside general practice. Nottingham's own admissions page states that of the minimum five weeks of work experience it requires, applicants may count up to one week for completing this course. The free demonstration version is sufficient, and certificates of completion are not required and carry a charge.
When to apply
Available year-round. All experience must be completed within the three years before application and by the 15 October deadline.
Your part in it
No teacher step: signpost it, particularly to a student who cannot find a placement at all.
Worth knowing
It counts only towards Nottingham's own work experience requirement as stated on their page. Do not assume other vet schools accept it, and check each school's own rule. The Veterinary Schools Council names this course as a sector resource.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Veterinary Schools Council work experience guidance

Veterinary Schools Council

Student applies, you signpost
  • Veterinary
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Not applicable: this is sector guidance rather than a scheme.
What it gives
The official sector statement of what veterinary work experience is for and what it must show, with an acknowledgement that access to workplace opportunities can be difficult, often comes at a financial cost and is impossible to quality assure. The council states that it is removing barriers to entry to the profession and working towards a more consistent and equitable framework, while advising applicants to check requirements school by school. It also points to its admissions guide, which sets out entry requirements, funding and widening participation schemes across all the vet schools.
When to apply
Not applicable. The admissions guide is updated annually and the 2027 edition is published.
Your part in it
Use it as the reference a careers lead reads before advising, rather than something a student applies to. It is the most authoritative single page on what counts as enough work experience.
Worth knowing
Included because the commonest reason a widening participation student rules themselves out of veterinary medicine is a belief about work experience that this page corrects.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

Animal Aspirations

Animal Aspirations

School nominates
  • Veterinary
  • Application support
Who is eligible
No formal criteria are published. The initiative describes its aim as engaging students from diverse backgrounds through interactive animal and science-focused workshops, and promoting diverse role models to break the stereotypes of the veterinary and other animal-related professions. It also covers veterinary nursing and bioveterinary science.
What it gives
Interactive in-school workshops and career fairs run by veterinary students, with question and answer sessions on the application process, the course and career options.
When to apply
Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
This is the one entry in the directory where the school, not the student, is the applicant: the page states that workshops can only be requested by teachers, and asks anyone who is not a teacher to email for other ways to get involved.
Worth knowing
Student-founded, begun with the Royal Veterinary College widening participation team and now describing itself as a national organisation. It is not a university scheme, so there is no admissions benefit attached: treat it as a school-bookable activity rather than a route to an offer.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

3 schemes

Nation and region specific

Gated by a nation or a named region and covering more than one of the three courses, so they are quick to rule in or out on where a student lives or goes to school. They are not the only regional entries on this page: roughly half of everything listed above is tied to an area too, and each entry states its own.

Reach Scotland

University of Glasgow, within the national Reach Scotland programme

School nominates
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Veterinary
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Summer school
  • Application support
Who is eligible
Pupils in S4 to S6 at a target school, and the university works with all the state secondary schools in the West of Scotland. Pupils must meet one or more of: living in the four most deprived deciles on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, being care experienced, being estranged from family and living without family support, providing unpaid care, seeking asylum in the UK or holding refugee status, attending a school in the Western Isles, which is a route for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine only, or having education or exam performance affected by extenuating circumstances.
What it gives
A three-year senior-phase programme: a subject introduction in S4, the bulk of the assessed activities plus a week-long campus summer programme in S5, and application support in S6. Successful completion carries 10 credits at SCQF level 7, contact with staff and students in the relevant subject areas, help with the application including the personal statement, and can lead to adjusted entry requirements with the Schools of Dentistry, Law, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
When to apply
The programme runs across S4 to S6. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
Schools have designated contact teachers who nominate or approve pupils, after which the pupil completes an online registration form. Pupils are told to speak to their pastoral care teacher first, so make sure that teacher knows the scheme exists.
Worth knowing
Scotland only, and the only scheme found anywhere that covers dentistry and veterinary medicine in one pathway alongside medicine. It also starts in S4, earlier than almost anything else in this directory.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

K+

King's College London

School must be eligible
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Contextual or reduced offer
  • Bursary or fee waiver
  • Application support
Who is eligible
All of: currently in Year 12; living or attending school in Greater London or one of the target regions, which include Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Reading and parts of Kent and Essex as shown on the interactive map; attending a non-selective state school; holding 8 GCSEs at grades 4 to 9 including English and Maths, with a minimum of five at grades 6 to 9 within that; and having no parent or carer who has completed university, with limited exceptions. Pathway-specific subject requirements also apply. Grade requirements may be waived for students in care, estranged from parents, forced migrants, those with Gypsy, Roma or Traveller heritage, or students experiencing homelessness.
What it gives
A two-year programme with Medicine and Dentistry among the spring pathways. Successful completers receive a two-grade reduced offer for most courses at King's, a £1,000 bursary in their first year if they enrol, and automatic enrolment on the university's undergraduate support programme.
When to apply
The spring pathways, which are the Medicine and Dentistry ones, are currently closed and reopen late in 2026, and the summer pathways reopen in 2027. One application per student. Check the scheme page for the current cycle's dates.
Your part in it
The school must be a non-selective state school in an eligible area, so the first check is a school-level one. Teachers can download recruitment materials and register for free information sessions to share with students. No nomination or reference is described.
Worth knowing
Single-university and regional rather than national, and distinct from the separately run Pathways to Medicine. Over 500 Year 12 places a year from thousands of applicants. Completing it also waives the London borough requirement on the Enhanced Support Dentistry Programme above.
Official scheme page

