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Kent grammar schools · Medicine
Medicine interview help for Kent grammar school students
Medicine interview help for Kent grammar school students. At a selective school, strong grades are normal, so your experience, reflection and interview have to show what makes you different. Here is how to plan it.
Year 12 to offerLocal volunteeringKMMS explained
Why grades alone will not set you apart
Many medicine applicants from grammar schools have excellent grades. Medical schools interview to choose between students who all look strong on paper.
That is why reflection and interview skills matter so much. They show how you communicate, how you think under pressure and whether your reasons for medicine are real.
KMMS says it looks for
resiliencerealistic commitment to Medicinecompassioncommunicationteamworkrespectunderstanding other viewpointsresponsibility
From Year 12 to an offer
- Year 12 autumn
Start real experience
- Begin weekly volunteering
- Join or start a school medical society
- Keep a short reflection diary
- Year 12 spring
Research and prepare
- Shortlist schools with our finder
- Start reading around the NHS
- Look at UCAT question types
- Year 12 summer
UCAT and statement
- UCAT registration opens around May
- Sit the UCAT in the summer window
- Draft your personal statement
- Year 13 autumn
Apply
- Finalise your four medical choices
- Submit by 15 October at 6pm
- Keep volunteering
- Year 13 winter
Interviews
- Practise MMI stations
- Prepare examples for the NHS values
- Practise group tasks
Where to get experience in Kent
Local, regular commitment usually says more than one week somewhere impressive.
East Kent Hospitals
A volunteering programme for young people aged 16 to 18.
St John Ambulance
Cadets from age 10 to 17 learn first aid and volunteer at events.
Virtual work experience
RCGP’s Observe GP and BSMS virtual work experience are free and count as preparation.
KMMS and your school’s results
Kent and Medway Medical School compares your grades with how students at your school usually perform. It calls this Contextualise Everyone.
At a school where very high grades are normal, very high grades are expected. KMMS may view a student who does well at a lower-performing school as doing more strongly relative to their school. It does not simply pick the highest grades or UCAT scores.
Read how KMMS contextual admissions work.
KMMS in short
- Predicted grades
- Not used
- GCSEs
- Compared with your school’s results
- UCAT
- Threshold, then another stage
- Interview
- KMMS MMI
Make the most of a grammar school
Use your peers
- Practise MMI stations in pairs
- Run group tasks with four or five friends
- Swap personal statement feedback
Stand out on reflection
- Go deep on two or three experiences
- Show what changed in how you act
- Avoid the stories everyone tells
Choose schools wisely
- Match your UCAT to how each school uses it
- Check whether predicted grades are used
- Compare them in our finder
“Thanks to Haris, I walked into my interviews feeling prepared and ready to present my authentic self.”
Questions from grammar school applicants
KMMS does not say that. It compares your grades with your school’s average, so very high grades at a high-performing school are expected rather than exceptional. Your UCAT, application and interview still count.
No. We run MMI practice for other medical schools too. See MMI mock interviews.
In person in Canterbury, Kent, or online.
Yes. Tell us what you need and we book your first session free. No commitment.
Medicine interviews
Everyone in the room has good grades.
Your interview is where you stand out.
Book a free first session and practise with a KMMS medical student.
Can you:
- explain why medicine?
- reflect on your experience?
- think under pressure?
- work well in a group?
Keep reading
Sources and further reading
- Pilgrims Hospices: volunteering
- East Kent Hospitals: youth volunteering (16 to 18)
- St John Ambulance: volunteering
- Kent and Medway health and care: volunteering
- RCGP: Observe GP virtual work experience
- BSMS: virtual work experience
- UCAT Consortium: test dates
- Kent and Medway Medical School: entry requirements 2027
Last checked: September 2026. Always check dates and requirements with the official source before you rely on them.