How to apply
Undergraduate students enrolled in the MBBS and BDS programmes at Barts and the London may intercalate a BSc or BMedSci honours degree of one year's duration on successful completion of either two, three or four years study.
The total number of intercalated degree places on offer is 150.
The 150 available places will be distributed as follows (exact numbers in each year group may differ slightly from these target figures):
- Year 2 = 25
- Year 3 = 70
- Year 4 = 55
Between 12 and 15 of these students (approximately equal numbers from years 3 and 4) will be permitted to intercalate at external medical schools.
Year 2 applicants will not be eligible to apply to intercalate at external medical schools.
Important dates
Closing Date for Applications: 10th February 2012 at mid day.
Interview Period: Late February to mid March 2012
Notification of Offers: Late March- Mid April 2012 (Those accepted on their 1st choice of course may be told before this date)
GEP students
Students on the Graduate Entry MBBS Programme (GEP) are not eligible for intercalated studies at Bachelor, Masters or PhD/DPhil level.
Given the short duration of the course, GEP students are expected to have performed such studies before the course commences, or to delay them until the course is completed.
Graduates taking MBBS/BDS
Graduates on the undergraduate MBBS/BDS are not eligible for intercalated studies at Bachelor level. In exceptional circumstances they may be eligible for intercalated studies at Masters or PhD level.
External applicants
Applications from students attending other medical or dental schools are welcome.
In general the procedure is similar to that for our own students. If you undertake an intercalated degree at Barts and The London you will be part of the college for a year and will benefit from the same amenities as our students.
In the first instance prospective applicants from external medical schools should contact Ms. L. Singer by phone or email. (020 3246 0215 or l.singer@qmul.ac.uk ).
Admission procedures for QMUL students
In order to ensure a fair and transparent means of selecting students for each course a system based on a combination of exam results and interview performance has been set up.
The exam results (which include end of year written exams and in-course assessments) used for this assessment are as follows:
- Years 1 to 3 inclusive for medical students intercalating after 4 years,
- Years 1 and 2 for medical students intercalating after 3 years and
- Year 1 for medical students intercalating after 2 years.
For dental students, assessment is based on exam results from years 1 and 2.
Although this may seem rather complex, student feedback suggests that it seen as fair.
Before applying for an intercalated degree, all students must meet the academic criteria agreed by the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Application forms
Medical students should complete an application form available on WebCT CE6 and submit this together with a curriculum vita by mid day on Feb 10th 2012.
Dental students can download their application form, below. The CV should include details of pre-clinical examination marks, and any grade obtained to date for clinical attachments or clinical examinations.
Please note: if you applied unsuccessfully for an intercalated degree last year, as a second or third year student, you may, if you wish, indicate on this year’s form that you did so. The selectors may take this into account when you are interviewed.
Interviews and offers
Applicants will be invited to attend an interview usually in late February or during March and offers of places will be made in late March or early April.
Those students who are not offered a place on their first choice course may be offered an interview for their second or lower choice course.
Admission procedures for external students
Students applying from external medical or dental schools please return 2 copies of the application form plus 1 additional copy for each course you apply to.
Return your application form to:
The Student Office,
Garrod Building, Turner Street,
Whitechapel,
London
E1 2AD
What to include with your application form
Include with the application forms a copy of your CV and the transcript of your results to date.
Also please include a letter from a Tutor or Dean in your own School.
Academic selection criteria
Academic selection criteria for students wishing to take an intercalated degree.
Medical students selection criteria
- Completion of 2, 3 or 4 years of the MBBS course
- Normally, passes, at the first attempt, in Parts 1,2 and 3 MBBS (as relevant to the year of intercalation.)
Dental students selection criteria
- Completion of 2 (subject to approval), 3 or 4 years of the BDS course
- Normally, passes, at the first attempt, in Parts 1 & 2 BDS
- Completion of all continuous assessment to interview date for Part 3 (Term 10)
- Satisfactory annual progress reviews
All students - selection criteria
- Good to excellent performance in the course, as evidenced by the either the award of Merit for at least one Part of the Degree, or a minimum of a B-grade average overall for parts 1,2 and 3 in the end-of-year assessments
- Normally, no referrals in any of the clinical firm grades where these have been undertaken
- Satisfactory performance in and completion of, all SSMs prior to intercalation.
- Students who have applied to do an intercalated degree and who exceed or closely approach these criteria will be asked to attend an interview for a place on an intercalated course
- Acceptance on the course will be conditional on a satisfactory performance in the interview that will determine the final ranking as outlined in the guidelines.
Exceptions
The only exceptions to these criteria are those students who wish to exit “with grace”. In the first instance these students should contact the Dean for Student Affairs to discuss the possibility of an exit with grace.
In addition, there will be an appeals procedure, which will be held after offers for places have been made, for those students who do not meet all of the above conditions and who can provide, in writing, compelling reasons for undertaking an intercalated degree and, where appropriate written evidence, such as medical records etc., to support their case.
Details of the procedure can be found at the end of the application guidelines below.