Checked 16 Sept 2026

For completeness

What this directory leaves out, and why

Three well-known providers are deliberately not listed above, because this is a directory of widening participation schemes and they are not that. Medic Mentor operates commercially with a free tier and paid tiers ranging from under a hundred pounds to several thousand, and sets no means-tested eligibility criteria. Medical Mavericks sells school workshops, with its own pricing page quoting a typical visit at between one and two thousand pounds. The Brilliant Club's Scholars Programme does target non-selective state schools and uses genuine widening participation criteria, but the school pays per student and the courses are not specific to medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. All three may be worth a school's money; none of them is a scheme a teacher nominates a student into for free, which is what this page is for.

UCAS is not listed either, because it runs no national widening participation scheme a teacher can enrol a student in. Its widening access pages are adviser resources: end-of-cycle data, a contextual data factsheet, and toolkits for care-experienced, estranged and refugee students, young carers and service children. Useful reading, but not a route. The one genuinely actionable UCAS mechanic for medicine is the UKWPMED declaration described above.

Anything that could not be read from an official page is also absent, including several programmes that appear in search results but whose own pages have gone. That is the rule this directory is built on: if the scheme's own site does not say it, it is not here, and where a scheme's page is silent on dates or on how much an offer drops by, the entry says to check the scheme page rather than guessing on the student's behalf.

When these schemes open, and why Year 12 is the deadline that matters

The single most useful scheduling fact on this page is that most of these schemes run a cycle earlier than the one a student is thinking about. Applications typically open in the autumn of Year 12 and close between the winter and the spring, because the programme itself runs over the following summer, before the student writes a personal statement at all. By the time a student is worrying about UCAS deadlines in Year 13, most of the routes below have already closed for them permanently.

That makes this a September job for the school rather than a January one. The workable pattern is to collect eligibility information from the whole Year 12 cohort early in the autumn term, check the school-level criteria once, and diarise the closing dates for the schemes your students actually qualify for. Where an entry below says to check the scheme page, it is because the provider had not published this cycle's dates when the page was verified, and those are the ones worth re-checking monthly through the autumn.

Treat every date and criterion here as a pattern rather than a promise. Providers change thresholds, open late, close early and occasionally pause a programme altogether, so the entry below is a pointer to the official page and never a substitute for it. All entries were verified on 16 September 2026.

Quick answers

Common questions from teachers

Which widening participation scheme should I put a student forward for first?

Start with the UCAT bursary if the student is likely to qualify on household income or benefits, because it removes a fixed cash barrier, it does not compete with anything else, and its deadline for evidence, stated as 24 September for the current cycle, arrives before any other on this page. After that, work outwards from where the student is actually likely to apply: a contextual or reduced-offer scheme at a university on their list is worth more than a general summer school somewhere they will never apply to, because it changes the offer rather than the experience. General access programmes and mentoring are genuinely valuable but come third, since they improve the application rather than the terms it is judged on. A student can usually hold several of these at once, so this is an order of priority rather than a choice between them.

What actually counts as a widening participation student?

There is no single national definition, which is the practical problem: each scheme sets its own test, and a student can qualify for one and not the next. The criteria used most often are household income or receipt of particular benefits, eligibility for free school meals, being the first in the family to go to university, care experience, young carer or estranged status, and area measures such as POLAR4 or IMD quintile, which are based on the student's home postcode rather than anything they report. Some schemes add school-level measures, so a student can be eligible purely because of where they study. Because the tests differ, read the eligibility line on each scheme's own page rather than assuming a student who failed one test fails them all.

Does completing a widening participation scheme really change the offer?

Some do and some do not, and the distinction matters more than anything else on this page. A scheme that leads to a contextual or reduced offer changes the grades a student needs, and a scheme that leads to a guaranteed interview removes the shortlisting stage where most applications are rejected. Those are material changes to the odds. Other schemes give a summer school, mentoring or work experience, which strengthens the application and the student's confidence but leaves the entry requirements exactly where they were. Both kinds are worth doing, but a teacher deciding where to spend limited time in a busy term should know which of the two they are looking at. Each entry below says which it is.

What if my student meets no criteria, or our school is not eligible?

Two things are still available. Contextual admissions run separately from these named schemes, so a university may still take a student's circumstances into account at the point of application even where no scheme was completed, and that is worth checking university by university. And the extenuating-circumstances section of the UCAS reference exists precisely so a school can explain disruption, caring responsibilities or illness that the grades do not show, whether or not any scheme was involved. Beyond that, the honest answer is that a student who meets no criteria is being judged on the standard terms, and the useful work is the ordinary work: a realistic list of four, an early start on the admissions test, and a defensible fifth choice.

Keep reading

The pages that go with this one

Contextual offers are the university-by-university version of this page, the bursary guide covers funding once a student is on course, and the foundation and gateway routes are the alternative entry points for students the standard requirements do not fit.

Contextual offers by universitySupporting every applicantBursaries and scholarshipsFoundation and gateway medicine coursesVet gateway courses
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Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.

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