Medicine degrees offered through clearing for the first time

St George’s University of London has opened up its five-year medical degree undergraduate course to candidates wishing to apply through clearing.

The clearing process is typically used to fill places on a course that would otherwise have gone unfilled, however junior doctor leaders have warned the move is a ‘sad indictment’ of the NHS.

The news comes as the total number of UK students applying for places at medical school fell by 13.5 per cent compared to two years previously. The fall in applications has been blamed on ‘negative publicity’ accounted to the government’s seven-day NHS political targets.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson for St George’s University argued: “St George’s, University of London has a range of courses going into clearing this year and has retained a limited number of places on its Medicine (MBBS 5 year) undergraduate course for high quality students, who meet our requirements, for the first time.  

“We believe that going into clearing is the fairest way for us to get outstanding students given the unpredictability of A level grades and the strict intake quotas imposed on the MBBS programme. Some students will have exceeded their grade expectations and will now be able to study Medicine, others will be unable to meet their conditional offer.”

Professor Jenny Higham, Principal of St George’s, University of London, said: “This is a great opportunity for students to study at the only UK university to share a campus with a teaching hospital, to take up a place in the current cycle, and avoid delaying their chosen career.”

A spokesperson for the Medical Schools Council said: “The possibility of application through clearing for medical degree programmes offers an exciting opportunity, particularly for highly qualified students who perhaps just failed to obtain their predicted A*s and missed out on places at their firm and insurance offers.”