Detailed application guidelines
Students applying from within Queen Mary
MBBS and BDS students on five year programmes are only permitted to study for an intercalated degree if they:
- Submit a completed application form to the appropriate officer of the School of Medicine and Dentistry by the annual deadline. You are allowed up to three internal choices which should be ranked in order or preference. Those applying for an external course or courses are allowed two additional internal choices.
- Meet the academic criteria (see: Academic selection criteria) agreed by the School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD) for intercalating students.
When competition for places on courses exists, students will be ranked according to their aggregate performance in previous examinations and other numerically marked assessments of performance up to and including the end of the academic year before they apply for the intercalated degree.
All examination marks carry equal weighting. In December this information will be available to each second, third or fourth year MBBS student who wishes to apply. This information will also be made available to BDS students during the winter term of their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year.
A student's knowledge of their academic ranking order will allow them to make a preliminary assessment of the likelihood of a successful application for an intercalated degree, which in turn will help them to decide on the most suitable time to undertake an elective placement in their final year MBBS/BDS.
The ranking order will exclude all those who have previously obtained an undergraduate degree and who, therefore, are ineligible to apply for an intercalated bachelors degree.
In the case of intercalated degrees within Queen Mary University of London, all students who meet the selection criteria will be interviewed by at least 2 members of staff on the first choice course to which they have applied.If a student does not gain a place on his or her first choice course he or she may be interviewed by staff on their second and, possibly, on courses to which they have given a lower priority .
Those wishing to apply for an external course will be interviewed by the head of intercalated degrees and one other member of staff. This procedure is independent of any selection process stipulated by the external course(s) to which a student applies.
All interviews will be assessed as follows:
- Commitment and keenness
- Coherence and clarity in answering questions
- Breadth and depth of background knowledge
- Specific knowledge about the course
The aggregate examination marks, scaled to a maximum of 67/100, and the marks for the interview, scaled to a maximum of 33/100 will be added together to produce a combined total out of 100. Therefore academic performance will have a weighting twice that of interview performance.
Last year, some students with academic rankings below 150 were accepted onto the intercalated degree program. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, not everybody ranked in the top 150 applied to do an intercalated degree and secondly, good interview performance can raise an applicant in the overall ranking. So, if a student is keen and they meet the selection criteria outlined above, it is certainly worth applying. Those applying for the limited number of external intercalated courses are assessed in the same way, Given the small number of these places on offer (approximately 12 - 15 as mentioned above), competition for them is high.
Students who fail to demonstrate adequate commitment at interview will not be accepted for an intercalated degree. If the interviewers give 5 or fewer marks out of the total available at interview they will not be accepted onto the course, whatever their academic standing.
However, any student who fails to meet this threshold and who still wishes to have a place on the degree in question, will then automatically have the right of appeal.
Details of the appeals procedure are available. All students will have right of access to their own interview marks.
Students who have not gained a place on their course of first choice may be asked to attend an interview for a course to which they have applied as a second or, possibly, lower choice. This will provide the opportunity for those who have been unsuccessful in gaining a place on an oversubscribed course to gain a place on a course for which there is less demand, provided that they have a sufficiently high combined ranking (i.e. interview and exams).
Students who have not been accepted onto a course may be put on a waiting list (see below) ranked according to the procedure described above. If a place becomes available it will be offered to the highest ranking student remaining on the waiting list.
Students with special circumstances requiring an early exit from The School of Medicine and Dentistry with a qualification may be considered for intercalation at the end of their SECOND, THIRD or FOURTH year of study.
Intercalated courses will normally interrupt the MBBS or BDS studies for no more than a single academic year and will lead to the award of a Bachelor's degree.
Exceptionally, a student may be considered for the intercalation of a higher degree. Normally, this will only be permitted where the student holds an appropriate first degree, is of the highest ability and where their career is most likely to benefit from intercalation of a research degree prior to graduation on the programme for which they are initially enrolled.
Where possible, students will be encouraged (although not obliged) to undertake SSMs appropriate to the intercalated degree that they wish to apply for.
Students wishing to intercalate degrees via study within QMUL
Providing the above selection criteria and ranking conditions are met, all students enrolled on the MBBS or BDS at (QMUL) are eligible to study for an Intercalated BSc or BMedSci degree within QMUL - subject to payment of appropriate fees - as an integral component of their initial degree registration.
Applicants who are offered places on more than one internal course may accept only one offer. If all the places on a particular course are filled additional applicants who have been interviewed will be placed on a waiting list and will be informed of this.
Any places which subsequently become free as a result of a student turning down an offer of a place, for instance to accept a place on another course, will then be offered to those on the waiting list, starting with those of the highest ranking and working downwards.
Students wishing to intercalate degrees by studying at Institutions other than QMUL
Those students wishing to pursue an intercalated degree elsewhere in the University of London (or in any other UK Higher Education Institution) are also subject to the above criteria and guidelines. In addition, these students must obtain the permission of the Dean for Education of the SMD (or his nominated deputy) to interrupt MBBS or BDS studies for the duration (normally one year only) of the intercalated programme.
