University of Manchester Medicine Interview (MMI) 2027.

Manchester's interview page explains what interviewers are looking for in plain terms (The interview):

• Clear communication. Expressing ideas clearly and following a reasoned argument. Manchester says it prefers spontaneous answers to "obviously rehearsed and 'coached' responses".
• Personal qualities. The "more innate skills and competencies", personal qualities and behaviour, rather than academic knowledge. The interview "is not a test of your academic knowledge".
• Experience of caring. Experience of "the caring role of the medical community (in its widest sense)". This does not have to be in a hospital.
• An informed view of current topics. Awareness of medical topics in the news, at the level of an informed member of the public.
• Ethical reasoning. How clearly you can talk through ethical dilemmas doctors face. Manchester says it takes no position on any ethical issue.

What this means for your answers: Manchester is not testing facts. It wants to hear you think out loud in a clear, honest way. Over-polished, memorised answers can work against you. Read your own Non-Academic Information Form before the interview, as the FAQs advise.

1. Booking. You book one slot through Gecko, choosing online or on campus. The time is fixed seven days before.
2. Joining. For online interviews, the Zoom link arrives the working day before. Use your full name as your display name. On campus, you are met and taken to a briefing room on Oxford Road.
3. Briefing (about 30 minutes before the interview). Admissions staff explain how it works and check your ID. Attendance is required.
4. The circuit. You rotate through five stations, starting at a random one. Each lasts eight minutes, with two minutes between stations. Each interviewer scores you on an iPad and cannot see your other scores. The whole circuit takes about 50 minutes.
5. After. No decision is given on the day. Outcomes come through UCAS Hub by spring. Feedback is available on request if you are unsuccessful.

Five cycles run each day, with the first briefing at 09:30 and the last interview ending around 15:50 (interview day structure).

Possible change for this cycle: Manchester says that for the 2026/7 cycle it is "considering replacing one MMI station with a group task". Invited applicants will be told the final format (Interviews).

Based on what Manchester says it assesses, expect stations on:

• Motivation and caring experience: what you learned from caring roles, in or outside healthcare.
• Ethics: talking through a dilemma with more than one reasonable answer.
• Health topics in the news: forming and explaining a balanced view. The government's 10 Year Health Plan for England (July 2025) is a useful starting point: it describes moves from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention (GOV.UK).
• Communication: explaining your reasoning clearly, possibly in an unexpected scenario.
• Personal qualities: teamwork, handling pressure, reflecting on mistakes.
• NHS values: the NHS Constitution's six values, such as "respect and dignity" and "improving lives", are a good lens for any scenario (NHS Constitution).

Worked example

Question: "A local council wants to ban fast-food adverts at bus stops near schools. What are the arguments for and against?"

A strong answer would:

• Set out the aim: reducing childhood obesity and preventing illness later in life.
• Give arguments for: children see fewer adverts, it supports healthier choices, and prevention can reduce pressure on the NHS.
• Give arguments against: limits on businesses and free choice, unclear evidence on how much adverts change behaviour, and the risk of ignoring bigger causes such as cost and access to healthy food.
• Reach a balanced, reasoned view and explain it, while accepting others may disagree.
• Suggest what else might help, such as education or working with families, to show wider thinking.

Specific, sourced angles:

• Size with small groups. Manchester describes itself as "the largest medical school in the UK, but have some of the smallest class sizes" (Manchester Medicine).
• Whole body dissection. It is "one of the only medical schools in the UK to offer whole body dissection" on the five- and six-year courses.
• Team-based learning. Years 1 and 2 use themed cases and team-based learning (course page 2027).
• Clinical experience from Year 1. Year 3 is mostly clinical, and Year 4 covers 14 specialities.
• Four Clinical Education Campuses. From Year 3: Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust at Oxford Road and at Wythenshawe, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, and the Northern Care Alliance (formerly Salford Royal).
• Community work. Students can do service learning with community groups, organisations and schools.

Pick what links to your own experience, for example a reason dissection or team-based learning suits how you learn.