Medicine course admissions data
To whom it may concern,
I am a prospective student for your university, and I am writing to request data regarding admissions to your medicine course for the most recent admissions cycle (2024 entry) and the prior year (2023 entry).
I would like to know:
Admissions test scores (UCAT/BMAT)
• For international fee status students that were offered an interview, what was the mean score, the standard deviation of the scores, and the lowest and highest score
• For international fee status students that were offered a place, what was the mean score, the standard deviation of the scores, and the lowest and highest score
• For home fee status students that were offered an interview, what was the mean score, the standard deviation of the scores, and the lowest and highest score
• For home fee status students that were offered a place, what was the mean score, the standard deviation of the scores, and the lowest and highest score
• Did you have an official UCAT cut off score, if so what is this for international students and what is it for home students?
• How is your cut off score selected? Is it linked to the official UCAT deciles data released for each cycle or is it an internal decision by your admissions team and the applications that year?
Ranking candidates and interviews
• How many interviews were held? And what was the split between the number for international students vs home fees student?
• What elements of an application do you use to form your scoring system/calculation used to rank students for interviews and for places?
• What was the cut off “score” for this in terms of students invited to interview?
Exam Grades
• For GCSE grades, do you have a cut off for the number of 7s, 8s and 9s offered an interview/place?
• For A level grades, do you have a cut off for the number of As and A*s in predicted grades offered an interview/place?
Thank you for your time regarding this request,
Best,
Safiya
Dear Safiya,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act request, regarding admissions to Medicine (A100). Imperial has compiled an information sheet which addresses the most frequently asked questions we receive regarding admissions to Medicine (A100). Please see the Freedom of Information FAQs on the ‘Introducing our Imperial College London Medicine degree’ web page: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/stud...
Information is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (Section 21) if it is already reasonably accessible to the requester. The published figures will be updated annually.
The UCAT is being used for the first time in the current admissions cycle, for 2024/25 entry. Figures equivalent to the information provided on BMAT scores will be included in the updated version of the FAQs once the admission cycle is complete in the autumn of this year. Information that is intended for future publication is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act by virtue of Section 22 of the Act.
The Freedom of Information Act created a right to access information to enable scrutiny of public authorities in the public interest. Section 14(1) of the Act aims to protect public authorities by allowing them to refuse any requests which have the potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption and are therefore deemed vexatious. While we appreciate that your request was made in good faith and was not intended to cause disruption, we are entitled to consider whether a request has a value or serious purpose in terms of the objective public interest in the information sought and to weigh that against the burden that would be placed on the organisation by having to produce that information. The public interest being the public good, not what is of interest to groups of or individual members of the public. Imperial's view is that there is no public interest value in the information you have requested that is not included in the published information referred to above that would justify the university devoting resources to producing the information. Our view is that any legitimate public interest in admissions figures to our MBBS programme is met by the extensive information already in the public domain set out above. We are therefore refusing the elements of your request not covered by the published information in reliance on Section 14 of the Act.
Yours,
Freedom of Information Team
Imperial College London
Please note that if you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your request, you can ask us to conduct a review. Please make your representation in writing within 2 months of the date you received this response. If you remain dissatisfied with how Imperial has handled your request, you may then approach the Information Commissioner’s Office.
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now