The proposed programme must be a recognised intercalated degree programme for medical and/or dental students and must be acceptable to The SMD. The SMD may set conditions that must be met before studies at QMUL may be resumed.
There is a quota, limiting the number of places available for intercalation outside QMUL. (It is anticipated that 12 - 15 will be given permission for the academic year 2012/13.) Permission to interrupt studies will then be granted on a competitive basis in which the combined ranking will be based on examination and interview performance as described in section 1iii above. This interview will be conducted by two members of the SMD academic staff, usually including the head of intercalated degrees. It is entirely separate from any interview that may be required by staff at the external institution at which an application is made.
Given the limited number of external places available, no more than 30 students will be interviewed. These will be the 30 highest ranking students who have applied for permission to intercalate externally.
Students will be permitted to apply both for internal and external courses.
However, if a place has been offered and accepted on an internal course permission to intercalate externally will not be given.
Similarly, if a place is offered and accepted on an external course and if the Dean for Education (or his nominated deputy) has given permission for the student to undertake the course, that student will not be eligible for acceptance on an internal course.
If, as is sometimes the case, a student who applies for both or an external and an internal course is offered an internal place before hearing from the external institution whether their application has been successful, the internal place will be held open for them until the results of their external application are known.
Guidelines and selection criteria for students applying from outside
A limited number of places will be available for external students. In future years these numbers may be adjusted to reflect any changes in the relative numbers of QM students who wish to intercalate externally and external students who wish to do an intercalated degree at QM.
Normally, external students will be assessed in a similar manner to internal applicants. External applicants will be asked to arrange for their home institution to send confidentially, a transcript of their examination results to date and, where available, their academic ranking to the selection committee for the relevant intercalated degree, to the Student Office. This information is then used, corrected for size of their year, to contribute to the scoring system in exactly the same manner as the scoring system for internal students. In the event a course is oversubscribed and there is a tie for a place then home students will take precedence. If a student's home institution does not provide an academic ranking, they will be assessed on the basis of their interview taking due account of their examination performance as shown in their transcript.
Every effort will be made to find accommodation for students intercalating from an external medical or dental school.
More about accommodation at Queen Mary.
Application Forms
NB: The closing date for all applications is 10th February 2012, at midday.
QMUL medical students
Application forms will be made available on Blackboard from January 27th 2012.
QMUL dental students
Application forms will be made available on Blackboard from January 27th 2012.
Students applying from external medical or dental schools
Application to study for the Intercalated Bachelor Programme (external students)
Please return 2 copies of the application form plus 1 additional copy for each course you apply to:
The Student Office,
Old Medical College Building,
Turner Street,
Whitechapel,
London
E1 2AD
Include with the application forms a
- copy of your CV and the
- transcript of your results to date.
- also please include a letter from a Tutor or Dean in your own School.
Appeals Procedure
Appeals will normally be considered only on the following grounds:
- Strong extenuating circumstances, for instance health or personal problems for poor performance in examinations and or interview leading to a low overall rank.
- Compelling reason for undertaking an intercalated degree at an institution in or near a student's home.
Every appellant must provide a written statement on no more than 2 sides of A4 paper outlining their reasons for appealing. Supporting evidence (such as medical certificates, letters from senior tutors etc.) should be provided wherever possible.
The appeals committee, consisting of The Dean or Deputy Dean for Student Affairs (Chair), The Head of Intercalated Degrees, a student representative and a representative from The Student Office will meet no more than 4 weeks after the intercalated degree places are allocated, the exact day and time to be announced in 2012.
Timetable
The timing of the taught units and projects will depend on which course you choose. For instance, after Christmas BMedSci students will choose a single optional taught unit from a wide range of choices. These units will be followed by or, in some cases, run concurrently with, a research project selected after careful discussion with tutors and research supervisors.
In the Neuroscience BSc four of the taught units will take place before Christmas and the remaining one plus the project will start after Christmas. In the Medical Engineering and Clinical Materials BScs the timing is slightly different with 2 taught units before Christmas and two after while the project will run throughout the course. In the Experimental Pathology course you will do 1 or 2 taught units before Christmas and the remaining 2 or 3 after Christmas, depending on which 4 out of the 5 taught options you choose. More details will be found on the pages pertaining to each intercalated course.
Term dates
(IMPORTANT. These are official QMUL dates. Exact dates for intercalated courses to be announced. Also, please check with individual course organizers for exact dates (starting, finishing, exams and vacations) pertaining to each course. These may differ from the announced dates, especially around Easter)
- Semester 1: 17 September - 14 December 2012
- Semester 2: 7 January - 28 March 2013 (Bank holidays: 29 March and 1 April 2013)
- Examination Period: 29 April - 7 June 2013 (Bank holidays: 6 and 27 May 2013)
- Graduation: Third week in July 2012
Please note that the Christmas and Easter breaks are the same as those for non-intercalating medical students.